MEREVALE, a parish in the district of Atherstone and counties of Warwick and Leicester: on Watlingstreet, the Terent Valley railway, the Coventry canal, and the river. Anker, and 1 mile W by S of Atherstone r. station. Post town, Atherstone. Acres of the Warwick portion, 1,100. Real property, £1, 690. Pop., 132. Houses, 29. Acres of the Leicester portion, 1,050. Pop., 80. Houses, 12. The property is divided among a few. The manor, Merevale Hall, and all the Warwick portion, he long to W. S. Dugdale, Esq. The Hall was recently rebuilt; stands on an eminence about 400 feet above sea-level, commanding a fine view; and is surrounded by a beautiful park. A Cistertian abbey was founded here, in 1148, by Robert, Earl of Ferrers; and is now represented by the parish church, and by some interesting fragments and foundations of its other buildings. The living is a donative in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £24. Patron, W. S. Dugdale, Esq. The church was the chapel at the gate of the abbey; contains three stone coffins, several ancient brasses, a fine alabaster tomb of Lord Ferrars, and monuments of the Stratfords and the Dugdales; and was recently in a very dilapidated condition.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))