Of > i H 2 ' '" ' - ." ¦ . *£ if st i ^fcfcw - gAVV JB ' V Tfifi: rBu6 O 5~0 a. •.¦j F< <¦.» 5>-.p "!- 5 ¦¦'..'-¦¦ ' .'..^„ " *•• v " '* .¦' ->. ;„•.*:»* ¦.¦"*»•¦¦¦ * ¦-*-. / '-/??3 This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in cooperation with Yale University Library, 2008. You may not reproduce this digitized copy of the book for any purpose other than for scholarship, research, educational, or, in limited quantity, personal use. You may not distribute or provide access to this digitized copy (or modified or partial versions of it) for commercial purposes. STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE, PAST AND PRESENT. ¦¦ ' / ':¦'¦'': X L I A N © F© DB BD. ILLD3). F= INZIK. LONDO^, EDINBURGH 8- GLASGOW © STAFFORDSHIRE and WARWICKSHIRE, PAST AND PRESENT: BY JOHN ALFRED LANGFORD, LL.D., F.R.H.S., AUTHOR OF a " CENTURY OK BIRMINGHAM LIFE," ETC., ETC. C. S. MACKINTOSH AND J. C. TILDESLEY, ASSISTED BY Jlmittsni ^Suiljririibs in fetril; §tmttlb$. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY H. WARREN, K.L.. &c, &c. VOL. I. LONDON: WILLIAM MACKENZIE, 69 LUDGATE HILL, E.C.; 32 PARADISE STREET, BIRMINGHAM. If 6 vf* Q$Q FIUX'TliD BY WILLIAM MACKENZIE, 43 & 45 HOWARD STRRET, GLASGOW. fa p=S ^=3 M--1 N1 r--: U. QS> g^ = ruy - CE <3S e^) *¦:•;,. .gr ¦¦jgjij =52 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: PAST AND PRESENT. STAFFORDSHIRE. CHAPTER I. HISTORY AND NATURAL RESOURCES — GENERAL INTRODUCTION. Staffordshire, as we are told by one of the latest authorities, "" " although one of the most important English counties, derives this importance more from its pre-eminence as a manufacturing district than from its reputation for beauty." This is true ; but it requires qualification. Its reputation for beauty is not quite equal to its deserts ; and indeed the same writer admits that in this respect it is underrated. The fact is, that the proverbial effect of giving an ill name has not failed to follow here. One portion of the southern division of the county has come to be familiarly known as the Black Country; and its unattractive features being precisely those which impress themselves most deeply on the mind of the modern traveller, who is usually content to form his opinion on the views he obtains from the windows of the fleeting railway carriage, Staffordshire and the Black Country are to many persons synonymous terms, though the latter is only a fraction of the former. Entering the county by rail from the south, and by night, we seem to be dashing through an outlying portion of the dominion of Pluto — the unsteady glare from the fire-topped chimneys of the numerous works, them selves suggestive of a series of volcanoes kept in check by some hidden power, only serving to enhance the sombre effect of the general surroundings ; while, seen by day, the heaps of cinders and "slag," the dense and smoky atmosphere, the rare and stunted herbao-e, and the desolate patches of landscape, still more vividly * Murray's Handbook, 1868. VOL. I. A STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE suggest the devastation of volcanic action without its grandeur. Even this part of Staffordshire possesses a deep and abiding interest for the man of science and for the curious in industrial life ; but the lover of nature will be better pleased with the northern division, some portions of which are not greatly surpassed in beauty even by the most favoured portions of England. Nor is it to be inferred from this that South Staffordshire is all ugliness. As soon as the mine and the forge and the factory are fairly left behind, pleasant spots, doubtless made pleasanter by the contrast, are to be met with in every direction. Parks and mansions lie dotted about on all sides ; here and there sparkling rivers and quiet pools gladden the eye and refresh the soil ; and though as a whole this part of the county is flat, its features are so diversified , that it can scarcely anywhere be called monotonous. It has, moreover, some few note worthy elevations, such as the Wren's Nest and the Castle Hill adjoining Dudley, the Sedgley Beacon, the basalt hills of Clent and Rowley Regis, the uplands at Barr (where there is also a beacon hill), Tettenhall, Bushbury and Essington, and the high table-land of Can nock Chase. The beauties of the vale of Trent alone would redeem any county from the stigma of ugliness ; but undoubtedly the most romantic and picturesque scenery in Staffordshire is to be sought for in the north. There, on the east, we have the high ground known as Needwood Forest, with its pleasant woods, warrens, and coppices, interspersed with villages and parks, and bounded by the ever welcome Trent ; on the west, a little further north, and still accompanied by Trent, we come upon the hills of Barlaston and the gardens of ducal Trentham ; then, leaving behind us the episcopal seat at Eccleshall, and stretching across the Potteries towards Bid- dulph, we pass the lofty elevation of Mow Cop, and traversing a somewhat rugged district, arrive at the river Dane and the hills of Axe Edge, the northern extremity of the county. Returning south ward, over moorland and heights, we encounter, near Leek, the craggy Roaches — justly described as among the most picturesque hills in England— the delightful cliff scenery of Ipstones, the loftier range of Weaver — whence a brief divergence takes us to the lovely village of Ilam — the romantic Churnet valley, and the famed towers and grounds of Alton, where art seems to have vied not altogether unsuccessfully with nature in producing one of the most charming residences in the country. Thence by a short journey we reach the borders of the Dove, and a succession of river scenery of unrivalled PAST AND PRESENT. beauty, whose glories Staffordshire and Derbyshire divide. These are only a few of the county's natural attractions, and many others will be noticed in their places hereafter; but their mention will serve to show that Staffordshire is not all a flat, smoky, prosaic, manufacturing district, as those who only know it through its pro ductions, or from a passing glance, are apt to conclude. Nor is Staffordshire lacking in interest to the historian or the antiquarian. From its being so nearly in the middle of the island, nothing definite was known of it by the earliest writers, who derived their accounts from the reports of those who had done little more than visit the coasts. Dr. Latham* points out that the Britain of Csesar is Kent ; of Diodorus, Strabo, and Pliny, Cornwall ; and of Solinus, Western Britain only, with Ireland: and although he adopts with some reserve the theory that the first inhabitants of this country were of the Keltic race, he adds that nothing in any historical record tells us "what manner of men first estabbshed themselves along the valleys of the Thames and Trent, or cleared the forests along their watersheds." Caesar's allusiont to those who dwelt in the interior of the island is altogether indefinite, and other writers have only afforded material for discussion as to whether Cornavii, Carnabii, or Ordovices were the immediate successors of the Iberian Kelts who are believed to have first held this part of the country. Interesting traces of the British inhabitants have been found, however, especially in North Staffordshire ; where, near Wetton, the remains of what is believed to have been an important British village have been discovered, a number of barrows which were opened there displaying various characteristics of the Stone period ; and this part of the county abounds in similar relics. South Staffordshire has fewer, but Cannock Chase has been thought, from its situation and a few other evidences, to have been probably the head-quarters of the Druids in Britain ; and Barr Beacon is supposed to have often flamed afar the signal of the great sacrificial solem nities of which the name of Drood or Druid Heath is now only a conjectural memorial. The Romans have left more lasting signs of their presence. When they had overrun as much of the country as they thought worth conquering, and established camps to confirm their power, and cut roads to insure communication with each other, they divided and named the country after their own fashion, the central portion, which included Staffordshire, Shropshire, Cheshire * Ethnology ofthe British Islands. f De Bello (Jallico, v. 12. STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : &c, being called Flavia Ceesariensis. The Watling Street crossed Staffordshire from Fazeley through Wall (Etocetum) to Wroxeter (Uriconium) in Salop ; the Icknield Street, whose name helped to mislead the ingenious Dr. Plot into the conclusion that the Iceni were the original inhabitants of Staffordshire, stretched from Bir mingham through Wall, where was the principal camp, to Burton- on-Trent, and thence to Derby ; and traces of the Via Devana are believed to have been found near Chesterton, where there are still remains of a camp. The Romans called the people living in the counties of Warwick, Worcester, Salop, Stafford, and Chester, by the common name of Cornabii, and these are often mentioned in the "Notitia" as serving in the Roman armies. But here history again becomes a blank. When the Romans, having communicated their effeminacy with their civilization to the Britons, left them to the mercies of the still warlike Scots and Picts, and the yet more destructive mercenary friendship of the Saxons, the signs of the sojourn of the masters of the world, deeply as they had been stamped, became for the most part obliterated or buried ; and when, in the latter part of the sixth century, the great kingdom of Mercia was founded as a member of the Heptarchy, Staffordshire, or rather Middle Anglia, was included in its boundaries, and contained several of its chief towns, while Cannock Chase formed an appro priate royal hunting ground. Mercia, we are told,* "has left us neither the name of an author nor even a meagre chronicle," and what we find in such authorities as the venerable Bede and Florence of Worcester is largely of the nature of tradition. From the former we learn that Paganism prevailed in Mercia much longer than in the other divisions of the Heptarchy, till during the reigns of Penda, Oswy, and Wulfhere it was superseded by Christianity, and a cathedral was founded at Lichfield, which Pope Adrian, in 786, at the desire of the great Offa, made an independent archbishopric — a dignity, however, which it did not long retain. Mercia, which became absorbed into the kingdom of England through the victories of Egbert, did not escape the ravages of the Danes, who invaded it in 867, but were not invariably successful. In the reign of Edward the Elder a great battle was fought between the Mercians and Danes at Tettenhall, in which the latter were beaten ; and another battle at Wednesfield had the important consequence of freeing England from their attacks.f The Danes, nevertheless, seem to have estab- * Lappenberg: History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings. ¦f Lappenberg. PAST AND PRESENT. lished themselves firmly for a time, as, when Canute divided the kingdom into four earldoms, Mercia is said to have been half Saxon and half Danish ; * but in Staffordshire, as this part of the country came to be called after the time of Alfred, the Danes have not left their mark so plainly as in some other localities, and there is scarcely a place bearing, a name of Danish origin. The Norman Conquest probably swept away the lighter traces of the Danish invasions, but left many remnants of the Saxon period, during which fortifications had been constructed at Tamworth, Dudley, Stafford, and other places, where they probably served the purposes of the victorious Normans in their turn. From the time when the Con queror divided the county between the barons De Toni (De Stafford), De Montgomery, Fitz-Ausculf, De Ferrers, and others, there are again few events to record, save the battle fought in 1322 between the forces of Edward II. and those of the earl of Lancaster, who was defeated and subsequently beheaded; another battle at Blore Heath, in 1459, between the Yorkists and Lancasterians ; and the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots at Tutbury from 1569 till 1572. The war between Charles I. and his Parliament affords more matter. Lichfield Cathedral — its close having been fortified and made the scene of action — the town of Wolverhampton, the castles of Eccleshall, Dudley, and Stafford, and other places of smaller note, suffered severely from the civil discord ; and after the final defeat of the Royalists at Worcester, Charles II. was secreted for some time at Moseley Hall, not far from Bushbury, where his royal father had lain in 1645. Another leap brings us to 1745, when the Scotch rebels advanced under the Young Pretender into Lancashire and Cheshire, and crossing Staffordshire towards Derby, halted near Leek, not very far from where a portion of the duke of Cumber land's force was posted ; but the expected battle did not take place, and the rebels soon afterwards commenced the retreat which ended in the crowning disaster of Culloden. Staffordshire has since shared in the first Reform Bill agitation, which moved the country throughout its length and breadth, and has taken its part m other pobtical crises ; but on the whole its history, which will be dealt with fully in another portion of this work, has for many years been a record of the triumphs of industry rather than of arms, and long may it remain so ! In connection with the history of the county may be mentioned * Worsaae : The Danes in England. 6 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : several curious customs. Up till within comparatively late years, the square notched wooden calendar employed by the Danes and Norwegians was in use under ' the name of the Staffordshire clog. At Tutbury, in connection with the festivity of electing the "King of the Minstrels " on Assumption Day, the peculiar and barbarous sport of "bull-running," under the sanction of an old charter, was only aboHshed towards the close of the last century. "Processioning," a semi-religious ceremony believed to have been adopted by the early Christians from the Roman primitice, or offerings of first fruits, was kept up at Wolverhampton and Brewood, where it took place on the Monday and Tuesday of Rogation Week, till the beginning ofthe eighteenth century, along with the custom of "Well-dressing," which still survives in some other parts of the country. The "hobby horse dance" was a Christmas amusement indulged in at Abbot's Bromley, Stafford, and one or two other places, with the countenance of the local authorities, as a portion of the money collected on the occasion went towards the repair of the churches. At Walsall, on the eve of Epiphany, the "Moseley dole" of one penny to each resident in the borough and suburbs is not utterly extinct ; and on St. Clement's day the populace were wont to scramble for apples and nuts thrown to them from the town hall of the same place. The custom of " borough Engbsh," by which the youngest son in a family inherits in preference to his elders, is said to have prevailed in the town of Stafford ; and various odd land-tenures are recorded in the history of the county — among them being the holding of the manor of Wichnor on condition of providing a flitch of bacon, to be delivered to any couple who should be perfectly content with each other after a year and a day of married life ; and the still more singular tenure of Essington, by the taking of a goose to Hilton Hall and driving it round the fire three times within a period measured by an ingeniously contrived appliance of steam. The " Court of Array " at Lichfield, and the jury of twelve men annually elected at Gnosall to settle parochial disputes, are peculiar local institutions ; but the iron gagging-cage, in which the heads of scolding women were formerly placed, at Hamstall Ridware, was only one of various devices for the same end, which used to be temporarily attained at Newcastle-under-Lyme by simply fixing a bridle in the shrew's mouth so as to restrain the action of her tongue, and leading her in that position through the town. These curious customs will be described at length in their places. PAST AND PRESENT. Among the names of historical personages born in this county may be enumerated those of Edmund Stafford, chancellor of England in the reign of Henry IY. ; Edmund Dudley, lawyer, statesman, Speaker of the House of Commons, and favourite of Henry YIL, but who was executed in the following reign for alleged oppressive exactions from the people ; of his son John, who became earl of Warwick and duke of Northumberland, and after holding some of the highest offices in the state, including that of regent during the brief reign of Edward VI., was executed for the attempt to place his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne, in opposition to Queen Mary ; and of Sir Walter Aston, the patron of Michael Dray ton the poet, and ambassador to Spain in the time of James I. These were statesmen : among divines, we have Cardinal Pole, Archbishop Sheldon, Dr. Lightfoot, Bishops Hurd, Smalbidge, and Newton, with the Puritans Thomas Blake and John Goodwin, and the Cathobcs Thomas Asheburn and Thomas Fitzherbert. Among mibtary com manders, the steady adherence of General Harrison to the Parbament in the Civil War may be balanced by the devoted loyalty of Colonel John Lane, who so materially aided in the escape of Charles II. ; and in naval annals the county is honoured by the names of Admiral Richard Leveson, the great drcumnavigator Lord Anson, Earl St. Vincent, and Admiral Lord Gardner. In law we find mention of Judge Weston, and in physic, of Dr. Richard Caldwell, Sir John Floyer — who advocated the "cold-water cure" as far back as the days of the Merry Monarch, to whom he was physician — and Dr. James, the patentee of the celebrated fever powder which stib! bears his name. John Rqbyns and Thomas Allen were noted mathematicians in their day; and distinguished as savants, antiquarians, or historians were Sampson Erdeswick, Ebas Ashmole, Walter Chetwynd, Thomas Astle, Dr. Wilkes, and the Rev. Stebbing Shaw. Of histrionic celebrities Staffordshire has at least one to boast, in the name of William Mountford, whose own end was tragic enough, as he was basely assassinated by Lord Mohun and Captain Hill for frustrating a design of theirs to carry off the celebrated actress, Mrs. Bracegirdle. In painting, we have only encountered the modern name of De Wint ; but in poetry we have Charles Cotton, Elijah Fenton (who trans lated a portion, of Pope's Homer), Miss Seward,'"" and Mary Howitt ; while in general literature may be classed Izaak Walton, best known by his "Complete Angler;" William Wollaston, author of the once * Miss Seward was born in Derbyshire, but lived nearly all her life at Lichfield. STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: famous " Rehgion of Nature Debneated ;" the Rev. Richard Meadow- court, critic, and annotator of Milton ; Isaac Hawkins Browne, whose reputation was founded on his Latin poem, "De Animi Immortali- tate ;" and, towering over and ecbpsing all these, looms the great lexicographer, critic, and litterateur, Dr. Samuel Johnson. In the annals of industry the name of Josiah Wedgewood, to whom the Potteries owe so much, will ever rank high ; and in those of the peerage Thomas Parker, the son of an attorney at Leek, stands recorded as the founder of the earldom of Macclesfield. According to Dr. Plot, the county has produced at least one giant, in the person of Walter Parsons, a native of West Bromwich, who became porter to James I., and whose strength was proportionate to his stature ; of longevity the same rather too credulous writer mentions a singular instance in one Mary Cooper, a resident in the parish of King's Bromley, who not only lived to see her descendants to the sixth generation, but saw them all hving at the same time, so that, as the somewhat apocryphal story runs, "she could say to her daughter, 'Rise daughter, go to thy daughter, for thy daughter's daughter hath got a daughter;'" and in the long and dishonourable roll of impostors, not the the least remarkable was Anne Moore, the "fasting woman" of Tutbury, who for some years, during the early part of the present century, falsely obtained the credit of living entirely without food ; but on being subjected to a rigid test gave way, and confessed her deception. Among those who, though not natives of the county, have shed lustre upon it by close association, may be mentioned the names of Michael Drayton, author of the descriptive poem " Polyolbion ;" Dr. Darwin, author of the "Botanic Garden ;" Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the wit and dramatist, who represented the borough of Stafford in Parbament from 1780 till 1806; Brindley, the father of canal navigation; and Boulton and Watt, the great mechanical engineers. Jean-Jacques Rousseau resided for some time at Wootton Hall in Staffordshire, and there, it is believed, he wrote a portion of his " Confessions." Of the natural productions of the county, the most noteworthy in the animal kingdom is the wild ox, formerly common in Need- wood Forest, but now only to be found in Chartley Park, where it is preserved nearly in its original condition. The old Stafford shire breed of domestic cattle, with long bending horns, is also preserved in its purity in some few places ; and in some of the parks the red deer is still to be met with. The red grouse is PAST AND PRESENT. plentiful on the moors in the Northern division, and the county generally is well supplied with the feathered tribes, though the turtle-dove and the nightingale are rare. Salmon is found in the Trent and the Dove, and the latter river is celebrated for its trout, as is Staffordshire generaUy for pike. In the insect world the most remarkable are the rhinoceros-beetle, which mines galleries in rotten trees as neatly as the most experienced colber in his pit, and the ichneumon fly, which deposits its eggs in the bodies of other insects ; but of course these are not peculiar to Staffordshire. Of the rarer kinds of plants, Gough, in his edition of Camden's " Britannia," mentions sea starwort, giant throatwort, red spurge, climbing fumitory, club-moss, the white-berried elder, and one or two others ; but several of them are now less uncommon than they once were. The principal minerals are coal, ironstone, bme stone, and fire and potter's clay. Salt springs and medicinal weUs exist in various parts of the county, though the ancient faith in the virtues of the latter has greatly decbned in these days. The chief industries of Staffordshire are of course the coal and iron trades, to which, in the Northern division, is to be added the earthenware and porcelain manufacture. Out of these grow a number of special trades, which will be dealt with fully hereafter, and some of these are peculiarly localized. Thus at Wolverhampton and Wfllenhall locks are manufactured, while the keys are made at Wednesfield ; saddlery is the staple of WalsaU ; while at Stafford "there is nothing like leather" when made into boots and shoes. Chains and anchors are fabricated at Tipton, glass is manufactured at Spon Lane, near Smethwick; and various other trades have their homes in places where the necessary hand-skill is transmitted from father to son almost as an heirloom. Burton-on-Trent, we need hardly add, has achieved a world-wide celebrity by the exceUence of its beer, for which it has been locahy famous from a remote antiquity. Very recently a new industry has been commenced in the neighbourhood of Burslem and Tunstall, in the manufacture of oil from cannel coal. So large a proportion of the population is engaged in mining and the different occupations connected with or growing out of it, that only a comparatively small number of persons are concerned in agriculture, and the shire is not reckoned among the grain-producing counties. The county is well provided with communications. The London and North- Western Railway traverses it from Soho to Madeley ; VOL. I. B 10 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : the Trent Valley branch runs from Tamworth to Stafford, which is connected with Shrewsbury by the Shropshire union line ; the South Staffordshire Railway joins Dudley, Walsall, and Lichfield ; the Stour Valley and the Great Western, Birmingham and Wolver hampton ; the Midland bne from Birmingham to Derby crosses the part of the county lying between Tamworth and Burton, whence a short branch runs to Tutbury, and connects it with the North Staffordshire lines, which ramify that division of the county in nearly every direction. The rivers are not navigable, but the deficiency is suppbed by numerous canals. The Grand • Trunk Canal unites the Mersey and the Trent, and accompanies the latter river pretty closely throughout its course ; the Caldon Canal winds from Etruria to FroghaU ; the Coventry Canal enters the county at Fazeley, and flows into the Grand Trunk Canal at Alrewas, which is connected with Cannock Chase by the Wyrley and Essington Canal. The Birmingham and Liverpool and the Stafford shire and Worcestershire canals serve the western portion of the county; and there are local branches wherever commerce has created a necessity for their construction. Of turnpike roads, paved streets, and other highways, there are more than 2800 miles. By the Reform Act of 1832 Staffordshire was divided, for the purposes of parbamentary representation, into two parts, North and South; and by the Act of 1867 the latter was divided into two sections, East and West. Each of these divisions returns two members to Parbament, so that,- in aU, Staffordshire has six repre sentatives. The number of electors on the register for 1873 was — East Division, 9264; West Division, 9871; and North Division, 9714. Newcastle, Stafford, Stoke-upon-Trent, Tamworth, and Wol verhampton, each return two members to Parliament, and Walsall one; in 1867 Lichfield was deprived of one member, and Wednes bury, West Bromwich, and Tipton were formed into a borough, returning one member. In 1844 the parishes of Broom and Clent were taken from the county, and part of the township of Scropton added to it. The county now contains 138 parishes, parts of twelve other parishes, and 15 extra-parochial tracts; and is divided into five hundreds, each of which is subdivided into two divisions. The market towns are 12; the towns with upwards of 200 inhabitants, 17; and the smaller towns, villages, and hamlets, upwards of 400. The seats occupied by nobility and gentry num ber about 200. The county is in the Midland military district, PAST AND PRESENT. 11 the Birmingham bankruptcy district, the Oxford judicial circuit, and, excepting part of Stottesden deanery, is ab in the Lichfield diocese, which is in the province of Canterbury. The assizes and the quarter sessions are held at Stafford, where is the county gaol. The seat of the bishopric and the will courts is at Lichfield, which has a city gaol. The population ia 1871 numbered 857,333 — 430,896 males and 426,437 females: the number of inhabited houses was 167,487; of uninhabited, 9495; building, 1023. The number of inhabitants in 1861 was only 746,943. Geographical Position of Staffordshire. — Staffordshire is an Inland county, and is situated very nearly in the centre of England. Its shape has been described as " somewhat elbpsoidal, with the longer axis extending N. and S. ;" while Mr. Garner,""" foUowing Camden, says it is "rhomboidal, its two acute angles being situated to the N.N.E. and S.S.W." A more homely comparison teUs us that it is "something like an elongated and compressed pear, with the excep tion that both ends are rather tapering;" and it should be added that Derbyshire has taken a large bite out of it on the east. It extends from about 52° 23' to 53° 13' of north latitude, and from 1° 36' to 2° 27' of west longitude. Its greatest dbect length is 53 mUes, and its greatest direct breadth 34 ; but, measuring from Axe Edge Common to the neighbourhood of Bewdley, in Worcester shire, we get a length of 60 miles, and from the junction of the Dove with the Trent, below Burton, to the vicinity of Drayton in Salop, a breadth of 38 mUes. Its cb"cuit is about 210 mUes, and its area 728,468 acres. It is bounded by Cheshire on the N.W., by Derbyshire on the N.E., by Derbyshire and Leicestershire on the E., by Warwickshire on the S.E., by Worcestershire on tbe S., and by Shropshire on the W. Notwithstanding that so much of it is flat, Mr. Garner thinks Staffordshire may be con sidered "rather a subalpine, or hUly district." At the north, where the chain of hUls which extends from Scotland to the centre of England enters the county, it is " of quite a mountainous character." Here we have the lofty elevation of Axe Edge, Cloud, Mow Cop, and the Weaver Hills, and the smaUer but more romantic heights of the Roaches, Ipstones, Biddulph, and the numerous "edges." These are chiefly of miUstone grit. In the south we have the sandstone hUls of Kinfare Edge, the gravelly heights of Barr and Cannock Chase, the limestone range of Sedgley, and the basaltic * Natural History of the County of Stafford. 12 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: elevations of Clent and Rowley Regis. Nearer the centre there are more gravel hUls, and in Needwood Forest an elevated tract is formed of clay. Among the other principal heights are Bunster, Morredge, Ecton, and Swinecote, in the north, and Dudley Castle HU1, the Wren's Nest, Bushbury HiU, and Castle Ring in the south. The heights of some of these are given in the Ordnance Survey as foUows : — ¦ Feet above Feet above the sea. the sea. Axe Edge, 1756 Cloud HiU, 1190 Weaver Hills, 1150 Mow Cop, 1091 Walton Hill, 1007 Clent Hills 900 Ashley Heath, 808 Castle King, 715 Beacon Hill, 654 Barr Beacon, 653 Dudley Castle, 550 Wren's Nest, 500 Excepting its south-western border, which belongs to the basin of the Severn, Staffordshire lies almost whoUy in the basin of the Humber, of which the principal tributary, the Trent, is also the principal river in the county, the Severn only crossing its south western extremity through the coal-field at Arley. Its other chief rivers are the Sow, the Tame, the Blythe, the Manyfold, the Hamps, the Churnet, the Penk, the Stour, and the Tern. To these may be added the Lyme in the north of the county, and the Smeslow in the south. The Dove divides Staffordshire from Derbyshire, and the Dane separates it from Cheshire. The Stour crosses the southern extremity of the county, and runs into the Severn at Stourport. The lakes are neither numerous nor important, but on the western border there is a fine sheet of water caUed Aqualate Mere, and there is a large pool near Norton, on Cannock Chase. Other pools, natural or artificial, are found at Trentham, PatshuU, CbiUington, Pensnett, Hednesford, &c, and there is a large reservoir near Rushton Spencer, in the north, formed by damming up a deep valley, and fed from the river Dane. Springs, salt, petrifying, sulphureous, chalybeate, and simple, are numerous; the most remarkable being one at the foot of a rock on the summit of Mow Cop, which, though much used, is never dry. The climate is rather cold, the air being much keener than that in the more southerly counties, and the rainfaU larger, while the harvest is a fortnight later, and more precarious ; but in aU these respects, as weU as in the fertility of its soil, the Southern division of the county itself has the advantage over the Northern. The sofls PAST AND PRESENT. 13 are clayey, sandy, limy, mixed, or peaty, according to the nature of the rock formations beneath. This brings us naturaUy to The Geology of Staffordshire. — Excepting its most northerly extremity, all Staffordshire is included in the Carboniferous, the Permian, and Triassic systems, forming "the new red sandstone district of central England," the extensive coal measures, and a few isolated districts, rising through the sandstone, which is the characteristic of the county. Alluvial and dUuvial deposits are found in the Staffordshire plain, but there is no trace of the "crag" of the tertiary strata, or of the chalk or oolite of the secondary. Of the magnesian bmestone, traces are found at Handford and Shel ton in the north, and Smethwick> Kingswinford, Himley, &c, In the south ; but of the carboniferous or mountain bmestone there is a considerable quantity in the north-east of the Northern division, extending in length from Warslow to the Weaver Hills, and from a little west of the Hamps to the Dove. The coal-fields of North Staffordshire are found at Meerbrook, the whole district known as the Potteries — a triangular section which extends from Biddulph Castle to a little below Longton on the east and to near Madeley on the west — at Cheadle, and at Cheddleton. The South Stafford shire coal-field forms an acute angle at Rugeley, whence it stretches down through Cannock Chase to the neighbourhood of Wolver hampton, a little below which it is divided by the Wenlock and Aymestry bmestone of the SUurian system in the hibs of Sedgley, Dudley, and the Wren's Nest ; thence, taking in a portion of Worcestershire, it returns to Staffordshire by a circuit including Himley, Kmgswinford, Cradley, and Hales Owen, near Rowley Regis, where we have an example of the primitive rocks in the basalt that forms the hills of that and the Clent district, and which often pierces through a still older rock, caUed "green rock" by the miners, but said by Sir R. Murchison to be a kind of " volcanic grit." A few other specimens of the igneous rocks and trap dykes occur in both divisions of the county ; and the district of which Walsall is nearly the centre bes upon another section of the Wenlock bmestone. From this, reaching down south-west towards West Bromwich, a small section of the Ludlow rocks stretches into the coal-field, but excepting a trace of the cornstone near Upper Arley, the rest of the county up to the Cheadle coal-fields rests upon the new red sandstone, which crops up again in the site of Cheadle itself, and again in a trident, of which Leek bes L4 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : on the upper prong. Surrounding this, and partly inclosing the Cheadle coal-field, the millstone grit occupies all the remainder of the county to the north. The central portion of Staffordshire is covered by the red marl, which spreads from Draycot-in-the- Moors to Rolleston and Wichnor on the east, curves backwards thence to near Weston-on-Trent, and reaching down past Stafford and Penkridge to Brewood in a south-westerly direction, sweeps round by Aqualate, Broughton, Standon, and Stone to Draycot again, its western lobe Including the Eccleshall district, and its eastern that of Needwood Forest. "Roughly estimating the map of Staffordshire to represent a superficies of 1130 square mbes," says Mr. Garner, "the different geological formations would occupy its surface in pretty nearly the foUowing proportions : — Square Miles. " The Pottery coal-field is 51 The South Staffordshire coal-field (excluding about eleven miles of it, situated in other counties), 65 The Silurian limestone, &c, in the south of the county, ... 16 The Rowley basalt, 1 The Clent basalt, 2 The Arley coal-field, basalt, cornstone, &c, . . 7 The mountain limestone, 40 The Cheadle coal-field, 18 The Cheddleton coal-field, 1 The Meerbrook coal-field, 4 The millstone grit, 100 The new red sandstone (marl, gravel, rock, sand, and peat), . . 825 Total, 1130" If we except the horn of a gigantic stag, dug up at Betley some years ago, there is bttle that is remarkable in the aUuvial deposits of Staffordshire. In the dUuvium, boulders of granite, trap, &c, are found, especiaUy on the western borders, along with deposits of clay, gravel, and sand, containing the sheUs of existing marine animals. The bones and teeth of the rhinoceros and elephant have been found at Trentham and elsewhere, and Mr. Garner dis covered bones belonging to two species of deer in the clay of some of the limestone caverns in the north-east. Flints are found on the surface in the east, and lumps of sihcified wood on the western borders; whbe, in the ravines of the north, rounded grey boulders, containing traces of fossU sheUs, have been noticed, and are pre sumed to have drifted hither from the Welsh rocks. " The new red sandstone of Staffordshire consists principally of a PAST AND PRESENT. 15 red, rarely greyish white, sometimes variegated whitish and red sandstone; or of a red, sometimes variegated marl; always lying above the carboniferous system, though we seldom see the coal-strata actuaUy lying under this formation. At West Bromwich, however, the new red sandstone has been bored through to the coal measures ; and in the north of Staffordshire these strata have been reached under the 'red rock' in sinking weUs at the southern edge of the Pottery coal-field. In 1840 a futile attempt was made to reach the coal-strata through the sandstone, at Weston-Coyney. Here, the sandstone was not bored through at the depth of 450 feet; in fact, this spot seems to be situated beyond the outcrop of the lowest strata of both the Pottery and Cheadle coal-fields." " The sandstone bes below the red marl, or keuper, and is properly divided by the calcareous beds into an upper and lower division. Though frequently nothing but the soft red stone, such as we see many of our churches, Lichfield Cathedral, Croxden Abbey, &c, bubt of, yet some of it is a beautiful, whitish freestone ; such as that from the quarries near Holbngton, Stanton, Tixall, Ingestre, HiU Charlton, and Beech, though, in the latter cases, more or less veined with red. The fine freestone of Hollington has been extensively quarried, and the beds are seen to lie in a horizontal position, separated at intervals by layers of sand or pebbles. This horizon tal position of the beds of new red sandstone is pretty general, except around the margins of the coal-fields, where they have, in many cases, both in North and South Staffordshire, been tilted up with the coal measures. Frequently the stone is a conglomerate, with many pebbles, as in the quarries at Heyley Castle. The accumulations of gravel and sand thrown up in such great masses in many parts of the county in long ridges of rounded hibs, as at Tittensor, Ashley, Barr, Kinver, and other places, are subordinate beds of this formation, as is proved by there being, in many places, an evident transition from the sandstone or conglomerate to the gravels and sand ; the pebbles, too, in both having the same characters, ab formed apparently from rocks more ancient than the sandstone itself, as granite, porphyry, quartz, amygdaloid, basalt, greenstone, sienite, slate, mountain bmestone, and millstone grit. The boulders of chert, bmestone, and miUstone grit appear less perfectly rounded by attrition than the older rocks. RoUed fossils of the genera Tubipora and Favosites, also Entrochi, fossbs of the mountain bmestone, may be picked up in most gravel-pits. 16 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: The highest hills of the new red sandstone are from 500 to 800 feet above the sea ; the red marl not attaining that height. In some places, where beds of gravel be under sandstone rock, the gravel has been got, leaving considerable caverns or excavations, such as exist at Ashley and near Barlaston Common. In other places the sandstone itself has been excavated in a remarkable manner, leaving caverns also ; such caverns exist near Kinver ; one or two large rocks, in particular, having been scooped out so as to form warm and dry habitations for many famines ; and others exist near Alton, &c. Above the sandstone be beds of marl or clay of a red colour, or occasionaUy variegated with white, grey, blue, or green. This, for example, may be noticed all around Stafford, except towards Cannock Chase, as weU as on Needwood." * The same authority says, "The vUlages of Rushton Spencer, Flash, Ipstones, Longnor, Sheen, Tittesworth, Meerbrook, Stanley, BagnaU, Wetley, and Colton, in North Staffordshire, are situated upon the millstone grit or bmestone shale. It bes upon the bme stone and limestone shale, when these strata are present, and is itself covered by the coal strata; aU these different formations lying conformably to each other. It generaUy offers the appearance of gritstone of different degrees of fineness, composed of rounded particles of quartz and other rocks, and more or less firmly cemented together. Sometimes it is a fine-grained sandstone; at other times, a pudding stone composed of large rounded pebbles. The colour is frequently red or dull yellow, more commonly whitish, turning dark when exposed to the air. As a building stone it is indestructible ; soon, however, putting on the hoary appearance of antiquity. It is also valuable for mUlstones, whence its name; there is a noted quarry for these on Mow Cop. Three or four of the white varieties of this formation are used in the manufacture of pottery. Some varieties are marked, when fractured, with numerous round red stains, caused by the oxide of Iron. These are the species which form exceUent hearths for smelting furnaces, and the grit for this purpose has been got at Revedge, north-west of Warslow, &c. ; it also abounds about Knypersley. The stains are occasionaUy beautiful in appearance, shaded off extemaUy around the margin, and inclosing, with a defined inner edge, a round space of a lighter colour than the rest of the stone, and in the centre of this a bttle empty cavity which, probably, may * Garner: Natural History of the County of Stafford. PAST AND PRESENT. 17 account for the formation of the stains. In the lower beds of the millstone grit, in some situations, occur very micaceous strata of flagstone ; such are quarried at Axe Edge, Morredge, &c. The thickness of the millstone grit is supposed to be 400 or 500 feet; and it constitutes the highest ground in the county. Six or seven lines of dislocation and elevation may be noticed in this formation, running more or less . north and south ; and the rows of cliffs produced by these elevations are frequently very bold and curious. The surface of these rocks is also frequently pobshed and scored in a remarkable manner, a phenomenon which in some cases, in other districts, has been attributed to the attrition once produced by bodies of rock and boulders, moved over such sur faces by the progress of glaciers. Perhaps, in this case, it may have been caused by the upheaving of the strata." " The mountain limestone is the oldest formation existing in the north of the county, and undoubtedly exists below the coal strata and millstone grit. It only appears at the surface in a space of about forty square mUes to the N.E., where it enters the county from Derbyshire, and much of this surface is occupied by the lime stone shale." "The limestone must be, at the least, 400 or 500 yards in thickness, which may be inferred from a study of the beds as they crop out, or rise to the surface. The lowest bed, or fourth limestone, as it is called, has not, however, been pene trated. This alone occurs in Staffordshire." "These beds of bme stone are, as may be supposed from the force which has uplifted them, not generally horizontal. The dip, or inclination of the strata, however, varies much ; the limestone district being the extremity of the great ridge, which extends from Scotland into the centre of England, and the strata on each side that ridge dipping from it westward and eastward, we might conclude that the dip of the limestone in Staffordshire and Derbyshire would be the same ; and this is the case. But to tbe south the limestone dips south wards, and to the north it dips northwards, so that we may suppose the centre of the district to have been a focus where the elevatory force was principally exerted. But these observations must be much modified. For instance, where the limestone and grit are in connection in Staffordshire, the former is not always seen to dip under the grit, as might be inferred, but is raised up above it bv a fault, presenting its face towards it, and dipping in the opposite direction, or nearly so. In fact, in Staffordshire, no particular plan VOL i. c 18 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE; of dip is evident. Frequently, in the steep hdls, the strata are conformable to the surface, unless a fault occur ; but this is not a rule without exceptions. The existence of mineral veins frequently points out spots where more than usual upheaving force has been exerted, and consequently from such locabties the strata frequently dip. The line of these mineral deposits may be sometimes traced for many mUes, both in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, running commonly from east to west', or, it may be, deflexed as much as fifteen degrees south of the last point. Such is the case at Mixo 1, Wetton, and Warslow ; but there are cross veins running in the opposite chrection. In Staffordshire the bmestone is sometimes particularly remarkable for the contortions it exhibits, having been thrown up and twisted in an extraordinary manner. Mr. Jukes has remarked this in Ecton HU1, where, on both sides of the river, we notice the same striking appearance ; also at the quarries at Water- houses. It may likewise be observed, in much larger contortions, on the side of the hUls in Hope Dale, near Alstonefield; also at Grin- don. As a general rule it may be noticed that the ridges formed by these saddle-shaped elevations run north and south, or nearly so. The structure and appearance of the mountain limestone vary. In colour it is grey, brownish, or black. The colour of the Ashford, and other black marbles, is due to bitumen, as they burn perfectly white. A similar variety, with numerous small shells, called por- phyritic marble, occurs at Wetton." Magnesia, sUex, or chert, copper,, and lead ore, are found in the mountain limestone, which is also remarkable both in Staffordshire and Derbyshire for the caverns and holes which occur in it. " Some of these holes and dislocations in the strata are called shake-holes and water-swallows, as they fre quently absorb small rivulets, or in fact considerable rivers. Such occur at Haughton Cross, Dowall, Gateham, Grindon, Waterfall, with some others, particularly those of Waterhouses and Darfa, into which the rivers Hamps and Manyfold run. In Staffordshire the pretty vUlages and hamlets of Berresford, Alstonefield, Butterton, Wetton, Onecote, Grindon, Waterfall, Caldon, Calton, Ilam, Blore, Upper and Lower Elkstone, and Warslow, are situated upon tbe bmestone, or at its edge, where it joins the limestone shale. This formation — the limestone shale — may be considered subordinate to the limestone, though it is supposed to be 500 or 600 feet thick. In appearance it varies much, being frequently little different from the coal measures, beds of which it contains at its upper part, and PAST AND PRESENT. 19 below it runs into the upper beds of limestone. It contains also beds of grit above, and there runs into the millstone grit. The limestone of Staffordshire has. a belt of it to the north, and it is seen in many places in the high moors to crop out from beneath the grit, in the valleys and guUies. Impressions of plants are found in this shale, perhaps the same as those of the coal formation. It wib spbt into useful flags and slates. It contains much konstone, and the water rismg from it is exceedingly ferruginous." "Of the upper SUurian rocks, the Ludlow and Wenlock forma tions," says Mr. Garner, "the former is uppermost, and occurs around Walsall, at Sedgley, and at the Hayes. These beds at Sedgley are thrown up from north to south, the strata dipping to the east and west, the latter inclination being most prevalent. Beacon Hill is composed of this formation ; and at this place, and in a prolon gation from its north and south extremities, the strata have been raised up through the coal measures in the form of an elongated dome, the coal dipping from it on all sides, with various degrees of inclination. The upper argillaceous sandstones are removed, in many quarries, to get to the middle beds of this formation, the Sedgley or Aymestry limestone, of which much of the high ground bere is composed. The limestone burns to a dark argillaceous lime, proper for light lands, and valuable for mortar, particularly if it is to be used under water. This middle bed is separated from the Wenlock (Dudley) limestone by a considerable thickness of shale. At Turner's Hill and the Hayes the same rocks occur. The Wen lock bmestone is seen at the Wren's Nest, Dudley Castle, and the Priory, Hurst HLU, and Walsall, which last town is built upon it. At the first places it 'occurs in several elbptical masses, trending in paraUel directions from 10° west of north to 10° east of south.' Wren's Nest is a most remarkable and interesting example of this formation. It is of an eUiptical form, rising up, with the beds which compose it highly inclined and folding round it ; the strata have an inclination of 60° on the eastern and 45° on the western side; it is in the form of 'an elevated dome, the calcareous summit of which was truncated during a period of elevation, when the harder or calcareous strata forming the crest, being snapped asunder, the fragments were removed by subsequent denudation.' The inclined external strata are deficient to the N.W., where a natural ingress is obtained to its curious interior, excavated and quarried in a remarkable manner for the sake of the limestone, with extensive 20 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : artificial caverns, extraordinary, but perhaps less imposing than those of Dudley Castle HIU. A remarkable fracture occurs to the S.S.E., near the farmhouse, where the external strata have been ruptured. This hill has a centre or nucleus of shale ; the limestone rising around it bes in two beds, the uppermost being twenty-eight feet four inches, the lower forty-two feet three inches in thickness : tbe beds are divided into substrata bearing different names ; they are also parted by beds of grey shale, or rotch, containing concretions of impure limestone, or bavin, and there is about a hundred feet of these beds above the upper limestone, between the two ninety, and beneath the lower sixty, exclusive of the central or Wenlock shale. Many concretions, caUed crogs, occur in the limestone itself, which are more crystalline in texture, and interfere in a remarkable manner with the stratification. The most beautiful organic remains be in the surface of certain flag-like beds of the upper bmestone. Dudley Castle HiU is of similar formation, with two beds of lime stone, and has been equally perforated and quarried in all directions. At Hurst HU1 and Cinder HiU a sirmlar elbpsoid elevation of the same rocks occurs, the strata dipping under the Ludlow rocks and coal measures, more or less inclined. The Wenlock formation occupies a greater area around Walsall : to the east it is overlaid by the detritus of the new red sandstone, which is thrown up Into the high hills of Barr; to the west it is separated from tbe coal measures by a fault. The strata strike north-east and south-west, thus differing from those of Dudley and Sedgley. The beds dip to the north-west at angles of 40° to 50° ; however, in some situa tions the beds here also are seen to have been thrown up in dome- shaped masses. The bmestone of Rushall, Daw End, and Walsall is about eleven yards thick, and has now (1844) to be extracted by shafts, the outcrops being exhausted. The limestone at the eastern boundary is thinner, but as it is much less inclined, it is stUl got by open work. Much of the Walsall limestone tract is occupied by the shale of this formation, forming a cold argUlaceous soU. This shale may, of course, be distinguished from the coal shale by its fossUs, those contained in each being characteristic. The line of limestone between Hay Head and Ginity Greaves is considered to turn in a saddle shape accompanied with the coal measures, and again to dip south-east under the strata of Barr Beacon. " The Clent Hills are situated in an isolated part of Staffordshire, at the extreme south, and these rounded and verdant hills are PAST AND PRESENT. 21 composed of a ' brownish red, compact felspar, occasionally porphy rinic, and sometimes passing into a fine concretionary rock.' These hills vary in height from 800 to 1000 feet above the sea ; their summits are conical, and their sides steep and mdented with combs. The pecubar rock of which they are composed occurs in loose pieces, no entire rocks being visible. They are upheaved through the new red sandstone, and are, consequently, of later formation. "The trap rocks of the South Staffordshire coal-field are inte resting. Cawney, Tansley, Warren, Turner's, Hadstone, Hawes, and Highman HUls, around Rowley, are composed of trap. The rock is well known as the Rowley Rag, and is much quarried for road-stuff. It is hard, fine-grained, crystalline greenstone, in some cases approaching very nearly to basalt, being an intimate mixture of grains of hornblende with smaU crystals of felspar and a few grains of quartz. It sometimes puts on a columnar form, as is beautifully seen at the Pearl quarry, and in Tansley HU1. No doubt is entertained now as to the igneous origin of these rocks. The coal and sandstones have been raised up by them in places, and the former changed to smut, and the shales also much altered in appearance : in other cases the trap has been poured out on the surface, so as to present a mushroom-like form. The trap rocks of the south, however, vary in character. At the DevU's Elbow one variety of the rock has a base of felspar, coloured green by chlorite, and traversed by streaks of calcareous spar; a second is an amygdaloid, with large kernels of calc spar; and a third is a crystalline hornblende rock, bke that of the Hailstone. Outbursts of these rocks also occur at Netherton, Russell's HaU, Cowper's Bank, Fiery Holes, Barrow HiU, Brierley HU1, and in the town of Dudley, frequently throwing up the lower and unproductive coal measures to the surface : much of the coal near these spots being spoUed, whUst, on the contrary, the ironstone is said to be im proved. The basalt at Cowper's Bank has a burnt and calcined appearance, from the coal strata near having taken fire. A basaltic rock like that of Rowley appears on the surface at Powk HiU, between Walsall and Wolverhampton, and on the crest of the hUl is seen in clusters of four-sided columns. At Bentley forge the angles of the prisms exfoliate, and they run into spheroidal concretions. Trap also occurs at Birch-hiU." In the Bewdley Forest coal-field, which extends into the south-west part of Stafford shire "a trap dyke runs south-west and north-east for two mUes 22 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE and a half, from the Severn to Coldridge Wood, north-east of Shatterford. It is formed by a fine-grained greenstone, highly crystalline, the hornblende for the most part predominating over the felspar. It throws up, and alters the coal, shale, and sand stone. Coal is got here at the surface, and the basalt is quarried to mend the roads." "A member of the old red sandstone group, the cornstone, occurs in Staffordshire, north of Bewdley, and the coal strata of that district rests upon it ; it is marked by the existence of fossils, many of which are peculiar to it, and in this situation it is clearly distinguishable from the new red sandstone, and the calcareous con glomerate of its lower beds, by the unconformable position of the two.'' " In two places," says Mr. Beete Jukes, " the red marls are capped by the lower beds of the bas (now known as the Rhsetic beds), namely, near Knowle, south of Birmingham, and on Need- wood Forest, near Abbot's Bromley. The occurrence of these outbers is interesting for two reasons : first, as showing that at those localities we have the whole thickness of the new red sand stone below them, as originally deposited, for it is not known that any unconformability or overlap occurs between the new red and the lias ; secondly, as proving the great amount of denudation that has occurred since the Oolitic period. These outliers, and the one in Cheshire, must be parts of a great formation that once spread continuously over the whole country." Copper and lead are found in the mines of the limestone district of North Staffordshire, and copper ores, manganese, &c, in the neighbourhood of Ashley Heath In the west. Salt is manufactured from the brine springs at Weston and Shirleywich, near Sandon, and salt springs occur at Draycott, Ingestre, Brierley HiU, Cradley Heath, and other places ; muriate of soda being abundant in most of them, with the muriates and carbonates of bme and magnesia, and traces of iron, but no iodine or bromine. Gypsum is obtained in the red marl of East Staffordshire, especiaUy along the Dove, and at Shirleywich, Fradswell, &c. Beds of fire-clay occur frequently in the coal measures. Of other minerals, natron, or sulphate of soda, is found in the coal mines at Fenton, and alum in various places in the coal strata. Fluor and calcareous spar are procured at Ecton, and quartz "diamonds" at Ecton and Wetton. Agate, jasper, and corneban are occasionally found in the gravel, and stalactites and stalagmites in the caverns and coal mines. Iron PAST AND PRESENT. 