[4] Many place names in the area end with ‘ley’, including Arley, Fillongley, Astley, Hurley, Baxterley, Witherley, Corley, Binley, Allesley, Hinckley and Keresley.

[5] This is likely a result of the "sporadic clearing of the woods" (specifically the Forest of Arden) that originally covered the area, and the gradual creation of new settlements preceding and following the Norman Conquest.

[13] The earliest evidence of human settlement in the area consists of a round barrow – an artificial mound concealing a grave – dating from the Bronze Age.

[22] In the 13th century, Ansley and neighbouring Hartshill were granted by the Hardreshulle family to an unknown knight in exchange for 40 days’ service a year to the King.

[33] Bourne Brook, running north-east to south-west through the parish, has had an Irish bridge ford at Ansley Mill since the 12th century.

This gave rise to the situation where the Ludfords claimed for rightful ownership, taking legal action against the Colepepers in 1535 and 1544, both times unsuccessfully.

It passed through several hands, including George Wightman of Elmesthorpe, Leicester in 1558,[42] who sold it to William Glover, a London dyer, in 1592.

It had in its art collection "the celebrated drawing made by Beighton in 1716 from the curious fresco painting of Kenilworth Castle"[52] from a wall at Newnham Paddox.

[53] Nearby Bretts Hall, named for the Brett (or Bret) family, who lived there during the time of Henry III[54] was pulled down in 1750 to create Ansley Park, which included a formal avenue, a Chinese temple and a hermitage (cell) which is attributed to Capability Brown (c.1715-1783)[36] who built a similar hermitage at Weston Park.

[58] Beneath the temple was a cell containing a monument relating to the Purefoy family, Parliamentarians who had had their estates confiscated because of their involvement in the death of Charles I.

He wrote the poem An Inscription about Ansley’s hermitage which begins "Beneath the stony roof reclin’d / I sooth to peace my pensive mind.

Until coalmining came to Ansley in the 1870s, its principal industry was agricultural (barley, rye, pasture and meadow land), with some silk ribbon weaving and brick making.

[33] In the early 19th century John Newdigate Ludford of Ansley Hall had been a "noted cheese-maker", selling to the Leicester market.

William Garside Phillips (1849-1929) became the managing director in 1879 and was "instrumental in improving the colliery’s productivity and economic fortunes".

[67] Ansley Hall Coal and Iron Company’s largest stakeholder was Sir James Barlow (1821-1887), a cotton magnate from Bolton, Lancashire.

His son, Sir Thomas Barlow, 1st Baronet (1845-1945), was chairman of the company for some time (he was also the royal physician and known for his research into infantile scurvy).

[78] Ansley was the last parish in Warwickshire to get a "more or less efficient supply of good water", and remained dependent on shallow wells until 1913.

"[81] In 1929 Atherstone’s Medical Officer of Health called Ansley "the one black spot of my district" in terms of water supply.

"[82] An article published in 1929 read, "Ansley village is one of those places which is just on the edge of things, yet possesses little in the way of modern conveniences.

A resident [said] that owing to the lack of a sewerage system the district was infested with rats… and if a fire were to break out in a block of houses it would be impossible to get under control, there being no water to cope with it.

[85] The possibility of Ansley’s being added to Nuneaton’s electricity supply from the Leicestershire and Warwickshire Electric Power Company Limited was first raised in 1923, when the supply to neighbouring Chapel End[86] and Hartshill was imminent, Hartstill having "suffered for years from the quality of the gas, which had been rotten.

"[87][88] In 1932, St Laurence Church was "fitted out and made ready for lighting by means of electricity" for which, in the words of the vicar, Rev.

In 1206 William de Hardreshulle, Lord of Hartshill (d.1261)[21] bestowed the church to the nuns of Polesworth Abbey.

[102] The church’s financial situation has varied considerably through the centuries, but was particularly parlous in 1837, when the vicar of St Laurence, whose annual salary was £116 – far below the national average of £285 – appealed to the bishop to be ‘non-resident’ in Ansley, citing an "unfit residence".

[94] In the early 20th century, St Laurence took part in the Warwickshire tradition of bell ringing on Bonfire Night,[114] Restoration Day (29 May) and the Sovereign’s birthday.

[117] In 1931 a window designed by Karl Parsons, Christ in Majesty, together with a new screen, choir stalls and electric lights, were dedicated to the memory of William Garside Phillips,[118] who had been the managing director of Ansley Hall Colliery since 1879,[119] and his wife.

A grant of £1,300 from English Heritage and the Wolfson Foundation in 2008 was used to clean, repair and repoint the joints of the Hollington sandstone.

[140] In 1941, Ansley Women’s Voluntary Services (WVS), overseen by Mrs J H Phillips, the wife of Ansley Hall Colliery’s managing director, contributed 1,344 articles to the war effort, including 50 theatre gowns,180 pairs of pyjamas and 650 bandages, putting them first in the North Warwickshire WVS collection drive.

[143] In 1947 the fund paid for an oak reredos to be installed at the Mission Church of St John, dedicated to two local men who died in WWII.

The 25-mile trail passes through Atherstone, Mancetter, Hartshill, Ansley, Arley, Fillongley, Maxstoke, Shustoke, Nether Whitacre, Kingsbury, Dordon, Baddesley Ensor and Merevale.