Baxterley

Baddesley Ensor is a village and civil parish in the district of North Warwickshire in Warwickshire, England, about three miles west of Atherstone. It runs into the village of Grendon, which forms a parish itself.

Bentley is a village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England, about two miles south-west of Atherstone. According to the 2001 Census it had a population of 101. From the 2011 Census the population of Bentley has been included in Merevale.

Bentley Common is a village in Warwickshire, England. For population details see Merevale.

St. Mary The Church of Our Lady Merevale, is a historic parish church in Merevale, Warwickshire is known for its Jesse window. Originally, it was part of Merevale Abbey, but now is a Church of England parish church.

Merevale is a small village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire in England. Located about one and a half miles west of Atherstone, it is the site of a medieval Cistercian Abbey (founded in 1148) and Merevale Hall (built in 1840 and home to the Dugdale family).

Merevale Hall is a private country house in Merevale, near Atherstone, Warwickshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. The estate descends from Merevale Abbey which once stood on the site.The Manor of Merevale was granted in 1540 to Sir Walter Devereux. The Devereux estates were sequestered in 1601 following the attainder and execution of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex for treason.The estate was purchased by Edward Stratford in 1649 and became the seat of the Stratford family. In 1767 the Merevale sole heiress Penelope Stratford married Richard Geast who had inherited the neighbouring estate of Blyth Hall from his maternal uncle John Dugdale in 1749 and who in 1799 adopted the surname Dugdale.The old 17th-century seven bayed manor house was rebuilt in 1840 in monumental style to designs by architect Edward Blore. Particular features include a square central tower and four slim corner towers topped by cupolas.The Dugdales later became Dugdale baronets, of Merevale and Blyth. The family remain in residence at both estates. The Hall is not open to the public.

Mercia (, Old English: Miercna rīċe; Latin: Merciorum regnum) was one of the three main Anglic kingdoms founded after Sub-Roman Britain was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlands of England. A Latinisation of an Old English word derived from the Mercian Old English, Merce, meaning "borderland" (whence the Modern English words mark and march), the kingdom was rendered as Mierce or Myrce in the West Saxon dialect. The name is still used as a geographic designation by a wide range of organisations: military units, public, commercial and voluntary bodies.The royal court moved around the kingdom without a fixed capital city. Early in its existence Repton seems to have been the location of an important royal estate. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it was from Repton in 873–874 that the Great Heathen Army deposed the King of Mercia. Slightly earlier, King Offa seems to have favoured Tamworth. It was there where he was crowned and spent many a Christmas. For 300 years (between 600 and 900), known as Mercian Supremacy or the "Golden Age of Mercia", having annexed or gained submissions from five of the other six kingdoms of the Heptarchy (East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex), Mercia dominated England south of the Humber estuary. During King Offa's reign, a dyke was created as the boundary between Mercia and the Welsh kingdoms. Nicholas Brooks noted that "the Mercians stand out as by far the most successful of the various early Anglo-Saxon peoples until the later ninth century", and some historians, such as Sir Frank Stenton, believe the unification of England south of the Humber estuary was achieved during Offa's reign.King Peada converted to Christianity around 656, the Diocese of Mercia was founded in this year, with the first bishop (Diuma) based at Repton. The religion was firmly established in the kingdom by the late 7th century. After 13 years at Repton, 669 AD, Saint Chad (the fifth bishop) moved the bishopric to Lichfield and, in 691 AD, the Diocese of Mercia became the Diocese of Lichfield. There has been a diocese based in the city ever since. For a brief period between 787 and 799 or 803 the diocese was an archbishopric. The current bishop, Michael Ipgrave, is the 99th since the diocese was established. At the end of the 9th century, following the invasions of the Vikings and their Great Heathen Army, Danelaw absorbed much of the former Mercian territory. Danelaw at its height included London, all of East Anglia and most of the North of England. The final Mercian king, Ceolwulf II, died in 879 with the kingdom appearing to have lost its political independence. Initially, it was ruled by a lord or ealdorman under the overlordship of Alfred the Great, who styled himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons". The kingdom had a brief period of independence in the mid-10th century and in 1016, by which time it was viewed as a province with temporary independence. Wessex conquered and united all the kingdoms into the Kingdom of England. The kingdom became an earldom until 1071.

Baxterley Church is situated at the western side of the parish of Baxterley, Warwickshire, towards Wood End, and dates from the 12th century.

Atherstone is a railway station serving the town of Atherstone in Warwickshire, England. It is on the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Main Line, exactly 102 miles (164 km) from London Euston station.

Dordon is a village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire in England and close to the border with Staffordshire. The village is located on the A5 national route and is contiguous with the larger village of Polesworth. Other nearby places include Tamworth, Atherstone, Grendon, Wood End Village, Baddesley Ensor and Nuneaton. In 2001 the population for the parish of Dordon was 3,225, reducing slightly to 3,215 at the 2011 census.

Atherstone Rural District was located in the administrative county of Warwickshire, England, from 1894 to 1974. It was named after its main town and administrative headquarters of Atherstone. Over the years the district gained territory on the abolition of neighbouring rural districts. In 1932, it gained part of Nuneaton Rural District and in 1965 it gained most of Tamworth Rural District. As with all rural districts, Atherstone RD was abolished in 1974 (by the Local Government Act 1972) and was merged with part of the Meriden Rural District to form the new non-metropolitan district of North Warwickshire.

The Atherstone rail accident happened near Atherstone railway station in the small hours of the morning of 16 November 1860, and killed 10 people. A special cattle train from Holyhead to London via Peterborough was shunting just south of Atherstone station to let the Scotch mail train pass. Before the cattle train could clear the main line, the mail train struck it. The four rear carriages of the cattle train were 'shivered to pieces' killing all nine Irish drovers who were asleep in the brake van and the fireman of the mail train, James Sherry. 29 cattle were killed or had to be slaughtered soon afterwards. The Duke and Duchess of Montrose were passengers on the mail train but escaped without injury. The driver of the mail train was not aware that a cattle train was ahead of him when they left Tamworth (the preceding station) and claimed he had not seen the advance signal at all approaching Atherstone station, but did not worry as he was not aware of there being a train ahead of him. By the time he saw a red signal just before the station he immediately applied the brakes but it was too late to avoid the collision. The enquiry criticized the decision to allow the cattle train to leave Tamworth ahead of the mail train without allowing sufficient time to clear the lines at Atherstone, and of the failure to warn the mail train driver about the train ahead of him. It also criticized the driver for not seeing the advance red signal. A further recommendation was that in future in cattle trains drovers' vans be placed in front of the cattle trucks instead of behind them.