23 pyrites and sulphuret of lead (galena) are common in the coal measures, and sulphuret of zinc abounds both in North and South Staffordshire. Sulphate of barytes, also, is abundant at Mow Cop and Stoke-upon-Trent, and the carbonates of zinc, barytes, lead, and copper, with copper pyrites, and a few other metallic salts, are found in different parts of the county. The fossbs of Staffordshire are too numerous to be described in detaU, but they may be advantageously studied in the rich coUections of the mviseums at Birmingham and Dudley. The remains of marine animals and of plants are abundant in the coal strata, mountain limestone, and the Silurian rocks, and include shells of the Cephalopoda, Ccnchifera, Crustacea, and Crinoida, corals, calamites, and ferns ; the trUobites and encrinites being particularly fine. The teeth of the Megabchthys have been found in the coal strata, and the Dudley museum contains a specimen of M. Hibberti, nearly entire. The fossbs of the grit are similar to those of the coal measures. The Coal-fields — South Staffordshire. — The coal-fields of Stafford shire are of such importance as to call lor special and distinct description; and for that ofthe Southern division there is, of course, no better authority than Mr. Beete Jukes. That gentleman thus describes the position and be of the rocks : — " The coal-field is an island of Palaeozoic rocks, surrounded by the Triassic beds. The be of the Palasozoic rocks may be sketched as foUows : — An anticlinal ridge, compbcated by three local irregular dome-shaped elevations, tbe most northern of which has an elevated syncbnal trough attached to it on the west, bring up to the present surface the SUurian floor on which tbe coal measures rest, and this floor rises again to the surface on the east about Walsall, but at a much more gentle angle than on the anticlinal ridge. Between these two SUurian exposures the coal measures lie in a shallow basin, tilted up a little to the north, so that the beds below the Thick coal crop to the surface between Wolverhampton and Walsab. They are^ however, soon thrown in again by the great Bentley fault, which is a down-throw to the north of 120 yards, and north of which dislocation they have no longer a basin-shaped form, but dip gently but steadily to the west, so that the higher beds (repre senting the Thick coal) come in about Wyrley, and the lower beds crop out about the Brown Hills. North of that the coal measures seem to retain pretty much the same lie up to Brereton. South 24 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: of BUston the beds dip gently to the south, and are also thrown down to the south by a succession of faults, which range east and west across the basin tiU we come as far south as Tipton. On the east they crop gently towards the Walsall Silurian district, but are sharply bent up into a nearly vertical position on the flanks of the dome-shaped Silurian elevations as they crop to the anticlinal on the west. Round the southern and south-western margin of this anticbnal the coal measures lie at a more gentle angle, dipping everywhere towards the south and south-west, in which direction they are also thrown down by a long fault, called 'the Russell's HaU fault,' which runs from north-west to south-east, parallel to the direction of the anticlinal ridge, but extending much farther to the south-east. At right angles to this direction, from the southern termination of the anticlinal ridge in the town of Dudley, a pair of faults, forming the Dudley Port trough, run to the north east for about three mUes ; and it is remarkable that the faults on the south-east side of that trough run mostly north-east and south-west, and are down-throws to the north-west, while to the northward of the Dudley Port trough the faults run chiefly east and west, and are down-throws to the south. The high ground to the south-east of Dudley, capped by the Rowley basalt, continues in the same line as the high ground of the anticlinal on the north west of Dudley. The tUting and disturbance of the beds, however, is not apparent south-east of Dudley, except by the continuation of the Russell's Hall fault, since the coal measures seem to be nearly horizontal under the basalt, and bi all the district to the south of Oldbury, as far as the Birmingham and Hales Owen road at all events, and as far as is known to the south of that up to the Permian boundary. The portion of the coal-field which lies between Dudley and Stourbridge is divided into two irregular basins by the Netherton anticlinal, which runs north-east and south west for about three mbes from Netherton to the Lye Waste. The Thick and other coals crop round this local elevation in con tinuous lines. The outcrops of the Thick coal are about a quarter of a mbe apart in the central portion of the ridge. A mass of basalt shows itself on the axis of this anticlinal a little south of Netherton, but has obviously had no more effect in disturbing the beds there than in other places. The greatest disturbance has been produced at the Lye Waste, where some of the Ludlow rock, with its included limestone, shows itself at the present surface, PAST AND PRESENT. 25 and the Thick coal just east of it was tbted into a vertical or even an inverted position. From Netherton and Brierley HU1, and the Old Park, the coal measures dip gently towards the west till they are cut off by the Kingswinford boundary fault. From Dudley Wood and Cradley they appear to dip regularly but gently towards the south, till they are covered by the Permian beds, which form the high ground of the Clent Hills and Frankley Beeches. Thus the southern end of the coal-fields seems to be covered by the Permian beds, resting in apparent (but only apparent) conformity on the coal measures ; whbe the northern end seems to be covered unconformably by the Triassic beds. On the east and west the coal-field is bounded by long down-throw faults, which bring In the Permian and Triassic beds variously against the coal measures. Other faults have been traced in these beds them selves in the country both east and west of the coal-field. It is probable that many of these faults may have originated at different periods, and almost certain that in none of them has the whole amount of throw been produced at once. They are the result of slow creeping movements in the rocks at the different periods when the district has been affected by those disturbing influences, of which we see the external symptoms at the present day in the occurrence of earthquakes." "Parts of the southern portion of this coal-field," says the same writer in another place, "are in Worcestershire, and a portion round Hales Owen forms an isolated part of Shropshire, but the greater part is in Staffordshire. Its northern apex is at Brereton, near Rugeley. Its southern margin extends from the parish of Harborne, near Birmingham, to that of Hagley, near Stourbridge. Its length from N. to S. is about 23 miles, its mean width from E. to W. being about 6 miles, and its area accordingly about 120 or 130 square mUes." "In order to give any accurate account of the coal measures, we are obliged to divide the coal-field into three parts — the southern, the middle, and the northern parts. The southern part is all that which lies south of Wolverhampton, Bentley, and Walsall ; the middle, the part round Wyrley and Cannock Chase ; and the northern, the part nearest Brereton. The southern part is the richest, being that in which the Thick coal is found, and that which most abounded in ironstone." The foUowing abstract account of the coal measures of the three VOL. I. n 26 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE districts is from the "Survey Memoir on the South Staffordshire Coal-field:"— GENERAL SECTION OF THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PART OP THE COAL-FIELD. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.16.17.18 19. 20. Beds above the Upper Sulphur coal (la. The Hales Owen sandstone group, lb. The Eed Coal Measure clays), . ... . . from Upper Sulphur coal, .... Intermediate measures, . . Little or Two-foot coal, . . . Intermediate measures, . . . . from (I.) Brooch Coal, .... (7 1 ) Brooch Binds ironstone measures, .... . . . from Herring coal (not known north of Dudley), (7 2.) Pins and Penny-earth ironstone measures, from Intermediate measures containing the sandstone known as the Thick coal rock, .... . " (7. 3.) Broad earth, Catch earth, and Batt, containing the Ten-foot and Backstone ironstones in the Pensnett district, " (II.) Eoofs coal or Top Floor, .... (III.) Top Slipper, or Spires, or Spin coal, (These two form the Flying Keed when separated from the coals below.) (IV.) Jays, or White coal, (V.) Lambs, or Floors, or Fine Floors coal, (These two are often either mentioned together under the name of White coal, or else the lower one is absent.) (VI.) Tow (tough) or Heath coal, (VII.) Benches coal (this bed is but rarely mentioned), . . . (VIII.) Brassils, or Corns coal, (IX.) Foot coal or Bottom Slipper, or Fine coal, (X.) John coal, or Slips or Veins coal, ..... . . (XI.) Stone or Long coal, (XII.) Patchells coal (sometimes absent or not mentioned), . . (XIII.) Sawyer, or Springs coal, (XIV.) Slipper coal (XV.) Bottom Benches, or Omfray (Humphrey), or Bed or Kid (Kick?), or Holers coal, (7. 4.) Pouncill batt, Blacktery and Whitery, containing the Grains' ironstone, and sometimes the Whitery ironstone, from (7. 5.) Gubbin ironstone measures, sometimes called the Little, or Top, or Thick coal gubbin, sometimes the Black ironstone, . ... " Table batt or intermediate measures, .... " (XVI.) Heathen Coal, Intermediate measures (sometimes wanting), from (XVII.) Bubble, or Lower Heathen Coal, sometimes, when the measures above are wanting, forming the bottom part ofthe Heathen coal, sometimes itself wanting, when the measures above and below seem to be both present, " (7 6.) Intermediate measures containing, at Bentley, the ironstone known as the Lambstone and Brownstone, " (7 7.) New Mine or White ironstone, . . . Ft. Ft. 600 to 800 about 1 140 2 2 to 48 about 4 7 to 20 about 1 7 to 30 38 to 157 6 to 14 about 30 2 to 8 2 to 8 2 to 28 about 3 Oto 43 2 to 4 10 to 33 2 to 10 PAST AND PRESENT. 27 21. (7. 8.) Measures containing the Penny-stone ironstone, called also Blue- stone or Cakes, .... . 22. (XIX.) Sulphtjk Coal, 23. Intermediate measures, 24. (XX.) New Mine Coal 25. (7 9.) Measures containing the Fireclay Balls ironstone occasionally, . 26. (XXI.) Fireclay Coal and partings, 27. Intermediate measures, 28. (7 10.) Getting Rock ironstone (occasional), 29. (7. 11.) Poor Eobin ironstone measures, . . 30. Intermediate measures, sometimes wanting, 31. (7 12.) Bough Hills White ironstone (occasionally), 32. (XXII.) Bottom Coal, 33. Intermediate measures, 34. (7. 13.) Gubbin and Balls ironstone, sometimes called the Great or Bottom Gubbin, 35. Intermediate measures, ... 36. (XXIII.) Singing or Mealy Grey Coal (occasional), 37. Intermediate measures, 38. (7 14.) Blue Flats ironstone, 39 . Intermediate measures, 40. (7 15.) Silver Threads ironstone, . . 41. Intermediate measures, 42. (7. 16.) Diamonds ironstone, 43. Lowest measures, maximum thickness known below the Diamonds ironstone, • Total average thickness, Ft. Ft. " 10 to 25 2 to 9 3 to 99 " 2 to 11 " 2 to 40 " 1 to 14 2 to 10 " 4 to 5 3 to 5 " Oto 9 " 2 to 19 " 3 to 12 5 to 30 " 3 to 10 " 18 to 50 " 2 to 4 " 16 to 50 " 2 to 9 " 10 to 14 4 to 7 " 6 to 15 " 2 to 3 about 50 " 1330 GENERAL SECTION OP THE COAL MEASURES EXTENDING FROM BENTLEY TO ESSTNGTON AND WYRLEY ON THE WEST, AND PELSALL AND THE BROWN HILLS ON THE EAST. The capital letters refer to the localities, E. standing for Essington, W. for Wyrley, B. for Bentley, and P. for Pelsall. Average thickness. Ft. In. Various measures ; 20 ft. E., (I.) Coal, 2 ft. E., Intermediate measures ; 37 ft. E., . . . . . . . .... (II.) Coal, 1 ft. 9 in. E, .... Intermediate measures, 10 ft. E., 1. 2.3.4.5.6. 7. 8.9. 10.11. 12. 13. 14. 15.16.17. 18. 19. 20. (III.) Coal, 5 small coals with partings, 12 ft. 6 in. E., 12 Intermediate measures, 3 ft. E., (IV.) Coal, 1 ft. E., Intermediate measures, 66 ft. E., . . (V) Coal, 2 ft. E. ; 1 ft. 9 in. W., Intermediate measures, 32 ft. E. ; 10 ft. W., ... (VI.) Coal, 7 ft. 6 in. E. ; (coals and partings 9 ft. 10 in.) W., Intermediate, with a small coal, 57 ft. E. ; 76 ft. W., . . . . (VII.) Old Bobins coal, 5 ft. 6 in. E. ; 6 ft. 6 in. W., . . . Intermediate, 35 ft. E. ; 18 ft. to 22 ft. W., (VIII.) Wyrley Yard Coal, with parting, 5 ft. E. ; 3 ft. to 5 ft. 6 in. W., . Intermediate, including the Yard coal ironstone, 40 ft. E. ; 36 ft. to 69 ft. W., (IX.) Charles coal, 2 ft. 3 in. E. ; 2 ft. 4 in. to 3 ft. W., Intermediate, 30 ft. E. ; 24 ft. to 26 ft. W., 52 (X) Cannelcoal, 3 ft. 8 in. E.; 4 ft. W., . . . . 20 0 2 0 37 0 1 9 10 0 12 6 3 0 1 0 66 0 1 10 21 0 8 8 67 0 6 0 25 0 4 0 47 0 2 6 52 0 3 11 28 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE Average Thickness. Ft. In. 21. Intermediate, 60 ft. E. ; 54 ft. to 84 fl. W., 71 0 22. (XI.) Wyrley Brooch coal, 2 ft. E. ; 3 ft. 8 in. to 4 ft. W., 3 4 23. Intermediate, 3 ft. 6 in. E. ; 1 ft. to 1 ft. 6 in. W., 1 8 24. (XII.) Benches coal, 7 in. E. ; 2 ft. to 2 ft. 4 in. W., 2 0 25. Intermediate, with a 2 ft. coal, 74 E. ; 40 to 48 ft. W., 54 0 26. (XIII.) Wyrley Bottom or Eight-foot, Bentley Old Man's coal ; 8 ft. 6 in. with partings E.; 6 ft. to 8 ft. W. ; 9 ft. 10 in. B., 8 1 27. Intermediate, 38 ft. E. ; 39 ft. to 46 ft. W. ; 45 ft. to 61 ft. B., 46 0 28. (XIV.) Essington Four-foot, or Bentley Hay coal, 4 ft. E. ; 3 ft. W. ; 5 ft. sometimes expanded by shale to 1 1 ft. B 4 0 29. Intermediate, 51 ft. to 63 ft. B., 54 0 30. (XV.) Heathen coal, 1 ft. 8 in. to 3 ft. B. ; 21 ft. 6 in. P., 2 0 31. Intermediate, 44 ft. to 56 ft. B. ; 61 ft. P., 50 0 32. (XVI.) Sulphur coal, 1 ft. 6 in. to 4 ft. B., 1 9 33. Intermediate, 21 ft. to 52 ft. B. ; 32 ft. to 52 ft. P., 43 0 34. (XVII.) Yard coal of Pelsall, 3 ft. to 3 ft. 6 in. B. ; 2 ft. 9 in. to 3 ft. 8 in. P., . 3 2 35. Intermediate, 31 ft. to 46 ft. B.; 26 ft. to 50 ft. P., 40 0 36. (XVIII.) Bass coal of Pelsall, 4 ft. to 6 ft. B.; 3 ft. to 6 ft. P., 5 10 37. Intermediate, 21 ft. to 35 ft. B.; 29 ft. to 39 ft. P., 31 0 38. (XIX.) Fireclay or Cinder coal, 3 ft. 10 in. to 6 ft. 8 in. B.; 3 ft. 2 in. to 5 ft. P., 4 6 39. Intermediate, 21 ft. to 46 ft. B.; 21 ft. to 49 ft. P., 33 0 40. (XX.) Upper part of Bottom coal, or Shallow coal, 2 ft. to 7 ft. 9 in. B. : 4 ft. to 7 ft. P., ¦ .... 54 41. Intermediate, 8 in. to 8 ft. B. ; 38 ft to 51 ft. P. (average of latter), 46 0 42. (XXI.) Lower part of Bottom, or Deep coal, 2 ft. 9 in. to 4 ft. 8 in. B.; 5 ft. to 15 ft. P., 68 43. Measures between the Bottom coal and the Silurian shale, 137 ft. B., . ... 137 o 1053 0 SECTION OF THE BRERETON DISTRICT. Ft. In. 1. Bed sandstone and white gravel (part of the New Bed Sandstone conglomerate), 80 0 2. Red and yellow marl, rock, clod, and batt, 16 6 3. (I.) First coal, 4 6 4. Clod, with ironstone, ... . 19 10 5. (II.) Second coal, . 2 6 6. Clod and rock, . . . 51 3 7. (III.) Third coal, '.'.'.'.'. 2 0 8. Fireclay and clod, 13 0 9. (IV) Fourth coal, 4 0 10. Bock clod and ironstone, .... 30 1 U. (V) Fifth coal, '.'.'. 4 o 12. Fireclay, 3 0 13. (VI.) Sixth coal, . . 0 4 14. Bock, with ironstone, 14 8 15. (VII.) Seventh coal, 2 3 16. Rock, with ironstone, clod, and batt, 36 0 17. (VIII.) Eighth coal 4 0 18. Batt and clod, with light rock, 50 0 19. (IX ) Ninth coal ...... o 6 PAST AND PRESENT. 29 Ft. In. 20. Clod, &c, .60 21. (X.) Tenth coal, .... . 33 22. Bock, . 13 4 23. (XI.) Eleventh coal, . 10 24. Clod, rock, and ironstone, .... . ¦ 22 10 25. (XII.) Twelfth coal, 9 0 26. Bock, binds, and ironstone, . .... 48 7 27. (XIII.) Coal, not enumerated, 2 0 28. Binds, with ironstone, ... 21 7 29. (XIV.) Thirteenth coal, : • • • • 5 0 30. Fireclay and clod, 24 0 31. (XV.) Fourteenth coal, 10 32. Rock, clod, and ironstone, . . 105 8 33. (XVI.) Fifteenth coal, 4 3 34. Red measures, thickness not stated, . ... .... .... 605 11 " In the distribution of these several measures and groups of measures, it is observable that the beds of coal are the most regular and equable, and extend over the widest areas ; next to them in regularity of thickness and extent of area are the fine argillaceous beds, the baits and the binds; the sandstones and conglomerates being most hregular in thickness, and most uncertain in occur rence." "In tracing the beds from the southern into the middle part of the coal-field (say from Bbston to Bloxwich), the only coal- bed which is known by the same name throughout is the Heathen coal, No. 16 of the first bst and No. 30 of the second. There can be bttle doubt of the correctness of the identification, and it therefore serves as a horizon to connect the beds above and below it in the two areas. On comparing the two lists, it wib be at once apparent that the Thick coal, No. 12 of the first list, must be composed of the coals numbered 12orl4to20in the second list, the coals having come together in consequence of the dying away of the intermediate measures towards the south. Even when we enter the Thick coal district, coming from the north, it is found that the coabtion of the coals is not at first complete, for the Thick coal is at first an eight-yard coal only, the white coal being its top measure; and it is not tib we get as far south as Bradley that the coal becomes a ten-yard coal, by the gradual junction of the two uppermost measures, the ' top sbpper ' and ' roofs.' The Thick coal having been originahy worked further south, where it was a fub ten -yard coal, the separation of these two upper measures towards the north was denoted by the term of the ' flying red ' 30 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : or ' flying reed.' It occurs also towards the west in the King- swinford district. One thing is very remarkable about it, and that is, that whenever these, beds leave the Thick coal, as the ' flying red,' the thickness between them and the brooch coal above them diminishes nearly in the same proportion as the thickness between them and the white coal increases." To Mr. Jukes this is confirma tory of the hypothesis that " the whole series of beds were deposited under water by the equable strewing of materials, so far as those materials could be diffused by the gentle currents of the water before they came to rest upon the bottom." Of the resources of this coal-field, Mr. Hub, whose book* was published in 1861, says:— "In order to arrive at an estimate of the resources of this coal-field, it is necessary to consider the northern and southern halves separately, as the former contains about three- fourths of the original quantity of coal, the latter only one-tenth. 1. Area of coal-field, 93 square miles. 2. Average thickness of workable coal above two feet, 16 yards. 3. Total original quantity of coal (corrected for denudation), .... 3072 millions of tons. 4. Of this the northern part contained 1024 " Deduct one -fourth, leaving for future use, . . 768 " 5. The southern part (south of the Bentley fault), contained . .2048 '' Deduct nine-tenths, leaving about . . 205 '' 6. Total quantity remaining, . .... 973 Which at the present rate of consumption would be exhausted in about 200 years." North Staffordshire. — " The North Staffordshire Coal-field," says Mr. Hull, who, with Mr. Warrington Smyth, surveyed it In 1866-67, "though of smaber area than that of South Stafford shire, has vastly greater capabilities. The strata are about four times as thick, with twice the thickness of workable coal ; and instead of being bounded on each side by enormous faults, which at one step places the coals at almost unapproachable depths, the coal measures of North Staffordshire dip under the Permian and Triassic rocks along a line of many mbes at the south-western border of the coal-field, and under these formations coal may be obtained at a future day. Moreover, there are none of those pro trusions of igneous rocks which have produced so much injury to the coal-beds near Wolverhampton, Dudley, and Hales Owen. This coal-field has the shape of a triangle, with its apex to the north at the base of Congleton Edge ; the eastern side is formed of mblstone grit, and the westerly of new red sandstone or Permian * The Coal-fields of Great Britain. PAST AND PRESENT. 31 strata. Along the south the coal measures are overlaid by Per mian marls and sandstones ; and these strata run far up into the heart of the coal-field by Newcastle, along the line of a great fault, which ranges north-north-west towards Talk-o'-th'-Hib. SUCCESSION OF STRATA IN THE NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE COAL-FIELD.* Greatest Thickness. Feet. Permian Bocks. — Bed and purple sandstone, marl, and cornstones (with plants), strata slightly unconformable to the coal measures, 600 Coal Measures. — 1. Upper. — Brown sandstones, greenish conglomerate (like the volcanic ashes of South Staffordshire), with thick beds of red and purple mottled clays; thin coals, .... 1000 2. Middle. — Sandstone, shales, with ironstone, and about forty coal seams, . . . 4000 3. Lower.— Black shales and flags, with Wetley Moor thin coals (Goniatites, Pecten), 1000 Millstone Grit. — Coarse grits, shales, and flags, . . 4000 Yoredale Bocks. — Black shales, &c, with marine fossils, . . ... . 2300 Carboniferous Limestone, 4000 to 5000 SUCCESSION OF COAL SEAMS. Ft. In. 6 6 20 0 3 9 121 0 8 0 71 0 5 0 54 0 2 0 29 0 2 8 361 0 4 6 377 0 8 0 121 0 5 0 68 0 3 6 48G 0 4 7 30 0 Ft In. 1. Peacock coal, . Strata, . . . 2. Spencroft, . Strata, . . . 3. Great Bow, Strata, . . . 4. Cannel Bow, . Strata, . . . 5. Wood Mine, Strata, . . 6. Deep Mine, . Strata, ... 7. Winghay coal, Strata, ... 8. Ash, or Bowhurst, . . . Strata, . . . 9. Burnwood, . Strata, . . 10. Golden Twist, . Strata, . . . 11. Mossfield, Strata, . • Lower coal measures, with two thin coals of Wetley Moor. Besides the above, there are fifteen other seams of no value." " The faults of this coal-field are not numerous, except in the neighbourhood of Talk-o'-th'-Hib. There are, however, several * Horizontal Sections of the Geological Survey — Sheets 42 and 55: Hull & Smyth. 12. Coal, 3 Strata, 270 13. Birches' coal, 4 Strata, 300 14. Ten-feet coal 6 Strata, 102 15. Bowling Alley, 4 Strata, 81 16. Holly Lane, 5 10 Strata, . . . .... 84 0 17. Sparrow Butts coal, .... 49 Strata, 222 0 18. Flats, 3 0 Strata, ... . . 108 0 19. Frog's Bow, . 4 6 Strata, . . . 30 0 20. Cockhead, 4 6 Strata, . . . 420 0 21. Bullhurst,. . .40 Strata, . . 60 0 22. Winpenny, . -.30 32 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : very large dislocations, one of which forms the boundary of the coal-field along its north-western edge. It runs along the western base of Congleton Edge and west of Talk, throwing down the new red marl of the Cheshire basin on the north-west against the carboniferous rocks on the south-east. This dislocation is more than 500 yards, and its direction is north-north-east. Another fault, with a downthrow on the east of 350 yards, passes by New castle and east of Hanchurch ; and at Hanford there is a third and parabel bne, with a downthrow of 600 feet; on the same side, east of Longton, the coal-field is bounded by a large fault, which was visible near the entrance to the rabway tunnel when it was being made ; it throws in the new red sandstone on the east side," Mr. Elliot, who reported to the Coal Commission of 1871, stated that the coal-field of North Staffordshire consisted of one large and several small outlying districts; and for convenience he arranged the large district into four divisions. The total quantity of coal avabable, after all deductions, Mr. Elliot estimated as follows: — Districts. Surface Area. Not exceeding 1500 feet in depth. Between 1500 feet and 3000 feet in depth. Between 3000 feet and 6000 feet in depth. Between 6000 feet and 9000 feet in depth. Total at all depths. 1, 2, 3, and 4, Verges, Cheadle, Wetley, . . Golosditch, . Acres. 30,876 10,400 11,616 1,200 90 Tons. 1,325,980,007 354,330,240 104,524,603 3,062,400 117,450 Tons. 1,012,361,046 572,824,815 Tons. 564,928,888791,933,744 Tons. 96,210,400 Tons. 2,903,269,941 1,815,299,199 104,524,603 3,062,400 117,450 Total, . . 54,182 1,788,014,708 585,185,861 1,356,862,632 96,210,400 4,826,273,593 On the same subject Mr. Garner, in his " Natural History of the County of Stafford," says: — "The North Staffordshire, or Pot tery coal-field, is of a triangular form, with its acute apex to the north, and its base to the south. The strata, at part of the west side, and for almost the whole of the east, rest upon elevated ridges of mblstone grit, presenting frequently a bold and pictu resque appearance. On the flanks of the large hill, called Cloud, these two ridges meet. At the base of the triangle the coal strata are in contact with the lower beds of new red sandstone, but faults appear here to run across. This coal-field is one large triangular valley, though several minor ridges run up its area, produced in some measure by the rising to the surface, or cropping out, of the coal measures. On the eastern side of the field the strata lying upon the grit dip conformably to it, or westwards, PAST AND PRESENT. 33 more to the south, however, on this line, W.S.W. Here, at the south part of the line, the dip is frequently about one yard in four, but with a greater declivity northward — two yards in five, for instance, at Knypersley. On the west side the inclination or dip, being of course towards the east, is greater, generaby one yard in from two to three; but here also much greater to the north, where the strata be in some places nearly upright, the dip being often four or five yards in one. The strata on this side the field, after being -broken by the westerly ridge of grit described above, are also inclined in the opposite direction, or dip westwards, under the plain of Cheshire. At the southern part of the ridge, where the grit does not appear, it may be observed, for instance at Scot Hay, that whbst on the Staffordshire, or east, side of the ridge the measures dip east, with an inchnation of one foot or more in three, at the top of the ridge they be nearly flat, then become inclined a bttle westwards, at first with a gentle dip, afterwards rapidly, or In some places approaching the perpen dicular. At the extreme south of this westerly ridge the strata :ire known to turn round, or wrap round, as it were, the hih, so as at one point to dip south. Towards the north extremity, or apex of the coal-field, as the strata on its two sides dip in oppo site directions, they there, of course, from the narrowing of the bmits of the coal-field, and from the strata approaching towards the hih Cloud, are seen in the distance of a few yards to be inclined to each other. On the west side of the coal-field, on the westerly dip, the coal is extensively worked ; but at present it does not appear to have been found under the sandstone or marl of Cheshire. The ridges of mblstone grit, mentioned above, rise to a considerable height, and are frequently cabed Edges — - Brown Edge, Baddbey Edge, &c. The hills Mow Cop, Cloud, and the rocks above Biddulph, are the highest points of these ridges, the former being 1091 feet in altitude, the two latter pro bably more. A very hard grit of a reddish appearance occurs at Fenton Park, in the neighbourhood of an important fault, accom panied with iron pyrites, sulphuret of zinc, and some native copper. On the western side of the coal-field, towards Mow Cop, there likewise occurs a rock, which appears to owe its formation in part to igneous action. This is of a lively green colour, very- hard, and inclosing many roundish pieces of bright red rock, which, however, are also seen in some of the grit of this spot. In the hib VOL. I. E 34 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : itself, likewise, much conglomerate exists, very hard, apparently semi-fused, and containing a quantity of zinc and iron pyrites ; also a very hard and fine-grained grey rock, if, Indeed, it be granular at ab, lying in beds between the strata of grit, and dis appearing in one case in a wedge-like manner. "Probably as many as between thirty and forty beds of coal exist in this field, which vary from a few inches to ten feet in thickness. The bands of ironstone which crop out to the west of the field, near Apedale, Sbverdale, &c, are very numerous, and each composed of many courses; they are, however, only interstratified with poor coal; though a little to the west, where the dip is reversed, the coal beds are easily attained, ten or twelve seams cropping out in a hundred yards of the surface, the whole containing as much as forty-five feet thickness of coal, rising up from beneath a bed of whitish grit many yards thick. The beds of ironstone alluded to may lie upon this stone, and the coal beneath it has perhaps not been reached to the east. Other seams of coal have been got stib deeper to the west. It seems difficult to identify the different beds of coal in one part of the field with those of another, but some beds which exist on this western side of the field are apparently found on the eastern, and the beds alluded to just before are probably identical with the deeper beds to the east, cabed the Bowling Alley, Sparrow Butts, Holly Lane, &c. The coals got at Fenton Park, to the south-east of the field called the Ash and Knowles, would appear to be found at the foot of Mow Cop ; and the light brittle cannel, of a jet black colour, marked with concentric circles, and dotted occasionally with pyrites, found on the Twist coal at Hanley, is exactly similar in appearance to a cannel found on the Cheshire side of the Mow Cop, and, indeed, to cannel from South Staffordshire. "Another cannel is stony, hard, heavy, brown, and laminated, containing numerous impressions of bivalve shells. Iridescent, or peacock coal, is found in the upper beds. The caking coals leave most coke, and are used for household purposes, being cleanly ; and also generally for the manufacture of gas. The bituminous coals, burning almost entirely away to a white ash, are principally con sumed in the Potteries. Some of the lower beds are hot, clear, and cleanly, but burning rapidly ; these are also used for household purposes." The Cheadle Coal-field.— "The Cheadle coal-field," says Mr. Garner, "is, in formation, simbar to that of the Pottery district, having PAST AND PRESENT. 35 ridges of grit on the west and north-east sides : Sharpstones Cliff and Ipstone Edge being to the north-east, and Wetley rocks, and the ridge extending towards Caverswall, forming the opposite side of the trough. There is likewise tbe new red sandstone and its detritus thrown up into hills across the base of the fields to the south. The coals are frequently good, and simbar to the deep beds of tbe eastern side of the Pottery coal-field. Calamites and fine impressions of ferns have occurred, particularly at the Delph House colliery." Mr. Hub says of the Cheadle eoaLfield : — " A smab, and but slightly productive coal-field, stretches from the vabey of the Churnet on the north-east, to the hbls of new red sandstone, which stretch in a picturesque and abrupt semicircle along its southern borders. Towards this range the strata dip (S.S.W.), and on the north side of the Churnet the high moorlands of the millstone grit rise from beneath the coal formation. In the centre of the coal-field an out lier of new red conglomerate reposes unconformably on the coal measures, and forms the site of the pretty town of Cheadle. " The fobowing is the succession of the coal-seams : — 1. Two-yard Coal. 3. Yard Coal. 5. Four-foot Coal. 2. Half-yard Coal. I 4. Littley Coal. I 6 Woodhead 3 feet coal. " The Lower Coal Measures of the Churnet Valley contain two thin coals, one of which has a roof of black shale with Goniatites and Aviculo-pecten." North Staffordshire has coal in a few other places also. Mr. Garner says : — "A small but distinct coal-field occurs to the west of Cheddleton, not worked at the present time. It appears to be a trough with the grit dipping towards it on both sides, east and west. The coal-field between the Axe Edge and Swithamley range of rocks is probably the extreme southern point of the Lancashire and Cheshire coal-field. It must be one of the highest above the sea in England. It presents a fine example of the usual disposition of a coal-field, in a trough or basin formed by surrounding shelving high hills of grit. It has been worked in all directions, but at present (1844) coal is got only In one or two spots. Traces of coal occur in many places in the moors of this part of the county, being perhaps the outcrops of car bonaceous beds of the grit and limestone shale. Thin seams of coal, probably belonging to the same formations, have occasionally been worked near Buxton, Warslow, Whiston, Sec." The Ironstone Measures. — "The iron ore of Staffordshire is that 3G STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : form of it called the earthy carbonate." It is found "in layers, several of which generally occur together, only separated by a little clay or shale, forming a band. It is, when raised, seen In flat tables, frequently in great massive pieces, or in the form of babs, occasion ally columnar within. It is composed of iron, oxygen, and carbon ; also alumina, and some carbonate of lime ; and occasionally it con tains other substances, as the carbonates of manganese and magnesia, silica, bitumen, iron and zinc pyrites, arsenic, phosphorus, titanium, &c. The ore may frequently contain about one-third per cent, of metal, combined principally with carbonic acid, which, therefore, constitutes a considerable part of the weight of the ore. The heaviest ores may not be better than bghter ones, as the latter may have that quabty only from containing coal." — (Garner.) Analyses of some of the principal varieties of South Staffordshire Ironstone showed the fobowing results : — Dudley Gubbin — Protoxide of iron, 46*30 per cent.; protoxide of manganese, T44; carbonic acid, 30 "4 4. Darlaston Gubbin and Balls Ironstone — Protoxide of iron, 49-30 ; peroxide of iron, 3-61 ; bisulphide of iron, 0"13 ; sulphide of zinc, 1-27; carbonic acid, 32*05. Darlaston Blue Flats Ironstone — Protoxide of iron, 42'34 ; peroxide of iron, 1'47; protoxide of man ganese, 1-12; bisulphide of iron, 0'06 ; carbonic acid, 30-91. In each of these cases there was an "ignited insoluble residue" of from between 9 and 10 to upwards of 15 per cent., consisting chiefly of sbica and alumina ; the other constituents were comparatively un important. Of the North Staffordshire ores, the Brown Haematite contains in 100 parts about 53 of sesquioxide of iron, 14-61 of bme, 18'14 of carbonic acid, and yields nearly 37 per cent, of iron; the clay ironstone yields in some cases nearly 40 per cent. These are merely instances, the different seams of ironstone throughout the county varying so much in their composition that none of them can be taken as a criterion of the rest. The names and depths of the ironstone measures of the southern division have been given in the tabular view of the contents of the coal-field. In North Staffordshire, besides the haematite bed of the Churnet "Valley, the principal "bands" are the Top Red Mine of Silverdale, the Gubbin, the Penny stone, the Two-feet Mine, and the Burnwood Ironstone. The economical aspects of the coal and iron industries of the county wib be dealt with in the latter portion of this work. The Rivers of Staffordshire. — Although possessing no river navi- PAST AND PRESENT. 37 gable within the confines of the county, Staffordshire is plentifully watered. The main watershed of England runs through it ; and there are points whence may be seen the curious spectacle of two streams flowing in contrary directions. The chief river is the Trent, which is reckoned the third In importance in. the kingdom, only the Thames and the Severn ranking before it. This is justified by its length, by the number and size of its tributaries, b\ its value as a means of communication between the canals, and by the fertility of the districts lying in its course. "Its general cbrection is southward by Stoke-upon-Trent, south-eastward by Stone and Rugeley, north eastward by Burton and Nottingham to Newark, and thence north ward by Gainsborough to its junction with the Yorkshire Ouse, when the united waters constitute the river Humber." The Trent rises in the north-west part of the county, between Biddulph and Mow Cop, where it is only a small brook, but passing through Knypersley pools and the reservoirs at Greenway Bank, it runs on past Hanley, Shelton, and Stoke, to Trentham, where it forms a fine lake in the duke of Sutherland's park. Below here it passes, to the west of Meaford Hall and to the east of Darlaston Hall, to Stone and Sandon, having by this time widened considerably. Leaving Sandon and Weston behind, it skbts Ingestre Park for a couple of miles, and at Great Haywood, near Tixall, is swelled by tbe river Sow. Hence, flowing through the fine parks of Shug- borough, Oakedge, and Wolseley, it passes on to Bugeley, Armitage, the two Bidwares, Handsacre, and King's Bromley, receiving the Bbthe by the way, to the South of Needwood Forest, from which, and from Cannock Chase, it receives several tributaries; and so to Alrewas and Wichnor, the Icknield Street crossing it near the latter place. Having received the Tame from the south and the Mease from the east, it turns to the north at the edge of the county, between which and Derbyshhe it in places forms the boundary; and, passing Catton Park, Walton, Drakelow Park, Stapenhih, and Burton, where it is crossed by a bridge of thirty-six arches, 515 yards In length, receives the Dove near Newton Solney Park, and quith the county. From its source to this point its length is reckoned to be over fifty mbes, with a fall of from 350 to 380 feet. The Trent then flows through portions of the counties of Derby, Nottingham and Lincoln, to its mouth near Alkborough. Its total length is about 166 mbes, its total descent about 494 feet, and with its tributaries it drains an area of more than 4000 square mbes. It 38 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : is navigable from Burton by barges, and from Gainsborough by vessels of 200 tons. The Trent abounds with fish, that part which runs through Staffordshire being famous for trout and grayling, and one of tbe fanciful derivations "of its name rests on the supposition that it contains many other members of the finny tribe. Drayton, in bis " Polyolbion," says the river was cabed Trent because There should be found in her, of fishes thirty kind ; And thirty abbeys great, in places fat and rank, Should in succeeding time be builded on her bank; And thirty several streams from many a sundry way, Unto her greatness should their wat'ry tribute pay. Drayton may have derived his inspiration from Spenser, who, except ing the abbeys, had expressed a simbar view; and Milton says that Trent — like some earth-born giant, spreads His thirty arms along th' indented meads. Izaak Walton naturally favours the " thirty several sorts of fish " theory ; whbe Camden, differing from them all, thinks the name has nothing to do with the French word trente, but that it was derived from the Saxon. Anciently, it was known as Trivona or Treonta. — The Sow rises in the neighbourhood of Bishop's Wood, on the western border of the county, and running through the smab lake of Copmere, passes by Eccleshab to Chebsey vblage, below which it receives the Meece, and stbl further down, Clanford Brook, which skirts Panton Abbey. Passing by the ruins of Cresswell chapel and the county town of Stafford, which bes on its north, the Sow receives another tributary, the Penk, about a mbe and a half lower down, and then runs past St. Thomas's (where there was once a monastery of some importance), Mbford, and Shugborough, to Great Haywood, where it joins the Trent. — The Tame, which is partly in Warwickshire and partly in Staffordshire, rises from the south of Cannock Chase; and having received several tributaries from the district lying to the east of Wolverhampton and Dudley, passes Hamstead Hall on its right, and Perry Hab on its left bank, and entering Warwickshire north of Birmingham, takes an easterly and then a northerly course, till, near Dosthbl, it forms the boundary between the two counties. Soon after, it again enters Stafford- shire, passing Tamworth Castle and receiving the Anker, and is itself absorbed, along with the Mease, near Aire was. Fine bream are caught in parts of tbe Tame.— The Penk, a tributary of the Sow, PAST AND PRESENT. 39 which it joms at Baswich, near Stafford, rises in the south, where it receives the waters of Eaton and Whiston brooks from the west, and Saredon brook from the east. This little river lends its name to form that of the ancient town of Penkridge. — -The Stour passes through a portion of the county, running from Stourbridge past Prestwood House, near which it receives the Smeslow, past Stourton Castle and Kinver, and then re-enters Worcestershire. — The Bourn, or Black Brook, takes its rise on the south side of Cannock Chase, and flows south-eastward past Shenstone Hab and Park, the vil lages of Weeford and Hints, and passing through Drayton Manor Park, falls into the Trent near Fazeley. — The Smeslow, Smestow, or Smestal, a little stream in the south-west of the county, runs by Trysub and Stourton Castle to the west of Stourbridge, where it joins the Stour, and then the Severn, which flows across the south western extremity of Staffordshire for a mbe or two, and is navigable for vessels of ninety tons. — The Meece is a tributary of the Sow, and rises on Whitmore Moss, passing by Chorlton, Standon, and Shawford ; whbe the Mease, with which it is not to be confounded, though a tributary of the Trent, which it joins below Croxall, belongs rather to Leicestershire and Derbyshb-e than to Staffordshire. — The Blithe rises about three miles east of Lane End, near Caverswab, and taking a south-easterly course, parallel with the Trent, runs past Leigh, Chartley, Bbthfield, Bbthbury, King's Bromley, and Ham- stall Ridware, near to which, about seven miles above Burton, it flows into the Trent. — The Dane rises on Axe Edge, near the sources of the Dove and the Goyt, on the borders of Cheshire and Stafford shire, between which counties it forms the boundary for some miles. It enters Cheshire on the north of the hib known as the Cloud, whose craggy steep overhangs the river in a remarkable and pic turesque fashion. The stream is at first precipitous and rapid, but moderates its pace as it flows through the plain of Cheshire. Here it passes on by Congleton to Middlewich, where it receives the Wheelock, and at Northwich joins the river Weever. — The Tern has its source in Staffordshire, not far from the village of Norton. For a short space it divides the counties of Stafford and Salop, and drains a large part of the latter, which it enters a little below Drayton, and having been swelled by the waters of the Poden, flows into the Severn near Attingham. Tbe battle of Blore Heath was fought about a mbe from the banks of the Tern. — The Churnet rises on the borders of Cheshire, and not far from its origin runs through 40 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE the canal reservoir at Rushton. Having received several smaller streams from Biddulph, Wetley Moor, &c, it passes by Leek, and at Cheddleton enters a beautiful vabey, with finely wooded slopes on each side, varied here and there with flint mbls. Fobowing the romantic course of the stream, we come to Belmont, Oakamoor, and Alton, the river at the latter place laving the foot of the rock on which is founded the old castle. Before reaching this point, the hibs have become more rocky, the sandstone cliffs projecting sharply from their sides, and overhanging the river bed. On the other side of the deep valley at Alton are situated the beautiful grounds and residence known as Alton Towers, a seat of the earl of Shrews bury. Below this the valley widens, and a few miles further down the Churnet flows into the Dove, on the borders of Derbyshire. The scenery along the course of the Churnet is among the most debghtful in Staffordshire. — The Dove, throughout its entire length of forty-five miles, forms the boundary between Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and therefore belongs to both counties. The com bined beauties of the river and the scenery through which it runs are by many considered to be unsurpassed anywhere. Charles Cotton, the poet and angler, speaks of it as the " beloved Dove" :— " Of all fair Thetis' daughters none so bright, So pleasant to the taste, none to the sight, None yields the gentle angler such delight." The Dove, bke the Dane, rises on Axe Edge, but runs in the contrary direction, turning to the east. Its source is a mountain bog, calculated to be 1700 feet above the level of the sea; the river having an estimated fab of 1550 feet to the Trent, which it joins near Burton. A second branch of the Dove springs from an elevated part of Axe Edge, but joins the main branch at the foot of the hih, down which it dashes swiftly, and rapidly decbnes over the grit rocks of the vabey below. For the next few miles it runs south-east through comparatively uninteresting commons, but near to Church Sterndale it flows between some lofty lime stone rocks, faced by gritstone hills nearly as high, into a beautiful vabey which reaches to Longnor. Passing Longnor and Hartington, a mile or two below the latter place we come to Berresford, where the limestone crops out on both sides of the river, and to the celebrated spot, Pike Pool, with the poet Cotton's fishing-house, "a marveUous pretty place," built "in a kind of peninsula." Close PAST AND PRESENT. 41 to this relic the river forces itself through the solid rock and forms the deep still pool just mentioned, in the midst of which stands a curiously-shaped limestone pillar. Proceeding hence, the Dove runs between two well-wooded hills, past the rugged mountain called Wolfscote, to a defile some mbes in length, appropriately named Narrowdale, but displaying some fine mountain scenery. A little further down the river enters the romantic vabey of Dovedale. Of this it has been well said : *— " Dovedale, tlie subject of painters and poets, presents such a succession of fine scenery as can be found nowhere else in England in the same limited space. It is at least three mbes in length, and though other rivers may exhibit spots more sublime or more beautiful, yet none afford such a continuance of striking scenery. Quitting Mdldale, and passing through some lovely meadows, the river enters Dovedale by a magnificent portal of lofty rocks, and passes through the majestic scenes in the vicinity of Pickering Tor, an enormous mass of isolated crag. This upper division of the dale is the grandest, though not the most beautiful part of the whole; the rocks rise in perpendicular masses on both sides of the river, and in some places emotions of awe and terror are inspired by the imposing precipices that frown over the path below. Leaving the first of the three parts into which the vale may be divided, we shortly come to Reynard's Cave, one of the most extraordinary specimens of rock scenery in all Derbyshire ; while a bttle further on, on the opposite or Staffordshire side of the river, appears the curious assemblage of barren rocks called Dovedale Church. The fobage of the trees is here of the most luxuriant description, and artists have found in this part of the vale some of the finest subjects for their pencil. Entering soon afterwards upon the third and least romantic portion of Dovedale, we find that the scenery becomes more gentle; the hbls are less craggy; the stream mur murs along over its pebbly bed, and trees bend gracefully over different parts of its silvery course. Occasionally large stones are thrown across the stream, and interrupt its progress: over these it rushes rapidly into the pool below, forming in its frequent fabs a series of fairy cascades, about which it sparkles with a brd- liancy peculiar to this romantic river." Leaving Dovedale at its southern extremity, and passing between the two hbls, Bunster and Thorp Cloud, the Dove receives the Manifold below the pretty * Li-uis's Rivers of Enirlan 114 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: and not able to pay, or if any of them flee the country, or commit felony, or any such like, ab the copyholders called the bond tenants shall answer all such sums of money as, at the next audit, shall be found due upon any such tenant, for any of the causes abovesaid, for as much as the reve is yearly to be chosen, and to choose such as they will answer for his doings at their perb. And so forth with the rest of the customs." Erdeswick gives the following account : — " It is and hath been long the seat of a gentleman that takes his name of the place, whom I imagine originally to be a Mutton, and that being a younger brother he changed his name when he became lord of that town, which his armory induceth me to think, being A. a cinquefob B., and differs only from the coat of Mutton by having a red chief charged with a lion passant gardant O., which chief was added that he might thereby differ from the elder house, given, as it should seem, by one of the Lancastrians since they came to have the Ferrers' revenues. And yet I have seen very old monuments of the coat and chief, especiahy one in Adbaston church, so old that a man would think it to be of Henry M.'s time ; and therefore, I think, set up by the first owners of Rolleston, being of this house." Statfold. — In Henry II.'s time Statfold was held by Richard Salvein, and after by Robert. Geffrey Campvile held both it and Haselour in the time of Edward I., and from him it descended to Stafford, and so on to Arden, the Stanleys, Hercy, and the Wolver- tons. Shaw enters into full detail on this subject, and shows that Lady Elizabeth Hercy was owner of it, just as she was of her father John Stanley of Pipe's other estates, i.e., of a moiety in all. " It has since appeared from a case (and pedigree) for legal opinion, found among Sir Simon Archer's collections, that Sir John Hercy and wife did, 1st Elizabeth, partly in consideration of monies paid and secured, and of the release of a statute, acknowledged by Sir Humphrey Stanley's relict, and partly in consideration of a first marriage between Humphrey Wolfreston and Katheryn, daughter of John Stanley (heir of Thoresby), convey to Humphrey and Katheryn, with limitations over all their moieties in Padmore, Blacklowe, Stoke, Sandon, and Fulford, and their moiety of certain lands in Astonson, Stoke, and Hilderson, called Wolescrofts, &c. ; and 3rd Elizabeth for the education of Hersey (Hercy), son and heh of Humphrey and Katheryn, conveyed to them, with the same limitations, all their moieties in Aston, Burfreston, and Hard- PAST AND PRESENT. 115 wick. And that, in 7th Elizabeth, Humphrey and Katheryn assured 'all their lands in Aston,' and somewhat further in Aston, 'parcel of the inheritance of Maude Wolfreston, Humphrey's mother,' to Christopher Heningham and Dorothee his wife, and his heirs ; and all their titles in ' Wolescrofts and Stoke, and other lands' (in an after part of the statement explained to be Burston) 'to John Stanley and Jane his wife ' (his second wife, formerly Lasells), ' and the heirs of John.' And that, in consideration of these latter assurances, Christopher and Dorythe Heningham assured their moiety of 'the manor of Statfold and Bodmin,' and John and Jane Stanley, 'the other moiety of the manor of Statfold, had and obteyned from Sir John Hersey and dame Elizabeth,' by the very first Trinity term in same 7th Elizabeth. ' So that (concludes the legal statement) Humphrey and Katheryn had all Statfold ; John Stanley, Stoke ; and Heningham, all Aston.' The question for counsel, * what Katheryn may doe to put Statfold away from Hersey, and not prejudice her owne estate,' is foreign to the present purpose. It sufficiently appears Statfold was not, in the event, so put away."* The parish contains 450 acres, 55 inhabitants, 8 houses, and its real property is valued at £749. Streeihay. — This village stands upon the old Icknield road. The township is in St. Michael's parish, and contains 972 acres, 135 inhabitants, 27 houses, and real property valued at £2411. Stretton. — There are two Strettons in Staffordshire ; the present one is a township-chapelry in Burton-upon-Trent parish. It con tains 2200 acres, 484 inhabitants, 101 houses, and real propertv valued at £2671. The living is a perpetual curacy, and is annexed to Holy Trinity, Burton. Syerscote. — -This small township in Tamworth parish contains about 900 acres, 42 inhabitants, 8 houses, and its real property is valued at £815. Tamhorn. — In the Conqueror's time this was held by Nigebus Gresley 's ancestors. In that of Henry II. Robert de Tamenhorne held it ; and in the reign of Edward I. Wibiam de Tamehorne held it of Geffrey Gresley. It is extra-parochial, and is in Lichfield district. It contains nearly 800 acres, 31 inhabitants, 5 houses, and its real property is valued at £1379. Tatenhill. — '' Like a mile before Trent comes to Burton there enters into it a little brook, coming out of Needwood ; but there is * Harwood's Erdeswick. 116 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: nothing upon it worth noting, except a man should account Taten- hall for a beauty, whereof I never heard any man make any great account, except (Thomas Gesson) a poor priqst, that was parson of Packington, in Leicestershire, and was born here ; who commending, in a sort, his birth-place, left these verses upon his monument in Packington church : — '¦ Me Tatenhall genuit, ast Ashby davia, nutrix; Packington tumulus, sic mea fata ferunt." In this briefly quaint manner Erdeswick dismisses Tatenhib, near to which, in the days of Edward the Elder, a great battle was fought. Leland calls it " a vibage and a college about a myle from Wulnerhampton." Gough informs us the name is a corruption of Theotenhall, which being interpreted signifies the hall of nations or of pagans. The college was founded prior to the Conquest, " and had a dean and five prebends till tbe period of its dissolution by Henry VIII." Shaw says the building stood at the east end of the church. This is a royal chapel dedicated to St. Michael, and enjoys the privileges which are common to " such peculiars." " The inscription," says Mr. Nightingale, " on the seal is Sigillum Com mune Ecclesiae Collegiatce de Tetenhall. The eastern window of this building is a very curious ancient one, containing a painting on glass, which represents the archangel trampling on a dragon. The front is of an angular shape, and beautifully ornamented with Gothic sculpture work." The parish is extensive ; it includes three townships, containing 9408 acres, 2593 inhabitants, 555 bouses, and real property valued at £5560. The living is a rectory annexed to the deanery of Lichfield. Its value is not given, but it is considered a good hving. The country in the neighbourhood is exceedingly picturesque, and abounds in pleasant rambles. " The parish church is a large old bubding, consisting of a lofty nave and chancel, and surmounted by a massive tower. On the floor, in the body of it, are several ancient flat stones with figures cut out upon them, but in so mutilated a state as to render it impossible to ascertain any thing concerning them. The tower is remarkable as the Centrum Phonocampticum, or object of an echo, which returns no less than five sybables distinctly, though the distance of the Centrum Phonicum, or speaker's place, does not exceed seventy yards. Another uncommon echo is mentioned by Dr. Plot, as having been formerly heard near the parsonage house, which only answered during frost. The church was thoroughly restored in 1872-73. PAST AND PRESENT. 117 Some years ago a variety of Roman coins were discovered in the vicinity of the small hamlet of Calbngwood. A curious and beautiful model, of shittim wood, of the holy sepulchre, with the church over it, was formerly deposited in a house possessed by Mr. Jalland. The history of it, as web as the name of the artist, are unknown." * Thorpe Constantine.— -This place, says Mr. Nightingale, deserves notice on account of the diminutive size of its church ; and, he might have added, for its pleasant picturesqueness. The parish contains 950 acres, 49 inhabitants, 5 houses, and its real property is valued at £1891. The living is a rectory worth £89, which is in the gift of and held by the Rev. George Inge, M-A., to whom the manor belongs. Tutbury. — This ancient place is famous for its castle, its church, and its tenure of the Bull Running. The castle was for some time the prison of the famous Mary Queen of Scots. It was visited by her son James I., and by Charles I. ; but these events belong to the general history of the county, and will be related in their proper place. It is but a few hundred yards from the castle to the church, which from its fine position presents a noble appearance from every point of view. It was in old times a part of the priory which was founded by Henry de Ferrariis in 1080, and contains one of the finest specimens of Saxon architecture now extant. The front is a work of especial beauty ; rich in ornamentation, and various in design. The arch of the door has seven rims, and each rim is crowded with ornament. The beaks of birds, scrolls, flowers, heads of divers animals, zig-zag and dog's-tooth ornamentation, are in lavish profusion. The window arch above is simbar in design and ornaments, but smaller. At each side the window are windows which have been filled up with ornamental stonework. This part of the building has at some time or other undergone repairs ; but the work has been web done. A more beautiful specimen of " poetry in stone " perhaps does not exist. The front is railed out, and immediately from the rabs the churchyard rises into a fine slope, upon the grass of which you can recline and view this splendid bit of architecture, even to its minutest detail, which is perfect. A more delightful treat cannot be conceived. We went away, and walked round the town, and then came back to have another long look at this noble old church. Over a door in the south wall there is a stone, on which is cut * Ticturesque Views of Staffordshire. 118 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: the representation of a boar hunt. This stone, it is agreed by all authorities, is very ancient ; and judging from what remains, we should say that the original cutting was of a very bold and admir able kind. No visitor should pass this unobserved. The middle aisle is the most ancient, as it is the most beautiful part of the church. It is believed that when in 1260 Robert de Ferrars, the last earl of Derby, pulled down the priory, he spared this portion of the bubding, and that the south aisle was built about 1307 by the earl of Lancaster. There is now a north aisle, but this is modern, having been built so late as 1829. A new window has also been placed in the east end of the church. The strangest thing, however, about Tutbury Priory is the bar barous tenure by which the lands and endowments were held — the tenure of the Bull Running. Dr. Plot gives a full account of this tenure ; but in one important point the learned doctor is doubtless in error. He says that it came from Spain; which the Rev. W. Pegge, in a paper read at the Society of Antiquaries, February 14, 1765, and since published in the " Archaeologia," shows to be a mistake. Dr. Plot also mistakes in assigning its introduction to John of Gaunt. The mistake is, however, easily explained, and having described this strange tenure, we shall show how the doctor came to trip in the matter. There is little doubt but that the bull running was coeval with the foundation of the priory. On the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary the minstrels of the country used first to attend divine service in the Abbey; then to meet and feast at the castle ; then to choose a chief or king ; then repair to the Abbey Gate, where the prior had provided a bull — we now quote from Dr. Plot — " which bull, as soon as his horns are cut off, bis ears cropt, his tab cut by the stumple, all his body smeared over with soap, and his nose blown full of beaten pepper ; in short, being made as mad as possible, after solemn proclamation being made by the steward, that all manner of persons give way to the bull, none being to come near by forty feet, any way to hinder the minstrels, but to attend his or then- own safeties, every one at his perb. He is then turned out to them (anciently by the prior) now by the Lord of Devonshire, or his deputy, to be taken by them, and none other, within the county of Stafford, between the time of his being turned out to them and the setting of the sun the same day ; which if they cannot do, but the bull escapes from them untaken, and gets over the river into Derbyshire, he remains still my Lord of PAST AND PRESENT. 