What to See in Rugby - Top Sights and Attractions

The Macready Theatre is a professional theatre on Lawrence Sheriff Street in the town centre of Rugby, Warwickshire, it is owned by Rugby School.

The theatre is housed in an old Victorian building which dates from 1885 which was originally built as classrooms for Rugby School. In 1975 it was converted into a theatre, named after the actor and former Rugby School pupil William Charles Macready (1793–1873). The theatre was however not opened up to the public until December 2018. The theatre intends to give away one third of its tickets to local school groups for free, in response to cuts made to arts teaching in state schools.

The theatre has 250 seats, and was fitted with a lift for people with disabilities, and is complete with a bar and foyer.^[1]

Rugby Theatre is an amateur theatre in Rugby, Warwickshire, located in Henry Street in the town centre.

In 1946 the Rugby Amateur Theatre Society was formed with the intention of founding a permanent theatre in the town, in 1949 they obtained a former cinema on the current site on Henry Street and set about converting it into a theatre. Today the theatre society has over 500 members.

The main theatre has 270 seats, and puts on up to twelve live shows a year, ranging from classical drama to musicals, as well as hosting musical entertainments, and showing up to 20 films a year in the small cinema.

The theatre is a member of the Little Theatre Guild of Great Britain, as well as being affiliated to the National Operatic and Dramatic Association and the Association of British Theatre Technicians.^[4]

Park in Rugby, England. Caldecott Park is an urban park located in the centre of Rugby, England. Most of the land was purchased by the Rugby Urban District Council in 1903 from Thomas Caldecott, the last lord of the manor. There was additional land purchased to the north of the original park in 1911, bringing the park to its current size of 10.6 acres.

In other respects though the park has changed a lot. There used to be an ornamental lake in the centre of the park, but that was filled in 1922. The Second World War saw the removal of a floral staircase as well as the original iron park railings which were taken away as part of the war effort. The 1970s saw the loss of many of the trees in the park to Dutch Elm Disease.

However, in the 1990s there has been a programme of tree replanting. Also in 1996 a series of entertainment events were organised over the summer months. These have continued since and there are also craft fairs, art exhibitions and musical performances on the bandstand. Other attractions include a children's play area, tennis courts, a bowling green and a small kiosk which sells refreshments.

Now, to celebrate Saint Georges Day, scouts march from Caldecott park to St Andrews Church.

In 2006 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded Rugby Borough Council just under £1,000,000 to restore the park. In November 2007 the final plans had been drawn up and were awaiting final permission to proceed. Plans included: replacing the current fencing with old style fencing like the ones removed in the Second World War; to relay the footpaths; to modernise the play areas; to build a cafe; to develop formal sports pitches and to re-create the floral steps and were passed. Work was completed in spring 2009 and the park was officially opened on 2 May with speeches from local dignitaries and displays by locals schools. In 2013 Caldecott Park was dedicated as a Fields in Trust, Queen Elizabeth II Field - and protected in perpetuity for public recreation.^[5]

Museum in Rugby, England. The Webb Ellis Rugby Football Museum is a rugby football museum in the town centre of Rugby in Warwickshire, England, near Rugby School. It takes its name from William Webb Ellis who is credited with inventing the game of Rugby football.

The museum, (previously known as the James Gilbert Rugby Football Museum) opened in the 1980, and is housed in the building where the shoe and boot maker James Gilbert, (nephew of William Gilbert), first made rugby balls in 1842. On its premises (see image) it is identified as The Rugby Museum.

The museum is packed with much rugby memorabilia, including a Gilbert football of the kind used at Rugby School that was exhibited at the first World's Fair, at the Great Exhibition in London and the original Richard Lindon (inventor of the rubber bladder for rugby balls) brass hand pump. Traditional handmade rugby balls are still made at the museum.^[6]

Art gallery in Rugby, England. The Rugby Art Gallery and Museum is a combined art gallery and museum in central Rugby, Warwickshire, in England. The purpose-built building housing it is shared with Rugby library; it was opened in 2000 and was built in the place of Rugby's previous library.

The art gallery holds "The Rugby Collection", over 170 items of 20th century and contemporary British art, including prints, drawings and paintings by artists such as L. S. Lowry, Stanley Spencer, Paula Rego and Graham Sutherland. The collection was built up by Rugby Borough Council from 1946 onwards and still collects "works by British artists of 'promise and renown' ". There is also a "Local Art Collection".

The museum hosts a collection of Roman artefacts, excavated from the nearby Roman town of Tripontium. It also has a display of the social and industrial history of Rugby, and the "Redding Collection" of some 25,000 mid-20th-century photographic negatives taken at the Rugby photographic studio of George Redding. In December 2006, the Rugby World Cup was exhibited at the museum.

The facility became the permanent physical home of the World Rugby Hall of Fame in November 2016. However this was closed in 2021, due to financial pressures on the local council, and lower than expected visitor numbers.

The building also houses the town's visitor centre.

As part of a national venture called Get it Loud in Libraries, the building has played host to gigs of various music artists such as Plan B and British Sea Power.^[7]

Public school in Rugby, England. Rugby School is a public school in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.

Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up to 1667, the school remained in comparative obscurity. Its re-establishment by Thomas Arnold during his time as Headmaster, from 1828 to 1841, was seen as the forerunner of the Victorian public school. It was one of nine prestigious schools investigated by the Clarendon Commission of 1864 and later regulated as one of the seven schools included in the Public Schools Act 1868.

The school's alumni – or "Old Rugbeians" – include a UK Prime Minister, several bishops, prominent poets, scientists, writers and soldiers.

Rugby School is the birthplace of Rugby football.^[8]

The Percival Guildhouse is an independent adult education centre and registered charity in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.

It is based in a building on St Matthew Street in the town centre, which dates from the mid-19th century, and which was once the home of the antiquarian Matthew Bloxam (1805-1888). The building itself is grade II listed.

The Percival Guild was founded in 1925 to promote adult education in Rugby, named after John Percival, a former headmaster of Rugby School. Some old boys of Rugby School purchased Bloxam's old home to house the institution creating the Guildhouse.

Today it provides morning, afternoon and evening classes from Monday to Friday in a wide variety of subjects, and has an attached cafe and adjacent gardens which are open to the public, and are alongside the Rugby Art Gallery, Museum & Library.^[9]

Shopping centre in Rugby, England. The Rugby Central Shopping Centre is a two storey shopping precinct in the town centre of Rugby, Warwickshire, England, managed by CBGA Robson LLP. The precinct includes clothes stores, game shops, thrift stores and food outlets. There is a large multi-storey car park at the rear and the towns main bus stops are at the front of the centre. The centre is visited by 100,000 people per week, and has more than 50 outlets.

The precinct, originally opened in 1979, as "Rugby Shopping Centre", changed its name in 1995 to "Clock Towers Shopping Centre" after the clock tower in the town centre, and adapted its name as a theme; the shopping centre features clocks and other time-related decorations, the precinct installed two ornamental clocks, both loosely based on the traditional grandfather clock design. The first, named Chiming Clock, was designed to chime and play music on the hour and half-hour as a tortoise and hare raced around the dials, reenacting Aesop's fable.

It took on its current name in October 2017.^[11]