The History of Atherstone

The small North Warwickshire Market town of Atherstone has a long and varied history reflected in its archaeology, its architecture and in the character of its people.

Archaeological evidence in the locality, stone flints and axes and the hilltop fort of Oldbury, show that Iron age people lived in the vicinity in Prehistoric times. Also that the Roman Legionaries were stationed in Mancetter during the period of the British rebellion around A.D. 60. Some historians, basing their evidence on Tacitus, believe that the final battle in which Boudicca and many of her followers were defeated and killed was fought in the Atherstone area. Further evidence of Roman occupation has been discovered in excavations on the South side of the Watling Street at Witherley. Here, around 100A.D. pottery was manufactured and marketed; Mancetter mixing bowls have been found as far north as Hadrians Wall. The industry flourished until about 370A.D. after which the Romans left Britain.

The Saxons

Although little direct written evidence is available for the period after the Romans left, it is clear that Anglo Saxon people settled in the area. Atherstone could well have developed from the Saxon Aethelred's Tun which was established on the Watling St. at the point of its crossing with the road from Derby and Ashby to Coleshill and Oxford.

Hartshill and Oldbury were settled during this period and the Mother Church of the four communities, Atherstone Hartshill Oldbury and Mancetter, was founded on the former Roman site at Mancetter.

In the late Saxon period the Domesday Survey informs us that Atherstone belonged to the Countess Godiva (of Coventry fame) and consisted of 360 acres of arable, 6 acres of Meadow and 2 leagues of Woodland. There were 13 families living there with a population of around 60 persons. From the sparse evidence available we can build up an imaginary picture of Atherstone about 1066 at the Norman Conquest. Clustered on the crossroads of the Watling St. would have been a group of wooden houses, barns, stable etc., thatched with reeds and turf and surrounded by the open fields.

The Medieval Town

This was the manor, or estate, that was given, by Hugh Earl of Chester who then owned it, to the Monks of Bec in the 11c. Fortunately for the future town the monks were able to see the potential of the sites' advantageous trading position. They established a market town with a twice-weekly market and an annual fair. They administered the town through visiting officials. Burgage tenements, plots of land of equal size, were set out around the market area and along the Watling St. Tenants were freed from agriculture service to the manor and able to concentrate on developing trade. The low lying site failed to attract trade during the winter months and the borough status, envisaged by the monks was never achieved.

The 16c was a period of great crisis and change in the town. The growth of population caused serious problems of food supply to a population relying mainly on agriculture. Overcrowded living conditions caused by the restrictions of the surrounding open fields worsened the recurrent problem of epidemics. In 1558-9, when influenza devastated many towns, Atherstone lost a large number of the more active inhabitants. Again in 1604 disease, probably plague, killed 145 people and many families disappeared from the records after this time.

Despite these setbacks Atherstone market continued to thrive in the 17c and the basis for the towns hat trade was established. The names Wilday and Hatton, later hat manufacturers, are recorded as felt makers. The market catered for many different trades during the 17c and its cleanliness and efficiency were assured by the officers of the manor court. Tanners, leather workers, blacksmiths, ironmongers, pewter makers, rope makers, cutlers and saddle makers all traded their goods. Traders gradually sought more comfortable conditions than the open market and the old tenements in the Market Place and Long Street became retail shops.

At the end of the 17c the imaginary picture of Atherstone shows us a town of about 1200 persons. The busy market place bustled with life as people left their timber framed thatched roofed houses to conduct their trade. Travellers to the town from the rural hinterland, dirty from their journey on the muddy roads, would be impressed by some of the new architecture. Brick buildings with semi classical leanings and tiled roofs.

Farming

Although many traders were developing in Atherstone we must remember that, until the 18c most of Atherstone's population was involved in agriculture, either directly or indirectly. The development of the town and the community living in it was dominated by the need to provide sufficient food, warmth and clothing from the large open fields and the surrounding woodland and wasteland. The arable land was cultivated in strips, each person holding different pieces within the field. The main crop was Barley. Wheat, Rye and Maslin, a mixture of cereals, were also grown. Oats, beans and peas were grown as food f or the poor and fodder for the animals. Cows, horses, sheep and pigs grazed on the arable after the harvest. The inhabitants of the Burgage plots also had grazing rights on the meadowland by the river and in the woods and wasteland.

Until the 16c the freeholders of the manor had been in a good position to advance both their financial and social status. The lack of a resident lord of the manor had given the more enterprising an opportunity to become influential in the administration of the town and to acquire more rights than had originally been intended. Later however, after dissolution of the monasteries and following unfavourable legislation in the commonwealth period, many of the small landholders were forced to sell their rights to wealthy families and become wage labourers.

The Bracebridge family was eventually in the position of majority holders in the manor and sponsored a bill in Parliament to enclose the fields. This was finally achieved, after years of dissension, in 1763.

