Atherstone railway station

Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire which is here formed by the River Anker. It is only 4+1⁄2 miles (7 kilometres) from Staffordshire, situated between the larger towns of Tamworth and Nuneaton. Atherstone is the administrative centre of the North Warwickshire district, with the offices of North Warwickshire Borough Council located in the town. Atherstone is probably most well known for its tradition of holding an annual Shrove Tuesday Ball Game in the streets, which has been played annually for over 800 years since 1199. In the 2021 census the population of the civil parish of Atherstone was at 9,212. The population of the larger built-up area which includes the adjoining village of Mancetter was 11,259.

St. Mary's Church, Atherstone is a Grade II* listed parish church in Atherstone, North Warwickshire, England.The stonework in the tower is in poor condition and hence the church is listed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register.

Atherstone Town Community Football Club is a football club based in Atherstone, Warwickshire, England. They are currently members of the Midland League Premier Division and play at Sheepy Road.

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.

North Warwickshire is a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Warwickshire, West Midlands, England. The borough includes the two towns of Atherstone (where the council is based) and Coleshill, and the large villages of Polesworth, Kingsbury, Hartshill and Water Orton. The North Warwickshire district was created on 1 April 1974 by a merger of the Atherstone Rural District and parts of the Meriden Rural District (the rest of which was merged into the West Midlands county).North Warwickshire is a mostly rural area with several small market towns and a number of former mining villages. The area historically had a large coal mining industry, but this has now all died out. The last coal mine in the area, Daw Mill at Arley, closed in 2013. The district is relatively remote from the rest of Warwickshire, as the county is almost split in two by the West Midlands Boroughs of Solihull and Coventry. The borough borders the neighboring Warwickshire district of Nuneaton and Bedworth to the south-south-east, Staffordshire to the west and northwest, Leicestershire to the north and northeast, the cities of Birmingham and Coventry to the southwest and southeast. The borough's landscape is primarily of the mildly undulating agricultural variety, with the North Warwickshire plateau rising to 177 m (581 ft) above sea-level at Bentley Common, 2.5 miles southwest of Atherstone. The most significant bodies of water within North Warwickshire are Kingsbury Water Park, Shustoke Reservoir, the River Blythe and the mid-section of the Coventry Canal. The boundaries of North Warwickshire are similar to those of the North Warwickshire parliamentary constituency. However the constituency also includes the town of Bedworth, but does not include the villages of Hartshill and Arley. The local MP is Craig Tracey. In 2007 the Conservatives took overall control of the borough council for the first time since the creation of the council within its current boundaries. The council was retaken by Labour in 2011, then returned to Conservative control in 2015.

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.

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.

Atherstone Priory was a priory in Atherstone Warwickshire, England. The first monastic site in Atherstone was an Augustinian friary founded in the centre of the town in 1374 by Ralph, Lord Bassett of Drayton. Henry VII, as he was to become, took communion there before the Battle of Bosworth. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 the nave became the town's parish church of St Mary, the chancel a grammar school and the remaining land leased to a Mr Cartwright. In 1837–41 a new priory, known as the Convent of the Rosary, was built by Joseph Hansom in the east of the town for Dominican nuns. After several years of financial hardship they were obliged to sell it in 1857 to the Benedictine nuns of St. Benedict's Priory, Colwich as a daughter house. The new priory convent, dedicated to St Scholastica, was founded in 1859 when a group of 19 nuns moved to Atherstone from Colwich. The priory was enlarged in 1873, again by Hansom. Faced by falling numbers and encouraged by the Vatican Council, St Scholastica's voted in 1966 to rejoin Colwich. On 31 July 1967 the eighteen members of the Atherstone community transferred to Colwich and the Atherstone property was sold. The graves of the nuns were moved to St Mary's churchyard and the building demolished. The site is now a housing estate.

The River Sence is a river which flows in Leicestershire, England. The tributaries of the Sence, including the Saint and Tweed, fan out over much of western Leicestershire from Charnwood Forest and Coalville in the north-east to Hinckley and almost to Watling Street in the south and south-west. Its watershed almost coincides with Hinckley and Bosworth Borough of Leicestershire, which was formed in 1974 by amalgamation of Market Bosworth Rural District and Hinckley Urban District. It flows into the Anker, which in turn flows into the River Tame. It is part of the wider River Trent catchment, which covers much of central England. In 1881, Sebastian Evans wrote that the usual names for this river were Shenton Brook and Sibson Brook.

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).

The Queen Elizabeth Academy (formerly Queen Elizabeth School) is a mixed secondary school with academy status. It is located on Witherley Road, Atherstone, Warwickshire, England, and the Principal is Mr N. Harding. The school is dependent on the 4 values (pride, endeavour, kindness, resilience)