Atherstone

Template:GBmap Atherstone is a town in Warwickshire, England. The town is located near the northern most tip of Warwickshire, close to the border with Staffordshire, and is the administrative headquarters of the North Warwickshire district.

Atherstone itself has a population of 8,293 (2001 census), the population of its urban area which includes Mancetter is 10,742.

Atherstone has a long history going back to Roman times. An important defended Roman settlement named Manduessedum existed at Mancetter near the site of modern day Atherstone, and the Roman road, the Watling Street (now known as the A5) ran through the town. It is believed by some historians that the rebel Queen of the Britons Boudica was defeated at the Battle of Watling Street by the Romans in her final battle near Manduessedum.

The ancient St Mary’s chapel in Atherstone dates from the early twelfth century when the monks of Bec made a donation of twelve acres to a house of friars hermits, later referred to as “Austin friars”. According to Nichols the chapel was granted to Henry Cartwright in 1542, then left abandoned and neglected until 1692 when Samuel Bracebridge gent. settled a yearly sum for the parson of Manceter to preach there every other Sunday in the Winter season (p. 1038)

After this, St Mary’s chapel seems to have experienced something of a revival, its square tower being rebuilt in the fashionable “Gothic” style in 1782. This drastic alteration probably aroused some controversy. although the fine architectural drawing of the chapel made by Mr Schnebbelie in 1790 prompted Nichols to assert that “the new tower provides a good effect”.

It is said that the Battle of Bosworth actually took place in the fields of Merevale above Atherstone. Certainly reparation was made to Atherstone after the battle, and not to Market Bosworth.

Atherstone was once an important hatting town, and became well known for its felt hats. The industry began in the 17th century, and at its height there were seven firms employing 3000 people. Due to cheap imports, the trade had largely died out by the 1960s, and ended completely in 1998. In recent years Atherstone has been promoting itself as a "book town".

Tudor Atherstone was a thriving commercial centre for weaving and clothmaking. Atherstone’s favourable situation, laid out as a long ‘ribbon development’ along Watling Street, ensured its growth as a market town. While the town was still primarily an agricultural settlement in medieval times, attempts were made to encourage merchants and traders through the creation of burgage plots, a type of land tenure giving them special privileges. A manuscript discovered by Marjorie Morgan among the muniments of Cambridge’s Kings College (Ms.C9), refers to the creation of nine new burgage strips from land belonging to seven of the tenants in Atherstone vill.

By the late Tudor periods Atherstone had become a thriving centre for leatherworking, clothmaking, metalworking and ale-brewing. Local sheep farmers and cattle graziers supplied wool and leather to local tanners and shoemakers, while metalworkers, locksmiths and nailers fired their furnaces with local coal and the alemakers supplied thirsty palates on market days.

Marion Alexander’s survey of sixteenth century Mancetter probate wills and inventories gives a fascinating and informative coverage of these local trades and occupations. The 40 inventories listed for Atherstone include that of John Drayton (1556), here described as a butcher and elsewhere styled ‘yeoman’, and William Drayton (1557), a leather tanner. Hugh Drayton, who is also described as a tanner was probably related to the alehouse keeper of the same name mentioned in a 1597 Leicester archdeaconry court case relating to events which took place at the annual fair. Marion points out that tanners and butchers often engaged in farming and that many of these occupations were complimentary - farmers slaughtering their own cattle to provide tanned hides for shoemakers and saddlers.

Atherstone was also an important centre for weaving and clothmaking. The area marked ‘Tenter Flatt’ on the Bracebridge map were probably used for stretching and drying cloth. William Reppington, a forebear of the family that later bought the manor of Atherstone, was a weaver and among those who left inventories are Hugh Middleton, a prosperous draper and Henry Blew, a ‘haberdasher’, selling finished cloths and felt hats.

Late medieval manor court rolls provide clear evidence that local women brewed ale to sell in the local alehouses, and that two ale tasters were employed to supervise the trade. Benjamin Bartlett, the 18th century antiquary, author of the famous History of Mancetter, observed that the town was ‘walled with ale and paved with marble’. Francis Goddard’s reference to 32 alehouses in Atherstone in 1720 also suggests there was also a thriving alehouse trade in Elizabethan times as local villagers from the surrounding area crowded into the town on market days.

