Hide
Witherley
hide
Hide
hide
Hide
hide
Hide
Hide
Description in 1887:
"Witherley, par., township, and vil., Leicestershire - par., 1570 ac., pop. 515; township, pop. 457; vil., 1 mile E. of Atherstone and 6 miles SW. of Market Bosworth; P.O.; in vicinity is Witherley House, seat."
[John BARTHOLOMEW's "Gazetteer of the British Isles," 1887]
Hide
Robert FARROW has a photograph of St. Peter's churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2013.
>p>Eirian EVANS also has a photograph of the Churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2010.
- The parish was in the Atherstone sub-district of the Atherstone Registration District.
- The 1851 census for Leicestershire has been indexed by the Leicestershire & Rutland Family History Society. The whole index is available on microfiche. The society has also published it in print.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
YearPiece No. 1841 H.O. 107 / 603 1861 R.G. 9 / 2192 1871 R.G. 10 / 3166 1891 R.G. 12 / 2443
- The Anglican parish church in Witherley is dedicated to Saint Peter.
- The church was built in the 14th century and has a tower and 5 bells.
- The church chancel was rebuilt in 1858.
- The church tower and spire were restored in 1895.
- The church was restored in 1906.
- The church seats 350.
- Andy and Hilary have a photograph of St. Peter's Church on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2005.
- The Anglican parish register dates from 1564.
- The church was in the rural deanery of Sparkenhoe (first portion).
- The parish was in the Atherstone sub-district of the Atherstone Registration District.
- Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
Witherley is a village, a township and a parish sitting on the east bank of the Anker River. The River and Watling Street separate the parish from the county of Warwick. This place is about a mile east of Atherstone (Warwick), 8 miles south-west of Market Bosworth, 7 miles north-west of Hinckley and 103 miles north of London. The parish covers 1,570 acres and includes the hamlet (and township) of Atterton.
The village sits in the hills in south-west Leicestershire. If you are planning a visit:
- By automobile, from the A5, just east of Atherstone, turn north at the first opportunity for Witherley.
- Mat FASCIONE has a photograph of the village sign on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2008.
- Ask for a calculation of the distance from Witherley to another place.
- Much of the parish land was in pasturage.
- The parish was the site of the "Atherstone Hunt".
- Rob FARROW has a photograph of the Blue Lion pub. on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2013.
- The webpage author found mention of a Witherley house, Witherley Hall and "the manor", but no descriptions.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SP327974 (Lat/Lon: 52.573443, -1.51893), Witherley which are provided by:
- OpenStreetMap
- Google Maps
- StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
- Bing (was Multimap)
- Old Maps Online
- National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
- Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
- English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
- Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
- GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)
- All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.
The war Memorial is a wheel cross of granite in the parish churchyard. At last report (2014) it was overgrown with moss and lichen and needs to be professionally cleaned.
The parish has a war memorial plaque inside the parish church.
- This place was an ancient Township and Parish of Leicestershire.
- The parish was in the ancient Sparkenhoe Hundred (Wapentake) in the southern (or western) division of the county.
- In March, 1885, this parish was enlarged by gaining a part of Atterton Civil Parish.
- In April, 1935, this parish was enlarged by 640 acres when Atterton Civil Parish was abolished.
- That same date, this parish was enlarged by 1138 acres when Fenny Drayton Civil Parish was abolished.
- That same date, this parish gave up 148 acres to enlarge Mancetter Civil Parish in Warwickshire.
- That same date, this parish gained 1,238 acres by the abolition of Ratcliffe Culey Civil Parish in Leicestershire.
- You can check on the Witherley Parish Council page. Be aware that they will NOT assist with family history searches.
- The Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council provide district governance.
- As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, this parish became part of the Atherstone Poorlaw Union in Warwickshire.
- Bastardy cases would be heard in the Market Bosworth petty session hearings.
Many of these figures are for the Chapelry boundaries and not the parish boundaries:
Year Inhabitants 1841 425 1871 453 1881 457 1891 455 1901 493 1911 482 1921 429 1931 468 1951 968 1961 703
- A Public Elementary School was built in Atterton hamlet in 1875 and enlarged in 1900 to hold 120 students.
- The Witherley CofE Primary School website no longer functions.
- Eirian EVANS has a photograph of the Witherley Primary School on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2010.