Heritage - The Age of Monastery
North Warwickshire can boast of having more monasteries than any other part of Warwickshire. Religion was a very important part of people’s daily lives in medieval times. The Monasteries and Priories grew in North Warwickshire, with many examples still visible today. The remains of Polesworth Abbey can be found around and within the Abbey church. The monks and nuns provided a place of sanctuary which fulfilled the spiritual needs of the settlers and traveller.
They also farmed the land, and using grinding wheels, milled the corn and wheat. They collected taxes in the Tithe Barns, a fine example being close to the church in Polesworth. There was also an abbey at Merevale, and a priory at Maxstoke, the remains of which can be seen from the road. Atherstone’s church was also originally a priory. The remains of the priory at Alvecote is a nice place to stop for a picnic and to contemplate the landscape. Before the railways and canals that pass by today, this would have been a quiet retreat for prayer and meditation.
Time would have been measured by the cycle of the seasons, ensuring that the crops were sewn and nurtured, harvested and stored to feed the people throughout the year. These peaceful times were interrupted with fights and battles, including the final battle of the Wars of the Roses in 1485. Some historians argue that it did not take place in Bosworth as is commonly thought, but in the fields just north of Atherstone.
Either way we can be sure that soldiers in armour with all their weaponry passed through, and took their communion, praying for God to give them strength in the impending battle in the North Warwickshire churches and chapels. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, the land passed to the new generations of landowners, and once again we see the recycling and growth of towns in the North Warwickshire.
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