ALCESTER (aul'stur), a market-town, Warwickshire, 16m. W.S.W. of Warwick on the Great Western, Southern, and London, Midland and Scottish railways. Population of rural district (1931) 11,233. It is situated at the junction of the small stream Alne with the Arrow, a northern tributary of the Avon.
The name (Alnecestre, Alyncester) signifies "the camp on the Alne." A small Romano-British town or village was situated here on the road which ran from Derby to join the Fosse Way near Cirencester. Pavements, potsherds, coins and burials have been found, but nothing to indicate an important station. No written document relating to Alcester exists before the reign of Henry I. when it seems to have been a royal borough, but the title of borough soon lapsed. In the reign of Henry III. a moiety of the manor was purchased by Sir Walter Beauchamp, who granted a charter establishing a Tuesday market for corn, cattle and all kinds of merchandise, and also obtained grants of fairs. In 1444 Sir John Beauchamp purchased the remaining moiety of the manor, and was granted an additional fair. From this date the Beauchamps were lords of the whole manor until it passed by female descent to the Grevilles in the reign of Henry VIII. In 114o a Benedictine monastery was founded here by Ralph Boteler of Oversley, and received the name of the Church of Our Lady of the Isle, owing to its insulation by a moat meeting the River Arrow. The monastery was suppressed among the smaller houses in 1536. Traces of the moat and the founda tions are still to be seen in Priory Close. The ancient fairs sur vived to the end of the igth century. The church of St. Nich olas was rebuilt in The manufacture of needles, which employed i hands in 1830, is now unimportant, having been absorbed into the centre of the industry at Redditch. There are implement and cycle works, metal glazing and polishing being a special feature.