119 Devonshire's bull. But if the said minstrels can take him, and hold him so long as to cut off but some small matter of his hair, and bring the same to the Market Cross, in token they have taken him, the bull is then brought to the bailiff's house in Tutbury, and there collared and roped, and so brought to the bull-ring in the High Street, and there baited with dogs ; the first course being allotted for the king, the second for the honour of the town, and the third for the king of the minstrels. Which after it is done the said minstrels are to have him for their own, and may sell, or kill, and divide bim amongst them, according as they shall think good." Dr. Plot's error in ascribing the custom to John of Gaunt arose trom the fact that whbe he possessed the castle the minstrels had increased so much, and their quarrels were so frequent, often pro ducing riots and deeds of violence, that the duke had to interfere. He made laws for their governance ; and he it was who directed that a king should be appointed with power to carry out the laws, and to inflict punishment on the delinquents. Their privileges were confirmed by charter, and although there is no mention of the bull running by name in this charter, it is doubtless included in the phrase " antient times," which occurs twice in this charter. We give the words of this curious document : — " John, by the Grace of God, King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Lancaster, to all those who shab see or hear of these our letters, greeting. Know ye, we have ordained, constituted, and assigned to our well-beloved king of the minstrels, in our honour of Tutbury, who is, or for the time shall be, to apprehend and arrest all the minstrels in our said honour and franchise that refuse to do service and minstrelsy as appertain to them to do from antient times, at Tutbury aforesaid, yearly, on the days of the Assumption of our Lady ; giving and granting to the said king of the minstrels for the time being full power and commandment to make them reasonably to justify and constrain them to do their services and minstrelsy in such a manner as belongeth to them, as it hath been there as of antient times accus tomed ; in witness of which we have caused these our letters to be made patent. Given under our Privy Seal, at our Castle of Tutbury, the 22nd of August, and in the 4th year of our most sweet King Richard the 2nd." The town is a very old one, and its name, Tutbury, Toteberie, or Stutesberie, is supposed to be derived from an altar or statue "erected on the Castle Hill in the time of the Saxons to the Gaulish 120 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: god Tot, or Totti." However this may be, its antiquity cannot be doubted. It was made a free borough at a very early period, and its inhabitants enjoyed some very peculiar privileges. A few of these are named in old deeds as "diverse bberties of common, of pasture, purvenage, and estorers, in the forest of Needwood;" they had also freedom of " all tob, tonnage, package, poundage, and other exactions, within ab then- possessions." Yet with all these advantages it never had the supreme privbege of sending a member to Parliament, and is never likely to possess it now. It is a plea sant toAvn ; finely situated on the beautiful Dove. The houses are old, some of them picturesque, and mostly have the aspect of a genial antiquity about them. There is a large cotton mbl on the river by the bridge, but with this exception there are few signs of activity and modern life about the old place. We are sorry to add that we saw the ugliest "Ebenezer" in this town — so rich in beautiful specimens of beautiful buildings to teach men better — that the eye of man ever beheld. Tutbury is also famous as the scene of the marriage of the " babad-singer's joy," the "famous man," Robin Hood. The story is told in one of the ditties of Robin Hood's Garland, and it relates how the bold outlaw was smitten by, and won and wedded Clorinda, the queen of Tutbury feast. The ballad is entitled " A New Ballad of Bold Robin Hood, showing his Birth, Breeding, Valour, and Marriage at Titbury Bub Running. Calculated for the meridian of Staffordshire, but may serve for Derbyshire or Kent." Robin has called his men together by winding his " bugle clear," " twice five and twenty good yeomen and bold ;" but the outlaw still wants " forty and three ;" and is told by a bold yeoman — " Lo, yonder they stand All under the greenwood tree. As -fhat word was, Clorinda came by ; The Queen of the shepherds was she ; And her gown was a velvet as green as the grass, A nd her buskin did reach to her knee. Her gait was so graceful, her body was straight, And her countenance free from pride ; A bow in her hand, a quiver of arrows Hung dangling by her sweet side. Her eyebrows were black, ay, and so was her hair, And her skin was as smooth as glass ; Her visage spoke wisdom, and modesty too ; Suits with Robin Hood such a lass. PAST AND PRESENT. 121 So Robin asks her where she is going, and she replies : "To kill a fat buck; For to-morrow is Titbury fair." The gallant Robin asks her to wander with him, and rest in his bower, and she shab be sure of a leash of fat bucks in an hour. She, nothing loth, complies, and on the way a herd passed by, and she shoots the fattest "through side and side." The outlaw is charmed, and tells her he never saw a woman bke her, and whether she comes from east or west, she need not ask venison from him. However, they have a feast, and are served by Little John and at least four-and-twenty good yeomen. She then asks her entertainer's name. To which — " And he said, ' 'tis bold Robin Hood ; 'Squire Gam well's my uncle ; but all my delight Is to dwell in merry Sherwood. For 'tis a fine life, and void of all strife.' ' So 'tis, sir,' Clorinda replied. 'But oh,' said bold Robin, 'how sweet it would be If Clorinda would be my bride ! ' She blushed at the notion, yet after a pause, Said, 'Yes, sir, and with all my heart.' " Robin wants her to be married at once, but she tells him that cannot be, for she must be at Titbury feast, and then invites Robin to go thither with her, and she wib make him a most welcome guest. Of course they go, but they had not travelled five " Stafford shire mbes " when " eight yeomen " tell them to stand, and deliver up the buck. He and Little John set about the eight, and so slash them that five fall ; the other three ask for quarter, " And pityful John begged their lives." They are pardoned and sent home to their wives, and the ballad continues : — " This battle was fought near to Titbury town, Where the bag-piper baited the bull ; I am king of the fiddlers, and swear 'tis a truth, And call him that doubts it a gull. For I saw them a-fighting and fiddled the while, And Clorinda sung ' Hey, derry down ! The bumpkins are beaten, put up thy sword, Bob, And now let us dance into the town.' Before we came to it we heard a strange shouting, And all that were in it looked madly ; For some were a bull-back, some dancing a morricc, And some singing Arthur a-Bradley. - VOL. i. 1 22 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : At Titbury feast, however, Robin and his easily-won bride were married by Sir Roger, the parson of Dubbridge. And then as bold Robin Hood, and his sweet bride, Went hand in hand to the green bower : The birds sang with pleasure in merry Sherwood, And it was a most joyful hour. Thus ended the history of the Titbury marriage, and the ballad singer says — " A truer tale never was told." However that may be, we tell the tale as he has told it to us ; and we feel that it is not one of the least pleasant of the associations connected with Tutbury. Before leaving we again mounted the Castle Hill to have one more view of the magnificent prospect which is obtained from the tower. Every rambler standing here wbl admit the truth of the graphic words of his predecessor, the ancient Erdeswick : — " The hbl," he writes, "is, as it were, thrown out of the forest (a great woodland and on high ground) into the meadows, a brave pasture ground, upon the Dove. It hath a large and brave prospect, both to it, in it, and from it. North-west and north it looks up the goodly meadows and pastures of Utcester and Rowcester, Ashbourne and Derby. Eastward it looks down the rivers Dove and Trent, even to Nottingham ; south-east, towards Burton, Drakelow, Greseley Castle, and Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Upon the south-east and south it is shadowed, as it were, with the woodland, where is a goodly forest, and a great number of parks (I think,) a dozen at the least, whereof a great many belongs to the said castle and honour." A more picturesque scene than that presented by the ruins of Tutbury Castle was never yet offered to the eye of a rambler. On a lofty hbl, nestled in trees, stand the four great fragments of this once noble and famous dwelling-place of nobles and prison of royalty. On three sides it is beautifully wooded ; and seen from a little distance, the hoary-looking, lichen-coloured, and ivy-vehed crumbling towers seem to rise out of the midst of the rich and dense foliage of the ever young and perennial trees, to which they form a striking and not unlovely contrast. It is a glorious and tempting goal to have in view ere you reach the convenient rabway station, and while you are walking the too-short walk from that evidence of modern science and comparative well-being to the eloquent record of PAST AND PRESEMT. 123 the insecurity and turbulence of other days. How long the true rambler wbl be taking that walk we wbl not venture to say. The road rises gently the whole of the way, and every step affords you a good and justifiable reason to pause and admire. Now we are on the bridge which crosses the Dove — Walton and Cotton's Dove — and who could pass that lovely stream of beauty and poetry without a long spell of rest ? The castle, seen from the bridge, is very fine, and grander perhaps than even the castle is the magnificent old church, itself on a hbl, and yet overlooked by the secular power, as the priestly should ever be. Having watched the waters of the sweetly-flowing Dove until its pure spirit has passed into his own, the rambler keeps on a little way, when a turn to the right hand brings him to tbe path which leads to the church and the castle. It is a rather steep walk ; but he will not mind that, for it is rarely that a walk leads to two such objects of beauty. History, tradition, romance, and poetry, hang their fairest aureole round them both. Passing the church we reach a gate on the right hand, through which a rising path leads to the ruins of the castle. On either hand is the hobow, the old moat, now a series of tempting dingles covered with grass and wbd flowers ; rich in underwood and trees. We walk on, thinking of the changes in England since water filled this moat, and the visitor had to wait till the drawbridge was let down ere he could reach the carefully guarded entrance, under the shattered and crumbbng stones by which we now walk unquestioned and without opposition. The moment we entered the court-yard we made for the walls, for the sake of the far-spreading view which we knew awaited us ; and nothing could be finer. There at our feet is the old moat, its sides covered with rich vegetation, and alive with merry lasses and lads, out for a day's enjoyment, running up and down its sides ; their joyous laughter ringing cheerfully human about the old walls. There along the valley, coming from its source in the fine Derbyshhe hbls, winds the Dove amid the greenest of grass. Away there are the Derbyshire hills ; and there the Leices tershire ; and so with your map in hand, you can pick out spot after spot, and place after place, in the broad expanse of cultivated country around you. A climb up the tower scarcely adds anything to the view which you get from the wall ; stbl every visitor ought to mount the well-preserved stairs, and take a rest on and a view from the highest point he can reach. Seated on this point of vantage, let us go over the history of 12-1 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : the place. Far into the regions of sere and yellow antiquity are we led. Tradition affirms that a tower, stbl cabed Jubus's Tower, was erected by Csesar, about forty years before Christ. With out accepting so remote an age for its foundation, it is historically known as a Saxon stronghold ; and was a favourite residence of the Mercian kings, in consequence both of its admirable situation as a place of security, and of its proximity to the great hunting grounds of Needwood Forest. Of many Mercian kings who bved at Tutbury Castle, Offa the Great asks for special mention, as his name is said to have given its title to the hundred in which Tut bury is placed, which is stbl called Offlow Hundred. At tbe Conquest the castle was held by Hugh de Albrimcis, a nephew of the Conqueror. William afterwards gave it to Henry de Ferrars, whose third son Robert succeeded to this, as web as some other of the enormous possessions bestowed upon his father by the despotic king. In consequence of Robert's victory over King David of Scotland, in the famous War of the Standard, he was created Earl of Derby by Stephen. Richard L, however, revoked the title, and made the then inheritor of the name and power of the Ferrars his enemy for a time ; he was reconcbed again to the king, went with him to the Holy Land, and died honourably fighting by the side of his despober. To his son, whose name was also Wbbam, King John made ample amends. Ferrars had been to this wretched, and unfortunate, and wicked ruler a fast friend ; and John restored the title of which his father had been deprived, and added the then unique honour of girding on the sword with his own royal hands. During the wars of the Roses the castle suffered various fortunes, and again became a royal possession. John of Gaunt, the famous " time- honoured Lancaster," became the owner of Tutbury, by his marriage with Blanche, one of the daughters of Henry, duke of Lan caster. His name is still associated with the place, in consequence of the repairs which he did, and which had been rendered necessary by the frequent assaults which it had sustained during those troublous times. He rebuilt a great part, adding "house, walls, and gateway." The ruins of the gateway still exist, and are called " John of Gaunt's gateway." In 1568-69 the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots was a prisoner in Tutbury Castle, and James I. paid three visits to the once prison-house of his mother. These festive events took place in 1619, 1621, and 1624. It was also visited by his son Charles T. PAST AND PRESENT. 121 in 1636, and in 1646 it was reduced to ruins by the Parliament arians. These events will be narrated in the general history of the county. The parish of Tutbury contains 4000 acres, 2149 inhabit ants, 437 houses, and its real property is valued at £11,362. The living is a vicarage wTorth £286, and is in the patronage of Sir T. Moseley, Bart. The Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Inde pendents have each a chapel here, and there is also an endowed school. In 1831 more than 100,000 old English and Scotch coins were found in the Dove, a little below Tutbury. One of the most extraordinary impostors of modern times was a native of Tutbury. This was the once notorious Ann Moore, who pretended, and made the world believe, that she had lived for nearly six years without tasting either food or drink. The history of this remarkable case is one of the most interesting in the record of popular impositions and delusions. The author of " An Historical Description of Tutbury Castle and Priory " gives the following brief account of this fasting impostor : — " She professed to have lived without food or any nourishment whatever from the year 1807 to 1813. Her fame spread throughout the kingdom, and many emi nent individuals, both medical and philosophical, visited the fasting prodigy. She gained a rich harvest from the numbers whose credu lous curiosity she wrought upon, so that she placed in the funds the sum of £400. She was generaby found supported upright in bed with pblows, and the Bible before her. Her conversation corresponded with her religious hypocrisy. There were, however, some of her visitors who were not to be so easby deluded, and a committee of gentlemen was formed to investigate the case. In 1811 a watch was commenced, and continued for sixteen days and nights ; but to her daughter and other accomplices she was indebted that she came through the ordeal triumphantly. Stbl, many remaining sceptical, another watch was formed, comprising Sir Oswald Moseley, the Rev. Leigh Richmond, Dr. Garbc, and other eminent gentlemen. This watch was formed upon far stricter measures, and commenced Aprb 21, 1813, continuing for nine days. As preliminary, her room was scrupulously searched, her bed changed, and placed upon a Merlin's weighing machine, and neither her daughter nor any of her acquaintances were permitted to come near her. Under this discipline it was soon discovered that she lost weight. On the ninth day she had lost fourteen ounces, and it was evident she was pining from want. She became exceed- 126 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : ingly bl, and her pulse was scarcely perceptible. Her sufferings at this time must have been extreme, and the medical attendants were of opinion that she could not live many hours. She asked for something to moisten her mouth, and a cloth dipped in vinegar and water was given to her ; this was repeated several times, and the gentleman who administered it declared that he perceived her swabow ; this she positively denied, and desired to take an oath that for four years she had not taken any nourishment whatever. But she found it impossible to prevent detection, and her life being at the last ebb, she made, before several magistrates, this confession : — : ' I, Ann Moore, of Tutbury, humbly asking pardon of ab persons whom I have attempted to deceive and impose upon, and above ab, with the most unfeigned sorrow and contrition, imploring the divine mercy and forgiveness of God, whom I have so greatly offended, do most solemnly declare that I have occasionaby taken sustenance for the last six years. " 'Witness my hand, this 4th day of May, 1813. her '"ANN + MOORE.' mark " She afterwards took milk in the presence of the gentlemen, and graduaby recovered. The very slight sustenance which this woman required to support existence is truly surprising; and consequently, for the sake of gain, she was tempted to the imposition of pro fessing to live without any food whatever. " She remained but a short time in Tutbury after her detection, and went to reside near Stafford, where, it is said, she lived dis gracefully, and died in penury." Whittington. — Of the manor of Whittington, Bisland Fowke and Richard Puer "were some time lords, and which Richard le Chbd held of the bishop, 24 Edward I., by the fifth part of a knight's fee ; and now one of the Everafd's hath a house there, which descended to him from his mother, Clerkson's daughter and heir, first married to Humphrey Everard, and now Captain Wiverson's wife."* From the Everards it passed to the Pagets, and is now in the possession of the marquis of Anglesey. The parish includes two hamlets, and contains 2900 acres, 869 inhabitants, 197 houses, and its real pro perty is valued at £5781. The living is a vicarage worth £351. Wichnor and Yoxall. — The walk from Alrewas to Wichnor is 1 Erdeswick's Survey. PAST AND PRESENT. 127 very beautiful. It is only about a mile and a half, but every yard is crowded with the works of a lavish and luxurious nature, whbe the view everywhere around you is of that soft sylvan kind which adds a charm to the pleasant twbight hour. Before you is the short strong tower of Wichnor Church, seen from every point; the church itself standing on a hill, and having only one newly-built building near it. Passing through Alrewas churchyard you come to the canal side — and even canals are picturesque in the midst of such scenery and under such circumstances. On your left hand are large, healthy-looking osier beds, crowded with the wbd gems of the floral kingdom; and a little way on you come to the first of the Wichnor bridges, a series of rough-stick-ated erections, as a facetious com panion cabed them, which have to be crossed here and there in this dbuvial country. The canal is for some short distance a part of the river, so that you have running water here and pleasant little islands, verdure-crowned, a weir and a waterfall ; all pleasant objects in a country ramble. On your left hand the fields, the meadows, the osier beds are all characterized by that rich and luxurious vegetation which marks a web-watered district. The grass of all kinds, "oat-grass and sword-grass, and the bulrush by the pool," were in abundant variety, most splendidly green, and beautifuhy blossomed. The wbd flowers were of the richest kind — such large and such blue forget-me-nots we have rarely seen. In pools here and there, in brightest yebow, bloomed the lotus, its large and cup-like blossom standing up gloriously in the midst of its thick, pulpy, dark green, far-spreading, and splendid leaves. In one place we saw that not-often-to-be-met- with flower, the wbd iris, most beautiful amidst the bright green of the sedges in which it bloomed. The meadow-sweet was in great profusion, and scented ab the air. On every one of the wooden bridges, and there are some five or six of them between Alrewas and Wichnor, we rested, and took in, bit by bit, the beauty by which we were surrounded ; and seen under the heightening influence of that soft and peculiar melancholy which twilight seems to throw over ab things, anything more lovely, more ethereal, more unearthly, can scarcely be imagined. There is nothing especiahy remarkable about the church, except its beautiful situation on the top of a smab hbl by the river ; and the consequent picturesque appearance which it presents from many points of view. It is small, and its stone tower is Gothic. Dr. Plot informs us there "is a sort of thorn that grows in a hedgerow 128 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: westerly from Whicbnor chapel, 'twixt that and the park, which produces leaves in the spring some years, of a brisk yellow or straw colour, which seemed to me, the leaves being less than those of other thorns, and recovering theb: greenness (as was confessed) by St. James's-tide, rather to be the effects of a disease, or the frequent cutting it for presents, more than anything else." We are now at the house which was once famous as the Flitch of Bacon Inn, but, alas, all its glory has departed. No more wbl any foot-sore wanderer rest in its once hospitable parlour, and listen to the strongest of all tenures by which any one ever held an estate — the flitch of bacon tenure. It is now a noble-looking farm house, and we saw a fine field of cows driven from the yard in which they had been milked, proving the opulence and prosperity of then- owner. But we regretted the old days — -the days that are no more. As a lad we heard of the inn ; as a lad we had heard why it bore so curious a sign ; as a lad we had heard its tap praised by ruddy-faced coachmen, who knew well what good ale was — and now to find all that changed ! Web, well, tbe " old order changeth, giving place to new," and so we wib suppose it to be all for the best; but it is hard to reconcbe oneself to some of these changes, and one of them is the change of the Flitch of Bacon Inn to a farm house. But why was the house so called ? Patience, curious and " anxious inquirer," and we wib. " expound," abridging the old charter when we can, for these old documents are sometimes very wordy. Web, then, in the reign of Edward I., the earl of Lancaster was lord of the honour of Tutbury, and the manor of Wichnor was. held under him by Sir Phbip de Somervibe, and. this was the manner of his holding it. Two smab fees are mentioned, and then this strange charter continues : " Nevertheless the said Sir Phbip shall fynde, meyntienge, and susteyne, one bacon flyke hanging in his habe at Wichenore, ready arrayed, all tymes of the yere bott in Lent, to be given to everyche mane or womane married after the day and year of their marriage be passed, and to be given to everyche mane of religion, archbishop, prior, or other religious, and to everyche preest, after the year and day of their profession finished, or of their dignity reseyved ih forme following. When soever that any such before named wylie come for to inquire for the baconne in their own person, or by any other for them, they shall come to the bayliff or porter of the lordship of Whichenour, and shall say to them in the manere as ensewethe : — PAST AND PRESENT. 129 "'Bayliffe or porter, I doo you to know that I am come for myself (or, if he come for any other, showing whome), one bacon flyke, hanging in the habe of the Lord of Whichenour, after the form thereto longinge.' " After which relation, the bailiffe or porter shal assigne a daye to him, upon promise of his feythe to return, and with him to bring tweyne of his neighbours ; and in the meyn time the said babif shall take with him tweyne of the freeholders of the lordship of Whiche- noure, and they three shal goe to the mannour of Rudlowe, belong ing to Robert Knyghtley, and there shall somon the foresaid Knightly, or his bayliffe, commanding them to be ready at Whiche nour, the day appointed, at pryme of day with his carriage ; that is to say, a horse and sadyle, a oakke and a pryke, for to convey and carry the said baconne and corn a journey out of the county of Stafford at his costages; and then the sayd bailiffe shal with the sayd freeholders somon all the tenants of the said manior to be ready at the day appointed at Whichenour, for to doe and performe the services to the baconne. And at the day assigned, all such as owe services to the baconne shab be ready at the gate of the manoir, from the sonne rising to none, attendyng and awayting for the comyng of him and his felowys with chapaletts, and to all those which be there to doe their services deue to thy baconne ; and they shab lead the said demandant, wythe pomps and labours and other manner of mynstralseye, to the habe close, where he shall fynde the lord of Whichenour ready to deliver the baconne in this manner. "He shall enquere of him which demandeth the baconne, if he hath brought tweyne of his neighbours ; who must answere, They be here redy ; and then the steward shall cause these two neighbours to swere yf the sayd demandant be a weddyt man, or have be a weddyt man, and yf syth his marriage one yere and a day be passed, and if he be a freeman or vdleyn ; and yf his said neighbours make othe that he hath for hym all these three points rehersed, then that the bacon be take downe and brought to the habe dore, and shal there be layed upon one half a quarter of wheatte and upon one other of rye : and he that demandeth the baconne shall kneel upon his knee, and shall holde his right hande upon a booke, which shal be laid above the baconne and the come, and shab make othe in this manere : " ' Here ye, Sir Philip de Somervyle, lord of Whichenour, mayn- VOL. I. e 130 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : tayner and giver of this baconne, that I, A., syth I wedded B. my wife, and syth I had her in my keepyng and at wylie by a yere and a daye after our marryage, I would not have changed for none other, farer ne fowler, richer ne pourer, ne for none other descended of gretter lyn age, slepying ne waking, at noo tyme, and if the said B. were sole, and I sole, I wolde take her to be my wife before all the wymen of the world, and of what condytions soevere they be, good or evyle, so helpe me God and his seyntys, and this flesh and ab fleshes.' "And his neighbours shab make othe that they trust verily he hath said truely. And yf it be found by his neighbours afore named that he be a freeman, then shal be delyvered to him halfe a quarter of wheatte, and a cheese ; and yf he be a villein, he shall have half a quarter of rye, withoutte cheese; and then shal Knyghtley, the lord of Rudlowe, be called for to carry all theb things so far rehersed, and the said corn shall be layd upon one horse, and the baconne apperteyneth shal ascend upon his horse, and shall take the chese before hym, if he have a horse, and yf he have none, the lord of Whichnour shab cause him to have one horse and sadyle, to such tyme as he passed his lordshippe, and so shal they departe the manoir of Whichnour, with the corn and the baconne to fore him, him that hath wonne ytt, with trompets, tabourets, and other manoir of minstralsie, and all the free tenants of Whichenour shab conduct him to be passed the lordship of Whichenour ; and then shall they returne, except hym to whom apperteyneth to make the carriage and journey withoutt the county of Stafford, at the costys of his lord of Whichenour; and yf the said Robert Knyghtley does not cause the baconne and corne to be conveyed as is rehersed, the lord of Whichenour shal do it to be carryed, and shal distreign the said Robert Knyghtley, for his default for one hundred shillings in his manoir of Rudlowe, and shal kepe the distresse so takyn irreplevisable." Such is the charter of the Wichnor Flitch of Bacon tenure. In the 608th number ot the Spectator a facetious and factitious record is given of the claimants of the flitch, of whom only three were successful ; the one a sea officer and his wife, who from the day of theb- marriage to that of the ceremony had not seen each other ; in the second instance the wife was dumb ; and the third had the flitch taken from them again because they quarrelled how it should be cooked. The writer of "Staffordshire" in the "Beauties of PAST AND PRESENT. 131 England" actually quotes these ludicrous instances as historical facts. The reader wib be reminded of the custom of Dunmow, in Essex, instituted by Robert Fitzwalter, in the reign of Henry IIL. " That he that repents him not of his marriage in a year and a day, after sleeping and waking, May lawfully go to Dunmow and fetch a gammon of bacon." Mr. Harrison Ainsworth, the novebst, restored the old custom at Dunmow in 1855. Le Chevalier de Chatelain, the translator of Chaucer, Shakspeare, and other Engbsh poets, into French, and his Engbsh wife, claimed and won the famous flitch. At Wichnor a painted wood flitch has been substituted for the original bacon. A short but pleasant walk from the church takes you to Wichnor Lodge and Park. The lodge is a pretty brick budding faced with stone. Over the chimney in the hall is hung the flitch of painted wood above mentioned. Pennant says, after quoting the charter, " Such is the history of this venerable custom. I wish, for the honour of the state matrimonial, that it was in my power to con tinue the register of the successful claimants from that preserved in the 608th Spectator; but, from the strictest inquiry, the flitch has remained untouched from the first century of its institution to the present ; and we are credibly informed that the late and present worthy owners of the manor were deterred from entering into the holy state through the dread of not obtaining a single rasher from their own bacon." Pennant tells us also that "The Roman road passes this way, and on the marshy spot was formed upon piles of wood. Much brass money has been found, and there are vestiges of a Roman camp in Whichenor Park." But Mr. Shaw tebs us that he searched in different parts of the park, but found no such remains, " unless," he adds, "it be in a field a little west of the church, where the tithe barn formerly stood, where seems a work of that kind. The pbes above-mentioned I had the satisfaction of seeing when they were laid quite bare by the destructive flood in February, 1705, which destroyed them and several other bridges in the country." So now no rambler wbl again see the pbes put there by the Romans. Dr. Wbkes gives a very graphic account of the country about here. He says, " The meadows are here very flat, without banks on the south, side, so that several bridges have been bubt over the river, for the ease and safety of those who travel along the old 132 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: Roman road from Streety or Lichfield towards Burton, and are cabed Wichnor Bridges ; but that next Burton, though long and lofty, wib not admit of any sort of wheel carriage, which is a misfortune to travellers." We did not find it so. The antiquity of Wichnor is proved by its name, which is Saxon ; wie in that tongue meaning a vblage, or dwelling place, and ossa, or osse, a bank. In Domesday Book we read that it was bestowed on Robert de Stafford, who "held two hides in Wicenore, and Robert holds them of him. Four thanes formerly held them, and were free. The land is four carucates. There is one carucate in demesne, and four villans and two bordars ; also a mill rented at 18 c?. Here are twenty acres of meadow, and a wood half a mile in length, and five furlongs in breadth ; the whole valued at 15s." It is a township-chapelry, contains 1610 acres, 150 inhabitants, 32 houses, and its real property is valued at £3529. The living is a vicarage, worth £71. The hundred of South Offlow comprises — 1, Aldridge ; 2, Armi tage ; 3, Handsacre; 4, Bentley; 5, Burntwood; 6, Canweb; 7, Darlaston; 8, Drayton Bassett ; 9, Elford ; 10, Farewell; 11, Chorley; 12, Fazeley; 13, Great Barr ; 14, Hammerwich ; 15, Handsworth, with Soho and Perry Barr; 16, Harborne; 17, Hints; 18, Longdon; 19, Norton-under-Cannock ; 20, Ogley-Hay; 21, Pipe Hill ; 22, Rushah ; 23, Shenstone ; 24, Smethwick ; 25, Swinfen and Packington ; 26, Tipton, or Tibbington ; 27, Wab ; 28, Walsab ; 29, Wednesbury; 30, Wednesfield ; 31, Weeford ; 32, West Brom wich; 33, Wiggington; 34, Wblenhab. Aldridge, formerly Aldrich, is a small town, a parish, and a sub- district. At one period it was customary for the incumbent to give a dinner every Christmas Day to every person resident in the parish. Its origin is unknown ; and a pecuniary payment of sixpence has been substituted for the more hospitable meal of the olden time. The name of the place is derived from aid, old, and rice, a princi pality. It was in the possession of the famby of Alrewich in the old time, and the manor passed to Roger Morton; then to Sir Robert Stapleton, and afterwards to the Mountfords. In 1761 Edward Croxab obtained it by marriage with a Jordan. The popu lation of the town is 1418, with 268 houses. The parish includes the town of Great Barr, and comprises 7752 acres, 2480 inhabitants, 489 houses, and real property valued at £6041. "The church, a stone structure with a tower at one end, is dedicated to St. Mary. PAST AND PRESENT. 133 The interior consists of a chancel and a north and south aisle, the former being separated from the body by four arches in the pointed style of architecture. On the north side of the church is an arch probably designed for the reception of the founder's monument. Here is likewise the tomb of Robert Stapleton, whose effigy bears a shield ornamented with the figure of a dog. His sword hangs across the body in front." The hving is a rectory worth £500. There are schools founded by a member of the Jordan family, and bearing that name, with an endowment of £118 a year, and other charities worth £64. Fine potters' clay is found in the neighbourhood, and there are some extensive brickworks. Armitage. — This vblage formerly bore the name of Hermitage, from a tradition that a "hermit resided in a sequestered spot here between the river and the church, which is situated on a rocky eminence, and forms a most beautiful and picturesque object." The parish includes the hamlet of Handsacre, and part of the village of Brereton, and comprises 1921 acres, 992 inhabitants, 220 houses, and real property valued at £4943. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £300, in the gift of the bishop of Lichfield. The church has a Norman doorway, and the principal entrance is "curi ously bubt and adorned in the Saxon style. Some paintings on glass, and tabernacle work, embellish the windows ; and the chancel is separated from the nave by a handsome zigzag, arch. Hawkes- yard Park, the seat of Josiah Spade, Esq., J. P., is very beautiful, and is thus described in the "Picturesque Views of Staffordshire :" — "The fine romantic park of Armitage, the mansion attached to it, and the beautiful and extensive view of the adjacent country, renders this residence a truly delightful one. It is in the true English style, a fine substantial building, forms a complete square, the whole summit of which is embattled; and the four turrets, there being one at each corner, are crowned by cupolas. " This edifice is of a stone colour ; three Gothic arches support a noble portico, under which, at the principal front, is the entrance to the mansion. It has many spacious rooms, and contains an extensive and fine collection of books and paintings. The library is nearly sixty feet in length ; and among the paintings by ancient and modern masters there are several famby and other portraits ; in the former are those of Sir William Lister and his lady, and of Sir Martin Lister and his lady. There is also a portrait of Caius Gabriel Cibber, the sculptor (father of Colley Cibber), who executed 13 i STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE the two figures — one of raving, the other of melancholy, madness — ¦ that surmounted the pillars of the principal entrance to old Beth- lem. He also executed the fine bust of Oliver Cromweh, which was sold in the sale of the collection of the celebrated Dr. Mead. There is also in the mansion of Armitage a fine portrait of Dr. Butt, physician to Henry VIII. ; one of Francis, first earl of West moreland ; one of the countess of Chesterfield, daughter of Butler, duke of Ormond ; and several others of persons of celebrity." The Wesleyans and the Independents have chapels at Armitage ; and there are charities amounting to £9. Handsacre- — This hamlet is in the parish of Armitage. A church formerly stood here, and a large room has lately been erected for divine worship. There is an old manor house, surrounded by a moat, and now occupied by Mrs. Harvey. The scenery around is exceedingly picturesque and beautiful. Bentley. — This is a manor belonging to Wolverhampton. From the family of Bentley, writes the Rev. W. Harwood, it descended to the Griffiths, and passed from them, 8 Henry VL, to Richard Lane ; in which family it remained till John Lane sold it, in 1748, to Joseph Turton, and from him it passed to the famby ofthe Ansons. Bentley Hall is famous in history and romance. After the memor able battle of Worcester in 1651 Charles II. found refuge and safety here ; and by the prudence and foresight of Jane Lane, a daughter of the house, he was conducted beyond Bristol. It is a story of noble loyalty, which, strange to state, in this instance did not go entirely unrewarded : but it was the Parliament, not tbe king, who paid her for her services. The former granted her the sum of £1000, and the latter the cheaply-conferred privilege of an addition to the arms of the family. The township contains 1650 acres, 323 inhabitants, 68 houses, and real property valued at £4337, of which £1270 are in mines and £500 in iron-works. Burnticood.- — This is a hamlet and a township-chapelry in the parish of St. Michael, Lichfield, and includes in the chapelry the hamlets of Edial and Woodhouses. The church, a brick building with square tower, was built by Dean Woodhouse in 1819. The living is a rectory worth £300, in the gift ofthe vicar of St. Mary's, Lichfield. The population, from 1861 to 1871, considerably more than doubled, owing principaby to the extension of the Cannock Chase collieries. There are now 776 houses and 4525 inhabitants. Canwell. — This extra-parochial hamlet was at one period the seat PAST AND PRESENT. 135 of a priory of Benedictine monks, which was founded in 1142 by Giva Bideb, daughter of Hugh, earl of Chester, and dedicated to St. Mary, St. Gbes, and Ab Saints. Henry VIII. granted it to Wolsey ; and at the Dissolution it was purchased by John Har'man, otherwise Vesey, bishop of Exeter, and the benefactor of his native place, Sutton Coldfield, in Warwickshire. Plot states that the monastery was a very curious old building of Gothic origin. It was destroyed by a tenant of the farm on which it stood, " who is said to have got as much lead from the coffins he found in it as paid the expenses of tbe alterations." The web near tbe old priory gives the name to the hamlet, Canwell signifying a web of power. The well itself was named Modsweb's well ; and its waters were famous for their medicinal efficacy. Canweb Hall, the property of Lord Wenlock, and now occupied by Colonel Ferrars Loftus, was designed by the celebrated architect Wyatt. The hamlet contains 290 acres, 47 inhabitants, 10 houses, and real property valued at £681. Darlaston is a town, and parish, and sub-district, and lies imme diately to the south of Wednesbury. It is one of the industrious towns of the well-known " Black Country." There are iron foundries and blast-furnaces, coal and iron-stone mines and steelworks ; and day and night are heard the sound of hammers, and the incessant din which is always heard in such centres of industry. At night the sky is light with the reflection of the fires from the furnaces and coke-heaps, from which rises a continuous stream of fire. The parish contains 901 acres, 14,416 inhabitants, 2867 houses, and real property valued at £31,445, of which £4423 are in mines, £52 in quarries, and £9923 in ironworks. St. Lawrence church was built in the sixteenth century by Thomas Pye, a once well-known writer, but now rarely heard of. It stands on a hill in the centre of the town, has a very high steeple, and was partially rebubt in 1872. The living is a rectory worth £400, and is in the patronage of Simeon's Trustees. St. George's was constituted a separate benefice in 1844, and is a perpetual curacy worth £150, the patronage being alternately in the crown and the bishop of Lichfield. There are Wesleyan, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Methodist Reform Chapels ; and at Butcroft a new church was erected in 1872 as a memorial to the late Mr. S. Mills by his widow and children. Drayton Basset. — " Tame having entered into Warwickshire," writes Erdeswick in his quaint manner, "between Pirie and Hands- worth, so continues for the space of a dozen miles, or thereabout, 136 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : and comes not near Staffordshire untb it come to Drayton Basset, where it is the mere betwixt Warwickshire and Staffordshire, and so continues for two or three mbes, tbl it comes to Tamworth, where again it enters into the shire, and makes itself a Staffordshire river." The brief chronicler of the possessors of Drayton tebs us that in the 20th of the Conqueror it was1 the land of Turstin de Basset, whence its second name, and contained five hides of land ; which Turstin had issue Raufe Basset, who under Henry I. was justiciarius Angbae, and "constituted many good laws, as the law of frank pledge, and such others." In this statement Erdeswick is not quite correct. The law of frank-pledge is of a much earlier date, and was web known to the Saxons. He is also said to have persuaded the king, "whereby the court of Exchequer was ordered to remain in one certain place" — a great reform, which is worth recording, and redounds to the eternal honour of the man under whose influence it was carried into effect. " He was buried at Abingdon ; ab his sons honourably accompanying him to his sepulchre." He had four sons, Turstin, Thomas, Richard, and Nicholas. The last-named lost his position by siding with King Stephen against Henry II. " Richard Basset married Maud, the only daughter and heir of Geffry Riddeb, lord of Wittering." Their children were Geffry, " who surnamed himself Riddell, and was a great baron, and lord of Wittering ; Richard Basset, baron of Weldon ; Ralph Basset, baron of Drayton ; and Wibiam Basset, sheriff of Warwickshire, and justice in itinere of the shires of Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Stafford, Warwick, Northampton, and Leicester." Drayton continued in the family of the Bassets for several generations. " The fifth Raufe, who was also after the death of his grandfather baron of Drayton, died with out issue, and bes buried at the minster at Lichfield, under a goodly monument; so that his barony and lands were divided betwixt'' his aunts and their chbdren. Margaret had Drayton, and married Edmund, baron of Stafford, and their son Raufe was the first earl of Stafford "to whom descended Drayton, and in whose posterity it remained tbl the attainder of Edward, last duke of Buckingham." Drayton was thus escheated to the king, who leased it to "one Robinson, whose son mortgaged or sold the same to Richard Para- more," from whom it passed to the earl of Leicester, who left it to his countess, and by marriage it came into the possession of the Blounts. The last earl of Essex purchased it from the Blounts, and it " descending to bis sister, the lady marchioness of Hertford, and PAST AND PRESENT. 137 to Sir Robert Shirley, his nephew, by his other sister the lady Dorothy, it came solely by partition to the marchioness, whose lord in her right enjoyed it in 1660." The marchioness devised it to Lady Mary Finch ; and from this family, who had been ennobled by the titles of viscount and earl of Weymouth and marquis of Bath, the first Sir Robert Peel purchased it in 1790. The manor house is a very fine Tudor mansion, the production of Smirke, and is situated in a beautiful and web-wooded park. The gardens are also exceed ingly fine. The parish contains 3315 acres, 439 inhabitants, 91 houses, and the real property is valued at £6380. The living is a rectory worth £257, of which the Lord Chancebor is the patron. The church contains a marble tablet, 19-| feet high, to the memory of the late Sir Robert Peel, Bart., with whose name Drayton is imperishably associated. On a plain white slab with a modest canopy and golden letters in old Engbsh style is the fobowing epitaph : — " In Memory of the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart., to whom the People have raised monuments in many Places ; his Children erect this in the place where his body has been buried. He was Born February, 1788, and Died 2nd July, 1850." The great and deeply-lamented statesman was not born at Dray ton, but in a cottage adjoining Chamber Hab, the house of his father, near Bury in Lancashire. The date of his birth was February 5, 1788, and when his father knew it was a boy, it is reported that he vowed "to give his chbd to his country." Whether these words were said or not, the conduct of his father proved that such was his intention. He was carefuby educated at home while young, and was first sent to Harrow, and had for a school-fellow Lord Byron, who has left this interesting memorial of the young Peel. " Peel," he writes, " the orator and statesman (' that was, or is, or is to be '), was my form-febow, and we were both at the top of our remove (a public-school phrase). We were on good terms ; but his brother was my intimate friend. There were always great hopes of Peel amongst us all, masters and scholars, and he has not disappointed them. As a scholar he was greatly my superior ; as a declaimer or actor, I was reckoned at least his equal ; as a school-boy, out of school I was always in scrapes, and he never ; and in school he always knew his lesson, and I rarely." From Harrow he went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he was entered as a gentleman com moner. He was the first student who took a double first class in mathematics and classics, under the new system of examination vol t. s 138 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : which had recently been introduced. On attaining his majority he was elected a member of Parbament for the treasury borough of Cashel, and in 1809 took his seat in the House of Commons. - Mr. Percival was the prime minister, and Peel was an avowed supporter of the government. He delivered his maiden speech on January 23, 1810, and met with considerable success. In 1811 he was appointed to the under-secretaryship of the colonies. He was opposed to the proposal for Catholic emancipation, and in 1817 he debvered one of his famous speeches against Mr. Grattan's motion for a committee of inquiry into the Roman Catholic claims. In 1818 he was elected one of the members for his university of Oxford. In 1820 he married Julia, the youngest daughter of General Sir John Floyd, Bart. In 1819 he was appointed chairman to the bank committee, and in the same year proposed the resolutions for the resumption of cash payments. His father earnestly opposed him on this occasion, but the bbl founded upon these resolutions was carried. In 1822 the administration of Lord Liverpool received two famous men into its ranks. Mr. Peel was appointed secretary for the home department, and Mr. Canning for foreign affairs. M. Guizot says that Canning's "neighbourhood cost Mr. Peel dear. Though far more influential with his party than Mr. Canning, and held in higher general estima tion, he had neither that splendour and fascination as an orator, nor, as a man, that charm, that seductiveness of character and success, which had gained for his rival public admiration and enthusiastic friends. Justice was done to Mr. Peel, to his zealous and laborious abbity, to his solid knowledge of questions and facts, to his sound and practical knowledge ; he was regarded as an excebent home sec retary ; but he was no longer spoken of as a necessary and speedy head of the government. He did not descend, but Mr. Canning rose rapidly above him. Some persons went so far as to believe that Mr. Peel himself admitted the fact, and was resigned to occupy the second rank. And this might fairly be said, for nothing in his conduct or in his speeches betrayed the least jealousy or ill-humour on his part. In addition to the natural rectitude and equity of his mind, which would not permit him to underrate the merits and successes even of a rival, he was a man of reserved and susceptible pride, and had no notion of engaging in doubtful conflicts for mere self-love, or of putting himself forward with premature haste. He endured with dignity and modesty the unpleasantness of his position beside Mr. Canning ; more than once, perhaps, wounded and grieved PAST AND PRESENT. 139 in spirit, but calm, patient, and persevering, as becomes a man of honest and sensible ambition in a free state." In 1827, when Canning became prime minister, Peel and Wel lington resigned. This bribiant wit did not hold this high office long. His sad and melancholy death in the same year brought his administration to an early end. In January, 1828, the duke of Wellington was called upon to form a ministry, and Peel again became home secretary ; this time to assist in carrying the measure of Cathobc emancipation which he and his chief had before so strenuously opposed. On the avowal of this new policy he resigned his seat for Oxford, and in the contest which followed was rejected, and. Sir R. H. Inglis obtained the majority of the university votes. Mr. Peel was thereupon elected for Westbury, and on the 5th of March, 1829, he introduced the Roman Catholic Disabilities Re moval Bib, which after a great parliamentary struggle became law. The great reform contest followed, and the duke of Wellington and Mr. (now Sir Robert) Peel were foremost amongst the opponents of the measure. In November, 1830, the government was defeated on a motion for the revision of the civil list, and at once resigned. The Reform Bib passed in 1832, and in the new Parliament Sir Robert Peel was returned for the borough of Tamworth, a place which he continued to represent for the remainder of his life. In 1834 he was once more in office, this time as first lord of the treasury and chancebor of the exchequer ; but the Peel ministry resigned in the fobowing year, and the Melbourne administration continued in power tbl the year 1841, when it was defeated by a majority of one on a vote of want of confidence. A dissolution fobowed, and the Parbament returned by the general election gave the Conservatives a majority. In the same year Sir Robert Peel became again premier, and in 1846 carried the bib for the repeal of the corn laws. The embittered protectionists united with the Liberals, and defeated the government on the second reading of the Irish Coercion Bib. Sir Robert resigned his office, and Lord John Russell (afterwards Earl Russeb) succeeded him. The Ibe of this useful statesman was now approaching its sad and melancholy end. On the 29th of- June, 1850, he was riding up Constitution Hib, London, when his horse shied and threw him heavily to the ground, breaking his left cobar-bone. After suffering intense pain, he died on the 2nd of July, but left behind him a name that wib never die. He was buried, according to his own directions, in the parish church 140 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : of Drayton. He also expressed his strong desire that " no one of his famby should accept any title or public reward in respect of any service which he might have rendered to his country." The national grief at his sad and untimely death was only equalled by the enthu siasm with which the people expressed their remembrance of and gratitude for his great services. " Statues to his honour have been erected in ab the principal cities of the kingdom, but none with feebngs of deeper veneration than the statue by Noble, which, at a cost of £1000, was placed in the market-place of Tamworth by the contributions of persons of every grade in that little community, who had the best opportunity of estimating his great moral worth." Elford. — The name of this place is said to have been taken from the number of eels with which the Tame formerly abounded, and is, therefore, properly Eel-ford. Erdeswick describes it as " a goodly seat of a house now possessed by Sir John Bowes." Before the Conquest it belonged to Earl Algar, and afterwards to the king. " About Henry M.'s time one Walkelnius de Arden was owner of it ; and, 9 Edward IL, Sir John Arderne had it, who had issue Maud, married to Thomas Stanley, second son of Sb- John Stanley, Knight of the Garter, lieutenant of Ireland, and Isabeba his wife, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Latham. Thomas Stanley and Maud Ar derne his wife had issue Sir John Stanley, his son and heir, and Sir Humphrey Stanley, Knight Banneret, his second son. Sb* John Stanley had issue a son, slain in his infancy with a bab (whose monument, being in Elford church, is a chbd holding a bab to his ear, and written upon, 'Ubi dolor, ibi digitus') ; Margaret, married to Wibiam Stanton ; a second daughter, married to Sir John Ferrers ; and a third, married to Sir Savage, of Worcestershire. Wibiam Stanton and Margaret his wife had issue Anne, married to Sir Wbbam Smyth, Knight, who had issue Margery, married to Richard Hudleston, who had issue Anne, married to Sb- John Bowes, yet living [towards the end of the sixteenth century], and Lucia, married to Sir John Brooke. Sir John Bowes hath issue Richard Bowes, who hath married Keble of Leicestershire's daughter and heir. Sir John Bowes, in the partition of his wife's lands, had Elford allotted to him, and Brooke had Hasleover, a town standing on the same side of the Tame, but a mbe farther off."* From the Bowes it passed by marriage to the Hon. Craven Howard. " He was," writes the Rev. Thomas Howard, "ancestor to the late earl of Suffolk, * Erdeswick's Survey. PAST AND PRESENT. 141 whose sister Frances carried it by marriage to Richard Bagot, Esq., son of Sir Walter Bagot, Bart., who assumed the name of Howard, and whose only daughter and heir married Fulke Grevble, second son of Upton, Viscount Templetower, who has taken the name of Howard, and is the present [1820] possessor." In the ancient church, St. Peter's, are some splendid monuments in memory of the Ardernes, Stanton s, and Stanleys. Okeley, a small manor, which Sir Maurice Berkeley held, 13 Henry VIII. It was then held of Howard, Lord Grey, as of his manor of Arderne, in soccage. Another Sir Maurice Berkeley was seized of it, 6 Edward VI. At the seat of the Stanleys Edward IV. was a frequent visitor, for the amusement of hunting ; and here the earl of Richmond slept on his way from Lichfield to Bosworth-field. Mr. Nightingale states that at Elford Park farm, which is situ ated about two mbes from the vblage, is a barrow, cabed Elford Low, and opposite to it, at the distance of a mile, another of smaller extent ; both of them are evidently sepulchral, and were probably the burying-places of the slain in some battle on or near the spot during the Saxon heptarchy. These lows are denominated by the common people Robin Hood's Shooting Butts, from a bebef prevalent among them that he sometimes practised here, and was able to throw an arrow from the one to the other. Several human skele tons, a piece of a bayonet, a wooden noggin or bowl, and some warlike utensbs, were discovered in a field here, about the middle of the last century. Concerning the bones it is impossible to offer even a plausible conjecture, but the remaining articles, in all probabbity, belonged to some soldiers at the time ofthe great rebellion in 1645. Mr. Pitt gives the distinguishing feature of Elford Low as being situated at the top of a hill, a little beyond the paper-mill, in the corner of a field close to tbe Tamworth road, and is distinguished by an oak tree on its summit. Dr. Plot, from examination, found it sepulchral ; Mr. Pennant, from its elevation, conjectures that it might have had on it a specula, or watch-tower ; and Mr. Bourne, an intelligent farmer, informed Mr. Shaw that he saw the bones of three human skeletons dug out of a gravel pit a few years since, near this low, which seems a conclusive proof that it is the site of some ancient cemetery. On the first payment of a subsidy, in the 32 of Elizabeth (1590), Elford paid xlixs. At the general election for the county, in 1747, fourteen freeholders in Elford voted. 142 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : The fobowing account of Elford was written by Mr. Bourne : — " The greater part of the vblage of Elford was common field, meadow, &c, tib tbe year 1765, when an Act was obtained for an enclosure ; previous to that time the land was let at very low rents, and the tenants were mostly in very low circumstances ; by the enclosure the rents have been trebled, and the tenants better able to discharge them. "The whole parish contains about 1900 acres, 1053 of which belong to the Lady Viscountess Andover, 240 to the rectory, 578 to different freeholders, and the remainder is laid out in roads. Of this land about 500 acres are annuaby in tibage, and which, we suppose, bring as much grain to market as the whole parish did in its open state. The quantity of cheese made now, in proportion to that made prior to the enclosure, is more than three to one; the proportion of beef and mutton produced on the land is stbl greater, as much as ten to one ; for though there were sometimes many sheep kept in the open fields, they were so subject to the rot that little or no profit arose to the farmer or produce to the community. Respecting population, there were, prior to the enclosure, in the parish 57 houses or tenements; in 1794, after the enclosure, there were 76 houses and 360 inhabitants. This increase has not arisen from any manufactory, but merely from the increase of labour necessary for the improved cultivation. That enclosures sometimes injure the small farms must be admitted ; but that they are advantageous to the community must appear from the above statement ofthe produce of this place." Mr. Pitt, in noticing the handsome stone bridge across the Tame at Elford, and the paper and corn mbls a bttle above it introduces the following interesting sketches of Mr. Bage, formerly the proprietor of these mbls: — "The late Mr. Bage was the cele brated author of 'Hermsprong, or Man as He is Not,' and other popular novels. Mr. Bage resided for many years at Elford, and afterwards removed to Tamworth, where he lived respected, and died regretted in the year 1801. He was a native of Derby, and the late Mr. Hutton, in his history of that town, gives the following quaint account of the author and his publications — ' wherein is an excellent picture of life, a fuh display of character and senti ment. These have travelled to the Continent, passed through the Frankfort press, and have appeared in a German habit. Although fortune never made him conspicuous in the world, she gave him PAST AND PRESENT. 