University visits from Rugby

Rugby has a famous school but no university of its own. Rugby School was founded in 1567 with money left by Lawrence Sheriff, a local man who became grocer to Elizabeth I; the Lawrence Sheriff School followed in 1878 to carry on his first intention of free schooling for local boys.

For degree courses the nearest campuses are Coventry University in the city centre and the University of Warwick on the south-west edge of Coventry. Rugby station has frequent trains towards Birmingham New Street and a family arriving by car can park free at each of our houses.

Stoke Lodge and Stoke House are about a mile from Coventry University, which makes graduation week simple: one house, one kitchen and the ceremony a short run away. Stoke Lodge and Stoke House are about 5 miles from the Warwick campus.

Education has long drawn visitors to the town. Pierre de Coubertin, who revived the Olympic Games, visited Rugby School several times in the late 19th century and named it as an inspiration. Three of its pupils wrote down the first rules of the Rugby game in 1845. The Lawrence Sheriff School followed in 1878. The town library shares a building with the art gallery and museum, opened in 2000.