KENILWORTH, a small town of Warwickshire, is pleasantly situated on a tributary of the Avon, on the railway from Coventry to Leamington, 5 miles distant from both towns, and 99 miles north from London. The town is only of importance from its antiquarian interest and the magnificent ruins of its old castle. The most probable derivation of its name, which in Domesday is written Chinewrde, is from Cenundf, king of the Mercians, and werthe, a dwelling-place. The old royal residence of the Saxon kings was destroyed in the wars between Edward and Canute. The manor of Kenilworth was bestowed by Henry I on Geoffrey de Clinton, afterwards lord chiefjustice, who erected the earlier portion of the present castle. By his grandson Henry de Clinton it was given to King John, and it remained a royal residence until the time of Henry III., who granted it to Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester. After the battle of Evesham, 14th August 1265, at which Simon de Montfort was slain, the rebel forces rallied at the castle, when it sustained a siege of six months, but finally capitulated to Henry III., who bestowed it on his son Edmund. After being used as the prison of Edward II. previous to his removal to Berkeley, it came into the possession of John of Gaunt, by whom it was greatly enlarged. On his son becoming king as Henry IV., it was made a royal residence, and it remained in the possession of the crown until Queen Elizabeth in 1562 granted it to Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, who spent a large sum in restoring it, and whose splendid entertainments there to Elizabeth are described in Scott’s novel of Kenilworth. During the civil war it was dismantled by the soldiers of Cromwell, and it was thenceforth abandoned to decay. Since the Restoration it has belonged to the house of ...