Chesterton: A Roman Town and an Inigo Jones Windmill
Chesterton is a small village in the civil parish of Chesterton and Kingston, in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. It lies approximately 5 miles south of Leamington Spa, near the villages of Harbury and Lighthorne, along the course of the ancient Roman Fosse Way.
The site has been inhabited since at least the 1st century AD, when a significant Roman town — possibly the station known as Mediolanum — developed along the Fosse Way. The settlement, covering approximately 27 hectares, included a defended enclosure, roads, buildings, and industrial areas; archaeological excavations have uncovered pottery, painted wall plaster, flue tiles, and Roman coins. A separate Roman villa with mosaic floors was discovered nearby. The village is recorded in the Domesday Book under variations of the name "Cestedone" (1086), evolving through Cestertona, Chastreton, and Casterton before settling as Chesterton by 1350. From the 1350s, the Peyto family were lords of the manor; their house, enlarged in 1630 to designs attributed to Inigo Jones, was demolished in 1802.
The village's most celebrated monument is Chesterton Windmill (1632), a Grade I listed structure designed by or attributed to Inigo Jones. Built on six arches above a hill overlooking the Fosse Way, it is one of the most architecturally distinctive windmills in England. The structure has even inspired scholarly debate about its possible influence on the Newport Tower in Rhode Island, USA. Actress Sophie Turner spent part of her childhood in the village.
Points of interest: - Population: Approx. 123 inhabitants (2011 census). - Distance: 5 miles south of Leamington Spa; 7 miles from Warwick. - Attractions: Chesterton Windmill (Grade I listed, 1632), Roman town earthworks on the Fosse Way, Church of St Giles (12th century).