143 what is preferable, affluence and content. In directing a paper- mih may be found that head which is able to direct empires, that judgment which can decide in difficult cases, a penetration that can fathom the human heart and comprehend various systems of knowledge, a genius which constitutes the companion for Newton in phbosophy, for Handel in music, for Eucbd in mathematics, a master of the hving and dead languages, and ab, like the wealth of a merchant who rises from nothing, acquired by himself.' ' Of Mr. Robert Bage we give the fobowing brief biography from Mr. Pitt's "Staffordshire." "He was born at Derby in the year 1728; his father was a paper manufacturer, and the son being intended for the same business, received a common school education. In his youth, however, he was remarkable for the vigour of his "intehectual powers and his love of knowledge. He married and settled at Elford, where he conducted a paper-mih tbl nearly the end of his bfe. "His desbe of knowledge increased with his years, and at inter vals of leisure from his business he studied and became a proficient in the modern languages. He afterwards turned his attention to the more abstruse branches of the mathematics, and engaged a teacher at Birmingham, with whom he spent an evening every week tbl he obtained the requisite instructions. From his retired situation he was but little accustomed to the manners of elegant society ; hence his productions are rather those of a man of reflection than a close observer of men and manners. He wrote five novels, viz., 'Mount Kenneth,' ' Barham Downs,' 'The Fair Syrian,' 'James Wabace,' 'Hermsprong, or Man as He is Not,' and 'Man as He is.' Mr. Bage was happy in his matrimonial connection, and left two sons ; one promising youth died before him. He died in the year 1801, aged seventy-three years. His character for integrity and benevolence was high, and his friends, who were. much attached to him, describe his temper as open, mbd, and social; he was kind to his domestics, and his humanity even extended to the domestic animals around him, particularly his horses when past work." Elford parish contains 2070 acres, 453 inhabitants, 104 houses, and real property valued at £5210. The living is a rectory worth £300, in the gift of the Hon. Mrs. Grevble Howard, of Elford Hall, lady of the manor. The church, which was restored in 1849, as was the Stanley chantry in 1870, is dedicated to St. Peter, and is a 144 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE. very fine Gothic building, and well worth a visit by the lovers of ecclesiastical architecture. Farewell. — This parish contains the hamlet of Chorley. At Fareweb there was a priory founded by Roger, bishop of Lichfield, about 1140, for regular canons or hermits, which he afterwards changed into a home for Benedictine nuns. "It was," writes Mr. Harwood, "cabed an abbey, afterwards a small priory, and sup pressed by Wolsey, when it was given to Lichfield in recompense of a pension that should have been given out of his cobege, in Oxford, to Lichfield church. It is said that Bishop Blythe and the dean and chapter bought it; and in 19 Henry VIII. it was annexed to that church, towards augmenting the number and maintenance of the choristers. From Bagshaw it passed to Robert Mebor, of Derby, whose descendants sold it to Wightwick, who bubt bere a house of brick for his seat. It afterwards passed by marriage to Floyer, and to Peter Calmel, of London, who sold it about thirty years ago [1790] to Thomas Asbmole, father of the present proprietor. The manor is the property of the marquis of Anglesey. The family of Noble had a seat here. John Noble had issue Edward Noble, of Lichfield Close, who had issue Michael Noble, who was town-clerk of Lichfield, and died 1648, who had issue John Noble, who married Jane, daughter of Richard Bran- dreth, who had issue Michael, aged thirteen in 1663. Arms of Noble : Or, on a fesse gules three besants between three- lions passant sable. Crest : a greyhound issuant gules, collared argent. "In taking down the church of Fareweb, in 1747, which was the nunnery chapel, to rebubd it, were found hi the south wab, six feet from the ground, and some feet from each other, three ranges of coarse earthen, vessels of different sizes, and several feet between each range, laid on their sides, the mouths towards the inside of the church, covered with a thin coat of plaister ; the smaber upwards of six inches in height, three inches over at the mouth, sixteen and a half round ; the larger were eleven inches and a half in height, five and a hab" at the mouth, and twenty-four round." The parish contains 1049 acres, 200 inhabitants, 38 houses, and its real pro perty is valued at £1600. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £70, of which the marquis of Anglesey is patron. Fazeley. — Mr. Pitt says Fazeley is remarkable for nothing so much in "antiquity as being the termination of a very spacious and beautiful part of Roman Street, or Watling Street Road, where it PAST AND PRESENT. 145 leaves this county in its way through Warwickshire to London." The chief prosperity of the place has arisen from the discovery of a spring of water whose mineral properties were pecubarly fitted for the purposes of bleaching. " On the fine stream of Tame," writes Mr. Pitt, "which runs through this vibage, stands an ancient corn- mhl, and the large cotton-mbls of Sir Robert Peel and Co.,"" who accidentaby, in digging for other purposes, discovered a large spring of the purest water, which upon analyzation was found to be of a much superior quabty to any before known in Fazeley or its neigh bourhood. The spring water has been conveyed in pipes to the works, where it has been used for the purposes of bleaching, printing, &c, and has contributed much to the prosperity of the establish ment. Several large factories, and numerous tenements for the accommodation of the workmen and their fambies, have been erected at Fazeley, and a very considerable increase of population has kept pace with the success of the manufactures. The facbity of inland navigation from this vibage to differents parts of England, by the canal from Birmingham, which divides into two branches, one uniting with the Trent and Mersey, and the other extending to Coventry and Oxford, has greatly contributed to the prosperity of the place." The quabty of the water for bleaching purposes is so good that the manufacturers of Leicester send their goods to Fazeley to be bleached. It is a vblage, a township, and a chapelry, and includes the liberties of Bangley, Betterscote, Bonehib, and Dunstall, and contains 2500 acres, 1698 inhabitants, 351 houses, and property valued at £7895. There was a church here in ancient times, but it feb into decay; the present one, erected in 1855, is built of stone, with turret. The chapelry was constituted in 1842, and the living is a perpetual curacy worth £250 ; Sir Robert Peel is the patron. The Wesleyans and Independents have chapels here. Great Barr. — The vibage of Great Barr is situated on the declivity of Barr Beacon, a lofty hill, supposed to have been in olden times one of the principal seats of Druidism in England. The pride of the village is Great Barr Hall, the family mansion of the Scotts, and the seat of the late Sir E. D. Scott, Bart. The place is one of great beauty. The valley in which it is situated is exceedingly lovely, and the surrounding scenery is rich in almost every charm that can delight the cultivated eye. The lawn which surrounds the house is almost unequalled for the softness of its turf and for its extent. The * This was the first baronet, and the father of the Sir Eobert Peel. VOL. I. T 1 4G STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : fine pool in the front abounds with fish, and is a beautiful addition as water ever is, to the attractions of the scene. Behind the house, rise the hbls of which the Beacon forms the most conspicuous point. These hbls are well wooded ; and the walks among the trees are of exceeding loveliness. The care of the old proprietors has placed seats wherever a fine prospect can be obtained ; and many such are to be obtained from these welcome resting-places ; few, however, finer than that presented by the house, its lake, and surrounding wealth of trees. There is a new Gothic chapel of brick and stone, erected in 1867, which, whbe it shows the good taste of the worthy builder, contrasts strangely with the house itself. Sir Francis Scott died in 1863, and his memory is stib dear to all who prize gentlemanly work, and a kindly-hearted nature. In him art lost a true and cultivated patron, and every good undertaking a warm and zealous friend. He was one of the most liberal supporters of the scheme for purchasing Aston Hall and Park for the people of Birmingham. For the permanent museum in the Hab he fitted up a room and fibed it with .the publications of the Arundel Society ; and in recognition of his great generosity the room is stbl cabed by his name, and wbl, we trust, be for ever known as Sir Francis Scott's Room. Close by the web-stored and beautifully arranged flower-garden is a marble urn sacred to the memory of Miss Mary Dolman, cousin to Shenstone, of the Leasowes, who has embalmed her name in a Latin epitaph, which has been much praised — praise which doubtless it merits, for it is a pretty specimen of its kind, and being only four lines we quote it : — Ah, Maria, puellarum elegantissima, Ah, Flore, venustate abrepta : Vale, Heu ! quanto minus est Cum reliquis versari quam tui meminissc. Passing from this fine example of an English gentleman's resi dence, we hurry on to the Beacon. It does not take long to reach the summit ; but when there what a sight awaits us ! The Beacon itself is about 750 feet high, and overlooks one of the most glorious bits of country in England. Right before you stretches the great Sutton Coldfield, with its woods, its park, its common, and its pools. Passing across the common is the finest remnant of the old Roman road of Icknield Street now remaining. Right under you is the King's Standing, so called from Charles T. addressing his army at TAST AND PRESENT. 147 this place as they halted on their march to Edge Hbl, to fight the first great battle in the civb war. From this royal spot the historian of Bhmingham, dear garrulous old Hutton, first saw this marvellous remnant of the work of the world's conquerors. He thus enthusiastically records the event : — " I first saw it," he says, "in 1762, rebeved by the transverse rays, in a clear evening in November. I had a perfect view upon the Ridgeway, near King's Standing, of this delightful scene. Had I been attacked by the chbl blasts of winter upon this bleak mountain the sensation would have been lost in the transport. The eye at one view takes in more than two mbes. Struck with astonishment, I thought it the grandest sight I had ever beheld, and was annoyed so noble a monument of antiquity should be so little regarded." Besides this "noble monument of antiquity," the view from the Beacon takes in many objects of great beauty and interest. The splendour of the Coldfield on a summer or autumn day is beyond description. The massing of the golden gorse and the purple heather is something to see. Such beds of deep hue ; such cluster ings of gold ! Seen from this point the whole side of yon inchne seems a mass of dark-coloured bare sob, yet we know from experi ence, if our glasses did not tell us, that that is one mass of heather bloom. The pictures made by the woods ; the outlines of the trees indistinct from the distance, all passing into each other, and the different kinds only distinguishable by the long bne of diverse colours which they give to the eye, are not the least attractive sights here. There is the fine estate of Four Oaks, the seat of Sir Wbbam Hartopp, on our left, and on our right the famous Oscott College. Further stbl to our right rises the fine steeple of Aston church, and the quaint turrets of Aston Hall. There also is the elegant sphe of the Catholic church at Erdington, and now the two chapels at the Witton Cemetery, and almost right in our faces the square heavy- looking tower of Sutton. And away, far beyond these extinguishing objects, the sight extends over a landscape rich in scenes of cul tivated nature. After such a ramble, and witnessing such a sight, or rather series of sights as these, no one wbl ever venture to speak sbghtingly of the scenery of Staffordshire. The Beacon has also a history carrying us far back into the past, long before Jubus Caesar landed at Romney Marsh, or the Roman legions marched over the road which now lies below us. Here, according to the highest authorities, the Druids held their worship, 143 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : and performed their wbd and mysterious rites. The name of Barr is said by Shaw and Stukeley to be derived from barah, to eat, sacrifice, or to purify. Others derive it from bar, a summit ; and others from bara, a wbd, uncultivated field. Whichever may be the true derivation, there seems to be but little doubt but that here the Druids had a central seat. Mr. Shaw considers that it was the summer seat of the arch-Druid of England. He gives some very forcible reasons for this bebef, and points out that near Alrich " a smab common to this day retains the name of Drood, or Druid Heath ; and near to the pool, at the east end, is a smab area, or parcel of ground, encompassed with a treble ditch." He further adds, "Nothing could be better adapted than that part of the hbl called Barr Beacon to the observations made by the Druids on the heavenly bodies. The prospect from it is perhaps as beautiful as from any part of England." He then enumerates the counties which are visible from its summit, and says, and truly says, " In short, there is an open and delightful prospect to every point of the compass. Near Barr one point of it is known by the name of Barr Beacon, where now grows a clump of trees that serve as a land-mark, and help to please the weary traveber. The Druids, we are told, gave notice of their quarterly days of sacrifice by fires, made on high hbls, and none, I am sure, in these parts is fitter than this for that purpose; and for the same reason it was afterwards thought a proper place to alarm this part of the kingdom, by firing a beacon placed here, whenever the piratical Danes came to plunder this part of the country." Standing under these trees, so pleasant to the "weary traveller," and watching the beautiful, fruitful, and peaceful couniry around, it is a not unprofitable employment to look thus upon the " dead past," and think of ab "the changes that have been." " For God fulfils himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world." Here, on this tree-crowned hbl, climbed by the rustic lovers of the surrounding country for the fresh breeze and the uninterrupted talk which they may get under the grateful shade of the leafy boughs ; here, long ere Csesar planted a Roman eagle on our sob, or ere one foot of land had been won by the restless cravers after power ; here — " Beside the sages skill'd in nature's lore : The changeful universe, its numbers, powers, PAST AND PRESENT. 149 Studious they measure, save when meditation Gives place to holy rites ; then in the grove Each hath his rank and function. Yonder grots Are tenanted by bards, who nightly thence, Rob'd in their flowing vests of innocent white, Descend, with harps that glitter to the moon, Hymning immortal strains. The spirits of air, Of earth, of water, nay, of Heaven itself, Do listen to their lay : and oft, 'tis said In visible shapes dance they a magic round lothe high minstrelsy." From this glowing picture of Druidism, its knowledge and its worship, told by a supposed votary, we turn to a darker portraiture of the scenes which our Beacon may have witnessed. " Thither," we are told, " would resort the Cornavian Britons, from clusters of beehive-like huts, embowered in woods. Here the oak became at once a temple and an object of worship, and from the summit of the hill the priests examined the luminaries of heaven. The red flame ascended from the Beacon ; the arch-Druid summoned to horrid rites, and man's blood was shed by a creed as cruel — perhaps the same — as that which brought Divine vengeance on the nations of Canaan." Later down in time, from the very spot on wliich we are now lying, from this landmark now crowned by a cluster of trees, and an object of beauty to many distant beholders, glared the wild flame which warned the poor Briton and Saxon husbandman of the coming of the wflder Dane, whose course was marked by blood, while fire, desolation, and ruin followed in his track. On the Beacon, in September of the great Volunteer year, 1799, Mrs. Adams presented the standard and colours to the Walsall Volunteer Cavalry and Infantry, which is glowingly described in the newspapers of the time. A finer place for such a presentation could not be imagined. In official language Great Barr is a vibage, a township, and a chapelry in Aldridge parish, and contains 4960 acres, 1062 inhabit ants, 221 houses, and real property valued at £8405. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £405, of which the Scott family are the patrons. " The chapel of Great Barr is adorned with a lofty sph-e, and is altogether an elegant edifice. It contains six musical bells, and the gallery is adorned with a handsome organ, and indeed the whole of the interior is fitted up with infinite taste. An exquisite painting on the glass ofthe east window, executed by Mr. Egginton, is, as Mr. Nightingale truly remarks, not inferior in style and 150 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE execution to many of the most approved productions of this art in more remote times.' The late Mr. Egginton not only happby borrowed it from tbe Rev. Wbliam Peters' 'Spirit of a Chbd,' but actually succeeded in improving the original design, chiefly by his having introduced some highly finished clouds, which finely relieve the splendid effect of the supernatural bght. The graceful and highly-flowing hair, together with the delicately beautiful and interesting faces of the two figures, are exquisitely debneated and softened by a gradation of tints and simplicity of colouring, of which the ancient painters were wholly ignorant."* The church was entirely rebubt in 1860. There is also a Wesleyan chapel. Hammerwich. — In Domesday Book this place is called Hamerwich Duae, and was anciently divided into Nether and Over. Mr. Har wood says its division seems to have been at the hbl upon which was built a chapel for the use of its inhabitants. Salve, sacra domus! It is within the manor of Longdon, and parish of St. Michael, Lichfield. The Webbs were settled there in the time of Henry VI. The manor belongs to the marquis of Anglesey. The extensive reservoir for supply of the Wyrley and Essington Canal is in this parish. It is a chapelry, and contains 1986 acres, 1325 inhabitants, 225 houses, and real property valued at £3213. The population here has. rapidly increased, having been only 270 in 1851, and 991 in 1861. The cause of this quick growth is the demand for labour which has been created by the opening of fresh coal mines in the neighbourhood. The living is a rectory worth £250, in the patronage of trustees. The old church, a quaint, old-fashioned building, with gable ends and tile roof, was replaced by a new structure in 1873. In the burial ground there is a mausoleum of the Ashmole family. A commodious school was erected in 1871. Handsworth, with Soho and Perry Ban: — Handsworth with Soho is a township, and the parish includes Perry Barr. It is now a suburb of Birmingham, and participates in the industry and progress of that industrious and active town. It was here that Mr. Matthew Boulton erected the famous Soho manufactory, of which we have given a full account in our description of Warwickshire.! The township contains 6250 acres, and 14,359 inhabitants; but including the hamlet of Perry Barr the parish contains 7680 acres, 16,042 inhabitants, 2983 houses, and real property valued at £48,532. The * Picturesque Views of Staffordshire. \ Warwickshire: Tast and Present, p. 1S6. PAST AND PRESENT. 151 parish church of St. Mary's is an ancient bubding, and contains the famous statue of Watt, by Chantrey; the bust of Matthew Boulton, by Flaxman ; and a tablet to Wbliam Murdock, Sec ; and some old monuments web worthy of attention. The hving is a rectory worth £1500. There are also two perpetual curacies in Handsworth — St. James', erected in 1840; the hving is worth £200; and St. Michael's, bubt in 1858, of which the living is worth £300. The Independents, the Wesleyans, and the Baptists have chapels at Handsworth ; and the Roman Catholics have a large convent of Sisters of Mercy. Perry Barr is, as we said above, in the parish of Handsworth. It is a very ancient place. We find from the Conqueror's survey that Drogo held of Wbliam Fitz Ausculph three hides here. Erdeswick thus describes ii : — " Phie stands two mbes lower, upon the same side of Tame that Barr doth. About King John's time one Henry de Pirie was lord thereof, who, I think, had issue Richard." It afterwards passed to the Stanfords, but on the 13th of January, 1644, the fobowing was ordered by the Committee of Sequestrators : — " Whereas the lands of Edward Stanford, Esq., within the county of Stafford, are sequestered for the use of the King and Parbament, he being a recusant, and in armes against them." But on the petition of Mrs. Dorothy Stanford, his wife, for maintenance out of the said lands, it was ordered "that Francis Erpe, of Lynn, gent., and Thomas Jordan, of Perrie Barr, yeoman, shall lett the said lands for the best use ; of a fifth part whereof, bothe of the profitts of the demesne and tenants' rents, the com mittee do order shab be pay'd to the said Mrs. Stanford, and the rest to the treasurer at Stafford, for the State's use ; and because the said Mrs. Stanford is destitute of a house, it is ordered that she shall have the hab cabed Perrie Barr Hab, and two closes, called Pale close, and Browne leasowe, upon such rent as Mr. Erpe and Thomas Jordan shab agree upon, which is to be accounted as parcell of the fifth part of the profitts of the demesnes abowed her. And the said Mrs. Stanford dothe undertake to secure the said Mr. Erpe from any damage or molestation of the King's partie, and the com mittee do undertake the same from the Parliament forces." From the Stanfords it passed into the possession of the Goughs. The Honourable F. Gough rebubt the Hab, which is a fine mansion of the Tudor style. The chapelry contains 9150 acres, 1683 inhabit ants, 304 houses, and real property valued at £8146. The living 152 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : is a perpetual curacy worth £200, of which Lord Calthorpe is the patron. The church is as pretty a vblage church as any one could desire to see. Tbe township also contains the vblage of Oscott, in which is situated the famous Roman Cathobc cobege popularly known as Oscott Cobege, but dedicated to St. Mary. It was founded as early as 1794, and provides both religious and secular education. The present extensive bubdingwas erected in 1840; the celebrated Pugin supplying the designs. It cost nearly £60,000. "Oscote or Auscote," writes Mr. Harwood, "was, in temp. Ed. I., the estate of Wbliam Wide, who gave it to Phbip, his son and heb-." Harborne. — The village of Harborne is only some three mbes from Bbmingham, and has shared in the prosperity of its great neighbour. In former times it belonged to Lord Dudley, and was forfeited to the crown on the attainder' of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland. It was afterwards restored to Edward Lord Dudley. The manor passed from the Dudleys to the famby of Corn- wabis, and from them to Phbip Foley, Esq., who sold Harborne to George Birch. The manor now belongs to the marquis of Anglesey. It is connected with Birmingham by a continuous bne of vbla residences forming part of the "West End" of the town. The parish includes the industrious and thriving hamlet of Smethwick, and, exclusive of Smethwick, contains 3296 acres, 5105 inhabitants, 970 houses, and real property valued at £13,286. The living is a vicarage worth £600, and is in the patronage of the dean and chapter of Lichfield. The church is ancient, and has recently been restored in a conscientious and reverential spirit. A more pleasant or more finely situated churchyard than that of Harborne would be difficult to find. Excellent views of the Lickey, the Clent, and Malvern hills are obtainable therefrom ; and some exceedingly beautiful rambles are to be had in the neighbourhood. The village stands high and is considered very healthy, as its popular name, "Hungry Harborne," testifies. There are two other churches in the vblage; that of North Harborne is a vicarage worth £240, in the same patronage as the parish church. This chapelry was constituted in 1842, and has a population of 6000. Harborne Heath is a perpetual curacy worth £100; it was constituted in 1859, and has a population of 3000. The church is a good example of the geometric decorated style. The Independents, Baptists, and Wesleyans have chapels here. There is also a literary institute, a public library, and good schools. The local health act has been introduced ; and the inhabitants have PAST AND PRESENT. 153 of late years displayed a large amount of pubbc spirit, in improving the character and adding to the public institutions of the vblage. It is a remarkable fact, and one worthy of notice, that perhaps the first penny club on record was established in Harborne. This was done by a man named Green so early as the year 1799 ; and on Aprb 27, 1801, the fobowing account of this useful club appeared in Aris's Birmingham Gazette : — " In consequence of the institution of a penny club among the Sunday school chbdren of Harborne, the most pleasing effect has been already produced. It is now two years since this httle club was instituted, and last Sunday presented the most charming spectacle of more than 200 chbdren neatly clothed by this small weekly deposit of money. As we think the plan, wherever adopted, cannot fab to be productive of great good, we shab give a sketch of it as pubhshed at the time of the institution : — "The chbdren subscribers are about 220, and the fund is increased by about 100 neighbours, who, friendly to the cause, subscribe the bke sum, as honorary members. " The advantage arising to society in general, and to the poor in particular, from habitual cleanliness and a decent appearance, are so obvious, that they need little explanation. It is only to notice and contrast the general health and conduct of poor children kept clean and decently cloathed, with that of those who, from idleness, always appear in dirt and rags. The latter, on a Sunday in par ticular, are found wandering about the lanes and fields, breaking the farmers' hedges, and engaged in ab kind of mischievous noisy play, and not unfrequently cursing and swearing ; whbst the others are found in the path of duty at church or at home. " It is a practice which greatly contributes to health that the poor chbd who has decent garments to put on, wbl be induced to wash and comb, an important practice too much neglected by the poor in general. "It contributes to the general stock of happiness arising from industry, for whbst the poor chbdren of the parish are exerting themselves by nab-making, or otherwise, to save a penny for the club, poor children in other parishes are at the same tune employed in manufacturing the materials for the very garments to be thus purchased. Thus villages become composed of industrious and respectable poor, who, it may be reasonably hoped, wbl transmit to their chbdren, and theb" chfldren's children, the same proper and useful habits. VOL. I. tr 154 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : " To effect this desirable purpose in this parish, a penny club has been established. The members are composed principaby of poor children, and such of their kind neighbours (honorary members) whom, for wise purposes, God's providence has placed here com paratively in more exalted situations. " Every member subscribes one penny per week. The money is placed in a friendly hand, who is so kind not only to take the trouble, but to allow five per cent, interest for it ; and once in two years the stock is to be laid out in cloathing, and then equaby dis tributed among such poor members who shall be then upon the list." The memory of these early efforts to improve the condition of the poor ought not to be abowed to pass away. Hints. — This interesting place formerly bore the name of Hendon, or the old town, and derives its present name from hynt, in British a common road. It is In the Wathng Street. Erdeswick tells us that, in the time of the Conqueror, Oswaldus held it of the bishop as a member of the barony of Lichfield ; "and 24 Edward I., Hugo de Meynell held it of the bishop by half a knight's fee ; and from him it descended to his son Gbes, who had issue Richard, who had issue Hugh, who had issue Thomasina, first married to Hugh Erdes wick (but he died without issue), and after to Reginald Dethick : Margaret, married to Roger Dethick, elder brother of Reginald ; Joan, married to Cbnton ; and Abce, married to Aston, but she died without issue. In the partition of Meyneb's lands, both Hints and Langley in Derbyshire feb to Thomasine, who had issue by her husband Reginald. Margaret, their only daughter and heir, married to Raufe Bassett, of Blore, by whom she had issue Wbliam Bassett ; Cicely, married to Hugh Erdeswick ; and, as I think, another son to whom Hints was given in appanage." Walter Bassett sold it to Robert Floyer ; and the manor, together with Hints Hab, now belongs to John Floyer, Esq. There is a large tumulus near the Watling Street, which Dr. Plot supposes to be of Roman con struction. In the year 1771 a pig of lead was found on Hints Common. It weighed 180 pounds, and had the fobowing inscription, in bas rebef, IMP. VESP. VII. T.V. Coss. At Canweb, close by, there was a priory of Benedictine monks founded in 1 1 42, by Giva Bidel, daughter of Hugh Lupus, earl of Chester. Plot describes it as a curious fabric in the pointed style. Henry VIII. granted it to Cardinal Wolsey, and at the Dissolution it was purchased by the famous John Harman, otherwise Vesey, bishop of Exeter. Near PAST AND PRESENT. 155 the priory was a web called Modsweb's web, which was aluminous and considered highly medicinal. " Hence," says the historian, "the name Canweb, from can, signifying efficacy, power." The parish contains 1849 acres, 193 inhabitants, 38 houses, and real property valued at £3375. The hving is a perpetual curacy, and is annexed to that of Weeford. The old church, which had gone to decay, has been removed, and a new one of the Grecian style of architecture erected on its site. It stands on an eminence, and is a pleasing sight for mbes round ; a beautiful view is also obtained from the churchyard. The monuments of the Lawleys and the Floyers have been preserved with much care, and add to the interest of the church, which wbl web repay a visit. Longdon. — This is a large and straggling vblage. It is so long, and probably hence its name, and the houses are so scattered, that the fobowing rhyming proverb about it is web known : — " The stoutest beggar that goes by the way, Cannot beg through Long'on on a summer's day." In the time of the Saxons the manor belonged to the church, and after the Conquest to the bishop of Chester. It formed part of the forest of Cannock in the reign of Henry IL, and was given by him to the church of St. Chad. In the hundred-rob, in the time of Henry IIL, it states " that the bishop of Chester held this manor, with its members, and the town of Lyth (Lichfield), in barony to the king, and had there a free court, and held plea of ab things usual, together with that of forbidden distress ; and had waif and view of frank pledge without the cognizance of the sheriff. And the bishop and his bailiff were wont to attend at the two great hundred courts, and there to demand his own free court, tbl the coming of the Bishop Alexander (about 1224), who withdrew him self from thence." The church contains some fine Norman archi tecture, "in a beautiful rounded arch of rich zig-zag ornament between the chancel and the nave ; the north and south entrances are also Norman, but much of the external architecture of the buhding has been altered. The font is probably of the same date, obhquely scalloped above, and ribbed or fluted below, and bke that at Armitage has no stem or pedestal, the one it stands upon having been brought from Lichfield cathedral. There is stbl much stained glass in the eastern window ; but a portion of it is said to adorn a summer-house in the neighbourhood. There is likewise some 156 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : ancient wood-work. Honiweb chapel is attached to the south side of the church ; it was built by Bishop Honiweb, of Honiweb, in this neighbourhood. An alabaster slab, engraven with his arms and mitre, points out where he is interred, and there is another ancient slab of his family alongside. There are some blegible slabs of the fifteenth and sixteenth century in the chancel of the church. The chapel is of the perpendicular style ; its cebing of crossed wood work with bosses. There is a rounded arch on the north side of the church, probably for the founder's tomb."* The parish con tains 4511 acres, 1359 inhabitants, 294 houses, and real property valued at £9085. It also contains the villages of Brookend and Upper Longdon, and the hamlet of Gentleshaw. The living is a vicarage worth £230, of which the bishop of Lichfield is patron. The Independents and Wesleyans have chapels in the parish. The vibage has a number of gentlemen's seats in the vicinity, including Beaudesert, the seat of the marquis of Anglesey, lord of the manor, now occupied by Sir Thomas Abdy, Bart. ; Haunch Hall, the residence of S. L. Seckham, Esq. ; Lysways Hall, of Charles Forster, Esq., M.P. ; Broughton Hall, the Misses Wakefield ; Longdon Hall, W. H. Chetwynd, Esq. ; and Gorton Lodge, A. Perks, Esq. Norton-under- Cannock. — The distinguishing name of this place comes from the large chage of Cannock, by which it is situated. The Watling Street passes about half a mile to the south of Nor ton. At the Conquest it belonged to the bishop of Chester; Henry III. gave it to Robert de Aston, and after remaining in this famby for some time the property was divided. The church is a neat Gothic bubding, with a small tower, and contains some monuments of the Fowke, Hussey, and other families, but they are not such as to call for any special notice. There is also an ancient font. The parish includes the hamlets of Little Wyrley and Brownhbls, and contains 4077 acres, 2776 inhabitants, 491 houses, and real property valued at £17,599. The hving is a rectory worth £330, and the bishop of Lichfield is patron. The manor-house of Little Wyrley "affords," says Mr. Nightingale, "a curious example of the architectural style of an ancient family residence. Its situation and embellishments are in perfect harmony with the picturesque appear ance of the bubding itself. In the hab appears several pieces of antique armour, and some old-fashioned wooden chevrons, on which are depicted the arms of Fowke." It is stbl customary at Norton * Garner's Natural History of Staffordshire. PAST AND PRESENT. 157 wake, which is held on the first Sunday in August, to decorate the interior of the church with flowers and laurels. Ogley-Hay.— -This is an extra-parochial tract, and is a vblage and a chapelry. At the north of the village there is a place called Knave's Castle, in which the antiquarians trace remains of a Roman camp. The tract contains 705 acres, 1824 inhabitants, 341 houses, and real property valued at £2394. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £170, in the patronage of the bishop of Lichfield. The church is quite modern. The Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists have chapels here. In consequence of the opening of some new cobieries here Ogley-Hay has rapidly grown in prosperity, and increased in the number of its population. Pipe- hill, a smab township in Lichfield, St. Michael's parish. It contains 2400 acres, 137 inhabitants, and 28 houses. Rushall. — This is an ancient vblage, and an ancient manor. At the time of the Conquest it belonged to a famby of the name ol Neel, who had long been settled there. Its representative did fealty to King Wbliam, and thus retained his estates, " and his descendants remained in possession of the manor for some genera tions afterwards." In the time of Leland the manor-house is described as "bubt about with a wall, and a gate-house of stone, ab embattled castlewise." During the contentions of the houses of York and Lancaster, and likewise in the era of the civil war between the Parliament and the famby of Stuart, this seat was strongly fortified and defended by a numerous garrison. At pre sent its ruins display in external appearance a very curious speci men of the ancient embattled mansions, which our ancestors were obliged to build for their defence at a time when the science of government was little understood, and the laws were inadequate for their security and protection. Tbe whole area of this fortified residence comprises about the extent of an acre. The walls, which are composed of rough limestone, are very strong, and, according to Erdeswick, were surrounded by a deep moat, no vestiges of which can now be discovered. Mr. Shaw informs us that he saw several marks of fire-places in different parts of these wabs; but he justly supposes that the principal apartments must have been placed near the centre of the area, where still stands a detached edifice, sometimes occupied as an occasional residence by the pro prietor of the manor. From a MS. "in the hands of a gentleman of this county," 158 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Mr. Nightingale gathered the following particulars of the parish of Rushall : — " Walshab water, passing on, runneth through Rushall. XX°. of the Conqueror, Rob. held it of Wbbam, son of Ansrulf. About H. I. tyme Nigehus was lord thereof. Nigebus had issue Osbert, who had issu Richard, who had issu Richard, who had issue Abce, married to Sir Hugh Boweles, Kt., who had issue by her Wbbam, of whom, from Mr. Walker's MS. VII. Wbbam Boweles dns de Russale. Wbliam Boweles, sone and heyr to William Boweles of Rushele, of pleyn age at the decees of his fadir, entride Into the manor of Rushale, and tooke to wyf Anneys, ye eldiste doghtir of Henry Hambury, squier, sister to Sire Henry Hambury, Knyght, the whiche dwebide at Knyghtesfeldes in a faire maner in Hambury parishe besyde Tuttebury. The whyche Wbliam Boweles was a thryfty squyer and a wel rewled and a good howsholdere. And he had issu by Anneys his wyf Wbliam Boweles. The wyche Wbbam at the age of man his fadir married to Elizabet, the doghtir of She John Gyfforde, Knyght ; Lord of Chlynton, as in a fyn rerid in the Kyngis court a°. VII0. E. III. makith mention. Where Wbbam Boweles, the fadir, took an estate of the maner of Rushale to of his lyfe, the remaynder to Wibiam the sone and Elizabet hys wyf, and to the issu of there two bodies begoton. And inn a fewe yeeris aftir the fyn was rerid the said Wbliam the fadir and Anneys his wyf deyde, and so the remaynder of the seyd manor of Rushale feb to Wbbam Boweles the sone and Elizabet hys wyf. VIII. Wibiam Boweles dns de Rushale. Wbbam Boweles, sone and heyr to Wbbam Boweles last rehersed, was of pleyn age at the decees of his fadir, and dwelbde at the manor of Russhale, and Elizabet his wyf with him bote fewe yeeris. They had issu Katryne, and thence from the grete pestbence in anno XX0. of the last kynge E., in the whyche the sayd Wbbam Boweles deyde, and Elizabet his wyf outlywede, and Katerine his doghtir and heyr, was maried in hire fadires dayes to John Hewit, squyer, dwebinge at Walshale. And the sayd Elizabet tooke to husbande Wbliam Colesone, and the seyd Elizabet and Wbliam Colesone, here hus bande, dwelden in the manor of Russhale, that was here ioyntore manye yeeris. And the seyd John Hewet and Kateryne hadde issu two doghtiris Elizabet and Margarete. Elizabet mariede to Thomas Hextabe, squyer, and Margarete mariede to Wbliam Stokkeley, squyer, and thene the sayd John Hewit was slayn, and thene the seyd Kateryne was weddid to Robert Grobbere, squyre, and hadde PAST AND PRESENT. 159 issu by the seyde Kateryne, Wbbam Grobbere, and thene deyde the seyde Kateryne, eer hire sone Wbliam were twelve months old, and thene in the laste yeeris of kynge Edward the thirdde deyde the seyd Elizabet aftir the decees of hire doghtir, Kateryne, and thene descendede the manor of Russhale to Wbbam Grobbere, sone and heyr to Kateryne withinne age. And thene was the maner of Russhale seysid in the handis of Henry Buyssbury, as lord of Buyssbury, in as muche as the maner of Russhale is holden of the maner of Buyssbury by the fourthe part of a knyghtis fee. And in as much as Robert Grobber, fadir to the seyde Wbliam Grobbere, was in playn lyfe at the decees of Elizabet, grandmodir to the seyde Wbliam, the marriage and the warde of the body of the seyd Wbliam longide by lawe to his own fadir Robert Grobbere, and to no man elbs. IX. Wbliam Grobbere dns de Rushale. Wbliam Grobbere, sone and heyre to Robert Grobbere and Keteryne his wyf, and also cosyne and enheriter of the maner of Rushale after his grandmodir Elizabet, that deyde seysid as of here joynture, of the seyde maner of Russhale, whose marriage Wbbam Colesone boghte of Robert Grobbere, the fadir to the seyd William. And also the seyde Wibiam Colesone boghte the warde of the maner of Russhale of Henry of Bussebury durynge the nonnage of the seyd Wbbam, Grobbere. And so the seyd Wbbam Colesone hadde bothe the warde of the maner of Russhale, and also the mariage of the seyd Wbbam Grobbere, the whyche both warde and mariage the seyd Wbbam Colesone solde to Wbbam Walshale, squyer, that was Nevewe to the seyd Wbbam Colesone, and the seyd Wbliam Walshale was a thryftie squyre and on of the marshalbs of Kynge Richard's habe of grete power by the Kyngis autoritee. And the seyd Wibiam Walshale mariede the seyd Wbbam Grobbere to hys doghtir Kateryne. And bycause the seyde Wbbam Grobbere was lord of Russhale, the seyd Wbliam Walshale uside to cabe him Wbliam of Russhale, and so al the cuntre usyde to cabe him, and callide him Wbbam of Russhale al his lyfe." What fobowed of this MS. has been lost. We have seen a MS. evidently of nearly the same age, partly copied from this, and partly original, the production of Robert Standish of Stone. This MS. says that, " Wbliam Grobbeior, mostlei callid Wbbam Dom : Rush : bbt hym a verie prattie bttb house of woode, and hadde inn it severab picturs of famous kynges, and quenes, and of hystoricah 160 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : subiets from various partes of the worlde. But a dreadful fiere burnt bothe the bttil wouden chamber, bilded for theyre receptioun and care, and al the pictures bot foure, whyche were presarvede, alth.o moche damaged bi the water. Theyse were thene gyuen to Syr John Harpure; the lord of Rushal beyinge greatlie greeved for the losse of thoose thynges, boothe natrall and made by the cun- nynge of wyse menne, whyche hee hadde wythe greate paynes and coste ammassed togeder for hys owne and manie friendes pleasure, who cam fro greate distaunces bin this countrie, to feaste theyre eyen uppon. After thys losse lord Grobbiere de Rushale resolved to make no moore cobectionns of so greate coste, and thys mooved hym to gyve the four saued pictures, the best then ab hee hadde, to Syr John Harpure hys friend and afterwardes hys son-in-lawe, beynge married to hys doghtir Elianor, who hadde welnye beene burnte to deathe hi the bttb picture house. Theyse thynges I haue inn parte from a wrytynge lent to mee, and the oder from a paper wrytten in ye lyfe tyme of my goode relatycion Roger Standyshe of the towne of Stone, in the reigne of kynge Rycharde, on whose soule mercie ; whyche short bot syncere masse I saye in trouthe, tho no mann wble paie mee for the same. Att Rtjsale. " The names and coppies of the foure pictures are in my box X donne wythe my owne hande, bye oders longing to mydecesed cousyne." Erdeswick, speaking of this Wbliam of Rushab, says he "had issue Ehanor, married to Sir John Harpur, Knt., who had issue William Harpur, who had issue another Sir John Harpur, Knight, who had issue Robert Harpur, Dorothy, and Elizabeth. Robert had issue, Dorothy, married to Sir Anthony Knighton, and after to Sir Richard Egerton, Knt., but had no issue; so that the lands came to her two aunts. Dorothy was married to Thomas Hood, of Bridgnorth, who had issue by her Frances, married to Thomas Farmer. Frances also died without issue. Elizabeth was married to Wbbam Leghe, son of Sb* Roger Leghe of Wehington, which Sir Roger was son of Richard, a second son of John Leghe of the Ridge in Cheshire. Wbbam Leghe had issue Henry, who had issue Edward, who possesseth Rushall, and hath issue Henry Leghe, both living anno 1597." This vibage is thought to have been a part of the Forraigne of Walsall, from the circumstance of Moseley 's dole-penny being dis tributed here upon every Twelfth-day, as at that place where it first originated. PAST AND PRESENT. 161 The following particulars and monumental inscriptions are from a MS. by Mr. Walker of Aldridge, and may be seen in the topo grapher, before quoted : — "Wbbam Ruffus (or Rous) of Walsab, for the cause of God and furtherance of piety, by his deed (sans date) gave to the Abbey of Hales Owen, the church of Walsab with the chapters and appurtenances, to which abbey this church of Rushab passed, as being then a chapel appertaining to Walsall. The time of making tbe above deed wbl appear m the witnesses thereto (viz.) Ilijs Testibus Domino Willielmo Coventriai Episcopo : Sec This witness being Wbliam de Cornehub, consecrated January 25, 1215, died June 19, 1223." Not long after (viz.) in the year 1248, De Weseham, then bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, ordained a vicar for this place (inter alia) with an annual stipend of thbty marks, ab offerings or oblations and robes, &c. M. A. T. 2. p. 656. John Harpur, Esq., about the year 1444, 22 Henry VII., endowed this vicarage, and seems also, by the fobowing hues, written on vehum in the old church book of Rushab, not only to have endowed it then, but also furnished and rebubt it ; " This present book legebile in scripture, Here in this place thus tatched with a cheyn, Purposed of entent for to endure, And here perpetuelli stylle to remeyne Fro eyre to eyre, wherefore appone peyn Of Cryst is curs of Fadres and of Moderes Non of hem hens atempt it to dereyne Whille ani leef may goodlei hange with oder ; But for as moche that noo thyng may endure That urthely ys alwey the trowe certeyn, Whensoever thys book hereafter in Scripture Eyder in koverying begynneth cause ayeyn, All tho therto that diligence doth or peyn Hit to reforme be they on or oder, Have they the pardon that Criste gave Magdaleyn, With daili blessyng of fader and moder, Gret reason wolde that ev'y creature Meved of corage on hit to rede or seyn Shuld hym remembre in prayer that so sure Both preest and place and Bokes just ordeyn, At his gret cost John Harpur noght to byn ; Wherfor in speciall his eires with all oder As hyly bondon to pray the sovereyn Lord of all Lordes present hym to his moder." In the Kalendar of which book in 20th of January, is the fobow ing entry : st\u£SSj>aIe tttla Zactv Ijtc futt tt locus ettt: Slnno iMtteno € eruater tt tflbt jrtcno. VOL i. x 162 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Thomas Stheston of Pelsal, by his deed in writing dated the 6th of August, 16 Henry VII., gave a moiety or half part of one field, cabed Lydeat Field, in Rushab, unto the use and behoof of the maintenance, mending, and repahing of the church of Saint Michael in Rushall, and the ornaments thereof for ever. The parish contains 1924 acres, 3702 inhabitants, 748 houses, and real property valued at £8094. The church "appears to have been formerly only a chapel of ease to Walsab. On the south side of the chancel there stbl remains the aperture of a confessionary, and a vase for holy water. Otherwise this edifice presents nothing worthy of remark, being no more than a mutbated remnant of an old bubding in the pointed style of architecture, with a plain tower rising at one end. In the cemetery stands a curious old cross ; an'd the whole being finely shaded with fobage renders it rather an agreeable and picturesque object." The hving is a vicarage worth £350. On a tomb-stone in the churchyard is the following epitaph : — ¦ " Within this tomb Charles White doth lie : He was six feet and full six inches high ; In his proportion Nature had been kind, His symmetry so just, no fault could find." There is also a mission church at the Butts, erected in 1871, an Independent chapel, and a national school. " On the ruins of Rushall, writes Mr. Pitt, " a singular plant, with a beautiful flower, grows in great profusion. It is the Antirrhinum majus, or Snap Dragon, and it is in full blossom about midsummer." Shenstone. — Ah that Mr. Pitt wrote of this vblage in 1817 is true of it at the present time. It is still "a pleasant vibage." It is "situated on a gentle eminence, three miles south of Lichfield. Almost every house in this vblage has a small garden hi front, which contributes at once to the beauty of the place and the accom modation of the inhabitants. The parish is of considerable extent, web watered by several rivulets, which abound with excebent trout. It contains much good sound up-land suitable for turnips, and barley and other grain. There are also fertbe tracts of meadow and pasture land on the banks of the rivulets, where sheep, cows, and oxen are fattened in abundance. The air of Shenstone is wholesome, as is proved by the longevity of the mhabitants, of which several instances are recorded : Henry Lea died in Shen stone in the year 1660, aged 107; and Susannah Southwell, who PAST AND PRESENT. 163 married at the age of 112, could relate occurrences to which she had been an eye-witness an hundred years before." The parish contains seven hamlets, which together give it an area of 8541 acres, and has a population of 2224, 467 houses, and real property valued at £17,723. The church, dedicated to St. John, formerly stood in the centre of the village, and was of very ancient date. It had become so dilapidated that (with the exception of the tower) it was taken down in 1852, and a new church, Second Pointed in style, was erected in 1853, on an eminence nearly south of the village, and from which there is a splendid view of the beautiful country around. The living is a vicarage worth £448. There is a national school in the Elizabethan style in the village, and also a public reading-room. Shenstone Park is about a mbe distant. Shenstone Lodge is the property of Sir W. Baker, Bart., and Shenstone Moss the seat of J. N. Bagnall, Esq. Wood End and Park Hall are about half a mile from the church. "In this parish," writes Mr. Nightingale, "is situated the splendid mansion house of Little Aston. An extensive lawn stretches itself around, finely shaded with trees, and embelbshed by a noble lake. Over the latter is thrown a very handsome bridge, and opposite to it stands an elegant stone conservatory, which adds considerably to the general beauty of the scenery." Immediately adjoining the hamlet of Over Stonnal, on a small hill, appears an ancient fortification which is called Castle-old-ford, or Castle Old Fort. It is encompassed with a double ditch, and is 160 paces diameter between the entrances, wliich seem to have fronted south east and north-west. By whom this fortification was originally erected remains extremely doubtful ; for though it resembles British works of the same kind, several spear-heads of hon have been found in it, which tend to the supposition that it is of later date. A barbed arrow head of flint has likewise been discovered here. There are also the hamlets of Footherley and Upper or Over Stonnal ; the estate of Lynn, and Chesterfield on the Watling Street, which now consists of " farms and tenements," and was formerly part of the Roman station. Swinfen. — This is a hamlet hi Weeford parish. It is a very jjleasant place, and has been held by a famby of the same name for a long succession of generations. In our own time, however the widow of the last of its possessors of the name married a Mr. Broun, and was the cause of Kennedy v. Broun, one of the most cur- 164 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: ious trials on record. The house is a very fine bubding, and is in the midst of some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. Swinfen Wood is a debghtful place for a summer day's ramble ; a very adnhrable poetic description of it has been written by Mr. Frederick Price, who is a native of Lichfield, and has been fambiar with the scene from chhdhood. It is entitled : — A SUMMER EVENING IN SWINFEN WOOD. The sun has set, our daily work is o'er; Come, let us wander through the grassy fields, And leave behind us far the town's rude noise, And breathe the freshness which the country yields. By hedgerows, wreathed with woodbine's scented flowers, Or through still lanes we'll pace, my love, along, Or ou the border of some leafy copse We'll listen to great Nature's evening song. How rich the fragrance of the scented hay, The dew-steeped meadsweet, honeysuckle, rose, The fir, the rushes, wild mint, and the fern, Which the soft night breeze o'er our pathway throws ! Hark ! From the sedgy margin of yon pool The first notes of the swelling hymn are heard And the swift echoes of this whispering wood Repeat the sweet strains of the warbling bird. The slow- paced teamster trolls his ballad lay, Leading his horses to their nightly food — The corncrake's calling for his absent mate — The partridge ' chirring ' for its scattered brood. The blackbird, startled by a clashing gate, Flies from her nest impetuous with fright, And hasting 'neath a sheltering hedge in fear, Drops gems of music in her hurried flight. The sheep's soft bleatings, and the cattle's low, And watch-dog's hark— by distance all subdued — Creep in harmonious with the pleasing sounds Which soothe our souls in this dear solitude. The noble beeches of yon stately grove Murmur their love-sighs to the wooing breeze, Their trembling leaves all silvered by the monn, Whose rays in beauty robe her darling tree,--. The beetle, rushing on with heedless joy, Sounding his clarion as he onward flies, Changed from the sluggish insect of the day, Seems wild with pleasure 'neath the star lit fckirs. And the tall pine, round which the keen-eyed 1. at In rapid motion seeks its insect prey, As the great leader of the tuneful choir, Seems marking time with every waving spray. PAST AND PRESENT. 165 The wild duck, fluttering o'er the sleeping pool, Strikes glistening wavelets, fringed with th' moonbeams' light ; And moths sport joyously on pencilled wings, Like festive fairies on some hallowed night. 0 thou great God, the giver of this bliss, Here let me thank Thee for this peaceful hour, And join with these thy creatures in thy praise, And tell to all thy wondrous loving power. Tipton — This place, cabed also Tibbington, is now one of the most industrial and flourishing parishes in Staffordshire. Its manu factures wbl be treated of in the chapter devoted to the industries of the county. In includes the vblages of Dudley Port, Horsely Heath, Princes End, Tipton Green, Tob End, and part of Great- bridge. The parish contains 3020 acres, 29,445 inhabitants, 5858 houses, and real property valued at £130,225, which is variously classified. It is ecclesiastically divided into four districts, with the four churches, those of St. Martin, St. Paul, St. John, and St. Mark. The livings are ab perpetual curacies, and worth respectively £750, £300, £50, and £150. They afford accommodation for 3000 adults, and 1700 of the sittings are free. The dissenters have twenty places of worship hi the parish. Wall. — This vblage is one of the ancient places of Staffordshire. It forms, with Chesterfield, the old Roman station of Etocetum. "Many vestiges of this ancient city can yet be discovered," writes Mr. Nightingale. "Corns of Otho, Nero, and Domitian are fre quently dug up." Dr. Plot states that he saw two Roman pave ments of lime and rubble, and of pebble and gravel, both laid on Roman bricks, also the pedestal of a pillar, and other antiquities of the same kind. Writing of a field cabed the Butts, Stukely says, " I saw great rums of walls equidistant twelve feet, and twelve high, bke square cellars. I saw three bits of pavement, Irish slate and Roman bricks. The walls are a yard thick of strong mortar, rubble, stone, Sec" Mr. Nightingale, writing much later, adds that these "remains can stbl be distinctly perceived by the attentive eye ofthe antiquary." Some ruins in Butt's Close are generaby pointed out as foundations of a Roman temple ; a bttle below which the. author last mentioned affirms he discovered the crown of a subter ranean arch. Between the Watling Street, which passes here in a direction almost due east and west, and another road leading to Lichfield, appears the vestiges of the castle. The ground upon which it stood is the highest in this neighbourhood, having not 166 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: improbably been somewhat raised by the vast pbe of ruins which lies beneath its surface. The walls of this castle were founded on the solid rock. South from it runs the Rigning way, called by the inhabitants Hickling Street. By the side of a road running north ward from hence to Pipe-hib, are some very considerable remains of the walls which inclosed the town, and from the existence of which in later times the vblage derived its name. There is a gate men tioned by Stukely as crossing the Watling Street at the castle end ; but no vestiges of it can now be traced. The same learned antiquary likewise notices a Roman wab, which was shown to him in a cellar then belonging to " William Milner, at the Swan." On the south side of Watling Street in the fields, called Chesterfield Crofts, a great variety of flower-pots and other curious antiquities have been frequently discovered. This spot was web adapted for a Roman station, being situated nearly in the centre of England, and having open communication by excellent roads to its most distant boundaries. Between this vblage and Pipe-hill, which lies about three-quarters of a mbe to the north, there was lately discovered an extensive Roman mibtary barricade, justly to be regarded as one of the most interesting remains of the labours of that wonderful people which for many years has been laid open to us in this island by antiquarian research. It was composed of entire trunks of oak trees standing on end close to each other. The timber above ground has long been completely decayed. Those which Mr. Shaw examined, he tebs us, were perfectly black at the bottom, but bore evident marks of the operation of the axe. This barricade was divided into a number of distinct pieces, each about twelve feet long and ten or twelve niches diameter. Every piece contained a cavity three feet down its middle for the purpose of observation, or with a view to the discharge of missile weapons. The extent throughout which this work has been traced is somewhere about 500 yards, m an angular line, strengthened by flanking bastions, at which points the pieces most entire have been generaby placed. A wooden mabet, found when digging here, was afterwards unfor tunately destroyed by fire. It is a small township and chapeby in Lichfield, St. Michael's parish, and contains 1165 acres, 100 inhabit ants, and 21 houses. The chapelry was constituted in 1845, and has a population of 260. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £100, and is in the patronage ofthe rector of St. Michael's. PAST AND PRESENT. 