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	County Town: Warwick County Population: 500,000 (estimate)
	Warwickshire lies on undulating red sandstone with an area of flat meadowland to the northeast, and hills to the south. The county is split in two by the River Avon, which flows through the region from the northeast to the southwest. The Forest of Arden can be found to the west of the county, the Weldon (once an area of 'wood-land') to the north, and Feldon ('field-land' now used for arable farming) to the south.
	Warwickshire was extensively used by the Romans, with the crossing of two major Roman roads (Watling Street, which ran from London to Wroxeter in Shropshire, and the Fosse Way, running from Lincoln to Exeter) just five miles west of Warwick at High Cross. After the Romans departed the county it was successively occupied by the Celts, Saxons, and Danes, then finally by the Normans who built Warwick Castle on the site of an existing fortified town. As with many counties in the Midlands, Warwickshire greatly prospered during the Industrial Revolution. At this time the influential cities of Birmingham and Coventry were within its boundaries, but after local government reorganisation in 1974, the two cities were merged into the new metropolitan district of the West Midlands.
	The industrial and highly urbanised West Midlands juts into Warwickshire to the west, with some industries and urban areas spilling into the county, but Warwickshire is now largely agricultural with some very pleasant countryside. Tourism plays an important role in the county, with Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, being one of the most important tourist sites in England outside the capital. The area features some very picturesque villages and market towns, many featuring timber-framed buildings with thatched roofs. The 14th century castle at Warwick is an imposing feature standing high above the Avon, and the town itself boasts much fine architecture including the old east and west gates (both of which have chapels above them), medieval almshouses, and the 15th-century Beauchamp Chapel in St Mary's Church.
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