Atherstone on Stour is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

about south of

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, England. The 2011 Census recorded the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

's population as 59.

Parish church

Atherstone on Stour's

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

was demolished in the 1870s and replaced with the present

church of

St Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

, which was completed in 1876. It incorporates masonry from the previous church, including the heads of two 14th-century windows and a wall-mounted marble

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

to William Thomas, who died in 1710. St Mary's is now redundant and in 2008 was converted into a private house. Atherstone on Stour is now part of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

parish of St Mary,

Preston-on-Stour Preston on Stour is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. History It is situated some four kilometres south of the town of Stratford-upon-Avon. The population of the civil parish as at the 2011 census was 244. As its name sugges ...

, which is the next village to the south.

Houses

Alscot Park is a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

about south of the village. It has a 17th-century or earlier core but was remodelled in

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

style in 1750–52. At the same time the grounds were

landscaped Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

, probably with advice from

Sanderson Miller Sanderson Miller (1716 – 23 April 1780) was an English pioneer of Gothic revival architecture and landscape designer. He is noted for adding follies or other Picturesque garden buildings and features to the grounds of an estate. Early life ...

. A new wing was added to the house in 1764. Cutlin Mill Cottage was a 17th-century

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

cottage with brick nogging and a

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

roof. It was by the bridge over the River Stour southeast of the village, on the road to Ailstone. It was associated with a

corn mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

that was later converted into an oil mill. The cottage was

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed but was abandoned because it suffered from flooding. The Alscot Estate let it fall into disrepair and in 2004 applied for listed building consent to demolish it. The

Ancient Monuments Society The Ancient Monuments Society (AMS) is a learned society and registered charity in England and Wales, founded in 1924 "for the study and conservation of ancient monuments, historic buildings and fine old craftsmanship". Since October 2021, the org ...

opposed the application. On 28 May 2010 the cottage was destroyed by fire. The estate demolished the ruins and then applied retrospectively for the cottage to be de-listed.

RAF Atherstone

RAF Atherstone was a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

air station east of the village that trained aircrew for

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

. It opened in 1941, was renamed RAF Stratford in 1942 and closed in 1945. The site is now used mainly for warehouses.

Warehouse fire

On 2 November 2007 a large fire at a vegetable warehouse on the former airfield operated by Wealmoor Ltd made the national news and resulted in the deaths of four

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service serving the county of Warwickshire in the West Midlands region of England. The service covers an area of and a population of around 546,600 people. It employs 550 st ...

firefighters: John Averis, Ian Reid (who died in hospital), Ashley Stephens and Darren Yates-Badley. In February 2011 three senior officers of the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service were charged with

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

by gross negligence over the deaths. In May 2012 all three officers were acquitted of all charges.

Gallery

File:Neale(1818) p2.020 - Alscot Park, Gloucestershire.jpg, Alscot Park in 1818. File:Atherstone on Stour, Thatched Cottage - geograph.org.uk - 60826.jpg, 17th-century Cutlin Mill Cottage derelict in 2005. It burnt down in 2010.

Parish church

Houses

RAF Atherstone

Warehouse fire

Gallery

References

Sources

External links