The Canal & Railway

After the enclosure of the fields more land became available for expansion. A canal Wharf with stables and warehouse was built by the Minion family in Coleshill Road, in the late 18c. The family lived in the Queens Head Inn and were coal and corn dealers. The idea of a canal running through Atherstone linking the Trent and Mersey canal to Coventry and Banbury was first mooted in 1767 by Josiah Wedgewood, the great pottery manufacturer. He saw the canal as a means of carrying clay, pottery and coal south through the Midlands. After a meeting at Coleshill an Act of Parliament was passed on January 29, 1768 agreeing to the line of the canal. James Brindley was appointed engineer and surveyor but he delegated much of his responsibilities to resident engineers and was finally dismissed in 1769.

By the end of 1771 the canal was open from Coventry to Atherstone but remained isolated for some years owing to a disagreement. The colliery owners of the Atherstone area were happy with the situation since it prevented coal from other areas being brought in and breaking their monopoly. Eighteen years later the Birmingham Fazeley canal was built and only in 1790 was the Atherstone Fazeley link made which finally connected London with the North. The completion of the canal brought prosperity to the town. Coal lime, limestone and corn could all be transported more economically and tradesmen and innkeepers reaped the benefit from the influx of labourers, engineers and boat people. An added bonus, due to the easy access of coal, was the building of the gas works on the canal side in 1841.

Canal traffic however moved slowly. The faster railways signalled the beginning of the end for the canals. Minions Wharf was superseded by the Railways goods yard as the centre of trade in Atherstone in the second half of the 19c. and remained so well into this century. The railway, which passes through Atherstone, is part of the Trent Valley line running from Rugby to Stafford. The company received and Act of Parliament for the right of construction in 1845.

Land for the laying of the two-track railway was acquired in 1846 from William Stratford Dugdale M.P. of Merevale Hall, and the line was opened to passengers in 1847. Further land was purchased in 1856 and the station building, now standing, was erected. Omnibuses from the Red Lion met every train arriving in Atherstone and goods were delivered to the surrounding districts from those inns which had their own horse conveyance. The railway company's own horse drawn vehicles were also available for local deliveries, the shire horses being stabled in the Goods Yard. Virtually all goods needed in the town arrived by rail between 1850 and 1930.

The line was electrified in 1964 but traffic continued to decline and by 1972 Atherstone station had become an unmanned halt.

Victorian Atherstone

Both the canal and railway had a considerable effect on the development of the town in the 19c. By the middle of the century the population was 3819, growing by 1891 to 4991. The increase was due to a large extent to the hatting industry. In 1851 there were four hat manufacturers. Joseph Wilday was the largest of these employing 105 men and 85 women.

The physical development of the town was still very much centred on Long Street and the Market Square. Coleshill Road developed after the opening of the canal wharf and the Railway Goods Yard. The large private houses and shops fronting the main street concealed a network of small houses where the working population lived. The accommodation in these "Yards" was very limited and overcrowding was common. There were often as many as ten people living in one small house. In the older yards one tap and one closet was shared by many families. Life was difficult and some found themselves having to move in to the workhouse, on the site of the Regal Cinema. In 1892 there were 40 inmates.

Until the 1840's education was restricted to those who could pay. There were several small private schools in the town and of course the Free Grammar School. This was housed in the chancel of St. Mary's Church until a new school was built on the corner of North Street in the late 19c. This became the upper part of Atherstone School in 1976. Provision for the education of the working class population became more general after 1870. In 1882 a board school was opened in North Street and this was followed by a Girls School in Owen Street.

Church going was an important part of the Victorian's way of life. In the early part of the century St. Peters Church Mancetter was, as it had been for centuries, the Mother Church of Atherstone. By the 19c the population of the town had grown to such and extent that in 1825 St. Mary's became an independent parish. During the years 1848-50 the church was rebuilt with a new, larger nave. Later, after the removal of the Boys Grammar School, the Chancel, which had been the ancient church of the Friars, was refurbished and linked to the new building.

The needs of the Roman Catholic community were provided for in 1859 when a group of Benedictine nuns came to a convent on the southern outskirts of the town. They replaced the Dominican nuns who had been there since 1837. They built a church, a presbytery and a school in Owen Street. A number of non-conformist churches were also built during the 19c.

By the end of the Victorian era the people of Atherstone had the advantages of almost full employment, basic education, and adequate provision for their spiritual needs. They suffered however from the severe disadvantages of bad housing. This was not improved until well after the First World War.

Twentieth Century

During the present century the population of Atherstone has continued to increase highlighting the housing problem. Large areas of slum dwellings were cleared in the 1930's and again in the 1950's. The demolition of the "Yards" was accompanied by the provision of new housing, largely council housing, in the 1930's ands 1950' s. This was followed by a subsequent provision of private dwellings.

The pattern of industry has changed. Although the hatting industry remains it is only a remnant of its former self. The development of industrial estates in the 1970's and 80's have successfully capitalised on the town's position in relation to the country's road network.

One feature of the town's activities would be familiar to our predecessors, the Ball Game. Atherstone is one of the few places where this medieval custom of Shrovetide Football in the streets survives. The ball game perhaps provides a good illustration of the character of Atherstone - a place determined to maintain its character and its historical links but one which has always been - and still remains - able to adapt to the changes which development brings.

"Atherstone through the lens, a photographic history 1892-1992" by M J Alexander. Copies available from Atherstone Library. Also available from Atherstone Library: "Atherstone - An outline history of a North Warwickshire town".