167 Walsall. — The name of this town was formerly written Walshab, Walshale, and Waleshhl. Erdeswick states that the manor of Walshale was held by Wbliam Fitz Ausculf in the 20th of Wbbam the Conqueror. Shaw and others doubt the accuracy of this information, there being no mention of it in Domesday Book, which, he argues, "seems a singular omission, when most of the inferior manors round it are amply noticed." The next account of it is found in the reign of Henry II. , when that king, by his charter dated at Stanton, "gave Walshale, with ab its appurtenances, to his servant Herbert Rufus and his heirs, reserving to himself a rent of £4 per annum for ab services, Sec" In the time of Henry III. it was held hi fee-farm of the king, at the yearly rent of £26 19s. 9 c?., by Wbbam Rufus, who granted certain privbeges to the burgesses of Walsab ; and from him it passed to Sir Roger de Mortem, joint lord of the manor with Sir Thomas le Rous, Knight; thence to Sir Ralph Basset, of Drayton, from whom it descended to Henry Beauchamp, duke of Warwick, surnamed " the king-maker," and who was slam at the battle of Barnet, 1471, by King Edward IV ; after which his corpse, having been carried to London with that of the marquis of Montague (his brother), and there exposed to pubhc view in St. Paul's, was thence conveyed to Bisham, in Berkshire, and interred in the monastery, with his ancestors the Montacutes, by whom it had been founded. Henry VIIL, in the 32nd year of his reign, granted this manor to the unfortunate John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, who held it tbl the reign of Queen Mary, when, being attainted of high treason for an attempt to establish his daughter-in-law, the Lady Jane Grey, on the throne of England, the manor was seized, and granted to Richard Wbbraham, Esq., in consideration of £1000. The grandson of the said Richard was created a baronet by James I., and the manor remained in his famby tbl it was carried by one of two co-heiresses to an ancestor of its present lord, the Right Hon. Orlando George Charles Bridgeman, third earl of Bradford, who was born in 1819, and succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father in 1865.* Dr. Plot speaks of a very good bmestone that polishes like marble, which is in the southern parts of Staffordshire, and ab about Walsall, particularly at Rushall. He also adds : — " At Walsall and Rushall they divide their ironstone into several sorts, such as * Clew's History of Walsall, 168 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: black bothum, gray botbum, chatterpye (being of the colour of a magpie), gray measure, mush, and white measure. The two first are seldom made use of, they are so very poor ; the two middle sorts are but mdifferent ; the two last, the principal : but mush the best of ab, being filled with a brisk, sweet liquor, which the workmen drink greedby, and so very rich an ore that they say it may be made into iron in a common forge." "The fourth and best sort of iron is cabed tough iron, of which they make ab sorts of the best wares." With regard to the sweet bquor alluded to, he states : — " It is frequently met with amongst the best sort of ironstone, cabed mush, in round or oval blackish and reddish stone, sometimes as big as the crown of a man's hat, hollow, and like a honeycomb, and holding a pint of this matter, which, according to the colour of the comb within (whatever the stone be without), is either red or white, and, whether the one or the other, of a sweet sharp taste, very cold and cutting, yet greedby drunk by the workmen." Walsab, writes Mr. Glew, was anciently a borough by pre scription, but received charters from Edward III! and Henry IV. The oldest existing charter was granted by Charles I. in the third year of his reign, and confirmed in the 13th Charles II. This char ter declared the borough and foreign of Walsab to be "ancient demesne of the crown of England, and the mayor and burgesses, and also ab and singular the burgesses and inhabitants of the borough or town and foreign of Walsab, by whatsoever name or names they should have been theretofore incorporated, or whether theretofore incorporated or not, and then: successors, were incor porated by the name of the Mayor and Commonalty of the Borough and Foreign of Walsab, and empowered to purchase and take possession to themselves and their successors for ever, messuages, lands, tenements, meadows, feedings, pastures, woods, underwoods, rectories, tythes, reversions, or other hereditaments whatsoever; so as the said messuages, lands, tenements, meadows, feedings, pastures, and other hereditaments, so by them to be had, held, and received, should not exceed in the whole the clear yearly value of twenty pounds." Previous to the Municipal Reform. Act, in 1835, the corporation was composed of a mayor and twenty-four capital burgesses, a recorder, town-clerk, two sergeants-at-mace, and a beadle. The mayor was elected from the body of capital burgesses, annuaby, PAST AND PRESENT. 109 on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel. The mayor and senior capital burgesses, with the mayor of the past year, were justices of the peace, and held a weekly petty session, and also courts of general quarter session four times a year. The mayor, recorder, and town-clerk were likewise empowered by the charter to hold a court of record, for the recovery of debts and damages exceeding the sum of forty shdlings, but not more than twenty pounds. It also granted to the mayor and capital burgesses power to hold courts of "pye-powder" during the fairs, and receive the benefit of ab tobs, stabage, fines, pierage, and amercements arising therefrom. The mayor, burgesses, and mhabitants were likewise declared " free, acquitted, and discharged " from the payment of impost or tob, in as ample form as the people of the manor of Walsall formerly were, and have been entitled to, by means, force, and virtue of certain letters patent, dated at Westminster, the 8 th day of July, in the 47th year of Edward III. The charter, moreover, provided against any claim therein contained being "constructed or inter preted of any of the authorities, privbeges, or profits belonging or appertaining to the lord of the manor of Walsab." A court leet and baron, with view of frank pledge, is yearly held in October, by the lord of the manor's steward. Under the Municipal Reform Act Walsall is governed by a town council consisting of a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors, with a commission of peace (comprising six justices, besides the mayor and ex-mayor), a recorder, a town-clerk, and other officers. By the Reform Bib of 1832 Walsab was made a parbamentary borough, with the privdege of sending one member to the House of Commons. After a severe contest the late Mr. Charles Smith Forster was elected the first member of the new borough. His son, Mr. Charles Forster, is the present representative, and has sat for Walsall since the year 1852. "Amongst other interesting documents," to quote once more from Mr. Glew, "preserved in the archives of the corporation, is a deed bearing the seal and signature of Queen Ebzabeth, dated 13th July, in the 28th year of her reign, and containing a grant of certain lands to the town. It is stated that the royal seal and signature was affixed at Walsab by the queen, during one of her tours ; but some affirm that it was done whilst she was staying at the manor-house of Bescot, now known as Bescot Hall." 1 70 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : In 1643, while her unfortunate husband was engaged in the great civb war, Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I., also honoured the town with a short visit, and is said to have stayed at a house now, and for many years, known as the "White Hart," Caldmore, previous to joining the king at Edge Hbl. There are a large number of curious deeds and seals in the town chest worthy the notice of the antiquary. The seal of the corporation is not the same as the town arms, (i.e., the bear and ragged staff) : it represents three fleurs de lis, and three bons quarterly, with two lions as supporters, and above the arms a crown without an arch. Over the rim of the crown are five fleurs de lis, and no crosses (as customary when the crown of England is represented). The seal is nearly the size of a crown piece, with an inscription round it in very ancient Latin characters ; the translation is, " The seal of the Mayor and Commonalty of the Borough and Foreign of Walsall." The seal must have been the arms of some of our monarchs from Henry V. to Elizabeth, inclusive. Kings Edward III., Richard IL, and Henry IV. ab quartered tbe fleurs de lis semee ; and James I. quartered the Scotch lion. There is no date to the seal, but it is conjectured to be not more than 420, nor less than 230, years old. It is recorded in the European Magazine, from a MS. hi the possession of Dr. Birch, that the first Lord Somers acquired his grammar learning here. This eminent lawyer was born on the 4th of March, 1650, at Worcester. His father was an attorney, who, under Cromwell, commanded a troop of horse. At the restoration he was pardoned. In 1798, during the war which arose out of the first French Revolution, a handsome subscription was entered into by the town, to defray the expense of raising a corps of cavalry and another of infantry, to be entitled the Walsab Volunteer Association ; and on the 12th of May in that year a meeting was held at the Gubdhall on the subject ; a letter from the marquis of Stafford was read on that occasion by the chairman, Joseph Scott, Esq., communicating his Majesty's gracious acceptance of theb" services. Both corps were accordingly estabbshed, and numbered in ab forty-three gentle men. The fobowing particulars relative to the presentation of the standard colours to the association may prove somewhat interesting. The ceremony took place at Barr Beacon, about three mbes from Walsab, on the morning of the 23rd September, 1799. The assem- PAST AND PRESENT. 171 blage is described as having been both " elegant and numerous, the morning propitious, and the ceremony of a most impressive charac ter." The standard for the cavalry was consecrated by the Rev. John Darwab, chaplain to the corps, who debvered a prayer and address suitable to the occasion. The standard was then presented to Captain Scott by Mrs. W. Adams, of Walsab, as proxy for Lady Scott, assisted by Captain Scott's chbdren. His reply to the address is described as one which portrayed the feelings of a man with the best interests of his country at heart. At the same tune and place the infantry colours were also con secrated by the Rev. Mr. Kipling, lecturer of Walsab, and presented to Richard Jesson, Esq., captain, by Miss Leigh, daughter of the Rev. W. Leigh, of Ashbourne Hab, in the county of Derby, accom panied by an appropriate address, to which Captain Jesson made a suitable reply. After the ceremony the corporation of Walsall, fully sensible of the zeal manifested by the neighbouring gentry and their fellow-townsmen, provided a dinner at the George Inn, of which the clergy, gentry, and associated corps partook. Wbliam Adams, Esq., then mayor, presided. The enter tainment, it is said, consisted of the choicest articles the season could afford, and cost the corporation upwards of one hundred guineas. It is further recorded, that hi 1802, on the dissolution of the body, the members of the "volunteer cavalry," in consideration of the handsome and spirited conduct of their captain, presented him with a sbver cup, value fifty guineas. Walsab is now a thriving and prosperous town. It contains four churches, seventeen places of worship for the different bodies of Dissenters, and two Roman Catholic chapels. It has a good free grammar school, which was founded by Queen Mary by letters patent dated 2nd July, 1554, by which it was granted, wflled, and ordained that "there should be one grammar school in Walsall, in the county of Stafford, which should be called the Free Grammar School of Queen Mary; and that ten of the more discreet and honest inhabitants of Walsall be governors and a body corporate, with power to hold lands, elect a master and usher," &c. The proceeds of the endowment are now about £1000 a year; there are 120 scholars, and an exhibition, valued at about £30 a year. The property of the charity has undergone many changes, and its objects have also been varied by an Act of Parliament, passed in 1797, "for enabling the Governors to sell 172 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: certain mines under part of their lands, as well as to sell and exchange certain lands for the purpose of extending the benefits of the school. Also for enlarging tbe trust and powers of the said Governors, and for enabling them to bubd a chapel, to be in their patronage, and under the pastoral care of the master of the gram mar school ; to establish as many school-houses and school-rooms in convenient situations in the parish, as they should think necessary ; and to direct how many boys and girls should be admitted, what they should be taught, and how many to be maintained, clothed, and put out apprentices ; to appoint masters and mistresses from time to time ; to teach boys and girls of the parish of Walsall in reading, writing, knitting, sewing, arithmetic, mathematics, Sec. ; with a proviso, that there should be always one head master and one usher, to teach the classics in conformity with the letters patent of Queen Mary, such head master to be a clergyman of the Church of England, in priest's orders, and a graduate of one of the Univer sities, and have, in addition to his school salary, an annual stipend of £50 as minister of the chapel. The benefits of this institution are exclusively confined to boys residing in the parish, and who attend the worship and services of the Estabbshed Church of England. At the tercentenary festival of the foundation held on July 4, 1854, " The Governors of the Institution " was proposed by the Rev. J. B. Owen in a long address of great eloquence, which concluded thus : — " Nero, who was execrated by the world, found, it was said, some one to love him ; for, in the language of Byron — ' When Nero died beneath the curse of Rome, Some hand unseen strewed flowers on his tomb.' So, with Queen Mary, the people of Walsall could strew flowers on her tomb, and say that, if she burnt 280 of her subjects, she founded a school for Walsab." Walsall Grammar School has the honour of having had Lord Somers and Bishop Hough for pupils. In 1867 the Walsall people erected their town ball; they were also among the earliest towns in which the ratepayers had the good sense to adopt the Free Libraries Act. The church dedicated to St. Matthew, or All Saints, formerly belonged to the abbey of Hales Owen, having been conferred on that monkish establishment by Sir Wibiam Rufus at a very early period. It is an edifice of great antiquity, in the form of a cross, but does not exhibit any traces of Saxon architecture. At the south-west angle rises a strong, plain, and rather elegant tower, surmounted by a handsome spire. PAST AND PRESENT, The interior is lofty and spacious, and presents a somewhat singular appearance. Each side of the chancel has seven stalls in a very entire state, the seats of which are ornamented with a great variety of grotesque figures carved in basso relievo. Under this part of the church is a remarkable arch-way of massy Gothic workmanship, forming a common passage through the eastern division of the churchyard. In the windows were formerly some neat paintings on glass ; but they are now almost completely effaced. The window of St. Catharine's chapel, however, still exhibits the mutilated figure of that saint ; and St. Clement's chapel has several niches in its walls, which were no doubt intended for statues, though none now occupy them.* It was almost entirely rebuilt in 1821, at a cost of more than £22,000. It has a fine peal of eight bebs, which were placed there in 1775 : they bear the fobowing inscriptions : — 1 " When us you ring, we'll sweetly sing.'' 2 " Fear God, honour the king." . i " Prosperity to this parish." 5 "The Rev. John Darwall, Vicar." 6 "Thomas Rudhall, Gloucester, Founder.'' 7 " Thomas Hector, Edward Licet, Thomas Overton, Deykin Hemming, Church Wardens." 8 " I to the church the living call, And to the grave do summon all." The two townships of Walsall are Walsab Borough and Walsall Foreign ; the latter contains the hamlets of Walsab-wood, Shel- field, and Bloxwich, comprising 8182 acres. The population of the parliamentary borough, which is the same as the municipal, is 48,524, and there are 9465 houses. The real property of both townships is valued at £158,568. The living of St. Matthew's is a vicarage worth £500, of which the earl of Bradford is the patron. The other churches are, St. Peters, worth £300 ; Walsall Park, worth £112 ; Walsall Wood, worth £108. These three are perpetual curacies, and under the patronage of the vicar of Walsall. In conclusion, it may be noticed that a curious custom exists here : — On St. Clement's Day apples and nuts are thrown from the Town Hab, "to be scrambled for by the populace." Bloxwich is a large and populous vblage in the Foreign of Walsall. It comprises within its chapelry the whole township of the Foreign, except Walsab Wood Church district, which being detached from the rest of the township, is not in the parliamentary * Nightingale's Staffordshire. 174 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : borough. Bloxwich is celebrated for the manufacture of bridle bits, stirrups, keys, cabinet locks, plane hons, buckle tongues, iron chains, and all kinds of saddlers' ironmongery, but especially for awl blades, a branch of trade in which it surpasses any place in the kingdom. It is stated in Domesday Book, " that the king held Blockeswich (then a portion of the manor of Wednesbury, and having a wood three furlongs in length and one in breadth), and in Scelfeld, one hide of waste appertaining to the said manor." Erdeswick confounds it with Blechesworth, which Roger de Montgomery held, 2 Oth Con queror. It is also confounded in the Magna Britannia with West Bromwich. Sir Simon Degge states, in his additions to Erdeswick, that "Sir Gbbert Wakeringe, of Rickmandsworth, in the county of Hertford, who kept a great flutter in this county in the beginning of King James's time, and who died 25th December, 15 James (1618), was seized of a capital messuage and demesne, and three other messuages, with divers lands in the two Bloxwiches, &c, and of the manors of Essington and Womborne in the county of Stafford, Sec" Pitt quotes an inscription from a tombstone in the chapel yard at Bloxwich, which is worth repeating : "To the memory of Samuel Wilkes, late of this parish, locksmith, who died 6th November, 1764. Reader! if thou art an inhabitant of Great Bloxwich, know, that the dust beneath thy feet (when overseer of the poor of this parish) was imprisoned in thy cause, because he refused to surrender thy rights, and to submit to arbitrary mandate, by which it was intended to incorporate the poor's rates of the Foreign with those of the borough, and thereby to compel the Foreign to the payment of a greater proportion of parochial taxes than is warranted by law. — His resistance was attended with success. — The benefit is thine." The Foreign of Bloxwich consists of two vibages, Great and Little Bloxwich, and contains 13,500 acres, 8717 inhabitants, 1720 houses, and real property valued at £17,509. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £300. Wednesbury. — This town stands at a short distance from the source of the river Tame. It is a place of great antiquity ; the name is Saxon, from Woden, their god of battle, and Wodensbor'ough has been modernized to Wednesbury. In the year 912, according to the Saxon annals, Duke Ethelred, son-in-law of Alfred the Great, and viceroy of Mercia, died ; and PAST AND PRESENT. 175 his wife, Adelfleda, continued to govern the kingdom with great wisdom. She fortified Wednesburg, now Wednesbury, in the year 916, and built a castle on the hbl on which the church now stands. A few traces of the foundation of this fortress are stbl perceptible. After the Conquest it was a demesne of the crown. Henry II. bestowed it on the Heronviles hi exchange for the town of Countsfield, in Oxfordshire, so that it is now a parcel of the honour of Woodstock. The old manor house, which is situated about a quarter of a mbe north-east of the church, is now a farm house. On the opposite side of the hbl is a curious ancient house called Oakesweb Hab, surrounded by high garden walls and lofty trees. It formerly belonged to the famby of Hopkins, but was purchased by Mr. John Howe, and is now inhabited by Mr. Thomas Strange Hatton. The parish of Wednesbury has long been celebrated for its valuable mines of coal and ironstone of excellent quabty ; and the inhabitants have the advantage of a general inland navigation, which has contributed to the prosperity of Wednesbury and its vicinity. In 1811 the population of Wednesbury was 2806 males, 2566 females; total, 5372; from that period to 1871 the population increased to 25,030. Wednesbury is distinguished for its numerous and valuable manufactures, the principal of which are coach harness, saws, trowels, edge tools, bridle bits, stirrups, hinges, nabs, iron axle- trees, wood screws, a variety of cast-iron work, and though last not least, gun barrels and locks. The finest enamel paintings are likewise among the productions of its artists. The coal in the neighbourhood, which is considered the best in the kingdom for the smith's forge, on account of its pecubar intensity of heat, is found in separate veins from three to fourteen feet in thickness, and is productive of an ample revenue to its proprietors. A pecubar species of iron ore is found here called blored metal, which is chiefly used in the manufacture of nabs, horse shoes, hammers, axes, and other heavy tools. Reddish earth, cabed trip, is also found in the neighbourhood of Wednesbury, which is used in glazing vessels of different kinds. Dr. Wilkes speaks of the wbdfire which is discoverable in some of the old coal pits near this town. "We have," says he, "long had a wbdfire in the coal pits near Wednesbury Field. It breaks out spontaneously among the vast heaps of slack left in the coal- 176 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: works, and which contains a vast quantity of sulphur, and fre quently smokes out through the surface, and acts upon the several strata, some of which are reduced to cinders. It hardens clay into what is called pork-stone, which is good for repairing the roads, or laying the foundation of buildings. Another kind of fire in these mines goes off with a tremendous explosion, driving every thing before it ; but when the proper means are used, this is prevented." "In the year 1742, when Lady Huntingdon sent John and Charles Wesley to Wednesbury, to preach the doctrine of Metho dism, the miners and iron manufacturers, who were in a rather uncivbized state, rose in a mob, and broke the windows of the house where some people had assembled to hear the preachers. Some of the rioters being brought by a warrant before Justice Pershouse, he reprimanded the Methodists. The minister of Wed nesbury then jomed with the magistrates (according to Mr. Wesley), and the mob was encouraged to persecute and insult the Methodists, and all who joined them. "These riotous proceedings being noticed by government, one of the Middlesex justices, in an interview with Mr. John Wesley, informed him that he had orders from the king to do him justice; his Majesty being determined that no man in his dominions should be persecuted for conscience' sake."""" The church is properly described by Mr. Nightingale, as an elegant bubding in the pointed style of architecture, and adorns the summit of the hbl on which the castle already mentioned was situated. At one end rises a handsome tower, supporting a lofty spire of unusual beauty. The interior is divided into a chancel, nave, and north and south aisles. These last are separated from the nave by a range of very neat arches, which rest upon octa gonal pblars. One arch being intersected by another pblar, pro duces a singular and awkward effect. In the chancel are several prebendal stabs, ornamented with most exquisite carved work. Here are a variety of monuments in honour of the ancestors of the families of Lord Dudley and Lord Harcourt. Against the north wab appears a very ancient tomb, on which are placed two female figures standing under Gothic niches, each having her right hand resting on a plain shield. On the floor are cut out the figures of a knight and his lady, the one habited in full armour, and the * Pitt's Staffordshire. PAST AND PRESENT. 177 other in the dress of the times. Several more are visible on the stones, but are so much obliterated as to be incapable of description. Within the rabs is an alabaster monument to the memory of Mr. Parkes, whose effigy, and that of his wife, lie recumbent on the top. A monument adjoining the south wall represents a man and woman kneeling, having beneath them the figures of six chbdren. Around the churchyard is a large graff, in which the vestiges of the ancient fort may be distinctly traced. The prospect from hence is among the most extensive in the county. Wednesbury is now an industrious and thriving place, par ticipating in the advantages of the great mining and iron district of which it forms a part. It has three churches, fifteen other places of worship (including eleven for the once persecuted Methodists), and eleven public schools. Among the other public institutions are to be found a mechanics' institute, a working man's club, with a library and reading room. The parish contains 2175 acres. By the Reform Act of 1867 Wednesbury, West Bromwich, and Tipton were united into a parliamentary borough, which returns one member. The population of the town is 25,030 ; that of the parliamentary borough in 1871 was 116,809. Its real property is valued at £59,577. The living of the parish church is a vicarage worth £310, of which the Lord Chancellor is the patron. The two other livings are those of St. John and St. James, which are rectories, and respectively worth £267 and £300. Wednesfield. — This township is near to Wolverhampton, and is famous for having been the scene of a great battle in the year 910, in which Edward the Elder defeated the Danes. It contains 2650 acres, 8998 inhabitants, 1881 houses, and real property valued at £16,486. There are two chapelries. That of Wednesfield is a vicarage worth £280, in the patronage of the bishop of Lichfield; and that of Wednesfield Heath, which is a perpetual curacy, is worth £160. The Wesleyans, the Independents, and the Primitive Methodists have each a chapel, and there are also a few good public schools. A large number of tumuli exist near Wednesfield — the grass-crowned records of the great battle. Weeford. — Of this vblage Mr. Pitt says, it is situated to the east of Shenstone, and the south of Watling Street, in a pleasant valley on the banks of Black Brook. It takes its name from the London road formerly passing through a ford of Black Brook here, and hence called Wayford. There is a beautiful tract of narrow VOL. I. z 17S STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: but rich meadows on the banks of the brook in the vicinity of this vblage, bounded by low and fertbe eminences. The parish is distinguished as containing the low called Offlow, which gives name to the • hundred. Dr. Plot says that the etymology is probably Saxon, though not from the sepulchre of Offa, who was buried at Bedford ; but it certainly contains the bones of some chieftain who fell in battle near this place. Weeford has been the scene of civil warfare. A Purefoy was slain here by Sir Henry WiUoughby, in the cause of Edward IV,, and Sir Henry was desperately wounded by Lord Lisle. The manor now belongs to Lord Wenlock, and the parish contains 4556 acres, 395 inhabitants, 73 houses, and real property valued at £3217. The living is a rectory united with Hints, and worth £300. The church contains some beautiful stained glass, brought from the duke of Orleans' private chapel, near Paris, during the first French revolution. West Bromwich.^-Thia flourishing town was formerly called Bromwich, and "west" was prefixed to the name to distinguish it from Castle Bromwich. In 1230 the manor belonged to the barons of Dudley, from whom it passed to Walter de Everns in 1293, and next to the Stanleys in 1533. Sir Richard Shelton became its possessor in 1660, from whom it passed in 1682 to the family of the Legges, the ancestors of the present lord of the manor, Earl Dartmouth. Sandweb Park House is the property of the earl of Dartmouth. His lordship, however, no longer resides here, and has "given up the house for ladies of limited means and for young governesses — a school for the daughters of clergymen, and a training institution for boys and girls. It is under the superintendence of Miss Selwyn, sister of the bishop of the diocese. The park is divided into abotments, and is occasionally used in the summer as an encampment for volunteers."* It is situated in a romantic valley, and is bubt on the site of a priory of Benedictine monks, dedicated to St. Magdalen. The priory was founded in the time of Henry IL, or, at the latest, that of Richard I., and at the Disso lution was given to Cardinal Wolsey. "Some portion of the original foundation is stbl visible to the antiquarian eye, behind the house and among the offices, where a stone coffin" has been dug up. The present house is bubt of brick, stuccoed white, and forms a square, the corners of which rise considerably higher than the rest of the building. * Murray's Handbook. PAST AND PRESENT. 179 The town of West Bromwich is one of those whose modern prosperity is due to iron and coal, which make the wealth of the so-called " Black Country." It is governed by a board of commis sioners elected under the Improvement Act of 1854, and the Amend ment Act of 1865. By the Reform Bill of 1867 it was made a part of the parbamentary borough of Wednesbury. The parish contains 5710 acres, 47,918 inhabitants, 9233 houses, and real pro perty valued at £126,660. The church of All Saints is an ancient bubding surmounted by a tower. Although it has been frequently repaired, it stbl preserves a part of its original character. Mr. Nightingale says, "neither its architectural features, nor its monu ments, claim the smabest attention." There is, however, a stained glass window in the chancel which is worth notice. It represents the Ascension, and was placed in the church by the inhabitants of West Bromwich to the memory of Wibiam, the fourth earl of Dart mouth. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £560, and the earl is patron. Christ Church was begun in 1821, and completed in 1828, at a cost of upwards of £18,000. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £330, of which the earl of Dartmouth and trustees are the patrons. Trinity Church, bubt in 1841, is a perpetual curacy worth £300, and the patrons are trustees, St. James's is at Hbl Top, was bubt in 1841, and is a perpetual curacy worth £300, in the gift of the bishop of Lichfield. St, Peter's, bubt in 1858, is also a perpetual curacy, worth £300, the bishop of Lich field patron. St. Andrew's was built in 1867, and the clergy of All Saints serve. The Independents have three, the Wesleyans twelve, the Primitive Methodists nine, the Roman Catholics two, while the New Connection Methodists have one, and the Baptists one. There are also a large number of schools. Only some sixty years since it was " a small vblage amid a barren heath ; but is now a town of upwards of three mbes long, all active with industry, and rapidly progressing." Antiquarians tell us that West Bromwich is remarkable as the birthplace of Walter Parsons, porter to King James I., who appears to have been no less distinguished for his extraordinary strength than for the equanimity of his temper. West Bromwich is now remarkable for much more memorable events than that of being the birthplace of James L's porter. It is one of the centres of British industry, providing employment to its thousands of hardworking and thriving mechanics and artizans, and helping on the civilization of the world. 180 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: A tract in the British Museum, which is considered unique, gives " A True Relation of the Terrible Earthquake at West- Brummidge, in Staffordshire," which occurred on the 4th of January, 1675-76. After abuding to the "very blustering, tempestuous weather at London " on the 3rd and 4th of the same month, the writer says : "At a place cabed West-Brummidge, in Staffordshire, within four mbes of Brummingham (that famous town for iron-ware, scituate on the edge of Warwickshire), on the said Tuesday, the fourth of January instant, in the afternoon, the wind thereabouts for several days before having been very calm, and more stbl than is usual for the season ; on a sudden a strange rushing noise was heard in the air, and so continued for some time, to the great admiration of many people that heard it, which was the more increased for that they could not perceive any very sensible blast or strong gust of wind, which might be the occasion of such an uncouth murmur ; but this their wonder was by and by forced up to the highest pitch of amazement and terror, when they began to perceive the ground to quake and tremble under their feet. " Which it did so evidently, that pewter-dishes fell from off the shelves on which they were placed, in several houses ; nay, it is attested by divers credible eye witnesses, it made the very stones in the streets and lanes to beat and knock against one another. The inhabitants, in fear, run out of their houses, dreading they would be shaken down upon their heads ; but blessed be God no harm was done, that we hear of. The earthquake was not onely in this single town, but at all other vblages near, for several miles, in Staffordshire and divers parts of Warwickshire. " This account was sent up to a person of good repute, by trade an ironmonger in Whitechappel, from one of his correspondents, desiring to know if any such thing was observed at London ; they in the country apprehending it might be general. "The continuance of the earthquake was above half an hour, which was followed by mighty, violent, and tempestuous winds for two or three days together."* Wigginton. — At an early period this place belonged to the Hast ings, earls of Pembroke, and from them it passed to the Nevils, and afterwards to the Comberfords. The Skiffingtons were at one time its possessors, and then the Hills, from whom the first marquis of Donegal purchased it. He left it to his youngest son, * This rare and curious tract has been privately printed by Charles H. Bayley, Esq., of West- Bromwich. PAST AND PRESENT. 181 who sold it. The parish contains 3470 acres, 956 inhabitants, 190 houses, and real property valued at £9052. The hving is a vicarage worth £140, in the patronage of the vicar of Tamworth. Willenhall. — " The early history of Wblenhab," says its latest historian, " is wrapped in mystery ; but its name is said to be derived from the Saxon word (winehala) for victory — in consequence of a great victory gained by the Saxons in 910, over that ferocious people the Danes, who carried death and destruction into ab parts of England from A.D. 832, when they first landed in Britain, tbl the days of Canute, who reigned as king of England from A.D. 1017 to a.d. 1035. It was certainly 'a famous victory' — two kings, Eorvbls and Halfdane ; two earls, Ohter and Scurfa, having been slain in that battle, as also nine noblemen : thus the ' stream of time ' seems never to have changed its red and fearful colour, but always to have robed on tinged with human blood, and kept that colour as changeless as heaven its pure blue. " The first authentic record which we have of Wblenhab is in a document of the Princess Wulfruna, sister to King Ethelred, about the year 979, when she endowed a monastery and church at Wol verhampton, with lands in Winehala (Wblenhab), Bbston, Essington, Wednesfield, Walsall, &c. The vicinity of Wolverhampton is said to have been at that time rural, and web supplied with wood and water, and the undulations of the country various and charming, and inhabited by a pastoral population, who lived surrounded with groves and streamlets. In this debghtful retreat the pious Princess Wulfruna bved, passed her days in pious exercises, and died in the odour of sanctity, leaving her name stamped upon the history of the locality, to be remembered with honour down to the latest posterity. What a contrast from, the days of the good Wulfruna does the present appearance of the country present! Fire and smoke on all sides ; the groves and streamlets are displaced by the ' cinder mound ' and the stagnant pool, or, as it is cabed, the 'swag.' The shrbl call of a ' Guthrun, the swine-herd,' has given way to the more shrill whistle of the steam-engine; and instead of beholding men issuing from the dark recesses of the forest or the grove, they now seem more like spirits of another sphere issuing from the still darker recesses of the bowels of the earth, with carbonized face and hands, but who, nevertheless, claim our highest respect ; their industry contributing most materially to our national greatness at the present time. 182 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: " The next mention of Wblenhab is hi the survey made by order of Wbbam the Conqueror, a few years after his arrival and con quest. The record of this survey is cabed Domesday Book. In that book it is stated that the canons of Wolverhampton ' have two hides in Winenhale; the land is one carucate, and there are three villanes and five bordars, with three ploughs.' A hide, according to the general opinion, contained 100 acres. Whether Winenhale con tained any more inhabitants at that period we cannot prove from documentary evidence, but it is very probable that it did, and that these alone belonged to the canons of St. Mary's, Wolverhampton. " On the 6th of May, 1748, the rebubding of the present church was commenced, and on the 30th of October in the fobowing year divine service was performed for the- first time in the new church. A chapel had been erected at Wibenhall about a.d. 1350 (temp. Edward IIL), but a chantry priest existed there previously; and no doubt a small chapel had been erected in Saxon times, which probably was constructed of wood, and the church erected about a.d. 1350 would be a stone building, the remains of which yet exist in the present old tower. Shaw, in his 'History of Staffordshire,' is also of opinion that a church of no mean pretensions, as regards ornaments, existed at Wblenhab during the middle ages, as appears from the fobowing extract : — " ' It appeared to me that the old church must have been rebubt, at least the middle aisle of it ; and that the first fabric was greatly ornamented, and must have been the gift of some rich man, or a number of such, the vblage being then but thin of inhabitants ; and before the iron manufacture was begun here they could not have been able to erect such a fabric. But no date or hint relating to it was to be found.'"* The church was taken down and handsomely rebubt in 1867. A few years ago the popular sport of Wblenhab, at the wake or other periods, was that of cock-fighting, dog-fighting, or bull- baiting, and (what now-a-days may be considered much worse) often men might be seen intoxicated, wrestling together in the gutter, and attempting to inflict the greatest personal injury upon each other. So late even as the year 1834, we find from the following extract, quoted from the Wolverhampton Chronicle, that such brutal practices were extensively indulged in at the Wake time : — ¦" At Wibenhall, two bulls were baited in the streets of that town, and * Wright's History of Willenhall. PAST AND PRESENT. 183" it appeared that more than the usual cruelty was displayed on the occasion, as one of the bubs died on the night after being baited. The carcase was purchased by a butcher for 20s., who bobed it for his pigs, ten of which died after eating; and on Monday, September 15, ten of the inhabitants of Wblenhab entered into recognizance to appear at the sessions, on a charge of misdemeanour, for baiting the same in the street." The last bull-bait, as also many other cruel sports of a similar character, are stib in the remembrance of many people hving ; but we have the satisfaction of knowing that they are only remembered with regret. In contrast to the former newspaper quotation, and to show the improvement which has taken place in Wblenhab, in a social, moral, and intellectual point of view, we rejoice in having the opportunity of extracting the fobowing from the Wolverhampton Journal, respect ing an exhibition of arts, models, manufactures, Sec, opened on the 13th of September, 1858 :— " The good folks of Wblenhab are growing quite proud, and justly so, of their exhibition, Sec ; each day has brought an influx of visitors from all parts of the country, and some of them have been distinguished visitors, too, as the visitors' book will show. In fact, the whole community are greatly gratified with the success which has attended the efforts of the promoters to show that, whbe they are laudably intent upon industrial pursuits, they have a taste for, and delight in, a higher order of things." The following notice we extract from the Midland Counties' Herald, of the 23rd of September of the same year : — " The exhibition of pictures, manufactures, and other objects, in aid of the funds of the Willenhab Literary Institute, has created quite a commotion, and one of a very cheering and hopeful kind, in that locality, which has hitherto been more distinguished for its industrial attainments than for the study of those liberal arts which, according to Horace, soften the manners, as well as expand the minds, of those who cultivate them. Crowds of admiring visitors have thronged the National School Rooms daily, and it is a grati fying sign of the moral and social improvement of Willenhab to find the population making an effort to keep pace with the educational requirements of the day. It redounds to their credit that, with few advantages in point of commercial position and wealth, they should have established an institution bke the one in question ; and still more so, that when it was in want of funds they should endeavour' 184 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE to obtain them by an undertaking like the present, which must commend itself to every reflecting mind. By such means the pro gress of knowledge is, so to speak, doubly accelerated." The township of Willenhab includes seven hamlets, and contains 5588 acres, 18,146 inhabitants, 3446 houses, and real property valued at £28,290. The living of St. Giles' is a vicarage worth £700, of which the inhabitants are the patrons. The living of St. Stephen, which was constituted in 1846, is a vicarage worth £300, of which the crown and the bishop of Lichfield are alternately the patrons; that of Trinity was constituted in 1846, and is a vicarage worth £200, in the same patronage as that of St. Stephen ; St. Anne's was constituted in 1861, and is a perpetual curacy worth £234. The dissenters have thirteen chapels, and the Roman Catholics one. A literary institute was established in 1865. Of Dr. Wilkes, one of the worthies of Wblenhab, Mr. Pitt furnishes the fobowing interesting record : — "Richard, the eldest son of Mr. Richard Wilkes, of Willenhab, and Lucretia, the daughter of Jonas Astley, of Wood Eaton, was born March 16, 1690, and received the rudiments of his education at Trentham. On the 13th of March, 1709, he was entered of St. John's College, Cambridge, and was admitted scholar in 1710. After passing through several gradations, he took the degree of M.A. in 1717. He entered into orders, and preached at Wolverhampton, and for some time at Stow, near Chartley ; but in consequence of being disappointed in his expectation of preferment, he retired from the church, and began to practise physic at Wolverhampton, in the year 1720. On the 24th of June, 1725, he married Miss Rachael Manlove, of Lees-hbl, near Abbots Bromley, with whom be had a handsome fortune. He then retired from Wolverhampton, and returned to his natal mansion at Wblenhab, where he became very eminent in his profession. He published a treatise on the Dropsy, and during the time a destructive distemper raged among the horned cattle in Staffordshire, he published a pamphlet entitled "A letter to the Gentlemen, Farmers, and Graziers of the county of Stafford," on the subject of the prevention and cure of that disorder. In the year 1747, during his recovery from a severe fit of bin ess, he amused himself with writing his own epitaph, which he calls a true picture from the life. It is rather to be admired for the originality and independence of the sentiments than its poetic beauties, and is as follows : — PAST AND PRESENT. 185 " ' Here, reader, stand awhile, and know Whose carcase 'tis that rots helow. A man's who work'd by reason's rule, Yet sometimes err'd and play'd the fool ; A man sincere in all his ways, And full of the Creator's praise ; Who laugh'd at priestcraft, pride, and strife, And all the little tricks of life ; Who lov'd his king, his country more, And dreadful party rage forbore. He told nobility the truth, And wink'd at hasty slips of youth. The honest poor man's steady friend, The villain's scourge, in hopes to mend ; His father, mother, children, wife, His riches, honours, length of life, Concern not thee ; observe what's here ; He rests in hope, and not in fear.' "His wife died in 1756, and in October, the same year, he married Mrs. Frances Bendish, who died in 1798 at a very advanced age. Dr. Wilkes was a skhful physician, and his prescriptions were often attended with success. His general knowledge was considerable, and his mind active, and always employed in some praiseworthy pursuit. He died at Wblenhab, of the gout in his stomach, on the 6th of March, 1760, in the seventieth year ofhis age, and was buried in the church, where the monument before mentioned was erected to his memory. His death was universally lamented by his friends and townsmen. He was an indulgent landlord, a good master, a friend to the poor, to whom he always gave gratuitous advice as a physician, and pecuniary aid ; and that he was unassuming, the fobowing brief account of himself and his ancestors wbl demonstrate. ' My famby,' says he, ' came out of Hertfordshire, and settled here about 300 years ago, and bved much in the same manner, for if one spent a little of the estate, it was recovered by another. But as none of my brethren married and I have no son living, the name of Wilkes wbl end in this town, and be forgotten with me.' Dr. Wbkes was also a great antiquary, and collected materials for a history of Shropshire ; but to the antiquities of Staffordshire his attention was principally directed." Lichfield is both a "pleasant spot and a famous place." It is in the hundred of Onflow, a city, four parishes, a sub-district, a district, and the diocese of Staffordshire, and partly of Derby shire, Shropshire, and Nottingham. Its situation is admirable ; its neighbourhood is beautiful, and it possesses one of the finest vol. i. 2 a 186 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: specimens of poetry in stone that the kingdom can boast. It is famous, for it is ancient ; and every ancient place hi England abounds in historical association or in legendary glory. Here the virtuous Lord Brook was shot in the great Rebebion. Here was born that leviathan of modern literature, Samuel Johnson. Here, in front of his chbdhood's home, now stands, or rather sits, the stone effigy of the learned pundit ; and round the statue are figured one or two of the memorable incidents of his life. Here the once famous Anna Seward bved and sung. The beauty and fame of this fine old city are sufficient to make it memorable and a place of pilgrimage to thousands. It is a place that ab Englishmen and ab lovers of learning should visit ; and it is a place about which they should know something before visiting. Beautifuby as the city is now situated in a sweetly smbing valley, surrounded by a country whose varied attractions fib the rambler's heart with joy, it was once a morass, and according to Dr. Stukely this is the origin of its name ; bch, lece, lee, or lace, being Saxon for a bog or morass ; and Lichfield meaning the bogfield. Other authorities derive the name from a very different source. Tradition stib informs us that in the reign of Diocletian some thou sand or more Christians were massacred here, and hence its name, which is said to mean Campus cadaverum, or the field of dead bodies. Dr. Johnson calls it the field of the dead ; and Lichgate means the gate through which you carry the dead to the grave. And that semi- insane religious reformer, George Fox, the founder of that rapidly- decaying sect the Friends, on his approach to Lichfield, is said to have scented the blood of these ancient martyrs, and exclaimed in a sort of post-prophetic fury, " Woe, woe, to the bloody city of Lichfield !" The whole passage is so curious an illustration of Fox's method of looking on things, and is such a vivid picture of a scene that actually took place in the streets of the city in the year 1651, and is so little known to the general reader, that we do not scruple to quote it in full. He says : — " As I was walking with several friends, I lifted up my head and saw three steeple-house spires, and they struck at my life. I asked them what place that was \ They answered 'Lichfield.' Immediately the word of the Lord came to me that I must go thither. Being come to my journey's end, I requested my friends to walk into the house, saying nothing to them whither I was to go. And as soon as they were gone in, I slipt away, and went by my eye over hedge and ditch tbl I PAST AND PRESENT. 187 arrived within a mile of Lichfield, where, in a great field, shepherds were keeping sheep. There I was commanded by the Lord to pull off my shoes. I stood stbl, for it was winter ; and the word of the Lord was like fire in me. So I put off my shoes, and left them with the shepherds, and the poor shepherds trembled and were astonished. Then I walked on about a mbe, and as soon as I got within the city, the word of the Lord came to me again, saying, cry ' Woe to the bloody city of Lichfield !' So I went up and down the streets and into the market, crying with a loud voice, ' Woe to the bloody city of Lichfield !' and no one laid hands on me. As I went thus crying through the streets, there seemed to me a channel of blood running down the streets, and the market place appeared a pool of blood. When I had declared what was upon me and felt myseb clean, I went out of the town in peace, and returning to the shepherds gave them some money, and took my shoes of them again. But the fire of the Lord was so in my feet, and ab over me, that I did not matter to put on my shoes again, and was at a stand whether I should or not, tbl I felt freedom from the Lord to do so. Then, after I had washed my feet, I put on my shoes. After this a deep concern came upon me, for what reason I could be sent to cry against that city, and call it a bloody city. But afterwards I came to understand that in the Emperor Diocle tian's time a thousand Christians were martyred in Lichfield. So I was to go without my shoes, through the channel of their blood, and into the pool of their blood in the market place, that I might raise a memorial of the blood of those martyrs which had been shed about a thousand years before, and lay cold in their streets." Fortunately no calamity seems to have followed his imprecation of woe; and the "memorial of blood" which he had been selected to raise is on a sandy foundation, for the learned are in doubts about the fact of the massacre, in spite of Fox's cry and of the confir matory evidence afforded in the Christian Field, a place in the city bearing that name in memory of the martyrdom, to this day. Whether this were so or not, the place is very ancient. Its bubders are bebeved to have been the Saxons, and they are supposed to have raised the city on the rums of the Roman Etocetum, or Wall. Shaw and the other local and county historians give fuh accounts of its early history ; and to their pages we must refer the curious reader. The chief glory of Lichfield is, however, its cathedral. Words, 188 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : even if we had space, would fab to describe ab the glories of this exquisitely beautiful bubding. Innumerable visits have not " staled its infinite variety." Every time it is examined it yields new points of attraction, and rewards the observer by some unanticipated pleasure. The three elegantly-shaped spires are objects of beauty from a hundred points of view — varying in appearance and in then- position to each other as you vary your stand-point. The luxurious abundance of ornamentation almost perplexes you. Over ab the entrances, the tops of all the pblars, the hnes along the doorways, the spaces round the windows- — wherever the hand and skill of the artist could put an ornament, there it is. The gargoyles are awful specimens of the terrible intensity of the workman ; while sweet, lovely, cherubic faces smbe upon you from ab points. The glorious western front, with its numerous statues, is a marvel of genius, industry, and devotion. In the porches of the three doorways, around and above the entrances, around the niches hi which each statue is placed, in and around the large oriel window, along the hnes and up to the tops of the turrets, and in the same way with the steeples, there is literally no spot or point allowed to escape the over-abounding fuhness of the bubder's love for ornament and decoration. In the interior the same wonderful elaboration of detab is carried out ; and to this perplexing abundance of riches you have to add the monuments, the statues, and the inscriptions ; the artistic perfection of Chantrey's " Sleeping Chbdren ;" the paintings on the windows, the perpetual cabs made upon your thoughts and sight by the varied glories of the chancel, the aisles, the chapels, and the cloisters. Let all this be fancied, and then picture the confusion of mind which must necessarily arise from the first visit to this magni ficent structure. It is only after many visits that you at all begin to feel its wondrous charms, to experience its thousand excebences, or to comprehend the infinite variety and the exhaustless lessons of beauty which it has to impart. It must be left to such loving adnnrers to take it in detab for themselves. What we have said here is simply a picture drawn "in outline, and no more." The foundation of the cathedral dates far back in the history of our country. The exact year is not known, but there is every reason for believing that it was about 667, "during the bishopric of Juraman, the immediate predecessor of St. Chad," whose name and fame are so intimately connected with Lichfield. Shaw tebs us that it was rebubt in 700, by Bishop Headda or Hedda, and PAST AND PRESENT. 189 that he dedicated it to that saint, removing his bones from Stow Church, their original place of rest, to the cathedral. Shortly after the Conquest, however, "this town was, by the synod then held at London, adjudged to be too mean and little for the residence of a bishop ; for tbl this time the bishops chose to live in obscurity, and travel, generally on foot, about their dioceses to instruct the people, and see that the inferior clergy lived according to the doctrine of their great and humble Master." From this time until 1128, nothing is known of the history of the cathedral. In that year Roger de Cbnton was appointed bishop, and he proved a great benefactor to the city. The old chronicler says that he " raised the church of Lichfield, as web in fabric as in honour ; increased the number of the prebends; fortified the castle of Lich field ; surrounded the town by a wall or vallum ; and infeoffed knights." In 1296 Walter de Langton succeeded, and was a famous patron and a " liberal benefactor to the church and the city." ¦ The works assigned to this prelate are numerous. He is said to have bubt a high stone wall round the cathedral close ; to have put " two beautiful gates" on the west and south side, at a cost of £2000 (a very large sum in those days) ; he enshrined the mortal remains of St. Chad ; and — blessings on his name — he founded the beautiful Lady Chapel. He died in 1321, and, as we read in Fuber's " Church History," the cathedral was fully completed by Bishop Heywood, who was appointed to the diocese in 1420. Here we must pause in our narrative of the cathedral's history to interpolate the opinions of one or two old authors about it. In the time of Henry VIII. Leland tebs us that " the whole close was newly dyked and walled by Bishop Langton, who made a gate at the west front, a lesser at the south-east front, and a bishop's palace at the east end. The glory of the cathedral church is the work at the west end, exceedingly costly and fab". There be three stone pyramids, two in the west end and one in the middle. The hbrary at the west end was erected by Thomas Heywood, dean. The prebendaries' houses in the close, builded by divers men, be very fayre. The choristers have a goodly house, lately budded by Bishop Blithe." In the reign of Elizabeth, Erdeswick thus speaks of the place : — " In the close there is a goodly church ; if I should say one of the fairest and best repaired in England, being thoroughly budded and finished, which few are, I think I should speak no otherwise than the truth, wherein be also a great number of very 190 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : fair monuments of tbe bishops and other clergymen, besides divers other noblemen, &c. There are also outwardly builded three pyra mids or steeples of a good convenient height, all very well wrought with freestone, and especially the two gemells that stand westwards, very well cut and curiously wrought. The which west part is at the end also exceeding finely and cunningly set forth, with a great number of tabernacles, and in the same, the images or pictures of the prophets, apostles, kings of Judah, and divers other kings of this land, so well embossed and so lively cut, that it is a great pleasure for any man that takes delight to see varieties, to behold them." In which we think ab persons wbl agree. But evb days came upon our cathedral. The civb war laid its heavy hand upon it ; and Puritanism played dreadful games with its graces and its ornaments. From the construction of its close the place was admirably adapted for defence; and hi 1643 it was garrisoned by the Royalists under the command of the earl of Ches terfield. Lord Brook besieged the cathedral, and whbe engaged in giving directions was shot in the eye by one of the Dyott famby, who was stationed on the battlements of the great tower. A smab plate with an inscription on it stib marks the spot, in Dam Street, where this eminent Puritan leader feb. The wound was mortal, but the loss of their commander did not stop the siege. Sb- John Gell, of Hopton, succeeded him, and the place was carried on the 5th of March, the thud day after the death of Lord Brook, who was kihed on the 2nd. The garrison surrendered "upon condition of free quarter to ab in general within the close." The Royalists recovered it in Aprb of the same year ; not before the fanaticism and anti-epis copal feelings of the temporary victors had made sad havoc with the bubding and its decorations. Mr. Britton tebs us that " they demol ished and defaced the monuments, stripped the gravestones of their brasses, broke the painted windows, and destroyed the records ;" whbe Dugdale says that they " every day hunted a cat with hounds through the church, delighting themselves with the echo from the goodly vaulted roof ; and to add to their wickedness, brought a calf , into it, wrapped in linen, carried it to the font, sprinkled it with water, and gave it a name in scorn and derision of that holy sacra ment of baptism ; and when Prince Rupert recovered that church by force, Russell, the governor, carried away the communion-plate and linen, and whatsoever was of value." Let us hope that there is some exaggeration here. But, if so, the damage they committed PAST AND PRESENT. 