Visiting Rugby

Rugby offers a wide range of attractions both within the town centre and around the borough.

Each year a Visitor Guide is published detailing the full range of attractions on offer. If you would like a copy please contact Rugby Visitor Centre on +44(0)1788 533217 or email the Visitor Centre at visitor.centre@rugby.gov.uk or visit their website enjoyrugby.info

Home of rugby football

It is for one reason alone that Rugby is known all over the world - as
the birthplace of the game of rugby football. Now a sport played and
appreciated by millions, the game of rugby began on the Close at Rugby School in 1823 when William Webb Ellis first took the ball in his arm and ran with it.

The close at Rugby School is little changed today, drawing many visitors each year who wish to stand in the exact spot "where the game began".

The statue of William Webb Ellis which stands in the centre of Rugby is a tribute to Rugby's most famous son and was commissioned after a public appeal raised funds from across the world.

There's more to Rugby Than Rugby

The town and Borough of Rugby has much more to offer than its unique connection with the famous game. Great literary figures such as Rupert Brooke, Matthew Arnold and Lewis Carroll attended Rugby School and their time there is commemorated throughout the school buildings.

It was in the pretty village of Dunchurch that the Gunpowder Plot conspirators waited to hear whether their ill-fated scheme had been successful and at nearby Coombe Abbey that the young Princes Elizabeth was held as the events unravelled.

Beyond the town centre lie delightful, unspoilt countryside, country parks, working farms, nature reserves and Sculpture Art Park. These are more fully described in the Where to Visit links below.