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The articles in this year’s edition cover a broad continuum of Kenilworth’s long history:-
To begin with, 2025 brought the sad passing of long-time KHAS member Cyril ‘The Magic Toyman’ Hobbins. Cyril was a well-known figure about the town, thanks to his many passions and interests. One only has to visit the ‘Barn’ Museum & Heritage centre to see his numerous metal detector finds and the tumble-down stile, which he restored by hand following damage caused by arsonists. And so, Nick Green has done an admirable and fitting job in pulling together a eulogy for Cyril, followed by an article, which Cyril himself wrote, called “Pebbles in the Pool of Life”, about an episode of his life in which his toymaking skills brought him into the orbit of Disney.
Next, Antony Corbett is pleased to announce the launch of a dedicated website, documenting the memorials of the St Nicholas’ churchyard, which he produced in conjunction with Ian Fenwick. It’s a truly impressive piece of work, and a valuable research aid. We can wholeheartedly recommend visiting it.
After that, there’s an article from the Editor about the etymology of our town’s -worth suffix. Given that the town was founded during an era from which no written records have survived, we must utilise any tool at our disposal to shed light on Cynehildeworð’s role and significance, and it turns out that there are clues in its very name, which can give us a glimpse into that otherwise unrecorded past.
That neatly flows into Joanna Illingworth’s article on early-mediaeval Kenilworth, in which she takes us from our eponymous founder Cynehilde’s time, all the way up to the Domesday Book of 1086, where Kenilworth at last finds its way into recorded history. Interestingly, Joanna also speculates on the significance of the reign of Penda of Mercia in these events, which is something we’ll come back to again, further down. I’d love to say we planned our articles to dovetail together in quite such a neat way, but it’s more a case of great minds thinking alike!
Next another fascinating article from Nick Green on the eventful life and death of Kenilworth’s MP Gilbert Leigh, the eldest son of Lord William Leigh. It’s a remarkable tale including his death in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains and eventual interment back in Stoneleigh. You won’t find many deaths in canyons amongst the pages of Kenilworth History, so thanks to Nick for bringing Leigh to our attention.
Following that is another article from the Editor on King Penda of Mercia, whom we mentioned above. I touched briefly upon this titan of a figure in my talk to KHAS in September 2025. If ever there was a figure whose lifetime should be the subject of a trilogy of barnstorming films, it’s him. The desire to fill the undocumented void of early Kenilworth’s history allows us to indulge in some speculative scenarios about which king’s reign its foundation might have taken place under. There’s one name which connects them all and it’s the last great heathen Anglo-Saxon king, and the anti-hero of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, King Penda of Mercia.
And then we have a wonderful illustration of how research into one thing can lead you down rabbit holes into other topics, thanks to Robin Leach and Sue Tall’s article on The McQuilkins. It turns out that the perpetrator of the gruesome Victorian murder at Kenilworth Swimming Pool has a family history of national note, which this meticulously researched article will reveal.
After that we have an update on David Brock’s sterling work to translate sections of the Abbey Register of Abbot William Walle. The Register is a heavily abbreviated mix of hand-inked middle-English and vernacular Latin, hence attempting to translate it and extract the salient points from it is not for the faint hearted, so we thank David for his persistence and focus on this matter. Intriguingly, he touches upon whether artificial intelligence (AI) can offer a plausible translation of it.
So, all in all, another packed edition of Kenilworth History, with the richness of life and death across multiple eras, spread across every page. We hope you enjoy it!
