Derelict factory blot on canal landscape
ATHERSTONE, on the Coventry Canal, has always made a special effort to welcome boaters and has even produced a leaflet aimed at its waterborne visitors.
But, sadly, the welcome is somewhat tarnished when boats on the visitor moorings have to face the biggest eyesore in the town – a derelict hat factory. Not the overnight mooring one would hope for after completing the 11-lock flight to the town.
The boaters’ leaflet boasts: “Five good reasons why you and your crew should moor up and explore our town.” But it makes no mention of the derelict building opposite the moorings, despite its historical significance.
Atherstone was famous as a hat-making centre and at one time thousands of local people were employed in the industry. The decaying building by the canal was the last factory to make hats before its closure in 1999.
The town’s boom period came when local factories were called upon to make cheap hats for slaves in the sugar plantations. Trade slumped following the abolition of the slave trade and one by one the factories closed.
By the 1970s only three remained. One, Wilson and Stafford, bought out the other two in the 1980s but its canalside factory only lasted another decade, bringing an end to almost 400 years of the town’s history.
As long ago as 2008 proposals were put forward to convert the building into luxury flats and, more recently, old people’s residences, a move that would be welcomed by both boaters and local residents.
However, nothing has happened in the last 21 years and boaters will have to continue facing the vandalised building, albeit part of the town’s rich history, for some time to come.