191 must have been enormous, for we find it estimated at no less a sum than £14,000 of money at that time. Nor need we be suprised at this, when we remember that it underwent three sieges, and that " it is calculated that two thousand cannon-shot and fifteen hundred hand-grenades had been discharged against it. The centre spire was battered down ; the spires of the west end nearly demolished, the roof beaten in, the whole of the exterior greatly damaged, and the beautiful sculpture of the west front barbarously mutilated." Soon after the Restoration immense and successful efforts were made to restore the cathedral to more than its pristine splendour. Dr. Hacket was made bishop in 1661, and he set to work with an earnestness and vigour that knew no relaxation. Dr. Plume, in his bfe of the bishop, says : — " The very morning after his arrival in Lichfield, he roused his servants by break of day, set his own coach horses with teams and lured labourers to remove the rubbish, and laid the first hand to the work he had meditated. By his large con tributions, the benefactions of the dean and chapter, and the money arising from his assiduity in soliciting aid of every gentleman in the diocese, and almost every stranger that visited the cathedral, he is said to have raised several thousand pounds. In eight years he restored the beauty of the cathedral, to the admiration of the coun try." The restored church was consecrated by the noble-hearted prelate on the 24th of December, 1669 ; and in the following year he arranged for a peal of six bells, of which he only bved to see one hung. The fobowing is so beautiful a trait that we have great pleasure in quoting it : — "He," writes his biographer, "went out of his bed-chamber into the next room to hear it, seemed well pleased with the sound, and blessed God who had favoured him with life to hear it ; but at the same tune observed that it would be his own passing beb, and, retiring into his chamber, he never left it untb he was carried to his grave." The cathedral has recently been restored with ab that fidelity, care, and good taste which happby in such matters are a characteristic of the times. A lovelier walk than the one round the close is scarcely to be imagined. The religious quietness of the place ; the glorious bubd ing before you with ab its points of beauty reflected in the pleasant lake on its south side, and on whose waters the graceful swans "float double, swan and shadow;" the rich surrounding foliage of the many gardens ; the fine trees which mark the northern and eastern sides ; the feeling of the poetry which seems to possess and 192 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : haunt the place — ab add to the charms of such a walk. It is im possible to exaggerate the beauty of the whole scene, or to give anything hke adequate expression to the deep, solemn, intense, and yet pleasurable emotions which the rambler wib experience in such a place. To add to his enjoyment he should, ff possible, have the same walk by moonlight. If Scott's lines are true or not about Melrose, they are true about Lichfield Cathedral, as we can vouch from frequent experience. Thus seen, it is a sight never to be forgotten. When the rambler has satisfied himself with wandering about the Cathedral Close, and around the Minster Pool — which, if he be at ab of the right mettle, wbl not be speedily done — he cannot do better than walk over to the spot in Dam Street made for ever memorable by the death of Lord Brook ; and he wbl then probably recall the fact that Sir Walter Scott buried Marmion at Lichfield, and ascribes it to the devastation occasioned by the Puritans that we no longer find the tomb of that notable hero there. He says : — " Fitz-Eustace' care, A pierced and mangled Body bare To moated Lichfield's lofty pile ; And there, beneath the southern aisle, A tomb, with Gothic sculpture fair, Did long Lord Marmion's image bear. (Now vainly for its site you look ; 'Twas levelled when fanatic Brook The fair cathedral stormed and took ; But, thanks to heaven, and good Saint Chad, A guerdon meet the spoiler had !) There erst was martial Marmion fouud His feet upon a couchant hound, His hands to heaven upraised ; And all around, on scutcheon rich, And tablet carved, and fretted niche, His arms and feats were blazed." From Dam Street, a short walk through a lovely valley brings the pedestrian to Stow Pool, St. Chad's Church, and on the road he wbl pass a wblow tree, which every true Lichfieldian wbl tell him was planted from a slip taken from a very fine tree, a favourite of Dr. Johnson, which was blown down in Aprb, 1819. Many phgrims journey to Boscobel to see a scion of the " famous oak that sheltered Royal Charles," nor should any stranger pass "Johnson's Willow" without notice. Nor shall we suffer any one to pass unnoticed the house at the foot of Stowe Hill, for there once resided Thomas PAST AND PRESENT. 193 Day, the author of every boy's book, " Sandford and Merton ; " there also lived the father of Maria Edgeworth, and at the house on the hbl once lived a woman web known to ab who have read — and who has not ? — about Johnson's favourite Moby Aston. During Day's residence here the place became quite famous as the resort of literary celebrities. Mr. Blackman, in his pleasant httle bio graphy of Day — the only one, by the way, except the eulogistic sketch by Keir, which has ever been written of that gentle but eccentric man — thus describes the gatherings : "In the spring of 1770 Day paid a visit to Dr. Erasmus Darwin, at Lichfield, then in the zenith of his fame, and took possession of a pleasantly situ ated house at Stow Hbl, and there he passed one of the sunniest years of his strange existence. His household consisted of Sabina and one or two female servants. There he mingled in a select community of literary and scientific friends, who held monthly meetings alternately at each other's houses for political and literary chat. Darwin called these monthly gatherings lunar meetings, but Day facetiously suggested lunatic meetings as a more appropriate title. Among those who attended were Day, Darwin, Wbliam and Thomas Seward, Dr. James Keir, Dr. Small, a man of some reputa tion in his time, and on whom Day wrote an affectionate epitaph, Lovell Edgeworth, who bved at Stow Hib, James Watt and his distinguished partner Boulton, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Withering, Sir Joseph Banks, Sir W. Herschel, Dr. Parr, the eccentric Lord Mon- boddo, Mr. Galton, the father of the late Mrs. Schimmel-Penninck, and several others. Dr. Johnson also appeared among them during his visits to his native city. All these celebrities bved within an easy distance from each other, and in continual intercourse. Mrs. Schimmel-Penninck has sketched some of these characters in her recently published autobiography." Such a number of extraordi nary people would make a larger city than Lichfield famous. Anna Seward, in singing the praises of this august band, thus charac terizes Day : — " And now recorded in the song That floated sweet these vales among, Or lighten'd with satiric ray The song, is proudly- virtuous Day. Pride, it is still thy sullen part To check each kindling glow of heart ; For how should soft affection thrive, How keep its tender blooms alive, 'OL. i. 2 u 194 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: When thy repulsive shadow lours Like the dark yew on springing flowers, That sheds its chilling damps'around, And wintry makes the vernal ground 1 So changest thou affection's beam To cold and colourless esteem. Yet, bounteous Day, thy grovelling pride Did ne'er thy words or actions guide. Which deals its smiles in each degree, As Rank or Wealth its gifts decree ; 'Tis thine to look too coldly down On talents liberal as thine own, While Sickness, Want, and Sorrow share Thy ample boon — thy tender care. The walk round Stow Pool is very pleasant, as walks by water always are. We confess, however, that it was more pleasant to us before it had been utilized. It has recently been enlarged, denuded of weeds and mud, coped round with stone, and turned into a reser voir for supplying that unfortunate town, Wednesbury, with water. Stib it possesses no mean attractions, and its banks are a favourite promenade for the citizens, young and old. Close by the pool is St. Chad's, the oldest church of the city, famous and legendary. " When Penda," says the historian, " son of Penda, kmg of Mercia, had married the daughter of Oswy, king of the Northumbrians, and restored tranquillity to the Mercian kingdom, he became a Christian whbst he was at his court, and at his return home brought four priests along with him, all Scotchmen, one of which, Drinna, Drima, or Drina, made this place his habitation. A few years after Ceadda, Cedda, or as we cab him, St. Chadd, being a bishop, came here, and loving a recluse way of hving, fixed his ceb or place of abode at or near Stow church, where Bede says he was first buried." In this spot, says the legend, the saint led a holy and pious life. In pursuing his devotions he was relieved from the fear of want, for a doe, inspired by heaven, used to bring her mbk to the saint, and thus save him from the weariness of work, or the indignity of beg ging. This miraculous doe- was hunted by the two sons of Wulfere, kmg of Mercia, and naturaby fled to the hermit's cell for protection, which she not only obtained, but the young princes pursuing her thither, were converted from paganism by the teachings of the saint. The two converts were afterwards martyrs to their faith, for their father, in a fit of rage at their conversion, or as he would have cabed it, apostacy, slew them. Remorse for the deed led the unhappy king at last to the feet of the saint, seeking forgiveness and receiv- PAST AND PRESENT. 195 ing baptism at his hands. By the church is St. Chad's Well, concerning which many pleasant stories are told, and tradition stib haunts its waters with the spirits of the past. It is one of the oldest and most venerable bits of antiquity in this old and venerable city, and even the modern visitor can picture to himself how the unques tioning piety of the people in ancient times would beheve in the healing powers of the waters which had been honoured by the presence, and made sacred by the blessing, of the good St. Chad. From the church and well of Lichfield's saint we make the best of our way to the Market Place, in which stbl stands the house made famous as the one wherein Dr. Johnson was born. It is on the west side; and in the front of it is the statue erected in 1838 by the Rev. Chancebor Law. All the burliness of Johnson is preserved in this. work. On the sides of the pedestal on which the statue is seated are represented passages in his life ; in one he is sitting astride his father's shoulders listening to the famous Dr. Sachevereb preaching. The little Johnson's face is in painful propinquity to that of the animated divine. In a second compartment he is being carried from school in triumph by his fellow students. Another side represents the famous penance at Uttoxeter Market Place ; and the fourth bears the inscription. It is clear from Bosweb that Johnson was exceedingly attached to his native place. He always speaks of it with something hke filial affection, and has a good word to say of it, even if that good word can scarcely be said to be merited. On his visit in 1776 his companion and biographer thus speaks ofhis "guide, phbosopher, and friend:" — "I wished to have staid in Bhmingham to-night, but my friend was impatient to reach his native city, so we drove on that stage in the dark, and were long pensive and sbent. When we came within the focus of the Lichfield lamps, ' Now,' said he, ' we are getting out of a state of death.' We put up at the Three Crowns, hot one of the greatest inns, but a good, old-fashioned one, which was kept by Mr. Wilkins, and was the very next house to that in which Johnson was born and brought up, and which was stbl his property. We had a comfortable supper, and got into high spirits. I felt all my Toryism glowing in this old capital of Staffordshire. I could have offered incense genio loci, and indulged in bbations of that ale, which Boniface, in the 'Beaux' Stratagem,' recommends with such an eloquent jobity." The reader wib probably conclude — "not to put too fine a point on it "—that Boswell was drunk. 196 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Johnson was not complimentary to the Bhmingham people on this visit. His companion remarking on the dulness and mactivity of the place, he exclaimed — as any observer might exclaim now — "Surely, sir, you are an idle set of people." "Sir," repbed the lexicographer, evidently quizzing poor Bozzy, " Sir, we are a city of phbosophers : we work with our heads, and make the boobies of Bhmingham work for us with their hands." Shaw has a quaint remark on this dictum ; he says, " This is certainly an bbberal and unjust remark, a most respectable society for phbosophic investiga tion having long been established there." Thank you, Mr. Shaw! The citizens were, according to this not impartial witness, "the most sober, decent people in England, the genteelest in proportion to their wealth, and spoke the purest Engbsh." We hope and believe that they are sober and decent now ; genteel they surely are. Should any sceptic doubt it, let him attend a morning's service at the cathedral. As for the purest English being spoken there, we may say, if true when Johnson wrote, why now " the bght of other days has faded," that is ab. No one should — few we think wbl — leave Lichfield and not visit Greenhib Church. It is gloriously situated ; and the avenue of beautiful trees under which you reach the entrance is beautiful to look at. It stands very high, and the views from the churchyard are very fine and extensive. It is dedicated to St. Michael, and was erected about the time of the Eighth Harry. Dr. Johnson's father was buried here, and here bttle Samuel was baptised, as the register tells us. "September 17, 1709; Samuel, son of Michael Johnson, gent., baptised." There are some fine old half-timbered houses and buHdings worth more than a passing glance. In Beacon Street is the quaint old building cabed Mdley's Hospital, endowed in 1424 by Bishop Heyworth, who, according to Fuber, completed the cathedral ; and. in St. John Street is that unique pbe of houses called the Hospital of St. John the Baptist, which was bubt by Bishop Smith in 1495. " It is one of the earbest specimens of architecture after the intro duction of chimneys." These useful additions to our houses are, as it were, added to the bubding in this case, and stand in the street, looking like so many buttresses carried higher than the roof, and giving a very curious appearance to the hospital. As in the time of the founder, thirteen poor men are stbl kept here. But Shaw says he has "reason to conclude that the chief of those PAST AND PRESENT. 197 endowments have long since been abenated from this hospital." Alas ! it is not a solitary instance of the kind ! Opposite the hospital is the Free Grammar School, endowed by Edward VI. In the old bubding men whose memories the "world wbl not willingly let die " received then- first introduction to letters. There we are told — not without a tone of becoming pride — Addison, Lord Chief Justices Willes and Wilmot, Lord Chief Baron Parker, Dr. Johnson, David Garrick, and other famous men, were school boys. We wished the old school had been standing, so that we might have' taken off our hats under the roof that had sheltered such heads. In the new structure such an act of reverence would have been out of place ; but in spirit we paid the homage to the memories of the great ones gone, which a sense of the unfitness of things restrained us from doing by any outward form or visible observance. It was not, however, the least pleasing of our remem brances of Lichfield that her name is so intimately connected with men whose monuments are more perennial than brass, and are such as the edaceous tooth of time is impotent to destroy. " The cathedral itself," says Mr. Garner, " consists of a nave with aisles ; a chancel, also with aisles, and a ladye chapel ; a tran sept with an aisle on the east side ; and a chapter-house with its vestibule, vestries, Sec, but it has no cloisters nor crypt; it, however, exceeds ab British cathedrals in possessing three beautiful spires. The extreme length is 403 feet ; the height of the central tower and spire is about 400 feet ; of the side spires, 183. The edifice is not directed east and west, but north-east and south-west ; and the nave and chancel are not exactly in the same line. But little of the present bubding could have existed in Bishop Cbnton's tune, from 1127 to 1149 ; though there are some appearances of Anglo-Norman masonry, particularly about the north transept, &c. There are some lancet- shaped windows in the south transept, a style of architecture which prevabed a little later than Bishop Cbnton's time, but, as is often the case in old bubdings, many of the windows, and other parts of the architecture, have been much altered. It does not appear probable that the nave could have been bubt much prior to the commencement of the fourteenth century, the architecture being pure Gothic, a transition from the lancet-arched to the decorated Gothic. The ladye-chapel, and other parts of the structure, bubt in the decorated style, were added a bttle later by Langton. Much of the more florid architecture of the west end was added in Bishop 193 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Heyworth's time, from 1420 to 1447. There are many additions in the perpendicular or transomed style. The stone is a soft red sandstone, procured from Hopwas, and it unfortunately suffers considerably from the weather. The beautiful west front of the cathedral has suffered much from this effect of the atmosphere, but stbl more from the sieges which the cathedral underwent during the civd wars ; it was renovated with cement by Wyatt, at the end of the last century. To a spectator, in the area before this front, its appearance, with its two towers and spires and the larger central one, is very imposing. All the spires have horizontal and longi tudinal crotcheted bands, and tiers of ornamental spire bghts ; the towers have beautiful octagonal buttresses and rich pinnacles ; and the whole front is ornamented with bands and tiers of arcades, one above another, trefobed and canopied, ab contabnng, on graceful pedestals, figures of prophets, apostles, and kings ; these were removed in 1749 by the then dean, but are now restored. The centre has a rich gable, with a very large and ornamental window, having a fine Catherine-wheel at its upper part, above which is a statue of Charles II. The central of the three doors has a rich recess, and is divided by a clustered column supporting a statue of the Virgin and Chbd ; there are several other statues of scripture characters in the recess, which were formerly painted and gbt. The remainder of the exterior of Lichfield Cathedral is of plainer architecture, and wbl not generaby interest the beholder, although both the north and south entrances (particularly the former) are rich, especially in the door mouldings. The clerestory windows of the nave are triangular, with three chcles in each ; the muhions and tracery in many of the others are comparatively modern and bad ; and the upright and flying buttresses are unadorned and heavy. The chapter house is also plain externaby, being oblong in form with the four comers cut off. The external architecture of the ladye-chapel is more beautiful than that of the nave, transept, and chancel ; and its windows are particularly elegant, bemg long, with ogee canopies, each having two muhions, and their heads filled with trefod tracery. It has a hexagonal termination." From "Winkle's Cathedrals" we quote an admirable description of the interior of this beautiful bubding : — " Though the cathedral may be entered the by north or south end of the transept, we wbl conduct the reader, as usual, into the interior by the middle PAST AND PRESENT. 199 door of the west front. On first entering, he wbl again perceive and regret the want of due elevation ; in every other respect he wbl be charmed with the prospect before him. He wib be parti cularly struck with the air of extreme neatness, good preservation, and cheerfulness, for which the interior of this cathedral is justly renowned; and although the choir is not in a right bne with the nave, the eye cannot detect the smab inclination to the north east which the former has, and therefore the long and beautiful perspective of the two together is not at ab injured. The clustered columns, with their elegantly varied and exquisitely carved capitals of leaves and flowers ; the well-proportioned arches, with theb numerous mouldings ; the peculiarly elegant triforium and light clerestory ; and, above ab, the graceful form of the vaulting, and groining of the roof — cannot fail to dehght the eye of every visitor of taste, however uninstructed in the still unsettled phraseology of the pointed style. The professional and amateur architect wbl do wreb to observe the detab of the nave; the engaged and detached shafts, with deep mouldings between, into which the solid piers are worked ; the bases of many mouldings on which they rest ; the spandrbs of the arches filled up with trefob panelbng between the arches ; the cluster of three slender shafts engaged in the wall, rising from the base, and continued to the springing of the vaulting, there supporting five ribs, which diverge to a central rib and to a short transverse one, both of which are adorned with foba2e and bold rich bosses at every junction. Each compartment of the triforium, or open gabery above the arches of the nave, is composed of two arches, each one of which is subdivided into two by a slender column, and adorned with a quatrefod. The clerestory windows above the triforium are of unusual size and form ; they are triangles, made by lines curved outwards, and were originally filled with three circles, which have since been trefoded. A double row of the dog-toothed moulding round every greater arch of the triforium, another round their architraves, another on the string course under the clerestory, and another round the windows of it, give to the nave a richly decorated character, without appearing to be over loaded with ornament. " We come now to the transept, the vaulting of which is nearly the same with that of the nave, but it has no triforium, and the windows are ab of perpendicular character; those to the north and south very large, but like ab the others in this portion of the 200 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : cathedral, ill-shaped, disproportioned, and fibed with very ordinary tracery. The four large piers which support the central tower, with their numerous slender shafts, adorned with heavy capitals and bound with three rows of fillets, have here a fine effect. " The choir is entered under the organ loft " (a portion of the shrine of St. Chad built by Langton), " and is remarkable for its great length and narrowness, and this original defect has been since increased by throwing the Lady Chapel into it ; of this all antiquaries and architects loudly complain. When this was done, the arches of the choir were bubt up with plain wabs, flush with the inner face of the arches, making the choir a flat surface on each side, which made it appear stib narrower; but this great dis figurement has been removed, and the wab re-erected farther back, by which the columns and arches of the choir are again visible within it. The aisles of the choir are similar to those of the nave, adorned with an arcade of pointed arches resting on slender columns beneath the windows, which are of good decorated character. The clerestory windows are of later date, and of perpendicular character, except two, which are of late decorated. There is no triforium ; but in place of it, the wab under the windows is panelled with an arcade of pointed and feathered arches, corresponding with the number of lights in the window above it, and an open ornamental parapet runs along above the arches. The windows of the choir are, as it were, set in a frame, formed of a continuous chain of quatrefohs, which has a light and rich effect. The vaulting of the choir is nearly the same with that of the nave and transept. On the whole, this choir resembles that of Norwich Cathedral. "We come next to the Lady Chapel, which was once a separate bubding, though now, alas ! a continuation of the choir, which was before too long. By this junction of the two the effect of both has been much injured. But to do the architect of the chapel justice, it must still be viewed as a separate edifice; and then as to its form, decorations, and proportions, it wbl be regarded as one of the most elegant examples of the pointed style of architecture now existing in England. Its apsidal termination, forming a half hexagon, has the happiest effect, showing off to the best advantage the stained glass in the windows, and the numerous rich sculptured details of the chapel: the whole is calculated to fascinate the beholder, and to induce feelings of the most exalted ' devotion. The windows are nine in number, three in the apse, and three in each PAST AND PRESENT. 201 side. Theu forms, proportions, and tracery have been already described ; but it should be here added, that the effect of them is even better within than without. Between every two windows all round the chapel are niches, with tab fobated canopies, resting on brackets of the most delicate, rich, and elaborate sculpture. The statues which doubtless once adorned these niches, have long ago disapp3ared. Beneath the windows all round the chapel runs a richly decorated arcade of stab work, resting on a plain stone plinth, which serves as a seat, and surmounted by an open embattled parapet. The vaulting and groining of the roof are something like that of the nave and choir, but with higher pitch and more graceful form. The floor is paved, lozengewise, with black and white marble. This cathedral, bke that of Salisbury, has no crypt or underground church, and the whole pavement from west to east is on one level witliin a few feet of the altar, now moved to the east end of the Lady Chapel, where there are three steps to ascend. "The chapter house is a beautiful room, though it wants eleva tion. Its unusual form has been already described. In the centre of it is a fine clustered column, with debcately wrought capital, from which the ribs of the vaulting diverge, and meet other ribs springing from the side wabs." There are also a large number of modern monuments which merit the highest praise of the critic, and are admirable examples of the sculptor's art. " Amongst others there is a handsome one to the father of Addison, and another to Lady Mary Wortley Montague; also a beautiful one, by Westmacott, to Andrew Newton, Esq., the founder of the noble institution for the rebef of the widows and orphans of clergymen ; another to the Sewards by Bacon ; one by Westmacott to the Buckridges ; busts of David Garrick and Dr. Johnson; an exquisite and celebrated monument by Chantrey, to the memory of the two chbdren * of Mr. Robinson • another by the same sculptor exhibits the kneebng figure of the excellent Bishop Ryder;" and a recumbent figure in alabaster, with very fine stone canopy, erected in 1872, forms the diocesan memorial to the late Bishop Lonsdale. The library of the cathedral is a good one, and memorable for the possession of a splendid manuscript, beautifully written and. illu minated, of Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales," and a Saxon copy of the Gospels (of the seventh century), which is called the Gospels of St. * This beautiful piece of sculpture is known as the " Sleeping Children.'' VOL. I. 2 c 202 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Chadd. There are also other works dear to the bibhographer and the antiquary. The following account of the diocese, and brief notices of its bishops, are from Pitt, with the biographies brought down to the present time from other sources : — - Mercia, the largest kingdom of the Heptarchy, followed the pagan idolatry till Penda, one of the most powerful of its kings, was defeated and slain by Oswy, king of Northumber land, who, having obtained quiet possession of his conquest, continued Peada, the son of Penda, in the government of parts of Mercia south of the Trent, on condition of his marrying Oswy's daughter, which proposal was acceded to by Peada. Oswy now began to convert the Mercians to Christianity, in which faith Peada, soon after his marriage, was baptized. Peada afterwards built a monastery at Medeshamstead (Peterborough), to show his personal respect for religion ; and in 655 appointed Dwina first bishop of the Mercians. The bishops had then no certain dwelling-places, but contented themselves to live in the monasteries. Dwina ruled about two years, and was succeeded by, 657, Cellach, a Scotchman by birth : but Wulfer, having established himself king of Mercia, removed Cellach, the second bishop, and constituted in his stead Trumhere, third bishop of Mercia : he died, and was succeeded about 662, by (4) Jarumannus : whilst he presided, the cathedral church at Lichfield began to be built in the year 666 : he died, and in 669 Wulfer made Cedda fifth bishop of Lichfield. This is the St. Chadd who gave name to the cathedral and parish ; he died March 2, 672, and was buried in the cathedral. He was succeeded by (6) Wulfrid, who had been his deacon: he was deposed in 674, and Seaxwulf was made seventh bishop of Lichfield by Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury : he governed this see twenty years, and then died, according to the Saxon Chronicle. In 691 Hedda was consecrated bishop of Lichfield. Tbe church of Lichfield was dedicated by this bishop, December 30, 700, and the body of St. Chadd removed into it ; he survived this dedication twenty-one years. 721. — Aldwine, ninth bishop, succeeded him, and remained until 737 : in his time lived Bede, the ancient historian. 737. — Wicta succeeded Aldwine : he died the tenth bishop in 752, when Hemele succeeded him, who governed twelve years. 764.— Cuthred succeeded him, and died 768, by the Lichfield register. 768. — Berthemus, the thirteenth bishop, governed till 785, when, in 785, Sigibert was chosen into this see ; soon after which Offa, an uncontrollable monarch, made this an archiepiscopal see, and, in 786, Adulphus was, by Pope Adrian, created archbishop by the influence of King Offa, and remained until 812, when, in 812, Herewin succeeded him in the see of Lichfield only. 817.— Athelwald succeeded as bishop of Lichfield : he instituted prebendaries in his cathedral church in 822, when Ceolwolfe was king of the Mercians. He governed this see thirty-five years. 852.— Humbert was chosen eighteenth bishop of this see : he died, 867 ; Kenferth governed this see after him, and sat twenty-three years, dying in 890 : his successor was, 890, Tunfrith ; he governed this see thirty years. Alfred was, part of this time, king of the West Saxons. 920.— jElwinus succeeded, and ruled this see in King Ethelstan's time, and remained twenty-four years. 944.— Alfgar was elected into this see, and having sat sixteen years, 960, Kinsius succeeded, being the twenty -third bishop : he sat fourteen years. 974.— Wind-us succeeded him : he is said to have confirmed King Edgar's charter, called the golden charter. He presided eighteen years, and was the twenty -fourth bishop. PAST AND PRESENT. 203 992. — JElfegus was soon elected bishop of Lichfield : his name is found affixed to two charters of King Elthelred. He governed fifteen years, aud was the twenty-fifth bishop. 1007. — Godwin succeeding : he governed thirteen years, and was the twenty-sixth bishop. 1020.— Leofganus was his successor, presiding only seven years : he died 1027, and was the twenty-seventh bishop. 1027. — Brithmarus was elected into this see, and governed it eleven years : he was the twenty eighth bishop. 1038. — Wulfius was chosen : he governed sixteen years. In his time, 1044, Leofric, earl of Hereford, enlarged and almost new built the monastery at Coventry, and endowed it with large possessions. Wulfius died 1045, and was the twenty-ninth bishop. 1054. — Leofwin was made bishop of Lichfield by King Edward the Confessor : he ruled twelve years, and died 1066. At the latter end of his life William the Norman invaded England. He was the thirtieth bishop. 1067. — Peter was by him appointed : he translated this see to Chester, and was called bishop of Chester and Lichfield. He died, 1086, and was the thirty-first bishop. 1086. — Robert de Lymsey succeeded him in the united see, and was consecrated by Arch bishop Lanfranc : at this time Leowin, abbot of Coventry, died immensely rich ; and this bishop, desirous of gaining the riches, got that abbey conferred on him by the king, and removed the see itself to Coventry in 1095, and so became the first bishop of Coventry. He died September 1, 1116, and was buried at Coventry ; he was the thirty-second bishop. 1121. — Robert Peccam was named by Henry I. bishop of Coventry, after the see had been vacant from four to five years. He was (says an old historian) that king's butler, but more truly his chaplain, and was consecrated at Abingdon by Ralph, archbishop of Canter bury : he died August 20, 1127, and was buried in his monastery at Coventry. He was the thirty-third bishop. 1127. — His successor was Roger de Clinton, archdeacon of Buckingham, appointed by Henry I. bishop of Coventry ; what he did for Lichfield has been before noticed : he increased or founded the prebends, viz., the two Gaias, Freeford, Hansacre, Curborough, Darnford, Offelow, Statfold, and the two Ulvetons, and settled the principal dignitaries. To this Roger, King Stephen granted the churches of Pencris and Stafford : also the church of Wolverhampton, with all its manors and appurtenances ; which grants were confirmed by Pope Lucius in 1144. He built a monastery for Cistercian monks at Buildwas, in Shrop shire, and King Stephen confirmed all his revenues and gifts to it : he is supposed to have founded the priory of St. John's, Lichfield, and was the thirty-fourth bishop. 1149. — Walter Durdent succeeded him : he had been precentor of Lichfield, was raised by King Stephen, and was consecrated at Lichfield, October 2, by Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury : he obtained from King Stephen the liberty of coining money. Henry IL, by charter, 1154, also granted to the church of St. Chadd, this bishop and his successors, all lands of the grubbed-up parts of the forest of Cannock, of Longdon, &c, as expressed in the curious deed : he died, 1161, and was buried at Coventry. He was the thirty-fifth bishop. 1161. — Richard Peclie or Peccam, son of the former Robert, bishop of Coventry, was unanimously chosen to succeed him, and by the consent of Henry II. made bishop. His father had before made him archdeacon of Coventry, which office he held till he was bishop. He was sent over into Ireland, anno 1181, one of the justices ; but, weary of the troubles of life, he returned and put on the habit of a canon regular : he died October 6, 1183, and was the thirty-sixth bishop. 1183. — Gerard de Puella succeeded to this see of Coventry, Lichfield, and Chester. Robert Montensis calls him a man of great learning and honesty : he was one of the archbishop of Canterbury's domestic chaplains, and famed for his eloquence. He sat but sixteen weeks, and died at Lichfield (not without suspicion of poison), January 13, 1184 : he was the thirty-seventh bishop. 1188.— Hugh de Novant,& person eminent for eloquence and piety, was elected by the monks into his place, but not consecrated till 1188, by Baldwin, then archbishop of Canter bury : between his election and consecration he was appointed the pope's legate. He was an 204 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : incessant adversary to the monks, whom he opposed deservedly ; for they vexed the bishops continually with their contests and quarrels. Richard L, in 1190, gave this Hugh authority to remove the monks of Coventry, and put secular priests in their place ; and when the monks refused to obey this order, he made way by the sword, wounding some, and putting the rest to flight. He was said to be wounded in the conflict, as he was standing by the altar; died March 27, 1199, and was buried at Caen, in Normandy. He was the thirty- eighth bishop. 1199. — The monks chose in his stead Jeffery ale Muschamp, who was consecrated by Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury : he died October 5, 1208, and was buried at Lichfield. The nation being then under an interdict from the pope, in his quarrel with King John, no legal new election took place for some time. He was the thirty-ninth bishop. 1215. — William de Cornhull, archdeacon of Huntingdon, was chosen bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, and consecrated January 23, 1215, in the reign of King John. He granted the chapter of Lichfield a free power of choosing themselves a dean, as he did the canons. This bishop died September 14, 1223, was buried at Lichfield, and was the fortieth bishop. After his death there arose a dispute between the churches of Coventry and Lichfield, about the election of a bishop to succeed him, which was referred to the pope, who appointed, in 1224, Alexander de Stavenby, and consecrated him, with the bishop of Paris, upon Easter Day. He was a very learned man, and thought to excel most of the philosophers and divines of his age. He is said to have had many visions and strange dreams. He increased the prebends of the church, and enriched it with many things. While he sat, it was settled by the pope, that the election of a bishop should be by the monks of Coventry and the chapter of Lichfield in rotation. He was the forty-first bishop. 1238. — Nicolas de Farnham, a very excellent man, was chosen bishop, but he declining the honour, it was bestowed on Hugh de Pateshidl, treasurer of St. Paul's church and of England. He had not sat three years when he was taken away by death, in his full strength, December 7, 1243. He was a man of up'right life, and was buried at Lichfield. He was the forty-second bishop. 1245. — Roger de Weseham, dean of Lincoln, was made bishop of Coventry and Lichfield by the interest of the bishop of Lincoln, and consecrated by Pope Innocent IV. at Lyons. Henry III. was not consulted about this election, but he confirmed it, and the bishop enjoyed it eleven years. About this time the monks of Coventry and canons of Lichfield agreed that, in electing a bishop, the number of electors should be equal on both sides. In 1255 the bishop, being old and afflicted with palsy, resigned his bishopric, and died at Brewood 1258. He was the forty-third bishop. 1257. — Roger de Mayland was a sub deacon, pope's chaplain, and a prebendary of Lichfield when he was chosen bishop. He was consecrated by Boniface, archbishop of Canterbury, in the cathedral of that city (with other bishops assisting), March, 1258. He died December 16, 1295, and was buried in his church at Lichfield, having presided thirty- eight years. He was the forty-fourth bishop. 1295.— Walter de Langton was unanimously chosen into this see ; and being much in favour, Edward I. did many things for the advantage of his church. He died at London, November 16, 1321, and was buried in St. Mary's chapel, erected by himself, at Lichfield. He was the forty-fifth bishop. After his death the monks of Coventry and the canons of Lichfield disagreeing, John XXII., then pope, put an end to their controversy by confer ring this bishopric on, 1322, Roger de Northhurgh. He was consecrated June 20. He sat thirty-eight years, and did nothing memorable, except causing the body of his predecessor to be deposited in a more magnificent tomb, for the many benefits he had rendered to the see. He died 1359, and was buried under a sumptuous tomb. He was the forty-sixth bishop. 1360.— To him succeeded Robert de Stretton, a very eminent person, canon of this church. He was chosen at the earnest request of the prince of Wales, whose chaplain he was, and consecrated in 1360. It is recorded that this bishop could not read. He died at his manor-house at Haywood, March 28, 1385, and was the forty-seventh bishop. PAST AND PRESENT. 205 1386. — Walter Shirlaw was legally elected bishop of this see, but was translated by the pope's bull, against his own consent, to that of Bath and Wells. He was the forty- eighth bishop. To him succeeded, in 1386, Richard Scrope, by the pope's appointment. In 1398 he was made archbishop of York (being the forty-ninth bishop), upon whose translation, in 1398, John Burghill, a Dominican friar, who was confessor to Richard IL, was trans lated from Landaff to Lichfield and Coventry. Walsingham says, the pope did this by his mere arbitrary power. He was the fiftieth bishop. 1415. — John Keterich, notary at the court of Rome, archdeacon of Surrey, and bishop of St. David's, was translated to this see ; and was sent to the Council of Constance in 1416. He was the fifty-first bishop. 1420. — William Hayworth, abbot of St. Alban's, a person of good judgment and learning, was consecrated bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. He went to the Council of Basle in 1434 ; and died April 10, 1446. He was the fifty-second bishop. 1447. — William Booth, a prudent man, prebend of St. Paul's, London, was made bishop of this see. After he had sat five years he was translated to the archbishopric of York, in 1452. He was the fifty-third bishop. 1452. — Nicholas Close, bishop of Carlisle, upon his removal, was translated by Pope Nicholas to the see of Lichfield, and died the November following. He was the fifty-fourth bishop. 1453. — Reginald Bolars, soon after Bishop Close's decease, was translated from the see of Hereford to the see of Lichfield, by the pope's provision, dated February 7, and governed it six years. He was the fifty -fifth bishop. 1459. — John Halse obtained this see after the death of Bishop Bolars, and was pro moted to it by Henry VI. He was consecrated at Coventry, November 25. This holy father found his church in a bad condition, and took every opportunity of preferring learned and discreet men. His chancellor and registrar were Dr. Salter and Thomas Mylles ; his eminent dean was Dr. Yotton ; and many other learned men were members of his church. This bishop died October 3, 1490, aged ninety. He was a person of great learning, and well respected by all Christians. He was the fifty-sixth bishop. 1492. — William Smith, archdeacon of Surrey, was preferred, through the solicitation of Prince Arthur, by Henry VII. This good bishop erected, in the city of Lichfield, an hospital for poor people, and a grammar school. After he had sat four years at Lichfield, he was translated to Lincoln. He was the fifty -seventh bishop. 1496. — John Arundel obtained this see after the above translation. In his time the library was finished. He sat about six years, being the fifty-eighth bishop, and was then translated to Exeter. 1503. — Jeffery Blyilie, Doctor of Laws. He built a house for the choristers, and gave fifty oaks from his lands towards repairing the church. He governed thirty-two years with great reputation. Many eminent men lived in his time. He died in London in 1534 ; and was the fifty-ninth bishop. 1534. — Rowland Lee obtained this see : he was a person of great eminence. Being highly in favour with Henry VIIL, he was made governor of the marches in Wales. He cleared the marches of robbers, who much infested them, and united Wales with England as one body. In this bishop's time the tenths, &c, of all church livings were translated from the pope to Henry VIIL, who, about this time, erected the bishopric of Chester, lessening that of Lichfield, and seized the images and rich shrines of saints, with their jewels and ornaments ; but at the humble request of this bishop, the king gave up the shrine of St. Chadd. Bishop Lee died January 24, 1542, at Shrewsbury ; and was the sixtieth bishop. 1543. — Richard Sampson was translated from Chichester to this see. He was a learned man and wrote many books. He died at Eccleshall in 1554, and was the sixty-first bishop. 1554. — Ralph Bane succeeded him. He was doctor in divinity, a good Hebrew scholar, and lived in difficult times. Dr. Bane was the sixty-second bishop. 1559. — Thomas Bentham succeeded Dr. Bane. In Queen Mary's reign he was ejected 20G STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE from his Fellowship for his zeal against popery in the reign of Edward VI. ; and on Queen Elizabeth ascending the throne he was nominated to this see on the deprivation of Dr. Bane. He died February 21, 1578-79, and was the sixty-third bishop. 1579. — William Overton succeeded him. He was born in London, and brought up by the charity at Glastonbury. He took holy orders in Edward VI. 's reign, but upon the acces • sion of Mary he left college. In 1565 he took his degrees, and in 1579 was made bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, where he was much commended for his hospitality and the good repair in which he kept his palace. He died at an advanced age, in 1609, and was buried at Eccleshall, being the sixty-fourth bishop. 1609. —George Abbot, Doctor in Divinity, and dean of Winchester, was promoted to this see. He had been a celebrated preacher in the university, and was consecrated December 3, but removed in February to the see of London. He was the sixty-fifth bishop. 1610. — Richard Neale was his successor in this see. He was of low parentage, but of admirable parts from his childhood. He made great proficiency in academical learning, and being in holy orders, was at once schoolmaster, curate, and soon vicar of Cheshunt, Herts, prebend and treasurer of Chichester, master of the Savoy, dean of Westminster, &c. He became bishop of Rochester in 1608, of Lichfield and Coventry in 1610, and of Lincoln in 1613. He was the sixty-sixth bishop. 1614. — John Overhall, Doctor in Divinity, was raised to this see, to the great joy of all good men, and was consecrated on April 3. He remained but four years, and was then translated to Norwich. He was the sixty-seventh bishop. 1618. — Thomas Moreton, upon Bishop Overhall's translation, was raised to this see by James I., having before been bishop of Chester. He sat in this see fourteen years, and was then translated to Durham in 1632. He lived till 1659, being then ninety-five years of age, and was the sixty-eighth bishop. 1632. — Robert Wright, D.D., of Trinity College, Cambridge, became bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. He had been chaplain to Queen Elizabeth and James L, and bishop of Bris tol. When the bishops were excluded in the Long Parliament, he signed the protestation against it, and suffered eighteen weeks' imprisonment in the Tower. Being released, he retired to Eccleshall Castle (then a garrison for the king), where he died in 1643, and was buried in the church there. He was the sixty- ninth bishop. 1643. — Accepted Frewen, dean of Gloucester, was nominated by Charles I. to succeed him with this title. Without power or profit, he retired to London, and lived there till the Restoration, when he was translated to the archiepiscopal see of York. He was accounted a good scholar and orator. He was the seventieth bishop. 1661. — This see was conferred upon John Hackett, D.D. of Trinity College, Cambridge, one of the most eminent persons of his time for learning and public spirit. He governed this see about nine years ; and though he was intent upon the improvement of the cathedral, he did not neglect his diocese. He was a constant preacher himself, and used his utmost endeavours to oblige his clergy to follow his example. He died, soon after he had completed his buildings, October 28, 1670, and was buried under a sumptuous monument set up by his son, Sir Andrew Hackett, ancestor of the present family of that name at Moxhull, in War wickshire. He was the seventy-first bishop. 1671.— Thomas Wood, dean of Lichfield, succeeded to this see, July 2, but was suspended for non-residence by Archbishop Sancroft, and died April 18, 1692, aged eighty-five. He was the seventy-second bishop. 1692.— WiUiam Lloyd, who had distinguished himself by writing against popery, was made bishop of St. Asaph in 1680, and afterwards translated to this see, where he sat about seven years. In 1699 he was promoted to Worcester, aud died at Hartlebury, Angust 30, 1717, aged 90. He was the most eminent chronologer of his time, and the seventy-third bishop. Bishop Lloyd was succeeded, in 1699, by John Hough, whose mother was the daughter of John Byrch, Esq., of Leacroft, in this county. He was educated at Walsall school, and admitted of Magdalen CoJege, Oxford. He was bishop of Oxford in 1690, and translated to Lichfield in 1699, and from PAST AND PRESENT. 207 thence to Worcester in 1717. He was a very amiable and distinguished character, and died in 1743, in the ninety-third year of his age. He was the seventy-fourth bishop. 1717. — He was succeeded by Dr. Edward Chandler, an Irishman, who had been chaplain to Bishop Lloyd, and was translated from this see to Durham, for which it was said he gave £9000. He was a prelate of great erudition. He published "A Defence of Christianity," and three sermons. Bishop Chandler died in 1730, and was the seventy-fifth bishop. 1730. — His successor was Richard Smallbroohe, born, it is believed, at Birmingham, in which town is a street of that name. He was chaplain to Archbishop Tenison, and a consi derable author. His " Vindication of our Saviour's Miracles," against the attack of Woolston, is written with much ability and acuteness. He wrote twenty-three books, and filled his church with his relations. He married, and had issue three sons and four daughters : — 1. Thomas Smallbrooke, A.M., archdeacon of Coventry, precentor of Lichfield, and chancellor of this diocese ; 2. Richard Smallbrooke, LL.D., advocate in Doctor's Commons, who, in 1742, became joint chancellor with his brother. He was the seventy-sixth bishop. 1750. — Frederick Gornwallis was the next successor. Having presided over this diocese eighteen years with wisdom, diligence, and benevolence, he was translated to Canterbury, in 1768. He was the seventy-seventh bishop. 1768. — John Egerton, son of Henry, bishop of Hereford, succeeded him, but was trans lated to the see of Durham, July 8, 1771. He was the seventy-eighth bishop ; and his successor was, 1771, the Honourable Brownlow North, dean of Canterbury. Lord North was at this time minister. He was translated to Winchester, and was the seventy-ninth bishop. 1771. — The next who presided over this see was Richard Hurd. He was born at Congreve, near Penkridge, but afterwards removed to Penford, where his father occupied a farm, and was educated at Brewood school, under Dr. Budworth. He afterwards pursued his academical studies with great ability, and becoming Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, was appointed archdeacon of Gloucester, and assistant preacher of the Rolls chapel with Bishop Warburton. After this he was preacher of Lincoln's Inn, and Lord Mansfield soon cultivated his acquaintance. He was clerk of the Closet, and had the honour of being tutor to the prince of Wales. He was an elegant and accomplished scholar, as well as an excellent and highly-esteemed prelate, and was author of several masterly and classical performances. In 1781 this learned prelate was translated to the see of Worcester, to the heartfelt satisfac tion of the whole country. He was the eightieth bishop. 1781. — His successor was the Honourable Dr. James Cornwall-is, who was born in 1743 and received the rudiments of his education at Eton school. He afterwards studied divinity at Christ Church, Oxford; and in August, 1791, was appointed dean of Windsor, to which was annexed the deanery of Wolverhampton. In 1794 his lordship resigned them for the deanery of Durham ; and in 1781 he was elevated to the see of Lichfield. He died in 1824, and was succeeded by, 1824, Henry Ryder, who was born on July 21, 1777. He was the youngest son of the first Lord Harrowby, and was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge. He took his degree of MA. in 1798, and that of D.D. in 1813. In 1801 he was presented by the king to the rectory of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, for ever famous as the scene of the labours of the early reformer Wyclif. In 1805 he received the presentation to the vicarage of Claybrook, in the same county. In 1812 he was appointed to the deanery of Wells ; in 1815 he was made bishop of Gloucester ; and in 1824 he was translated to the bishopric of Lichfield and Coventry. He died at Hastings on the 31st of March, 1836, at the age of fifty-eight, and was succeeded by, 1836, Samuel Butler. This prelate was born at Kenilworth on January 30, 1774 and was educated under Dr. James at Rugby, where he was admitted on March 31, 1783. Iu 1792 he entered St. John's College, Cambridge, and passed through a brilliant university career. He gained three of Sir William Browne's medals— two for the best Latin odes and one for the best Greek ode. In 1793 he was elected to the Craven university scholarship, and obtained a large number of prizes. He was elected Fellow of St. John's College ¦ and 208 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE in 1798 was appointed to be head-master of the Royal Free Grammar School, Shrews bury. In 1802 he was presented by the earl of Clarendon to the vicarage of his native place, Kenilworth. In 1811 he took his degree of D.D. : and in 1836, on the death of Bishop Ryder, Lord Melbourne selected Dr. Butler for the bishopric of Lichfield and Coventry. He died at Eccleshall Castle, on December 4, 1839, in his sixty-sixth year. He was the author of several works— one being an edition of the Greek dramatist iEschylus. His successor, 1840, Dr. James Bowstead, was born in 1801. He was the second son of Mr. Joseph Bowstead, a north country "statesman," and was brought up chiefly on his father's estate of Beck Bank, in the parish of Great Salkeld, near Penrith, Cumberland. He received his early education at the grammar school of Bampton, in Westmoreland. In 1820 he entered St. John's College, Cambridge, which he soon exchanged for that of Corpus Christi. In 1824 he obtained his B.A. degree, and was second wrangler of his year ; immediately after which he was elected Fellow of his college, assistant tutor, and tutor. He was appointed chaplain to Bishop Allen, who held first the see of Bristol, and afterwards that of Ely. In 1837 he was appointed to the rectory of Rettenden, in Essex. In 1838 Lord Melbourne offered him the bishopric of Sodor and Man, which he accepted; and in 1840 he was elevated to the see of Lichfield. He died October, 1843, at the early age of forty-two ; and was succeeded by, 1843, John Lonsdale, who was born on January 17, 1788, and was the son of the Rev. John Lonsdale, of Darfield, Yorkshire. He was educated at Heath School, near Halifax. In 1806 he entered King's College, Cambridge, of which he afterwards became a Fellow. He was the winner of Sir William Browne's medal for the best Latin ode, both in 1807 and in 1809. In 1811 he obtained his B.A. degree ; in 1814, his M.A. ; in 1824 he obtained the degree of B.D., and that of D.D. in 1843, on his elevation to the bishopric. He received the appointment from Sir Robert Peel, and was at the time preacher of Lincoln's Inn. He was chaplain to two successive archbishops ; he held (not at the same time) two country livings ; he was rector of the large parish of St. George's, Bloomsbury, which, however, he soon gave up ; he was precentor of Lichfield Cathedral, which, through Arch bishop Howley, he exchanged for a stall in St. Paul's ; he was principal of King's College, London : had been a Fellow, and, for a brief space, provost of Eton : he had just accepted the archdeaconry of Middlesex, when, in 1843, he became bishop of Lichfield. For twenty- six years he laboured most assiduously in the discharge of his episcopal duties. In October, 1867, he opened the Church Congress which was held at Wolverhampton, "with an address displaying a mental power in the composition, and a physical vigour in the delivery, which it seemed impossible not to believe to be that of a powerful man in the very strength and ripeness of his manhood. And this strength n.ever failed during the attendance of nine hours for three successive days, and for three hours on a fourth." After the meeting held on the 19th of October he went home, wrote a large packet of letters, went to his always frugal meal, ate a little, complained that he felt some unusual sensations, walked from the table to his chair by the fire-side, sat quietly down, bowed his head and died ; only seven hours after he had spoken so clearly and so vigorously." He was in the seventy-ninth year of his age ; and was succeeded by, 1867, George Augustus Selwyn, who was born in 1809. He was educated at Eton, whence he proceeded to St. John's College, Cambridge, and took his B.A. degree in 1 831. He was also second classic of his year, and twenty-first Junior Optime in the Mathematical Tripos. He was afterwards a tutor at Eton, and while discharging his duties there he was ordained to the curacy of Windsor. When New Zealand was created an episcopal see, Mr. Selwyn was appointed the first bishop, and was consecrated in 1841 ; and proved a most earnest, zealous, and conscientious prelate, discharging all the duties of his office with scrupulous attention and unrelaxing energy. He was in England in 1867, when the bishopric of Lichfield became vacant by the death of Bishop Lonsdale, and Mr. Disraeli offered it to the bishop of New Zealand, and, after considerable hesitation, Bishop Selwyn accepted the appointment in the December of that year. PAST AND PRESENT. 209 In addition to the cathedral, Lichfield can boast churches of great interest and beauty. That of St. Chad, at Stow, is smab, but very ancient. By its side is the once famous St. Chad's web and hermitage, from which the church takes its name. Here in the olden time extraordinary cures were wrought by the miracu lous waters of the well. Leland thus notices this venerable bit of antiquity : — " Stowe church, in the east end of the towne, where is St. Chadd's web, a spring of pure water, where is seen a stone in the bottom of it, on which, some saye, St. Chadd was wont, naked, to stand in the water and praye. At this stone St. Chadd had his oratory in the tyme of Wulphar, king of the Merches." On Ascension day the clergymen, the churchwardens, and the school children, with green boughs in their hands, march in pro cession to the well, and following up a very old custom, they strew flowers on the spot, and the gospel for the day is read. There are some old monuments and an ancient font in the church. The hving is a perpetual curacy worth £300; the vicar of St. Mary's is the patron. St. Michael's church is situated on the summit of Green-hib, and the beauty of its position has been before alluded to. This church also is old, and very beautiful. " The elevated and solitary spot on which this church stands, with the great extent of its cemetery, which is the principal burying-place belonging to the city, and includes a space of nearly seven acres in extent, have a tendency to tranquibize the mind of the observer, and prepare it for serious meditation. A walk, formed with white pebbles, and shaded by a grove, leads to the principal entrance. In 1593 part of the spire was blown down by a tempest. The interior of this edifice is adorned with many monuments and inscriptions."