" Here we reached the town of Atherstone, where the staple
industry was the manufacture of hats, the Atherstone Company of
Hat-makers being incorporated by charters from James I and Charles II.
Many of the chiefs on the West Coast of Africa have been decorated with
gorgeous hats that have been made at Atherstone. When the Romans were
making their famous street and reached the spot where Atherstone now
stands, they came, according to local tradition, to a large stone that
was in their way, and in moving it they disturbed a nest of adders,
which flew at them. The stone was named Adders' Stone, which gradually
became corrupted to Athers' Stone, and hence the name of the town. The
Corporation of the Governors embodied this incident in their coat of
arms and on the Grammar School, which was endowed in 1573: a stone
showed the adders as springing upwards, and displaying the words,
"Adderstonien Sigil Scholae." We called at the "Old Red Lion Inn," and,
going to explore the town while our refreshments were being prepared,
found our way to a church, once part of a monastery, where the old
fourteenth-century bell was still tolled. It was in the chancel of this
church that Henry, Earl of Richmond, partook of Holy Communion on the
eve of his great victory over Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth
Field, by which he became King Henry VII.
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