The sixteenth-century inventories reveal that the houses in Atherstone were quite modest in size, even though many were double-storied. Although many had ‘shops’ and there were numerous baking houses, dairies, malt-houses, kilnhouses, candlemaking rooms and tanneries attached to the premises, they rarely had more than four living rooms. Larger residences such as John Abel’s Mansion house with eleven rooms, and Nicholas Lawrence’s Oldbury manor on the outskirts of the town, which had sixteen rooms, reveal the town’s popularity as a haven for retired gentlemen.

Although only one of the surviving inventories - John Rampton’s - belongs to a miller (described both as a yeoman and a miller in 1557), there were probably others. Two mills are recorded in 1573, a windmill a watermill, grinding corn for bakers like Richard Knight, who also left an inventory. According to the antiquary John Nichols, as far back as 1388 several inhabitants of the town were fined for failing to bake bread in the public bakehouse in Bakehouse Lane, and as late as 1780 copyholders were still being obliged to grind their malt at a horse mill in this lane running off the market square

The surviving inventories from 16th century Mancetter provide a fascinating glimpse into Atherstone’s Elizabethan merchants and traders, before the town was economically overshadowed by the bustling city of Coventry. They show Atherstone at this time as a typical midland market town, taking full advantage of its location and agricultural setting.

Atherstone is close to the River Anker which forms the border between Warwickshire and Leicestershire. The Coventry Canal runs through the town, as does the West Coast Main Line railway. Atherstone has a railway station on this line, but currently very few trains call at it. Though temporaily closed, the line now has its first direct train to London for many years.

The historic station building, built in 1847, was under threat of demolition in the early 1980s. Thanks to local campaigners listed status was obtained, with the building celebrating its 150th Anniversary in 1997. Building work won a special Ian Allen conservation award.

Its co-ordinates are 52°35′00″N 01°31′00″W (52.5833, -1.5167)¹.

Shrovetide football

An annual tradition in Atherstone is Shrove Tuesday Football or mob football played on public highways with large crowds. The game celebrated its 800th anniversary in 1999.

The game is a complete free-for-all played along Watling Street (the old Roman Road) at the point where it forms the main street of Atherstone town. The ball is decorated with red, white and blue ribbons and is filled with water to make it too heavy to kick far. The match starts at 3pm when the ball is thrown from the window of Barclays Bank and continues until about 5pm. However the ball may legitimately be deflated or hidden after 4.30pm. There are no teams and no goals, though in the last century the match was played between a team from Warwickshire and one from Leicestershire. Whoever is able to hang onto the ball at the end of the game not only wins the game but is allowed to keep the ball as well.

This traditional Shrove Tuesday 'ball game' has been held annually since the early 12th Century and is one of Atherstone's claims to fame. The origin of the game, in the reign of King John, is thought to have been a "Match of Gold that was played betwixt the Warwickshire Lads and the Leicestershire Lads on Shrove Tuesday".

The 'ball' used is specially made each year and is 'thrown out' by a prominent sporting or show business personality. Shop windows are boarded up and traffic is diverted on the afternoon whilst the game, in which hundreds of people take part, progresses along the town's main streets.

See also

• Mancetter

External links

• Atherstone Forum Atherstone online forum, events, news.
• Atherstone Organised News, photos, jobs, property, blogs.
• Atherstone History Includes Earls of Atherstone, 1843 Atherstone ‘Cyclopædia’ Entry, Merevale Abbey and the myth of King Arthur's burial in Atherstone.
• Atherstone Booktown Background, bookshops, and James Hanna.
• Hatters town A fun site, Atherstone forum, chatroom 24/7 hosted wednesdays from 9pm, photographs, message boards, links.

Shrovetide football links

• Atherstone Ball Game History, news reports and videos.
• Town succumbs to ball game fever BBC news story (8 February, 2005)
• Dive for cover - it's the Atherstone Ball Game! A report from the BBC