Kenilworth

Kenilworth, town in Warwick District, Warwickshire, West Midlands of England. Kenilworth is largely a residential area with some light industry. The town grew around a castle founded in the early 12th century, which was granted to Simon de Montfort by Henry III. In 1562 Elizabeth I gave the castle to her favourite, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Although it was largely dismantled by the forces of Oliver Cromwell after 1648, the castle was later celebrated in the romance Kenilworth by the Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott. Population 21,623 (1991).