The largest town in all of Warwickshire is none other than Nuneaton. This idyllic burg, with nearly eighty thousand residents living in and around its limits, has served as an important economic and cultural hub for centuries but Nuneaton actually got its start as a small nunnery in the early 1100s. During this time, the land that became Nuneaton was a small but thriving settlement that was simply called Etone because the word meant "water town". This small water town quickly grew in prominence upon the erection of the ancient abbey that became the home of the many nuns that lived around there. The influence of the nuns over the town became responsible for the new name Nun-eton, which of course became Nuneaton.
The remains of the historic abbey can still be seen by anyone curious enough to visit the old site. This former home of hundreds of nuns has undergone many changes since its inception, however, and a look at the abbey now will not do justice to how it originally looked. The abbey originally began its descent into disarray in the 1500s, when Henry VIII shut down most of the monasteries in England. It continued to rot and fall apart for centuries until, in 1876, the city set about rebuilding this former holy spot into something worthy of its name. The abbey was redesigned in a neo-gothic style, however, and only parts of the wall and floor still retain the appearance that the abbey originally had. This shouldn't detract fans and purveyors of history, though, since the fascinating gothic architecture that redefined the abbey is interesting in and of itself and now it can be said that multiple artistic influences can be witnessed and studied in Nuneaton.
Despite the worldwide acclaim of the old Abbey, Nuneaton's biggest claim to fame would probably be the fact that the city is the birthplace and inspiration of the famed author George Eliot. Born just outside the city limits, Eliot used the many beautiful locales of Nuneaton as inspiration for her treasured stories. The book "Scenes of Clerical Life", for instance, uses a town called Milby that is nearly identical in description to parts of Nuneaton. A hotel in several of Eliot's work, The Red Lion, is based on a Nuneaton hotel known as the Bull Hotel. Interestingly enough, this hotel was later renamed the George Eliot Hotel and nowadays countless Eliot fans flock to Nuneaton and stay in this lavish inn.
It is hard to tell whether the beauty of the original Abbey gave inspiration to the rest of the city to create marvelous supporting architecture or the natural beauty of Nuneaton itself gave rise to the creativity in its citizens. Either way, Nuneaton has been an inspiration to far more artists and writers than Eliot and a visit to this historic and beautiful city will prove that, though it's grown immensely in size and population since its humble beginnings, it is still a city filled with remarkable beauty and irreplaceable grandeur.
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