* The Rev. Chancellor Law has erected for himself a magnificent mau soleum in Green-hill churchyard. The living is a perpetual curacy, worth £350, also in the gift of the vicar of St. Mary's. The church of St. Mary is in the centre of the city, and is an exceedingly ancient place. According to an inscription on the steeple, it was founded in the year 856. Shaw doubts the authenticity of this date, which is also given in the parish register. This date is doubtless too early; yet St. Mary's is very ancient. Leland called it "a right beautiful piece of worke in the very market-place," and it deserved his praise. The master and brethren of the gbd of the Blessed Mary had a chantry at St. Mary's, which was dissolved * Pitt's History of Staffordshire. vol. i. 2d 210 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : by Henry VIII. in 1545. Afterwards the members ofthe cathedral officiated, and then founded a distinct vicarage, with the right of appointment in the dean and chapter. In 1868 the old church was taken down, and the present one was opened for service in 1870, its erection being in memory of the late Bishop Lonsdale. The living is worth £458. Christ Church was built in 1847; the living is a perpetual curacy worth £300, the bishop being the patron. St. John's chapel, a curious and interesting edifice, annexed to the hospital of that name, was thoroughly restored in 1871. The Wesleyans, Congregationalists, Primitive Methodists, and Roman Catholics, also have places of worship. First among the other bubdings of Lichfield we must name the grammar school, which has had the imperishable honour of having for its pupbs such celebrated men as Dr. Johnson, David Garrick, Bishops Newton and Smabridge, Addison, Ashmole, Wollaston, and others not unknown to fame. Henry VII. settled some revenues on this school, and Edward VI. further endowed it. It has been twice rebuilt, in 1692 and 1850. Opposite the school is St. John's Hospital, which was formerly a monastery. " The period at which it was first founded is unknown ; but it was doubtless prior to the common account of the twelfth century, as we find that, in 1130, Roger de Clinton revised and amended a code of statutes said to have been anciently made for the government of its friars. Having been destroyed, probably by order of Henry VL, in the nineteenth year of his reign, when he demolished so many religious structures, it was rebubt by Bishop Smith, and by him endowed as an hospital and chapel, dedicated to St. John, for the support of a master and thirteen poor men. This hospital, though deprived of part of its original property, stib possesses a handsome estate, and is in every respect in a flourishing condition. As a bubding it is very remarkable for the number and curious form of the chimneys, which are placed in its front. The chapel is built of stone, and has withstood the ravages of time for several centuries, having been the ancient chapel of the priory before its re-erection by Bishop Smith. It is neatly paved, and contains a very hand some monument, with this inscription underneath an urn : — " Omne capax movet Urna nomen." * Lichfield possesses a free library and museum, supported by public * Nightingale's Staffordshire. PAST AND PRESENT. 211 rates. In the latter are some interesting relics of the siege of the city, some of Dr. Johnson, portraits of the principal local worthies, antiquities, and works of art; and the former contains about 2000 volumes. A working men's institution is also established here. The city is governed by a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors, and returns one member to Parliament. The municipal and par liamentary borough are of the same extent, and contain 3180 acres, 7347 inhabitants, and 1553 houses. The popular festival of Lichfield is its Bower. Every Whitsun tide this popular and ancient institution is revived. It is sadly shorn of its ancient splendour, but is kept up with a laudable conservatism ; and when we remember that according to some authorities it is a custom sanctified by more than six hundred years, we can sympathize with those who do not think it "more honoured in the breach than in the observance." This was the old order of it, as somewhat abridged from Shaw : — Early on Whit- Monday morning the high constables, with ten men, armed with firelocks, adorned with ribbons, preceded by eight morrice dancers, and a fool fantastically dressed, and drums and fifes, escort the sheriff, town clerk, and bailiffs, from the Gubdhab in the city to the bower at Green-hill. Here the style and title of the court is proclaimed by the crier, and the enrolled names of the citizens cabed over. The court was anciently called " The Court of Array, or View of Men and Arms," of the manor and lordship of Lich field ; and all persons owing suit and service were required to appear, under pain of fine and assessment. The court, the con stables, the armed men, the morrice dancers, and the rest marched through the streets, and summoned the dozener, a petty constable of that ward, to attend. He came forth at once with a pageant on a pole, the pageant being a mechanical toy representing a trade or calbng, and joined the cavalcade, which was drawn up in a line before one of the houses, over which a volley was fired by the armed men ; and this was done over every house in the ward. The constables were asked in to eat and drink, and drink was served out to the men. This over, they returned to the bower, deposited the pageant at its entrance, and the town clerk called over the names of the inhabitants of the ward. Those who answered were invited in, and " regaled with cold hanged beef, stewed pruins, cakes, wine, and ale." Those who did not attend were fined a penny. The same thing was done in the twenty-one wards. At 212 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : the end of this rather tedious ceremonial, the whole procession formed into two lines, and marched through the principal streets to the market-place in this order : — Music, Morrice-dancers, Armed men, Dozeners, with their emblems, High constables, Gaoler, Sheriffs, Sergeants-at-mace, and crier, Bailiffs, and town clerk, Gentlemen of the city, &e. At the market-place the town clerk debvered an oration, and so sent them home. The processions are still made, and the bower bubt and decorated every Whit-Monday, the expenses being borne by public subscription. The modern bower, however, partakes of all the usual features of a country fab: — shows, booths, stalls, Sec. Scarcely half a mbe from Lichfield is the famous Barrow Cop Hill. Legend tells us that here were buried three kings, and this traditionary interment has given the city ber arms. Through a few pleasant fields of grass, of peas, and of potatoes, ab of which in June are beautiful to see, you pass to this pleasant spot. The top of the hill is crowned with a bubding, in which are seats on which you can rest, and from which you can obtain some splendid views over a magnificent stretch of country. In the front of you, as it were at your feet, is the city — always a glorious sight: then the splendid cathedral, with its beautiful spires — the effect of the three not a bttle marred by the intrusion of the rather ornate steeple of St. Mary's Church. Green-hbl, with its dehghtful avenue, is an object that the eye will not easby let slip. Farther on is Stow Pool, and its charming surroundings. On the right of you, you can see far away into Derbyshire, and the Bardon Hbls in Leicestershire. Going round the bubdmg, and turning your back on the city, you can have a view of Wall, the ancient Etocetum, close by which the two great Roman roads, the Watling Street and Icknield Street, cross each other. Barrow Cop Hill is supposed to be a tumulus, and the remains of a Saxon camp. Three kings, it is said, were killed here in one of the battles of the Heptarchy. The Saxons were rather early at Lichfield ; and Shaw says, " As these always chose the highest hills for their camps and places of residence, what is now called Borrocop PAST AND PRESENT. 213 Hill, on the south side of the city, has too fine a situation and commands too much of the country to escape notice. The name, I think, sufficiently shows that this was the place in which they first seated themselves ; and though there are no remains of a camp on the top of it, yet there is a place called Castle Ditch between it and the city, where some place of strength was formerly, but whether made use of as a palace does not appear." The neighbourhood of Lichfield is very rich in beautiful rambles. Swinfen we have already described, and Curborough Wood demands a passing notice. If visited in the summer time, the road bes by "hedgerows, wreathed with woodbine's scented flowers," through fields rich with "the fragrance ofthe new-mown hay," the "mead- sweet, the honeysuckle, and the rose" — the fine cathedral shines in front of us all the way. Then we pass through the city, by Stow Port and Stow Church again — never too often. Hence the road lies through rich meadows, and along lanes away from the dusty, dreary turnpike road, and so you reach this spot of sweet resort. Curborough Wood is famous for its constant succession of wbd-flowers above all places that we know. In early spring the snowdrop blooms there in myriads ; then the sweet violet and lady primrose fobow ; next comes the lily of the valley, whose "tremulous bells" are full of sweet sounds for fairy ears. At one of our visits these poet's favourites literally covered the ground under the trees in this highly-favoured wood ; at the next, the fox-glove was vaunting himself in his rich bells of purple, whbe the dead hyacinth stalks showed what a plentiful harvest of beauty they had offered to earlier visitors. Here also was the fragile hare bell, and the never-to-be overpraised forget-me-not, the flower for happy lovers. These gems of nature were in such abundance as we scarcely ever saw before, many pleasant spots as we have visited in our rambles. Here surely Flora must hold her court, and her attendants throng around her arrayed in their most beau tiful robes, and adorned with their richest jewels. Doubtless In some of these lovely bells the " dainty Ariel " must often repose, for we know on the highest authority that where the bee sucks there sucks she, and that m a cowslip bell she lies : and here both cowslips and oxlips are found. Here too the "frolicsome Puck" pursues his mischievous career, and often makes the place ring with his merry laughter and musical catches. Here too must the fairies laugh — and it is a treat to hear fairies laugh — at the fre- 214 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE quent discomfitures of the roguish sprite. Here, too, must Oberon and Titania have theb* domestic quarrel over again, and here — no place so meet — must then- pleasant reconciliation take place. It is a fine spot to dream in, and this is perhaps a Midsummer Day's Dream ; but if so, such dreams are the golden remembrances of bfe, the poetry of existence, and the sweet romance which brings back again the days of innocence and truth. Amid such a scene a poet may rest and find The spirits which the woods and streams enshrine , The dwellers in the grass, the trees, the flowers ; The presences which make all things divine ; The midday and the midnight haunting powers ; The graces who attend the fleeting hours ; The beings that, unseen, still people space, And bring the blessings with the sun and showers, With him hold converse, and for him will trace The ever-present glories of their dwelling-place. Lichfield is famous for the famous men who have been bom in the bright cathedral city, at the head of whom is the truly noble Dr. Samuel Johnson. The following brief but carefuby accurate biography of the great lexicographer is from the pen of the Rev. Thomas Harwood : — " Samuel Johnson was the elder son of Michael Johnson, a book seller of good repute, and a member of the corporation. His mother was Sarah Ford, descended from the ancient famby of Jervis in Warwickshire. They were married at Packwood, in that county, according to the parish register : ' Michell Johnsones of Lichfeld, and Sarah Ford, married June ye 19th, '1706.' Samuel Johnson was born on the 7th of September, 1709 : in the register of St. Mary he is entered, ' Samuel, the son of Michael Johnson, gentle man.' The house in which he was born, and where his father resided, is at the north-west corner of the market-place, fronting both Market Street and the market-place. Dr. Swinfen, a learned man and eminent physician of Lichfield, and Mr. Richard Wakefield, the worthy and charitable town clerk, were his godfathers. Mr. Wakefield's will, dated August 15, 1733, and administration of which was granted September 28, 1733, says, 'to my godsons, Mr. Richard Bayley and Mr. Samuel Johnson, five pounds apiece.' He was nursed in George Lane by a woman named Marklew, abas Bebison ; and taught to read Engbsh by dame Oliver, a widow, in Dam Street, at the north corner of Quonian's Lane. His early PAST AND PRESENT. 215 education he received under the Rev. John Hunter, at the grammar school. Being early afflicted by scrofula, or king's evb, he was taken to London by his mother, and was ' touched,' as the custom then was, by Queen Anne. At the age of fifteen, after having resided for some time at the house of his uncle, Cornelius Ford, the son of Dr. Joseph Ford, a physician, and brother to Johnson's mother, he was removed to the school of Stourbridge in Worcester shire, of which Dr. Wentworth was then master. Here he is said to have acted also in the office of assistant. Before he went to Stourbridge his father applied, without success, that he might be admitted as a scholar and assistant at Newport school, under the Rev. Samuel Lea. Having remained one year at Stourbridge, he returned home and loitered away his time for two years in a state of indolence unworthy of his great abilities. In his nineteenth year, on the 31st of October, 1728, he was entered a commoner of Pem broke Cobege, Oxford, under the tuition of one of the fellows, Mr. Jordan. Here he obtained great applause by translating, which he did with great rapidity, the Messiah of Pope into Latin verse. His apartment in the college was upon the second floor over the gate way. His father, through an imprudent speculation in a manu factory of parchment, having fallen into a state of insolvency, he was compelled, in the autumn of 1731, to leave Oxford without a degree; and in the following December his father died. His father's circumstances are thus noticed in one ofhis diaries: — '1732, Julii 15. Undecim aureos deposui, quo die, quicquid ante matris funus (quod serum sit, precor) de paternis bonis sperari licet, viginti schicet libras accepi. Usque adeo mihi fortuna fingenda est. Interea, ne paupertate vires animi languescant, nee in flagitia egestas abigat, cavendum/* Under the influence of these virtuous resolutions, he became assis tant in the school of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire ; to which place, it appears from his diary, he went on foot — 'Julii 16, Bos- vortiam pedes petil' But this employment being irksome to him, he relinquished it in a few months. Having been invited by his school-fellow, Mr. Hector, then a surgeon at Birmingham, to pass some time with him as his guest at the house of Mr. Warren, a bookseller with whom he lodged, he remained with him about six * I have deposited eleven pounds on this day, on which I received whatever I may hope for of my father's property before the death of my mother (which I pray may be late), namely, twenty pounds. My fortune is thus still to make. Meanwhile, I must beware lest the power of my mind be dulled by poverty, and lest want drive me into sin. 216 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : months, and afterwards hired lodgings for himself in another part of the town. It was here that he translated a ' Voyage to Abys sinia' by Lobo, a Portuguese Jesuit, which was printed in 1735. His brother Nathanael had succeeded to his father's trade, and Johnson, having returned to Lichfield, published proposals for print ing by subscription the Latin poems of Pobtian; and the subscrip tions were to be ' taken in by the editor, or Nathanael Johnson, bookseller, of Lichfield.' The work, however, was never published. In November, 1734, he commenced his correspondence with Mr. Edward Cave, the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine, with whom he was afterwards closely concerned in the course of his literary pursuits. On the 9th of July, 1735, he married Mrs. Porter, a widow, with whose husband, a mercer at Birmingham, Johnson had been acquainted, and who, after the death of her husband, had retired to the Close of Lichfield. The ceremony was performed at St. Werberg's church in Derby, according to the register: '1735, July 9 th, marr'd, Sam'll Johnson of ye parish of St. Mary's in Litch field, and Eliz'h Porter, of ye parish of St. Phillip in Birmingham.' Mrs. Johnson's maiden name was Jervis, and she was, at the time of her marriage, in her forty-eighth year, as thus appears from the register of Great Pealling in Leicestershire: — 'Anno Domini, 1688-9, Ebzabeth, the daughter of William Jervis, Esq., and Mrs. Anne, his wife, born the 4th day of February, and mane, baptized 1 6th day of the same month by Mr. Smith, curate of Little Pealling. John Allen, vicar.' After his marriage Johnson rented a house near Lichfield, called Ediab-hab; which in February, 1809, was taken down, and the materials sold. A view of it is preserved in Harwood's ' History of Lichfield.' In the last page of the Gentle- mans Magazine for June and July, 1736, is the fobowing advertise ment : — ' At Ediall, near Lichfield in Staffordshire, young gentlemen are boarded and taught the Latin and Greek languages, by Samuel Johnson.' The only pupbs placed under his tuition were the cele brated David Garrick and his brother George, and Mr. Offley, a young gentleman of Wichnor. This scheme of Ibe having proved unsuccessful, he relinquished his house at Ediall, and determined to try his fortune in London. In March, 1737, he arrived in the metropolis, accompanied by his pupil, David Garrick. Here he maintained himself by his literary labours, and published a series of works, the mere enumeration of which would extend beyond the limits which can be here assigned to this brief memoir of this PAST AND PRESENT. 217 ibustrious writer. His first lodgings in London were at the house of Mr. Morris, a stay maker in Exeter Street, adjoining Catherine Street in the Strand ; and he was accustomed to frequent the Pine Apple bi New Street in that neighbourhood. In July he retired to lodgings at Greenwich, next door to the Golden Heart, Church Street, for the purpose of completing his tragedy of ' Irene,' having only written three acts of it before he left Lichfield ; but in the autumn he was again at Lichfield, where he had left his wife, and where he finished his ' Irene.' Having remained three months in his native city, he now removed, accompanied by Mrs. Johnson, to London, and first lodged in Woodstock Street, near Hanover Square, and afterwards at No. 6 Castle Street, near Cavendish Square. In March, 1738, he published an ode, 'Ad Urban um,' in the Gentleman's Magazine ; and from this time, too often stimulated by his necessities, he continued to adorn the pages of that inte resting work with a great variety of elegant papers. In March, 1738, he pubhshed 'London,' a poem in imitation of the third satire of Juvenal. Such was its success that it arrived at a second edition in the course of a week, and so superior its merit, that it was distinguished by the admiration of Oglethorpe, and the applause of Pope. Though justly elevated into fame, and conscious of his commanding abbities, he was yet disappointed of his hopes of a competent subsistence from his literary labours. He therefore turned his thoughts again towards his former employment, and appbed for the mastership of Appleby School in Leicestershire, which was then vacant. But his wishes were again frustrated by the statutes requiring the degree of Master of Arts as a qualification for the appointment. In 1 744 he published the ' Life of Savage ;' and, in 1745, proposals for a new edition of Shakspeare. In 1747 he announced to the world his ' Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language,' in a letter to the earl of Chesterfield. In 1749 his tragedy of ' Irene ' was acted at Drury Lane Theatre ; and in the same year he published, in imitation of the tenth satire of Juvenal, 'The Vanity of Human Wishes,' which had been chiefly written at Hampstead, where he occasionally had lodgings. Whbst he was employed in his great work, he lived for some time in Holborn, and from thence removed into Gough Square, Fleet Street. In 1750 commenced the publication of the 'Rambler.' His wife whom he always treated with affection and tenderness, died on the 17th March, 1752. In 1755 he obtained the degree of Master of VOL. i 2 E 218 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Arts of Oxford, by diploma, and in the same year appeared his 'Dictionary of the English Language.' In 1758 and 1759 he published the 'Idler;' and in the latter year, his 'Rasselas. In January, 1759, he lost his mother at the great age of ninety. In May, 1761, a pension of £300 per annum was granted to him by the king, as the reward of his eminent learning and distinguished merit. In 1765 he published his edition of 'Shakspeare;' in 1775 his 'Tour to the Hebrides;' and in 1778, and the succeeding years, his 'Lives of the Poets.' In 1765 the degree of Doctor of Laws was most honourably conferred upon him by Trinity Cobege, Dublin. He contributed largely to other publications ; he wrote several excellent papers in the ' Adventurer ; ' and published some political pamphlets. In 1775 the University of Oxford conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws by diploma, 'virum ihus- trem, in omni humaniorum literarum genere eruditum, omniumque scientiarum comprehensione fehcissimum, scriptis suis ad popularium mores formandos summa verborum elegantia, ac sententiarum gravi tate compositis.' During the latter years of his life he frequently visited his native city, and viewed with special delight the scenes which in his youth had been familiar to him. He wrote an inscription for a stone to be placed over the remains of his parents, in the middle aisle of St. Michael's church. He had removed his residence from Gough Square to chambers in No. 1 Inner Temple Lane, and afterwards to Johnson's Court, and finally to Bolt Court, Fleet Street; in which latter house he died, December 13, 1784. He was buried in tbe Poet's Corner, in Westminster Abbey, and the following inscription is over his grave : — •' Samuel Johnson, LL.D., obiit xbi. die Decembris, anno domini MDCCLXXXIV, setatis suae LXXV.' Monuments have been erected in honour of him in the cathedrals of Lichfield and St. Paul's ; and Colonel Myddleton, of Gwaynynog, near Denbigh, erected an urn to his memory on the banks of a rivulet in his park, with the following inscription : — ' This spot was often dignified by the presence of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., whose moral writings, exactly conformable to the precepts of Christianity, gave ardour to virtue, and confidence to truth.' Boswell has enumerated the several busts, pictures, and engravings which were made to perpetuate his resemblance ; to which may be added, a miniature painting by an unknown artist, taken about the time of his marriage, which is a striking likeness of him, and was in 1820 in the possession ofthe Rev. Thomas Harwood, B.D., F.S.A., PAST AND PRESENT. 219 of Lichfield, and once the property of Francis Barber, his black servant and residuary legatee. The literary and domestic life of this great man, who was not less the glory of his own age and of his country than he will be of all succeeding times, has been written with remarkable minuteness by Sir John Hawkins, by James Boswell, and by Arthur Murphy, by Anderson, and by Chalmers, blustrative of his domestic, moral, and literary character. His poetical pieces are uncommonly harmonious, bold, and nervous ; his prose classically correct and elegant ; in both, his genius and his erudition are highly conspicuous. And it would be great injustice to his acknowledged excebencies and supereminent talents not to affirm that every line which he wrote tends to the accomplishment of all his views, the promotion of learning, of virtue, and of rehgion. His life and his writings had the same great objects. Benevolence, charity, and piety were the distinguishing features of his character. He was an ingenious poet, an acute critic, and an exalted moralist ; and his writings will be studied, admired, and applauded so long as virtue shall be esteemed, and genius and learning shall be reverenced ; so long as the English language, in its strength, purity, and elegance, shall be read and understood." The man Johnson bves in the pages of Bosweb for posterity, even as he lived with his contemporaries. In the daily record of his devoted admirer we learn why the rough, honest-hearted Englishman was so truly loved by his friends and admirers. His wonderful conversational powers and his strong social qualities are manifest to us all in the transcripts of Boswell. In this work we recognize what Mr. Carlyle web calls his valour, his love of truth, his mercy, and his " divine feeling of affection," and that he was, "in good truth," one of the bravest of the brave. "What mortal," he truly asks, " could have more to contend with ? Yet, he yielded not, faltered not; he fought, and even, such was his blessedness, prevabed. Whoso will understand what it is to have a man's heart, may find that, since the time of John Mbton, no braver heart had beat in any English bosom than Samuel Johnson now bore. Observe too, that he never called himself brave, never felt himself to be so; the more completely was so. No Giant Despair, no Golgotha Death-dome, or Sorcerers '-Sabbath of 'Literary Life in London,' appals this pilgrim ; he works resolutely for deliverance ; in stbl defiance, steps stoutly along. The thing that is given him to do, he can make himself do; what is to be endured, he can endure in silence." 220 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Dr. Johnson paid occasional visits to Birmingham, during which he was the guest of his friend Dr. Hector, who lived in the Old Square. To perpetuate the memory of these visits the Birmingham Shakspeare Club have, by the permission of the late Wbliam Schole- field, M.P., placed a tablet on the front of the house, bearing the following inscription : — " HERE IN THIS HOUSE SAMTJEL JOHNSON WAS THE GUEST, EDMUND HECTOR WAS THE HOST. " Of this host this guest has written : ' Hector is likewise an old friend, the only companion of my childhood that passed through the school with me. We have always loved one another.' " This stone, by leave of the owner of the house, William Schole- field, Esq., M.P., was put up by the members of ' Our Shakspeare Club.' "Birmingham, a.d. 1864." Two of Lichfield's bishops, Newton and Smabridge, were natives of the city, as were Rowley the mathematician, and King the Herald. We may add to these names that of Mr. Frederick Price, the author of a small volume of poems, entitled "Rustic Rhymes," which breathe the pure spirit of simplicity and a genuine love of nature. We have given a specimen of his verses in our notice of Swinfen. Needwood Forest. — Before leaving the hundred of Offlow we must direct attention to the ancient forest, or chase, of Needwood. It was the most beautiful part of the honour of Tutbury, and in the northern extremity of the hundred of Offlow, forming part of the four parishes of Tutbury, Hanbury, Tatenhih, and Yoxall, and lying between the rivers Dove, Trent, and Blithe. Jackson, in his account of Tutbury, says, that there were formerly eight parks impaled within the ring of the forest, called the parks of Agardesley, Stockley, Barton, Heylins, Sherrold, Castle-hay, Hanbury, and Rol leston. That of Castle-hay, situate about a mbe from the castle, was three and a half mbes in compass, and that of Hanbury, two mbes and a half. In the survey of Tutbury (of which tins ancient forest, or chase, is the most beautiful part), at the commencement of the reign of Queen Ebzabeth, the following account is given : — "The forest or chase of PAST AND PRESENT. 221 Needwood is in compass, by estimation, twenty-three miles and a half, and the nearest part thereof is distant from the castle of Tut bury but one mbe. In it are seven thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine yards and a hab", and very forest-like ground, thinly set with old oakes and timber trees, web replenished with coverts of underwood and thorns, which might be coppiced in divers parts thereof, for increase of wood and timber, lately sore decayed and spoyled. It is divided into four wards, viz., Tutbury ward, March ington ward, Yoxab ward, and Barton ward, each containing five mbes or more in compass." This forest anciently formed a portion of the duchy of Lancaster, and after the accession of Henry IV. it belonged to the crown for centuries. The officers are composed of a beutenant and chief ranger, assisted by a deputy and four heutenants, four keepers, and an axe bearer. An annual court is held by the king's steward in honour of Tutbury, and a jury of twenty-four persons, residing within the jurisdiction, present and amerce ab persons guhty of "encroaching on the forest or committing offences in vert of venison." The eye is delighted with a great variety of picturesque beauty, particularly in the more fertile portions in the southern and middle divisions, which are diversified by hbl and dale, while the northern portion is divided into deep ravines and lofty summits, clothed with a variety of trees growing in the most luxuriant perfection. Mr Pitt observes that "the uneven parts of the forest, comprising upwards of one thousand two hundred acres, consisting of abrupt hbls and debs, wbl probably be appropriated to the growth of timber, and the remaining eight thousand acres added to the culti vated land of the country. One-eighth of this quantity consists of light sound loam, adapted to the culture of turnips ; and the rest, which is generaby a red or whitish grey marly loam, wbl produce excellent pasturage, or be productive of good beans." In the northern extremity of the forest is a singularly romantic vabey, called Bertram's Dingle, which, if private property, might be made uncommonly beautiful. Besides the natural beauties of Need- wood Forest, it is adorned with four handsome lodges, which have for ages been held under the crown on a lease of three bves, and transferred from time to time to different owners. All descriptions combine in bestowing an interesting picture of this pleasing tract of country; among others, Mr. Nightingale remarks that "the natural cbsposition of this forest presents a great and beautiful variety of 222 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : aspect. Gradual eminences and easy vales, watered by murmuring rills, with here and there a bolder and more abrupt sweb, form its general features. In the northern parts, particularly within March ington Woodlands, the eminences are far more numerous and lofty than in the middle or southern divisions. The forest here exhibits to the eye a series of deep glens, inclosed by steep and rugged precipices, incapable of agricultural improvement, but happily covered with a vast variety of trees, among which the native oak, vigorous and luxuriant, shoots up in great abundance. Mr. Shaw says, that the whole forest does not contain less than one thousand acres of oak timber ; a greater quantity than perhaps any district in England "can boast of possessing. The venerable Swilcar,- a tree of immense size and majestic appearance, is situated in an open lawn, surrounded by extensive woods, and is supposed to have stood upwards of six hundred years. It is thus addressed, in truly poetical strains, in the poem of " Needwood Forest : " — " Hail, stately oak, whose wrinkled trunk hath stood Age after age the sovereign of the wood : You, who have seen a thousand springs unfold Their ravel'd buds, and dip their flowers in gold ; Ten thousand times yon moon relight her horn, And that bright eye of evening gild the morn. Yes, stately oak, thy leaf-wrapped head sublime Ere long must perish in the wrecks of time ; Should o'er thy brow the thunders harmless break, And thy firm roots in vain the whirlwinds shake, Yet must you fall, thy withering glories sunk, Arm after arm shall leave thy mould'ring trunk.'' A survey was made of the forest in 1656, when it was found to contain 9220 acres of land, and by an examination of the timber in 1684, it contained 47,150 trees, and 10,000 cords of hollies and underwood, valued at £30,700. It is now for the most part under cultivation, but there are about one thousand of the fine oaks of Needwood yet growing, and a large number of parks, with their mansions, keep up the remembrance and stbl preserve the beauty of this most picturesque part of the county. It is now a chapelry, and the hving is a perpetual curacy, worth £140, in the gift of the Duchy of Lancaster, to which duchy the manor belongs. The church was bubt as lately as 1820. In addition to Bertram's Dingle, we may mention among the attractions of Needwood, Byrkley Lodge, situ ated m an extensive plain of the forest surrounded by a beautiful PAST AND PRESENT. 223 variety of wood (the little stream of Linbrook rises here) ; Yoxall Lodge, which occupies a debghtful situation in a "recluse vabey" on the banks of Linbrook ; Sherholt Park and Lodge, with their extensive and picturesque views, pleasant rivulet, and fine sheet of water ; and finally, Ealand Lodge, which was formerly the residence of Francis Noel Clarke Mundy, the author of the poem " Needwood Forest," from which we have already quoted, and who thus describes his favourite retreat at Ealand : — " On this green unambitious brow, Fair mistress of the vale below, With sloping hills enclos'd around, Their heads with oaks and hollies crowned, With lucky choice, by happy hands Placed in good hour, my dwelling stands ; And draws the distant trav'ler's eye, Enamour'd of its scenery ; Where all things give, what all express, Content and rural happiness ; Where, far retir'd from life's dull form, Comes no intruder but the storm ; The storm, that with contrasted low'r, Endears the fair, the silent hour. Thus their wise days our fathers led, Fleet ran their hounds, their arrows sped, And jocund health with rosy smile Look'd on, companion of their toil. Till tyrant Law usurp'd the land, Stretch'd o'er the woods his iron hand, Forbade the echoing horn to blow, Maim'd the staunch hound, and snapp'd the bow. 224 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : CHAPTER III. THE HUNDRED OF PIREHILL. The hundred of Pirebib is divided into North and South North Pirehbl contains: — 1, Ashley; 2, Audley; 3, Batterley ; 4, Betley ; 5, Burslem ; 6, Butterton ; 7, Chorlton ; 8, Eccleshall ; 9, Keele; 10, Madeley; 11, Maer; 12, Norton-in-the-Moors ; 13, Stand on ; 14, Stoke-upon-Trent ; 15, Swinnerton; 16, Trentham; 17, Whitmore; 18, Wolstanton. Ashley. — The vblage of Ashley is remarkable for its church, which contains some curious stained glass, and excellent monu ments. It is, writes Mr. Pitt, "a small, neat, stone building. It consists of a nave, north and south aisles, a south porch of entrance, a chancel at the east, and a square tower at the west end of the nave. Attached to the north side of the chancel is a cemetery or chauntry. The tower, side aisles, cemetery, and porch, are embattled at the top, and the whole appears to be covered with lead, except the nave. Some of the battlements are ornamented with pinnacles, and at the bottom of the parapets are heads and grotesque figures, as well as on the heads of some of the windows, most of which are, or have been, adorned with glass paintings, particularly the chancel window. These paintings occupy not more than one or two panes on each of the windows, except that in the chancel." The tower is the most ancient part left by the restorations of 1861. The parish contains the village of Ashley- Heath and part of the hamlet of Hook-Gate ; its area is 2860 acres, with 903 inhabitants, 201 houses, and real property valued at £5308. The hving is a rectory worth £316. The Independents and Roman Catholics have each a place of worship. The church is the burying-place of the Kinnersleys, and contains a fine monu ment by Chantrey of one of that famby. There is a large and excellent monument of the seventeenth century to the memory of the Gerards, of which we have the fobowing interesting descrip tion: — " On an altar tomb are placed two recumbent effigies, a male and female — the male in armour, and the female in the dress PAST AND PRESENT. 225 of the times; his head rests on a helmet, hers on a cushion; at the feet of the male is a lion couchant, and between them, near their heads, is fixed a talbot. That part of the top of the altar tomb whereupon the male recumbent effigy is placed, is supported on the south, or front side, by five small square pillars, within which on the floor, and immediately under the male effigy, is tbe image or effigy of a corpse in a winding sheet. Against the north wab, and perpendicular to the altar tomb, are two niches with semicircular heads, and about four inches deep, within which are four half-length female figures in relievo ; they appear in the same kind of dress as the female recumbent effigy, have a ruff, &c. the dresses of the times. Two of these half-length figures are in each niche, and at the upper part of each niche is an escalop. Over the whole of the above described parts is erected a canopy, supported on four Ionian fluted columns, about two yards high, each standing on a pedestal about three-quarters of a yard in height. Above these columns is an entablature about half a yard in height, which is continued over each arch, that is, on the east and west end, and the south side, and is surmounted by other ornaments ; upon the corners of the entablature, over each of the four columns, is a square pyramid or pinnacle, each side of which is adorned with four roundles ; these pyramidal ornaments are about one yard high and nine inches square at the base. Above the entablature on the front side, or over the south arch, is a shield below the canopy ; within the west arch thereof, at the head of the recumbent effigies, is a male effigy kneebng on a pedestal, and as large as life, in armour, excepting a helmet ; opposite this, at the feet of the said effigy and within the east arch, is also a male effigy in armour, excepting a helmet; this is much smaller than that at the head, but is in the attitude of kneeling and prayer. These two last have their faces towards the recumbent effigies, and opposite to each other ; on the front, or south side, of this monu ment are two smab images kneeling, a male and female, and a helmet between them on the floor. This monument occupies a space on the floor of about four by two and a half yards, and may be four yards in height or more." Audley. — This is a large and extensive parish, and contains the six townships of Audley, Bigwab-End, Eardley-End, Knowl-End Park-End, and Talke, or Talk-o'-th'-Hib, and the bberty of Halmer- End. Audley was formerly called Aldithley, and the manor vol. i. 2 F 226 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE. belonged to the ancient famby ot Verdun. The Audleys descended from the Verduns; and early in the thirteenth century they bubt Heyley Castle, of which "two portions of the wall still remain on an elevated and beautifully wooded hill ; the well and deep fosse, and some sunk arches, are still to be seen." The vibage is finely situated on a hill, in the midst of rich farms and well- cultivated land. The church is ancient and Gothic. It consists of a nave, a north and south aisle, and the chancel. " Five pointed arches on each side separate the aisles from the nave. The interior is clean, and the pews, which are of oak, were made in 1793. There is an ancient gallery at the west end, which belonged to the old church at Newcastle. There is a monument to Delves, one of the four squires of James, Lord Audley, whom he accompanied to the battle of Poitiers. Under a canopy, between the piers of the north aisle, is the tomb of John Cradock and his wife Anastasia, of the last century, with a coat of arms finely worked in relievo. In the chancel is the tomb of Ed. Vernon, ' Divinarum Literarum Professor,' 1622, with his recumbent figure in cap and gown, in a handsome niche, cinque-fobed, and with crocketed finial and pinnacles. On the opposite side of the chancel are four elegant Gothic niches, in the same style, of different heights, one or two of which seem adapted to the service of the altar, the others as seats. A small effigy in armour occupies a niche below the east window of the north aisle, and has probably been taken from the side of a tomb ; there are also some fragments of painted glass in the windows." The parish contains 8530 acres, 8955 inhabitants, 1767 houses, and real property valued at £30,383. The living is a vicarage worth £520. There is a grammar school, erected by the " benefactions of Edward Vernon, and other benevolent individuals, for the instruction of one hundred boys." It bears the name of its founder. The Methodists have chapels here. The population of Audley is 1647, and it has 326 houses, and real property valued at £4189. Audley Cross is on the turnpike road between Muckleston and Blore. It is said to mark the spot where Lord Audley fell in the battle of Blore Heath, fought in 1459. Of the townships included in the parish of Audley we need only direct attention to that of Talke, commonly called Talk-o'-th'- Hib, a place only too well known for the calamities which it has suffered. The vblage stands on a hill ; hence the popular addition to its name. The site commands views of parts of Staffordshire and PAST AND PRESENT. 227 Cheshire. " In clear weather the Wrekin in Shropshire and the mountains of Flintshire are distinctly visible from this place. The Harecastle Tunnel of the Grand Trunk Canal passes a fub mbe underground, near this village." In the year 1781 Talke was visited by two calamities — a fire and an explosion. The fire destroyed a considerable portion of the village; the explosion completed what the fire began. A carrier was conveying 39 cwt. of gunpowder through the village in a waggon, when, from some unknown cause, it exploded, khling the driver and the horse, and blowing up some adjacent houses. The damage done by those two calamities amounted to £2387, and by direction of George III. a collection was made for the sufferers throughout England and Wales. Talke has, however, been the scene of a stib greater calamity in our own time. In December, 1866, a terrible explosion took place in the coal pits, by which 91 miners were kbled. A public subscription was commenced, and before its close upwards of £16,000 were raised. The money has been wisely appropriated; 42 widows are receiving 5s. a week; and 111 chbdren wbl receive 2s. a week until they attain the age of fourteen. The growth of this village has been very remarkable. In Pitt's time, 1817, its population was 817; in 1851 it had increased to 1973; and in 1871 it was 3945. This increase has been caused by the extension of the coal mines, as will be manifest from the fact that of its £15,560 of real property £10,070 are in mines. The living is worth £210, and is in the patronage of the vicar of Audley. A new church, Holy Trinity, to replace a temporary iron structure, was built in 1873. Between Talke and Audley there is a spring of sulphureous water, which is highly valued by the people as a specific in cutaneous disorders. Batterley. — This place is called Bawterley, and was a manor of John, Lord Audley, in the time of Henry IV It passed to the Blounts, and then to the Lawtons. It is a township, and con tains 273 inhabitants, 50 houses, and real property valued at £2218. Betley. — This was formerly a market town, and its chief attrac tions are Betley Court, Betley Hall, and Betley Mere. The latter is a fine lake near the vblage, belonging to Lord Wbton ; and the Court and Hab are two fine seats, with splendid grounds and plantations. The parish contains 1435 acres, 826 inhabitants, 175 houses, and real property valued at £3994. The living is a per petual curacy worth £150. The Wesleyans have a chapel at Betley. 228 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE ; Burslem. — " This extensive and populous town, which claims the honour of being the Mother of the Staffordshire Potteries, stands on a rising ground about three miles and a half N.N.E. of Newcastle. It is a parish in Pirehill hundred, and includes the townships of Hulton Abbey and Sneyd." So far Mr. Pitt. The place at the Conquest was called Burcardeslim, and is an ancient seat of the pottery, where earthenwares have been made for centuries ; "for Dr. Plot, who wrote in 1686, mentions the potteries of this pla^e as the greatest of the kind, and gives a very minute description of the process of making earthenware at that time." "As recently as 1653," says Miss Meteyard, in her exhaustive and beautiful work, the " Life and Works of Wedgwood," " Burslem was a mere vibage. Its houses were few, its population scanty ; so that in the register of a neighbouring church it was termed ' parochieba,' or the little parish. Hanley and Shelton were villages on a stbl smaber scale ; and Stoke was but a small aggregate of thatched houses, and two potworks gathered round the ancient parish church. Tunstab was a lane of thatched sheds and cottages. Fenton and Lane End were equaby small, and Longport was unknown, even hi name, tbl the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal. It then consisted of a few cottages, which went by the name of Longbridge, from a foot-bridge of planks which extended a short way along a watercourse. Yet these are now chief towns lying along the same turnpike road, the spaces between filled up occasionaby to the breadth of two miles with thrice the number of chapelries and hamlets, ab of which are as much like the parent towns as possible. "Were the relative documents in existence, we should probably find that, for three or four centuries after the Conquest, the liberty of establishing a pot-work and digging for clay and coal on the waste was conferred by the manorial lords, the barons Audley and then feoffees, on such as did suit and service, or suppbed a certain amount of common property to Helegh Castle and the other manorial residences. Eventuaby these services or payments in kind were commuted into a smab rent-charge or fine ; for it is observable that the right of digging for clay, coal, and ironstone was held on very easy terms even so late as the first quarter of the seventeenth century. Before that date all the Staffordshire manors of the Audley family had been divided and sold, so that, as it was commonly said, ' each man had a portion ;' and from this PAST AND PRESENT. 229 period may be traced that slow improvement in the condition of the district, which even before the time of Plot was observable." "As late as 1750 Burslem did not contain more than five shops, two of which belonged to butchers. In 1740 the general post letters were brought by an old woman every Sunday from New castle. Twenty years later the post town was Stowe, and delivery thence to Burslem was made three or four times a week, by a man on horseback, who always announced his important arrival and departure by sounding a horn." The amusements were bull and bear beating, and cock-fighting ; and every holiday was " a satur nalia of the grossest kind." John Wesley visited Burslem in 1760. It was in the month of March, and "a multitude assembled to hear him preach at five in the evening. 'Deep attention,' he says, 'sat on every face, though as yet accompanied by deep ignorance.' The next day ' I preached at eight to near double the number, some quite innocent of thought ; five or six were laughing or talking till I had near done ; and one of them threw a clod of earth which struck me on the side of the head, but it neither disturbed me nor the con gregation.' " His " patience and forbearance with his Burslem congregation was well rewarded, for in the succeeding year, 1761, he preached to a large and attentive auditory. Three years later he considered the 'poor potters' of Burslem a 'more civilized people than the better sort (so called) at Congleton ;' and four years later, namely, in March, 1768, he was called upon to open the new meeting house his Burslem followers had lately bubt." And so the good work progressed. The persistent and noble labours of Josiah Wedgwood helped on the cause of civilization, and Burslem advanced with rapid strides. In 1766 the first clod " of that great national undertaking, the Trent and Mersey Canal," was cut at Burslem by the great potter. He was a native of Burslem, in which place, in 1759, in the small works at Ivy-house, he entered humbly and modestly upon his great career." The history and growth of the ceramic art wib be given in the chapter on the Industries of Staffordshire. Burslem ia now a large and prosperous town, containing, in 1871, 25,562 inhabitants and 4781 houses; its real property is valued at £57,264. The parish includes the hamlets of Sneyd, Rushton, Grange, and Abbey-Hulton, and contains 2940 acres, 27,108 inhabitants, 5077 houses, and its real property is valued 230 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: at £65,240. The parish church, St. John's, is a brick building, with an ancient stone tower. The living is a rectory worth £525. In 1828 St. Paul's church was built; it is of stone, and the living is a perpetual curacy worth £300. Christ church was bubt in 1843, and is also a perpetual curacy, and the living is worth £108. Sneyd church was bubt in 1852, and the hving is worth £150. Nearly all the denominations of dissenters have chapels here. In 1855 a very beautiful Town Hall was erected; but the glory of Burslem is the Wedgwood Memorial Institute, which was opened on April 21, 1869, by the Earl de Grey and Ripon. The idea of a memorial building owed its origin to a difficulty which had been, and still is, a source of trouble to many friends of art education. In 1857 the Burslem School of Art was in a languishing state, partly for a lack of funds, but principally for want of a suitable building in which to carry on its operations. It soon afterwards ceased to exist. Its talented master was removed to another scene of usefulness, and its pupils had to resort to Hanley or Stoke, unless they chose either to give up their studies or to carry them on in private, and without the valuable aid which such institutions are calculated to afford. It was in the year 1858, whbst the Burslem School was thus in the throes which preceded its dissolu tion, that Mr. Joseph Walker first broached the subject of a Wedg wood Memorial. Mr. Walker, son of a local surgeon, was a young man of considerable artistic skbl, and stbl greater promise, engaged in a branch of the potting business which called this skbl into requisition, warmly attached to the school of design, and anxious to perpetuate to the town an institution from which he himself had derived great benefit. Mr. Walker's suggestion was that Burslem ought to have some memorial in honour of her greatest son', and that this memorial could not take a more appropriate form than that of a public bubding, which, whilst it supplied a pressing want of the town and neighbourhood, would perpetuate the name of Josiah Wedgwood, and assist in the formation of characters similar in moral strength, in mental cultivation, in artistic taste, and in earnest and intelligent industry, to the qualities which marked, sustained, and prospered his career. The idea found favour amongst the leading public men of Burslem ; a committee was formed, with the late Mr. James Macintyre as its honorary secre tary ; and in December, 1858, the project assumed a definite form. The following year subscriptions, large but inadequate, PAST AND PRESENT. 231 were received, the inadequacy being due partly to the counter scheme, a statue at Stoke, far more to the war with the States, on which Burslem so much relies for its trade; and January, 1860, was reached before the committee was in a position to purchase the site in Queen Street. Then the committee set to work to remove the ruinous old dwellings which cumbered the ground, to inclose the site, and to erect a curator's house. This work was completed in March, 1862, and then the project remained almost in statu quo until February of 1863. In that month the Wedgwood statue at Stoke was inaugurated, and the earl of Harrowby, in his address during the ceremony, said : " I rejoice to hear that a considerable sum has been collected, though more is stbl required, towards raising in his native place an edifice, to bear his name, which shall provide for its population and that of the neighbouring districts those opportunities of cultivating the eye, the hand, and the understanding, which are so essential to the progress of the ceramic art, and which Mr. Wedgwood himself would have desired to see. I say I rejoice that such an undertaking is now on foot, and in a condition which promises success ; and I hope that now two good things will be achieved instead of one." As though anticipating the expression of some such aspiration, the institute committee had previously arranged a conference; and at the conference, held the day after the inauguration of the statue, Mr. Woodall, then one of the honourable secretaries, stated that the site had cost £1200 ; clearing it, building the fence wab, erecting the curator's house, and other expenses, amounted to about £300 more ; so that there was but a small amount in the bank. The estimated cost of the building was £3000, and £1000 for interior fittings. A liberal government grant, he said, was expected, but additional subscrip tions to the amount of at least £2500 would be needed. At the same meeting an offer was made by Mr. Beresford Hope of a prize of £25 for the best sketch for artistic treatment of the block facade, with the view of introducing the ceramic art of the Potteries in connection with architecture in the form of terra cotta mouldings, tile mosaics, Della Robbia panels, &c. ; any or all capable of being gradually carried out, independently of the completion of the fabric itself for all practical purposes. Second, third, and fourth prizes were offered by other gentlemen. The conference also brought about a considerable increase in the subscription list, in the shape of new or additional contributions. On the 7th of July, in the 232 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : same year, the Committee of Councb on Education announced a maximum grant of £500 ; two months later, the rate-payers in public meeting adopted the Public Libraries' Act, thereby securing a permanent endowment for the institute ; and the fobowing month the local board accepted the site and bubdings at the hands of the provisional trustees, and appointed a committee to carry out the provisions of the Pubbc Libraries' Act. The foundation stone of the institute was laid on the 26th of October, 1863, by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, then Chancebor of the Exchequer, the day being observed as a holiday in Burslem. Addresses were presented to Mr. Gladstone from the local board and the working men of the town ; a special prayer was offered up by Bishop Lonsdale ; Mr. Gladstone debvered a splendid oration ; and, at the dejeuner which followed the ceremony, Earl Granvble was supported in the chair by Bishop Lonsdale, Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, Viscount Ingestre, Mr. Beresford Hope, M.P., Mr. Adderley, M.P, Mr. Ewart, M.P., Mr. (now Sir Smith) Child, and many gentlemen of local celebrity. The foundation stone being thus laid, operations commenced, and were continued tbl the bubding reached the level street, and then funds fabing, operations were suspended, and another dreary pause ensued, till the happy thought of an art exhibition occurred to some one ; and this being arranged proved so successful that opera tions were soon resumed, and were sustained without check until the committee witnessed the completion of a building thus described by its architect, Mr. Edgar : — " The bubding is erected hi Wedgwood's native town, and is intended to serve the purpose of a free library and reading room on the ground floor, whbe the upper floors are designed for a school of art and science. It is so disposed, as to plan, that it can be extended hereafter, if local necessities require it, for the educational uses of the town and neighbourhood. For the present the accom modation is presumed to be sufficiently ample. The first floor, for the purposes of a school of art, comprises a museum or exhibition room, elementary class rooms, ladies' class room, and painting room. A modelling room and a master's room are also provided; a chemical class room is placed on a second floor. All these apartments are top-lighted; the roof is carried on cast-iron girders, semicircular on the soffit, and the building generally is fire-proof in its construction. The ground floors are carried on brick arches, and the first and PAST AND PRESENT. 