ATHERSTONE, market-town, Warwickshire, England, 102i m. N.W. from London by railway. Population of rural district 21, 736 (1931) . It lies in the upper valley of the Anker, and is on the Coventry canal.
Atherstone (Aderestone, Edridestone, Edrichestone) is men tioned in Domesday Book among the possessions of Countess Godiva, the widow of Leofric. In the reign of Henry III. it passed to the monks of. Bec in Normandy, who in 1246 obtained the grant of an annual fair at the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin, and the next year of a market every Tuesday. This market became so much frequented that in 1319 a toll was levied upon all goods coming into the town, in order to repair the roads, and in 1332 a similar toll was levied on all goods passing over the bridge called Feldenbrigge, near Atherstone. The September fair and Tuesday markets are still continued.