1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Atherstone

The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the day. The articles are still of value and interest to modern scholars as cultural artifacts of the 19th and early 20th centuries; they contain, however, a number of problematic areas for the modern scholar using them as a source. The eleventh edition is no longer restricted by copyright and has become available online, both in its original text and where parts of it have been incorporated into other online encyclopedias and works. Wikipedia

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Atherstone

ATHERSTONE, a market-town in the Nuneaton parliamentary division of Warwickshire, England, 1022 miles North West from London by the London & North-Western railway, population (1901) 5248. It lies in the upper valley of the Anker, under well-wooded hills to the west, and is on the Roman Watling Street, and the Coventry canal.

The chief industry is hat-making. On the high ground to the west lie ruins of the Cistercian abbey of Merevale, founded in 1149; they include the gatehouse chapel, part of the refectory and other remains exhibiting beautiful details of the 14th century. Coal is worked at Baxterley, 3 miles west of Atherstone.

Atherstone (Aderestone, Edridestone, Edrichestone), though not mentioned in any pre-Conquest record, is of unquestionably ancient origin. A Saxon barrow was opened near the town in 1824. It is traversed by Watling Street, and portions of the ancient Roman road have been discovered in modern times.

Atherstone is mentioned in Domesday among the possessions of Countess Godiva, the widow of Leofric. In the reign of Henry III. it passed to the monks of Bec in Normandy, who in 1246 obtained the grant of an annual fair at the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin, and the next year of a market every Tuesday. This market became so much frequented that in 1319 a toll was levied upon all goods coming into the town, in order to defray the cost of the repair to the roads necessitated by the constant traffic, and in 1332 a similar toll was levied on all goods passing over the bridge called Feldenbrigge near Atherstone. The September fair and Tuesday markets are still continued.

In the reign of Edward III. a house of Austin Friars was founded at Atherstone by Ralph Lord Basset of Drayton, which, however, never rose to much importance, and at its dissolution in 1536 was valued at 30 shillings and 3 pence only.

Transcribed from original source.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2.