Atherstone, formerly known as Adderstone, has nothing to do with snakes, so the lady in the Heritage Centre told us, when we asked about the snakes in the Atherstone Mural…

… and the Atherstone Totem Pole.

What the Atherstone Heritage Centre does have to offer is the fact that the canal runs through town and they used to make hats here. The lady there is also convinced that it is the site of both Boudicca’s last stand, and the Battle of Bosworth, both of which are questionable claims.

If they really want the tourists to roll in they should just claim Adderstone was the ancestral home of the Blackadder family.

While we were admiring the mural one of the locals started telling us about it. He turned out the be Fred, the bell ringer from the local church, and offered to show us round. It’s the usual mishmash.

The chancel is 14th century, the tower is 18th century, and the nave is 19th century. The tower…

… is in danger of falling down, so they had to remove the 14th century bell, which weighs three quarters of a ton, and replace it with a peal of eight lighter bells. The old bell is still there in case they every repair the tower.

The local history society has some displays in there, mostly relating to the World Wars. There is a strange little World War I diorama…

… which features the Red Baron in a Fokker triplane…

… shooting down a Sopwith Camel…

… piloted by Snoopy or Biggles depending on your cultural heritage.

There is sadly no diorama, or even a stained glass window, featuring the former owner of the church on this site, Lady Godiva. The Red Baron is all very well, but if the Church of England really wants to get bums in pews they should invest in some pink stained glass.