Welcome to Warwick, at corner of Vittle Drive & Saltisford

Image: © A J Paxton Taken: 29 May 2021

Saltisford is a suburb of Warwick stretching along the road to Birmingham. It has medieval origins, but expanded rapidly from 1793, when the Saltisford arm of the Warwick & Birmingham canal opened, and became an industrial district with working-class housing. A gasworks was built in 1822. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol8/pp434-447 Visible on the left of the photo, it has a picturesque if impractical design, with its pair of octagonal towers which once encased the gasometers. More recently it has served as offices and now appears to be housing. On the right of the photo can be seen the side wall of the Antelope pub, named after the insignia of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, which after a long history was incorporated in the 1960s into the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, which has a museum at St. John's House in Coten End, on the other side of the town centre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Warwickshire_Regiment https://thefusiliers.org/museums/warwick-museum/ The mural shows a battle against the Napoleonic French, probably during the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal (1807-14). The Antelope pub faces an uncertain future, having announced its closure in March 2021. https://metro.co.uk/2021/03/27/two-historic-pubs-minutes-apart-call-time-after-heartbreak-of-covid-14312899/

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