233 second floors are formed in Dennett's patent concrete, carried, in the larger spaces, on rolled iron girders. The architectural treat ment of the bubding will no doubt carry some interest with most readers from the fact that it is composed almost entirely of the clay material, from its simplest masses of brickwork up to the more elaborate detab which composes the external design. The idea of erecting a bubding of a purely ceramic character, as the memorial of Wedgwood — 'the father of the English Potteries' — was first initiated by Mr. Beresford Hope, M.P. I have striven to realize that conception as worthily and completely as the present resources of architectural pottery wib admit of. But it must be said here that any attempt in that direction would have been of a very partial and limited character, if the> authorities at South Kensington had not come forward to subsidise the scheme of ceramic treatment by employing and paying the modelling work which was necessary to embody the design in the lay material. Under this arrangement two 'national scholars' — Mr. Rowland Morris and Mr. Robert Wright — were selected from the Potteries Schools of Art, and the whole of the terra-cotta details requiring modelled treatment have passed through their hands, the different varieties of ornamental detail having been executed by them from the architect's designs. The more sculptural and figure subjects were entrusted to Mr. Morris. There is unusual variety observable in the designs of the ornament. The bands which are introduced midway in the piers of the ground-floor windows are very varied, and bear the monograms of the different names of persons who have been con cerned in the erection of the building. The impost course and the archivolts of these windows are also designed on various motifs, though it is only possible to produce, by way of illustration, on the sheet of details, one or two of the varieties which the building exhibits as it stands. Between the ground and first floor a deep band or frieze runs the entire length of the bubding, composed of panels corresponding to the bays given by the windows ; these represent the different processes of the modern manufacture of pottery, from its first stages in the raw material to those of its finished productions. It is to be noted in regard to this frieze that, in common with all the sculptural portions of the design, the work, as placed in the building, is that of the modeller himself, and is in this respect an original terra-cotta work, simbar to the treatment we are familiar with in the sixteenth century Italian vol. l • 2g 231 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : art in the same material. It deserves also to be noted that the whole of the terra-cotta work, whether it appears as sculpture or foliated ornament, is purely and essentially constructive as part of the bubding. None of it is veneering, but the work it performs is as necessary to the stability of the structure as that of the bricks which compose the walls. A reference to the elevation of the building wbl discover a difficulty hi the way of the architect, which most professional readers wib readily appreciate. The whole of the exterior, above the ground-floor windows, is a blank, dead wall, the first floor being lighted from the roof. Whether this difficulty has been successfully grappled with or not is, of course, a matter of fair criticism. The first floor is treated as an arcade, formed by coupled columns in dark buff terra-cotta, and the successive bays are occupied by sculptured representations of the months of the year, modebed in red terra-cotta clay, and framed in the same material, with an architectural design, which recalls the treatment hi simbar conditions of the North Italian sculptors. Over these panels, and occupying the tympani of the arcade, are inserted representations of the signs of the zodiac, corresponding to the month panels. These are executed in Venetian mosaic on a gold ground, by Salviati. The greater portion of the terra-cotta , detail of the building has been most faithfully produced by Messrs. Blanchard Se Co. ; while the sculptural frieze of ' process panels ' has been manufactured by Mr. Blashfield, of Stamford, to whose ' credit it may be stated that these pieces, weighing many hundred weights each, have been fired and fixed in their places without flaw or accident. The general contractor for the works was Mr. Alfred Barlow, of Stoke-upon- Trent. Mr. Mathews, of Manchester, acted as clerk ofthe works during the erection of the building." Thus much having been said of the building, it is necessary to add that the committee wisely decided to open it with an Art Exhibition, of which the following is a summary sketch :— Beginning with what is called No. 1 room for exhibition purposes, but which will hereafter be one of the class rooms for boys, was a large aggregation of contributions from the South Kensington Museum. The collection included framed paintings on porcelain, photographs of the original copies, made for the Arundel Society, of Mr. Syke's continental drawings, chiefly architectural, and of modern art manu facture purchased at the French Exhibition, illustrations of the Henri Deux ware, chromo-lithographs of various objects in the PAST AND PRESENT. South Kensington Museum, electrotype reproductions of regalia in the Tower of London, some remarkable specimens of Della Robbia work, photographs from paintings in the South Kensington Museum, designs in the decorative arts, including wall tiles and French paper decorations, and a collection of Abyssinian objects, including one of King Theodore's robes, "his saddle and bridle also." In the same room there will also be a local collection of much interest, comprising some of the best paintings produced by students in local schools of art. The central hall will be exclusively devoted to oil paintings by modern artists, who are admirably represented. Already are hung productions of Ansdell, Auguste Bonheur (a perfect illustration of light and shade painting), Rosa Bonheur (a characteristic blustration of the work of that bold animal painter), Bonnington, Pyne, Leighton, Henry, Innes, Muller, Lee, Oakes, Clint, T. Brookes, Holland, Brandard, Rothweb, Poole, Cooke, Has web, Tenkate, Tonge, Cabcott, and Mason. Perhaps the most important object in the collection is a series of three paintings by Dyce, contributed by Mr. Stock, of Liverpool. Relative to Mr. Dyce, Mr. W. E. Gladstone thus spoke at the 1864 dinner of the Royal Academy: — "Mr. Dyce," he said, "was my friend, and I am glad to pay him within these wabs, where his works so often excited admbation, the tribute of sincere and sorrowing friendship. If I may presume to pass judgment, not on the qualifications of an artist, but on the general outline of character which befits those that devote themselves to this lofty profession, I beheve the very ideal of that profession has rarely been more honourably exhibited than in the character of Mr. Dyce. Mr. Dyce was. one of those who, having great aims, rise entirely above any sordid and mer cenary motives. There was no element, no incident connected with his works, that I believe rested on his mind so little as their price. He perceived the true idea of beauty, and sought to clothe it in visible form." Mr. Dyce's painting, " The Good Shepherd," occupies the place of honour in the Burslem Exhibition, having on one side his " Christ in the Wilderness," and on the other his " David the Shepherd," the latter being now exhibited for the first time. Facing these is Herbert's historical picture, " The Acquittal of the Seven Bishops," which, in engraving form, is fambiar to most people. The lenders of paintings to the Institute include Mr. Benson Rathbone and his brothers, Mr. C. P. Meby, Mr. Prange, Mr. Stock, Mr. Hargitt, and other merchant princes of Liverpool ; and Mr. J. W. 236 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE Phbips, Mr. E. T. W. Wood, and other gentlemen resident in the more immediate neighbourhood. A third room, appropriately designed for a ladies' class room, is devoted entirely to a collection of British pottery, which the committee have from the first been exceed ingly anxious to make the most perfect of its kind ever brought together. After an interval of anxiety on this head, the responses to the invitations sent out for loans of pottery have been almost over whelming, and the collection will include the best examples of every period, from the very friable urns of the Anglo-Roman period through all stages, culminating in Wedgwood. Surmounting the collection, special objects of interest in this room wbl be the original portraits of Wedgwood's more distinguished contempor aries, those who were associated with him in his art. The portraits will include those of Priestley, Bentley, Boulton, Darwin, and Flaxman, and already has been hung Stubb's interesting picture of Wedgwood and his famby. In the apartment now the modelling room, the general merit of the exhibition was sus tained by the water-colour collection. This room has an excellent north light, and is admirably adapted for the purpose. Among the numerous artists represented here are Cattermole, Hunt, David Cox (very largely), Doyle, Harding, Steeple, Louis Haghe, Carl Haag, Newton Gbbert, Lucas, Prout, Duncan, Topham, Castineau, Copley, Fielding, and Birkett Foster ; this enumeration by no means near exhausting the list. In other parts of the bubding were photographs from original designs by Flaxman, Stothard, Clodion, and Barili, which have been presented to the Institute by Mr. Henry Vaughan, of London, whose example the com mittee hope to see followed, as thereby what can otherwise be of little service may be utilized for the general advantage, in an institute where their permanent exhibition to art students is secured. Considerable attention was properly paid to the ceramic part of this exhibition. The following extract from the handbook of Wedgwood ware wbl afford a good idea of this department. We may add that of each branch mentioned there were illustrations in the exhibition : — " After the expiration of his apprenticeship, Wedgwood remained with his brother about three years, and then entered into partnership with John Harrison, of Stoke, and sub sequently, in 1754, with Thomas Whieldon, of Fenton, one of the most successful potters of his day. This latter partnership lasted PAST AND PRESENT. 237 five years, during which time the firm made tortoiseshell plates and dishes, cauliflower jugs, teapots with crabstick handles, imita tion agate knife-handles, &c. Whbe here, Wedgwood succeeded in producing that fine green glaze which covered dessert plates and dishes in imitation of leaves and fruit. All these wares show a high degree of taste and skill. In 1759 Wedgwood removed to Burslem, and started in business on his own account. Here, after numberless experiments and disappointments, he perfected in body, glaze, out line, and ornament, his celebrated cream-coloured or queen's ware. The patronage of Queen Charlotte brought distinction and wealth to the enterprising potter, and orders flowed in rapidly. He soon began to turn his attention to the Continent, and was the most active promoter of the Trent and Mersey Canal scheme. From 1760 new discoveries followed each other in rapid succession, to the astonishment and admiration of ab connoisseurs. First came a terra-cotta, resembling porphyry, granite, Egyptian pebble, and other beautiful stones of the silicious or crystalline order. The black Egyptian biscuit body, or basaltes, was produced in 1766. This is a dense and compact material, hard enough to strike fire on steel, capable of receiving and retaining a fine polish, and suscep tible of being moulded into works of the highest artistic excellence. Independently of the numerous vases of this material, modelled after the most esteemed forms of ancient art, and enriched with admirably executed bas-reliefs, there exist numberless domestic articles, many of which take refined and elevated Grecian forms. In the same body were produced busts, statuettes, tritons, tripods, lamps, pedestals, intaglios, and medallions in almost endless variety. By common consent, however, the most remarkable of ab these Anglo-Etrurian productions is the 'jasper,' which was first made in 1773, and perfected in 1776. It is a white biscuit of exquisite delicacy and beauty, and it has the property of receiving through its whole substance, from the admixture of metallic oxides, the same colours as those oxides communicated to glass or enamel in fusion. This peculiar property, which it shares with no other 'body' of ancient or modern times, renders it applicable, in a manner no less pleasing than extraordinary, to the production of cameos, portraits, and all subjects which reqube to be shown in relief, since the ground can be made of any colour which may be required, whilst the raised figures are of the purest white. Wedgwood's own estimate of this ware is thus expressed in his 'catalogue' for 1787 : — 'As these are 238 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : my latest, I hope they wbl be found to be my most approved works. Verbal descriptions could give but an imperfect idea of the dehcacy of the materials, the execution of the artist, or the general effect ; and I must therefore beg leave to refer those who wish for infor mation in these respects to a view of the articles themselves.' The most severely classic productions of Wedgwood were his imitations of the vases of ancient Etruria, for which alone, of ab his discoveries, he took out a patent. This patent was to secure his invention 'for the purpose of ornamenting earthen and porcelain ware with an encaustic gold bronze, together with a pecubar species of encaustic painting in various colours, in imitation of the ancient Etruscan ware.' According to Miss Meteyard, the patent was infringed by a clever potter of Hanley, named Palmer ; and Wedgwood — ' rightly judging that he, least of ab men, who had such true opinions respecting art and its tendencies relative to civilization, should at tempt to curtail its advance by an impossible monopoly, and stultify, as it were, the growing influence of recovered antiquity' — generously relinquished the patent rather than go to law with his neighbour. Examples of bamboo and other bodies are shown. They deserve, in common with those already mentioned, the careful attention of the practical potter, and wbl no doubt contribute by their artistic merits to the gratification of the connoisseur." The life of Wedgwood has been so fully, faithfuby, and lovingly related by Miss Meteyard in her two magnificent volumes, that nothing remains to be added to that noble biography. A brief sketch of this truly great man must, however, be given ; and the following contains the main incidents of his useful and honourable career. He was born on the 12th of July, 1730, at Burslem, where his father earned a scanty living by working at the potter's wheel. The latter died when Josiah was eleven years old; and the boy, at that early age, was compelled to gain his bread by working as a thrower to his elder brother's wheel. At that time the manufacture of earthenware in England was in a very rudi mentary condition, and British households were supplied with the commoner sort of ware from Delft, in Holland; while China furnished the costly porcelain. Staffordshire produced earthenware only of the coarsest quality, which was hawked about the country by the workmen themselves, or by the common pedlars. A malig nant attack of smab-pox, which finally settled in his left leg, and necessitated its amputation, compebed young Wedgwood to PAST AND PRESENT. 239 relinquish the potter's wheel. He formed a partnership with a workman as poor as himself, named Harrison, and began business at Stoke. His taste for decoration and a higher style of manu facture appears not to have suited the commercial notions of this partner, nor of a succeeding one, named Whieldon, in conjunction with whom he had made and dealt in earthenware knife-handles, green pickle leaves, and fanciful articles of that kind. At length he returned to Burslem, and set up on his own account in a smab thatched house; in which, by assiduous labour and close observation, animated by an ardent desire for improvement, he graduahy made his way to prosperity. Among other facts, he observed that an earth containing sibca, which was black, became white when calcined. Thereupon, mixing silica with the red powder of the Potteries, he obtained a white material, which, being covered with a transparent glaze, formed a beautiful earthenware, that not only drove Delft ware out of the market, but which soon acquired a high reputation in various parts of the world, and constituted an important item in the annual export of this country. A new branch of industry was planted in his native country. Thousands of hands were employed and well paid, where, a few years previously, a comparatively small number made only a poor livelihood as potters. Increasing in business, Wedgwood established a house in London, where Mr. Bentley became his partner. Every effort was made to add elegance of design to the other merits of Wedgwood's ware. He found out the boy John Flaxman, then helping his father to make plaster-casts, in their shop in New Street, Covent Garden. " Well, my lad," said Wedgwood, " I have heard that you are a good draughtsman and clever designer. I'm a manufacturer of pots. I want you to design some models for me — nothing fantastic, but simple, tasteful, and correct in drawing. I'b pay you web. They are for pots of all kinds — tea-pots, jugs, tea-cups, and saucers. Especially I want designs for a table-service: begin with that. What you design is meant for the eyes of royalty : think of that." The connection thus formed between the manufacturer and the artist was profit able and honourable to both. Wedgwood's single-hearted loyalty was sufficiently rewarded by the appointment of royal potter being conferred on him by Queen Charlotte. He was extremely suc cessful hi his imitations of ancient works of art — specimens from Herculaneum, lent him by Sir W. Hamilton; the celebrated 240 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: Barberini or Portland vase, lent by the duchess of Portland; and many other rare samples of porcelain. He was also a zealous improver of the county he lived in; made a turnpike road, ten mbes long, through the Potteries; and vigorously seconded Brindley in the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal. In 1771 he bubt a mansion and works near Newcastle-under-Lyme, round which he formed a vblage for his workmen, calling it Etruria. Here he died on the 3rd of January, 1795, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. " From the nature of his complaint he had to be buried speedily. Through the deep snow, which then lay over England, he was borne to his last resting-place in the porchway of the old parish church of Stoke, on Tuesday, January 6. At a subsequent date, Flaxman made his monument, and it was placed in the chancel. Upon the rebubding of the church upon a fresh site in 1829, the monument was removed into the new chancel, and the grave, thus uncovered, with that ofhis wife, who died January 15, 1815, now lies simply railed in, amidst the other graves in the churchyard. No more than this simpbcity was needed, for his name hves in the industrial history of the country he loved so well, and so enriched by the bounties of his art and the example of his worthy life." On October 25, 1869,- the Free Library in the Wedgwood Memo rial Building was opened for the use of the people. Butterton. — This township and chapelry includes the hamlet of Millstone Green, and only contains 470 acres, 64 inhabitants, 9 houses, and its real property is valued at £974. The living is a perpetual curacy of the annual value of £147, in the gift of Sir Lionel M. Pilkington. " The village is irregular and ill built, in a low situation, surrounded with trees, which relieve the eye in these dreary and naked moorlands." Chorlton is a chapelry, and includes the township of Hill Chorlton or Chorlton-on-the-Hib, and part of the hamlet of Stableford. The vblage in which the chapel stands is cabed Chapel Chorlton. The church is small, and is a chapel of ease to Eccleshab. Chorlton contains 1921 acres, 475 inhabitants, 91 houses, and real property valued at £3342. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £133, and is in the patronage of the bishop of Lichfield. Eccleshall. — This place has the honour of being the residence of the bishop of the diocese. The parish is large and extensive, and contains no fewer than nineteen townships. They are Aspley, Bromley, Broughton, Charnes, Chatweb, Chorlton-Hib, Coldmeere, PAST AND PRESENT. 241 Cotes, Croxton, Hasely, Mblmeere, Pershab, Podmore, Shindon, Sugnall Magna, Sugnall Parva, Three Farms, Walton, and Wotton. A web-informed correspondent communicated to Mr. Pitt the fol lowing record of Eccleshall town and castle : — " When Nero was emperor of the Roman empire Arvigarus was king of Britain. Vespasian, then general of the Roman army in Britain, built a town in a large marsh on the banks of the river Sow, adjacent to the forest of Bloor, and ordered one of the Roman standards to be kept there. The standard represented an eagle, and the town was called Eagleshab. It was built about the year 60. On the southern side, at the foot of the hbl, a temple was erected to Jupiter, and a flameary, or place for sacrifices. About the year of our Lord 209, Lucius, king of Britain, gave the town the name of Eccleshall, and the temple of Jove, Hasmere. This edifice was consecrated as a Christian church, and continued till the year 509, when Creda, a Saxon, the eleventh from Weber, the first king of Mercia, conquered the Britons, and destroyed all the Christian churches within the counties of Stafford, Glouces ter, Hereford, Chester, Worcester, Oxford, Warwick, Derby, Leicester, Buckingham, Northampton, Nottingham, Lincoln, Bed ford, Huntingdon, and part of Hertford. The Christians were obliged to seek an asylum* in Worlsor, supposed to be Wales, tbl about the year 660, when Lawrence, archbishop of Canterbury, consecrated Devine bishop of Lichfield, and afterwards Eccleshall and the forest of Bloor was given to him by Penda, king of Mercia. "Eccleshall church was rebuilt in the year 661, but was destroyed nine years afterwards by Wulfere, king of Mercia, who in 670, whbe at his castle at Ulferoster, or Uttoxeter, was informed that his two sons, Ulfred and Rufin, under pretence of hunting, were gone to Eccleshall, to Bishop Chadd, to be baptized and instructed in the Christian religion. The king, being instigated by his con cubine Werebode, hastened to Eccleshab, and finding his sons in the church, in divine contemplation, he slew them both with his own hand, and then destroyed the edifice. Queen Erminbda, the mother of the two royal martyrs, took their bodies, and buried them in a certain place not far from Eccleshall, and built a monas tery over them ; and, from the great quantity of stones collected for this building, the place was called Stones, now Stone, a market town in this county. King Wulfere afterwards repented, rebubt Eccleshall church and ab others which he had destroyed, and was vol. r. 2 a 212 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : very favourable to the Christians, but died without an heir. His brother Ethelred succeeded him in his kingdom ; then Eccleshall began to flourish, and became so famous and populous, that it had five parish churches and two chapels in it. This prosperity continued nearly three centuries and a half; but a sudden reverse took place in the year 1010, when the Danes laid Eccleshall town and castle, and all its churches, in ashes by fire. It lay in ruins till 1090, when Elias de Jantonices, prebend of Eccleshab, rebubt the old church, and dedicated it to the Holy Trinity. In the year 1299 Walter Langton, bishop of Lichfield, rebuilt Eccles hall Castle." The town is small, containing only 310 houses, with 1484 inhabi tants. The parish with its nineteen townships contains 21,460 acres, 4827 inhabitants, 998 houses, and its real property is valued at £37,925. The church is a large and handsome Gothic edifice. The "nave is lighted on the south side by nine large Gothic windows, and the chancel by one large and three narrow windows." It con tains some monuments of the Bosvibes and others. The church and churchyard are at the extremity of the town. The square tower is large and high, " built of stone, and adorned with eight pinnacles and a vane. It contains six bells and a clock. The rooks have taken possession of this airy citadel, and may be seen in numbers flying in and out of the apertures in the steeple. The general exterior appearance of the church is magnificent; the walls are ornamented with smab pinnacles and battlements, and the northern entrance is through a very beautiful and high Gothic arch. This edifice bears strong marks of antiquity, and is evidently verging to decay, for tbe wall on the north is supported by five strong buttresses." It was here that Bishop Hulse concealed Queen Margaret when she fled from Muckleston, after her great defeat at the battle on Blore Heath. The living is a vicarage worth £254, in the gift of the bishop of Lichfield. The Independents have a chapel at Eccleshall. Keele. — The village of Keele is pleasantly situated, and gives its name to a small parish. In ancient times it belonged to the Knights Templars, but is now an independent manor in the pos session of Ralph Sneyd, Esq., the present representative of the family which has owned the manor for upwards of two centuries. Keele Hall is a fine mansion bubt of stone, in the Elizabethan style of architecture. Dr. Plot says it was bubt in 1581. The PAST AND PRESENT. 243 south part has, however, undergone alterations. "Over the entrance door on the same side of the house are two shields, the one contain ing the arms of Sneyd, the other Sneyd impaling Bagot; and there is affixed a lion passant guardant between them, the crest of the Sneyds. The present occupier has erected a handsome new west front, of the same kind of stone, which is embattled and adorned with four octagon embattled turrets. The grounds of this demesne are embellished with flourishing groves and plantations, and a bubding or summer house, noticed in most maps, called the Pavilion, erected on an eminence which commands extensive views of the surrounding country. There is a dingle of excellent oak to the south-west on the road to Madeley." The parish contains 2579 acres, 1052 inhabitants, 193 houses, and real property valued at £18,115. The old church was replaced, in 1868, by the present building at a cost of upwards of £10,000. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £200, in the patronage of Ralph Sneyd, Esq. Pitt furnishes us with an example of the origin of surnames in the following entry from the parish register: — "Sarah Legacy, who was left as such to the town, by some roving person or other, on the 5th of November last, baptized February 20th, 1737." Madeley. — This parish consists of the hamlets of Great Madeley and Little Madeley. Both are ancient vblages, and in Great Madeley are some fine half-timbered houses, on one of which is the follow ing inscription: "16 — Walk, knave, what look'st at — 47." The Offley's have been great benefactors of this place, as the following catalogue of their gifts to the " Church, School, and Poor of ye Parish of Madeley " will amply testify : — "Imp. The said Sir John Offley gave by his will ten pounds, to be paid forthwith to as many of ye poor of ys. parish as his Executors shall think fit. "Item. He bequeath'd to so many poor men of Madely and Muckleston as he should be years old at the time of his decease, so many cloth gowns, to attend his corpse to church. "Item. He gave a hundred and twenty pounds, or whatso ever more would erect and build two decent and convenient school-houses, in such manner as his wbl directs. "Item. He directed threescore pound a year, to be payable by his heirs out of the lands of Upper and Neather Thornhab, for finding a schoolmaster, usher, and schoolmistress for the said schools. 244 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : "Item. He directed ten alms-houses to be built, and endowed the same with forty-five pound a year, payable out of his lands and tenements in the City of London ; likewise in Hackney, Stepney, and elsewhere in the county of Middlesex, for ye clothing and maintenance of ten poor men or women of this parish. "Item. He gave a hundred pound to buy a pulpit cloth, cushion, and communion carpet ; also two silver flaggons and a sbver cup. " Item. He gave by his said will, twenty pound a year for ever, for preaching a weekly sermon in the Parish Church of Madeley. " The Honrd. Mary Offley, widow, late wife of John Offley, Esqr., left to ye township of Madeley the use of a hundred pound, to be dealt in bread. "John Crewe, of Crewe in ye county of Chester, Esq., great grandson of the said Sir John Offley, gave in his bfetime a hundred and four pounds, thirteen shilhngs, towards raising the bounty for this vicarage." The parish, including the township of Onnely, contains 5734 acres, 23 S 7 inhabitants, 479 houses, and real property valued at £8730. The church is an ancient structure of stone, and "consists of a nave, side-aisles, transepts, and a chancel, which is at the east end of the nave; to the north wall of which latter is attached a cemetery of nearly the same size and plan as the transepts. It has also a south porch, and a square embattled tower at the west end of the nave, in which is a ring of six bebs, the sixth having been lately bequeathed by Mr. Samuel Stretch. In the interior the different parts are separated from each other by pointed arches, supported on plain pillars. On the north side of the chancel arch are the reading desk and pulpit, the latter of which is ancient oak, moderately carved with small Saxon arches. The crimson velvet cloth and cushion were the gift of the R.ev. Thomas Barlow, as is mentioned on one of the tables of benefactions. Above the same arch, in the nave, is painted the Paternoster, the Creed, and the Commandments, on two tables. Between these tables are the royal arms, painted in the year 1804. A small brass chandelier of twelve lights is suspended from the middle of the cebing of the nave, and is inscribed : — ' Bequeathed by Samuel Stretch, of Madeley.' At the west end of the nave there is a small organ ; and the church contains several monuments of the Egerton family, particularly one of Ebzabeth, wife of Sir John Egerton, who died in PAST AND PRESENT. 245 the year 1701. She was daughter and sole heir of William Holland, of Denton Heaton, in the county of Lancaster, from whom descended the earls of Wbton, who retain the famby name of Egerton. There are several other memorable family monuments ; and among others, one in the cemetery attached to the chancel, of Sir John Offley, who died September 6, 1688." The living is a vicarage, worth £266, in the gift of the Hon. Mrs. C. Offley. About a mile southward of Madeley are some ruins of the old manor house, surrounded by a moat, in a pleasant and fertile spot. Maer. — This parish is supposed to have derived its name from a mere which is the source of the Team. It comprises the town ships of Maer and Maer- way-lane, and contains 2736 acres, 387 inhabitants, 78 houses, and real property valued at £3339. "The little church is picturesquely situated on a steep dechvity, the churchyard being embosomed in a wood. The tower and north aisle alone are at all ancient. Within there is a mural tablet to a Macclesfield, and an altar tomb, of the date of 1604, to Sir John Bowyer and his wife Catherine. It is of sandstone, and has been painted and gilt. The arms of Bowyer and Biddulph are in the wall of the north aisle, and probably this more ancient part of the church may be about the sixteenth century." The living is a perpetual curacy, worth £145, in the gift of H. Davenport, Esq. The follow ing interesting account of Maer Heath is from the Gentleman's Magazine: — "About hah a mbe to the north of the vblage of Maer, is a hbl cabed the Byrth ; round a great part of the summit of which has been made a fosse and rampart of an irregular form, correspond ing with the figure of the hill, which may be nearly a mbe in chcumference. At the distance of a mbe or more from, and to the north-west of the Byrth, is another hill, which is part of Maer Heath, and is called the Camp Hbl. Between these are two more hills, the one very near to the Byrth, which is named the Little Byrth ; and the other, which is larger, is called Coplow. Dr. Plot is of opinion that a battle was fought here, about the year of our Lord 705, between Osrid king of Northumberland, and Kenred king of Mercia. He also conjectures Coplow Hbl to be the tumulus of Osrid, and the Byrth to be a fortification or stronghold that Kenred had raised against him. His conjectures seem to be grounded chiefly on a quotation from Henry Huntingdon, viz., " Osrid vero rex belli infortunio juxta Mere pugnans interfectus est." In taking a view of the ground on Maer Heath, however, 246 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : there appears to be nothing artificial, except the two- small hbls on the Camp Hill, and the fosse and rampart round the Byrth. " A few years ago, George Tobet, Esq., a gentleman of learning and an antiquary, the Rev. T. Barlow, and Mr. Poole, of Tinney Green, and other gentlemen, went to view Maer Heath, for the purpose of ascertaining whether there were any barrows. They dug into those places that had some resemblance to barrows, but found nothing like sepulchral remains. Coplow Hbl is evidently the work of nature ; and as a public road has been made over part of the heath since the time of Dr. Plot, and sections made through some parts of the hills, in which regular strata appear, it is probable that Osrid was slain near some other place called Mere." Norton-in-the-Moors. — This parish contains the townships of Bemersley and Norton, the hamlets of Ford-Green, Norton-Green, Smab thorn, and Milton. It has 4234 acres, 6902 inhabitants, 1295 houses, and real property valued at £15,172. The village is on a hill between two of the upper branches of the Trent ; " the land in its vicinity is cold, and the country hhly." The church is a smab brick bubding, and was rebuilt about 1738. The living is a rectory, worth £550, in the gift of Sir C. B. Adderley. There are also places of worship of the Independents, the Wesleyans, and the Primitive Methodists. Dr. Plot mentions that he first noticed in this part a method of felling oak trees and stripping them of their bark, which he praises. " In the felling whereof," he writes, "they have this very good custom, that they flaw it standing about the beginning or middle of May, which I first observed in some fences near Norton-on-the-Moors, Milton, Bachley, where there were several oaks stood naked, divested of their bark, which they told me would not be felled tbl Michaelmas fobowing at soonest, or perhaps not tbl mid- winter, or the ensuing spring; which I take to be a way of so valuable consideration, that, perhaps, it may deserve the debate of a Parbament, whether it might not be worth whbe to enforce this custom to be strictly, observed ab over the nation 1 for though, by a reserve in the Act for due felling oaken timber, it may be done at any time for bubding or repairing houses, ships, or mbls ; yet for any other uses none may feb it (in consideration of the tan) when bark is worth but two shillings per load, over and above the charges of barking and pilling, but between the first of April and last of June, when the sap is up, and the bark will run, which cause the outside of the timber to PAST AND PRESENT. 247 rot away quickly, and to grow worm-eaten ; whereas those being felled in or near winter, and having stood naked ah the summer drying in the sun, become in a manner as hard and sound without as within, being as it were ab heart, and not so subject to worms ; by which means there would be a great deal of good timber saved, and no other would be used ; nor would the use of the bark be lost to the tanner, as I suppose is presumed in the present Act it would, should it have admitted felling oaks in the winter season, when the bark wbl not run." The worthy doctor is full of curious and peculiar customs, and sometimes was misled by his love of the wonderful ; but in this case of barking and felling oaks he writes like a practical man of sound common-sense. Standon. — This smab parish includes the hamlet of Cotes, and contains 2570 acres, 329 inhabitants, 63 houses, and real property valued at £4481. The church is a small stone bubding, with a tower and three bebs : with the exception of the tower it was rebubt in 1846. The hving is a rectory worth £590. The village is pleasantly situated; it stands high, commands a fine view, and is surrounded by rich and fertbe fields. Cotes Lodge is a good residence in the hamlet of that name. Stoke-upon- Trent. — Mr. Pitt describes this place as the parish town of the Potteries, " inasmuch as the most important, or by far the greater part of the Potteries are, or were, in this parish. Some portions or districts have since been made distinct parishes by Acts of Parliament." It is situated on the river Trent, and hence the distinguishing part of its name. "From this place to Newcastle," Mr. Aitken truly says, "on the right, the prospects are extremely beautiful, and nearly at the midway a view so populous, and at the same time so picturesque, is seldom met with." Stoke- upon-Trent was made a parbamentary borough by the Reform Act of 1832, and two members were given to it. The borough includes Boothen, Burslem, Fentons, Hanley, Longton, Lane-End, part of the township of Penkhull, the hamlet of Sneyd, and Rush ton-Grange. The population of the town is 14,007, of the borough 130,985, with 24,666 houses. The parish contains the townships of Shelton, Hanley, Bucknab, Bucknab-Eaves, Bag- nell, Fentons, Botteslow, Longton, and Lane-End. It consists of 10,490 acres, with 89,262 inhabitants, and 16,954 houses. The church, which is ancient, was formerly the. mother church of most of the churches round, to the extent of several miles. The living 248 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: is a rectory worth £2717. There are some monuments to the Fentons, and the following epitaph to the Great Potter — " Sacred to the Memory o"f Josiah Wedgwood, F.R.S. & F.S.A, Of Etruria, in this county, Born in August, 1730, Died January the 3rd, 1795 : AVho converted a rude and inconsiderable manufacture into an elegant art and an important part of the national commerce. By these services to his country he acquired an ample fortune, which he blamelessly and reasonably enjoyed, and generously dispensed for the reward of merit and the relief of misfortune. His mind was inventive and original, yet perfectly sober and well regulated. His character was decisive and commanding, without rashness or arrogance. His probity was inflexible, his kindness unwearied, his manners simple and dignified, and the cheerfulness of his temper was the natural reward of the activity of his pure and useful life. He was most loved by them who knew him best ; and he has left indelible impressions of affection and veneration on the minds of his family, who have erected this monument to his memory." A newT school-church was erected in 1870. In 1863 a bronze statue to Wedgwood was placed in the town; in 1866 the North Staffordshire Infirmary was built ; and Stoke- upon-Trent has now a town hall, thirteen dissenting places of worship, a Roman Catholic chapel, and a large number of schools. The railway station is an exceedingly fine one. It is in the Tudor style of architecture, and was erected at a cost of £150,000. It is worthy of notice that the " first steam-engine for grinding burned flint for the use of the potters was established at Stoke." Swinnerton. — In the time of the Saxons this was a royal residence. In the reign of Edward I. it was made a market by charter, " but . this pri vbege has long fallen into disuse." The manor, writes Mr. Nightingale, "at the time of the Conquest belonged to a person cabed Aslam, who held it from Robert de Stafford. That individual appears from Domesday to have possessed no fewer than eighty-one manors in this county alone. His descendants assumed the name of Swinerton, and many of them were persons distinguished both in the field and in the cabinet. Roger de Swinerton, in the reign of Edward IIL, had the honour of being summoned to Parbament, and was soon after created a banneret. He it was who obtained the privbege of a market for this place, as also a free warren, and a fair. Edward II. first appointed him governor of Stafford, and afterwards of the important fortress of Harlech in Merionethshire. Having distinguished himself highly in these different services, he was appointed constable of the Tower, PAST AND PRESENT. 249 and received an assignation, out of the Exchequer, of one hundred and forty-five pounds, thirteen shibings, and eight pence per annum. In this famby the manor continued tib the reign of Henry VIIL, when it was carried into that of Fitzherbert by the marriage of the youngest daughter of Humphry Swinerton, the last male heir, with William Fitzherbert of Norbury ; from whom the present proprietor is a lineal descendant." The parish includes five townships, and contains 6529 acres, 876 inhabitants, 192 houses, and real property valued at £8844. The living is a rectory worth £1088. The church is ancient, but was repaired in 1868. A new Roman Catholic chapel was built in 1871, at the cost of B. T. Fitzherbert, Esq. Swinnerton Park, Hanchurch High-heath, and Millstone Green are splendid places for rambles, there being stbl, in spite of recent cultivation, a sufficient area of woodland to render it tempting to the lover of wild uncultivated nature. Dr. Plot remarks, " that those places that are situate highest, and enjoying the fewest waters, mines, and woods, must undoubtedly be the healthiest, in proportion as they are free from one, more, or all of them ; upon which account I take Swynerton, the vblage of Beech, and ab the hill country between that and Trentham (being void of most, if not all of them) to be the healthiest spot of ground in all the county, which seems amply to be made out by an observation that they have there, viz., that they have three christenings for one buryal." Trentham. — The glory of Trentham is the palatial residence of the duke of Sutherland, Trentham Hab, and its magnificent park and grounds. The present hall is in the Italian style, and is the work of Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parbament. The parish includes five townships, and contains 6900 acres, 6371 inhabitants, and 1292 houses. In the vblage there was formerly a very ancient nunnery. The period of its foundation is uncertain ; but in the reign of king Ethelred we find his sister, the celebrated St. Wer- burg, appointed abbess of it. This lady died in the year 683. From that time history is silent concerning it, tbl towards the close of the reign of Henry I., when it is said to have been rebubt or refounded by Randal, second earl of Chester, for canons of the order of St. Augustin. Mr. Erdeswick, indeed, hazards a conjec ture that it was actually refounded by Hugh Lupus, in the time of Wbliam Rufus, and subsequently only augmented by Randal ; an opinion not entirely destitute of probability. After its renewal vol. i. 2 I 250 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : the priory was dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary and All Saints. At the era of the dissolution it had seven religious houses, and possessed endowments to the amount of £121 3s. 2d. per annum. Subsequent to that event the site was granted by the king to Charles, duke of Suffolk. In later times than the era of its monastery, Trentham became remarkable by the large share it had in the will of the charitable Lady Catherine Leveson, daughter of Alice, Duchess Dudley, who died in 1673; leaving several excellent endowments for support of poor widows and inhabitants in this and various other places. That lady was the wife of Sir Richard Leveson, upon whose death without issue his sister and co-heir carried the lordship by marriage to Sir Thomas Gower, whose descendants were elevated to a peerage, and continued to reside chiefly at this house. Dugdale says that " Trentham, heretofore called Trichingham, is of no note for anything ancient, but a little monastery dedicated to the holy and royal virgin St. Werburga, and erected for canons regular of St. Augustine, in the reign of Wibiam Rufus. Ranulph de Gernons, earl of Chester, is said to be the founder of this monas tery." If of no note for anything ancient, Trentham is certainly of note for something modern. The Hall and grounds are among the finest in England, so rich in noblemen's parks and mansions. The inclosures which surround the Hab are very extensive, and finely variegated by umbrageous trees, and extensive sheets of water formed by the river Trent, which passes through them. These lakes, with their accompaniments of imperious shade, winding behind a swelbng hill covered with trees which approach and hang over the margin of the water, harve an effect truly magnificent and worthy of the noble owner. The higher grounds command exten sive views. " The Hall," says Mr. Gurner, " from its size and fine Corinthian architecture, is worthy to be a ducal residence ; the situation is rather low, being near the river. The present [the late duke] proprietor has added a fine Italian open tower and otherwise much enlarged the building. The gardens are also laid out in the Italian style, in terraces overlooking the charming sheets of water, and with their temples, fountains, statues, and vases of marble and bronze, have an agreeable effect. Over a narrow part of the water is a light and elegant iron bridge, of a single span ; whbe conservatories, varied walks, and a fine park, with hanging woods, add to the beauty of the place. In the garden may be PAST AND PRESENT. 251 noticed an arboretum laid out by the late duke, who had consider able botanical knowledge ; the collection of Cratsegi and allied plants is numerous in species and interesting to the botanist. There are several fine cedars of Lebanon, large trees of the Stone and Weymouth pines, of the spruce fir, Auricaria imbricata, Yucca gloriosa, and other exotics. The stoves contain many orchidaceous and other interesting plants. The mausoleum, the burial place of the famby, is of massive architecture suitable to its solemn pur pose, and the grove of sombre trees in which it is situated adds to the effect." Whitmore. — This parish was anciently cabed Witemore, and is thus described in Domesday Book : — " The same R. (Richard Forester) holds Witemore (of the king), and Nigel of him. Ulfac held it, and was a free man. It contains half a hide. The arable land is three carucates; one is hi demesne; and three villains and two bordars hold one carucgite. There is one acre of meadow. A wood a mbe in length and half a mbe in breadth. The whole is worth ten shillings." It is a "pretty bit of country, the ground rising into small hibs, known as the Sugarloaf, Berry Hbl, Camp Hib, and the Berk (ane. Burgh), the latter surmounted by some earthworks, supposed by gome to have been the site of a Roman station." The parish contains 2023 acres, 332 inhabitants, 56 houses, and real property valued at £2839. The living is a rectory worth £380, and is in the gift of Gordon Mainwaring, Esq., who is owner of the manor. Whitmore Hall is occupied by M. D. Hollin s, Esq. The church contams some monuments to the Mainwaring family. John Ball, who used to be called in scorn "the Presby terian's champion," was minister of Whitmore church from 1610 to 1639, the year of his death. Wolstanton is a very extensive parish, containing ten townships, one hamlet, and one liberty, These are the townships of Chatterley, Cheb, Chesterton; Knutton, Oldcote, Rainscliffe, Stadmoreslow, Thursfield, Wedgwood, Wolstanton, the hamlet of Brieryhurst, and the liberty of Tunstall Court The population of the township is 1842, and its real property is valued at £6577. The parish -has an area of 10,739 acres, 41,824 inhabitants, and 7705 houses. The living is a vicarage worth £350, in the gift of the Rev. Walter Sneyd. The church is one of the oldest in the county, and was formerly possessed by the earls of Lancaster, from whom it descended to John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster'. It became greatly 252 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : dilapidated, and was almost entirely rebuilt in 1862. The national schools, accommodating 500 scholars, were rebubt in 1872. The Wesleyans and United Methodists have places of worship. James Brindley the engineer is buried in the village church of New Chapel. The hundred of South Pirehbl contains : — 1, Abbot's Bromley ; 2, Barlaston ; 3, Blithfield ; 4, Chartley Holme; 5, Chebsey;'6, Cold Norton; 7, Colton; 8, Colwich; 9, Ellenhall; 10, Fradsweb; 11, Gayton ; 12, Hopton and Coton; 13, Ingestre ; 14, Marston; 15, Milwich; 16, Ranton ; 17, Ranton Abbey: 18, Salt and Ensor; 19, Sandon; 20, Seighford ; 21, Stone; 22, Stowe; 23, Thlington ; 24, Tixall; 25, Weston-upon-Trent ; 26, Whitgreave ; 27, Worston and Yarlett; 28, the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme; and 29, the county town of Stafford. Abbot's Bromley. — This ancient place was formerly called Bromley only, Abbot's was afterwards added from an abbey which was founded in its neighbourhood. It was at a later period likewise denominated Paget's Bromley, from the noble famby of that name on whom the abbey was bestowed at the time of the general dissolution. The town was formerly a place of more importance than at present, and possessed a variety of valuable privbeges which are now wholly neglected. It consists principahy of one extensive street, the houses in which are for the most part built of brick, and present an appearance of considerable neatness. The town hall, where the court-leet and court-baron of the lord of the manor are held, stands nearly in the middle. A free school, founded here in the year 1603, by Mr. Richard Clarke, is stib a flourishing institution ; and besides it there is an alms-house, web endowed by Mr. Lambert Bagot, for six poor old women. The church is a large bubding, the tower of which is surmounted by a lofty steeple containing a chime of excellent bebs. A remarkable custom, called the Hobbyhorse Dance, is mentioned by Dr. Plot as having existed in this town within the memory of many persons alive at the period when he wrote. It was a sort of amusement which the mhabitants celebrated at Christmas, on New-year's Day, and Twelfth-day. On these occasions a person danced through the principal street, carrying between his legs the figure of a horse composed of thin boards. In his hands he bore a bow and arrow, which last entered a hole in the bow ; and stopping on a shoulder in it, made a sort of snapping noise as he PAST AND PRESENT. 253 drew it to and fro, keeping time with the music. Five or six other individuals danced along with this person, each carrying on his shoulder six reindeers' heads, three of them painted white, and three red, with the arms of the chief famihes, who had at different times been proprietors of the manor, painted on the palms of them. " To this hobbyhorse dance there also belonged a pot, which was kept by turnes by four or five of the chief of the town, whom we call Reeves, who provided cakes and ale to put into this pot ; all the people who had any kindness for the good interest of the institution of the sport, giving pence a piece for themselves and fambies, and so foreigners too, that came to see it ; with which money, the charge of the cakes and ale being defrayed, they not only repaired their church, but kept their poor too ; which charges are not now perhaps so cheerfully born." This practice seems to have existed at other places besides Abbot's Bromley ; for we find hobbyhorse money frequently men tioned in the old parish books both of Stafford and Seighford. It continued in force tbl the era of the civb wars between the Parliament and the House of Stewart, at which time Sir Simon Degge informs us that he saw it often practised. The same author adds, in another part of his work, "that they had something of the same kind to get money for the repair of the church of Stafford, every common counciber then cohecting money from his friends; and whosoever brought in the greatest sum to the hobby horse was considered as the man of best credit, so that they strove who should most improve his interest : and, as he remembered, it was accounted for at Christmas." The parish includes the liberty of Bromley-Hurst, and the lord ship of Bagot's Bromley, and contains 9391 acres, 1456 inhabitants, 323 houses, and its real property is valued at £4409. The hving is a vicarage worth £230, in the gift ofthe marquis of Anglesey. Barlaston. — A parish and village; the former containing 2157 acres, 733 inhabitants, 143 houses, and real property valued at £5078. The church is close to Barlaston Hall, and is a Gothic brick building. The living is a perpetual curacy, worth £220, in the patronage of the duke of Sutherland. Barlaston Hab is a beautiful mansion on a "fine eminence, commanding a most exten sive view of the surrounding country, and looking over the most delightfully picturesque portion ofthe vale^of Trent."* * West's Picturesque Views of Staffordshire. 254 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE. Blithfield. — The parish of Blithfield includes the liberty of Newton; it contains 3193 acres, 380 inhabitants, 78 houses, and real property valued at £5952. Blithfield Hall is the seat of Lord Bagot, and has been in the same famby for upwards of four hundred years, "having come into their possession in the reign of Edward III. in 1367, through the marriage of Sb- Ralph Bagot with the heiress of Blithfield." The house contains a magnificent cobection of paintings, many of which are by the "most eminent artists, and in the collection are several portraits of the Bagot family, who were steady adherents to the cause of the unfortunate Charles 1. The park presents some beautiful and interesting scenery, and. is situate at some distance from the house : the majestic oaks which adorn this delightful spot are perhaps unrivabed in England, in their girth, height, and straightness of body. . . . There is an excellent sculpture of King John signing Magna Charta placed in the hall, which, with the library and extensive drawing room, form the best apartments, and have been added recently." The church is old and good, and contains some monuments and brasses of the Bagot famby, " one of which is to the memory of Ludolkin Bagot, his two wives, and his nineteen chbdren." There is a web- preserved cross in the churchyard. The hving is a rectory worth £388, in the gift of Lord Bagot. Chartley- Holme. — At the time of the general survey, Chartley was in the hands of the Conqueror. Rufus gave it to Hugh, earl of Chester. The castle is said to have been bubt in 1218 by Randall Blundervibe, thud eari of Chester. He died without hehs, and the estate descended to four sisters, of whom Agnes had Chartley. She married Wbliam de Ferrers, earl of Derby, and thus brought the manor to that famby. It is now the property of Earl Ferrers, "and is one of the most romantic relics of antiquity in Staffordshire, being an ancient ruin similar- to that of Dudley Castle. The site is on the side of a lofty eminence, and the remains of the castle consist of two round towers, partly covered with ivy, rising amid the foliage of nearly one hundred full-grown yew trees, of the age of many centuries. This ancient fortress is surrounded by a deep moat, and doubtless was considered as a place of great strength before the invention of gunpowder." Mary Queen of Scots was for some time a prisoner in the ancient mansion of Chartley, of which the royal captive made many and loud complaints, and in which she appears to have suffered some inconveniences. The PAST AND PRESENT. 255 old castle was burnt down in 1781. The present building is modern, and was burnt in 1847. Chartley Park was at one time famous for its stock of wild cattle and its deer, red and fabow. It is an old inclosure from Needwood Forest. Chartley itself is an extra- parochial tract, and contains 2478 acres, 41 inhabitants, 8 houses, and real property valued at £9126. The Devereux and the Shirley families have also property here. Chebsey. — This is a large parish, and contains the township of Cold Norton. At the Conquest it was held of Henry de Ferrers by Humphredus. It belonged to the Hastings for several genera tions. The village is ancient, and so is the church. In the church yard there stands a lofty stone of a pyramidical shape, resembling those at Draycot and Leek. The precise use of these stones is not very apparent. Many writers have regarded them as the shafts of crosses, and this opinion for some time received the sanction of Dr. Plot. That gentleman, however, subsequently changed his sentiments upon this subject ; and decided that they were Danish monuments, from their simbarity to such erections, both in Denmark and England, as were confessedly of that description. The popu lation of the village is 487, and it contains 97 houses. The parish has 4172 acres, 514 inhabitants, 99 houses, and real property valued at £8900. The living is a vicarage worth £270, of which the dean and chapter of Lichfield are the patrons. In the township of Cold Norton there are 51 inhabitants, 7 houses, and its real property is valued at £1798. Colton. — A parish and village in one of the loveliest parts of Staffordshire. It is bounded by the river Trent, which flows through some beautiful scenery, and meadows and fields rich with culti vation. The vblage is smab, and the parish includes the hamlet of Lea-lane and the village of Newland. It contains 3665 acres, 657 inhabitants, 145 houses, and real property valued at £9543. The living is a rectory worth £560. Colwich. — This vblage is most beautifully situated on the north bank of the river Trent, at the distance of two miles from the town of Rugeley. Nothing can be more debghtful than the scenery which this part of the county exhibits. The river here flows through a vale of the richest verdure, adorned with a variety of elegant villas. To use the words of Mr. Pennant : " It is per fectly prodigal in its beauties, and spreads at once every charm that can captivate the eye." Pitt also, warms into eloquence about 256 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: the beauty of this place. " It is difficult," he says, " to describe the fine country between Colton and Colwich, especially the Vale of Trent, and the beautifuby picturesque hills on the northern bank of that river. These hbls and the intermediate valleys exhibit all the varieties of cultivation and the beauties of wood land, with here and there an airy peak rising above the rest, covered with fern and gorse. The whole scene reminds us of Thomson's descriptive hnes: — ' 0 vale of bliss ! 0 softly swelling hills ! On which the Power of cultivation lies, And joys to see the wonders of his hand.' The church is an ancient building, dedicated to St. Michael, and contains a number of monuments in honour of the families of Anson and Wolseley. The burying place of the former is made a, I'antique, in the shape of a catacomb. One to Sir William Wolseley has an inscription in commemoration of his unlucky and singular fate. He was drowned in his chariot, owing to the accidental bursting of a mill dam, on the 8th of July, 1728, in the neighbourhood of Longdon. The accident was the result of a thunder storm. His four horses were lost ; but, strange to teb, the coachman escaped, having been carried by the torrent into an orchard, where he remained fast tib the flood abated. The parish is an extensive one, and includes Bishton, Fradsweb, Moreton, Wolseley, Shugborough, Swanmoor, Mount Priory, and other places. It contains 8975 acres, 1834 inhabitants, 375 houses, and real property valued at £26,583. The hving is a vicarage worth £514, in the gift of the bishop of Lichfield. Shugborough Park is the seat of the earl of Lichfield. Mr. Pennant has described the vale of Shugborough with his usual accuracy and pleasantness. Leland makes but bttle mention of the place, briefly remarking, that "some call it Shokesborow Haywood, because it standith by it." Camden does not notice the place at ab. It is near Great Heywood, a vibage bestowed by Roger de Melend, otherwise Long Epee, "a worthless prelate, in the reign of Henry III." on his valet, Roger de Aston. He was son of Ralph Aston, and father of Sir John Aston, Knight, whose posterity enjoyed the seat tbl the latter end of the sixteenth cen tury, or the beginning of the seventeeth, Sir Edward then being in possession of it. PAST AND PRESENT. 257 This famby, as they received their estate from, the church, so they have always shown a particular respect to churchmen and learned men. Sir Walter Aston, father of Sir Edward, was em ployed by James I. as ambassador into Spam, and Michael Drayton mentions him as particularly friendly to his muse. This estate passed from the Astons to the famby of the Tixals ; the heiress of Tixal being married to a descendant of the Astons occasioned it to remove to the new acquisition. " If my memory does not fab me," says this writer, "the old seat was in the possession of the Whitbies." It has since been reunited to the house of Tixal, by purchase. The barn belonging to the manor house was of a most magnificent size, but has been greatly reduced. The horse- bridge over the Trent, adjoining to Haywood, was formerly not less remarkable for extraordinary dimensions. Mr. Pennant says he remembered it to have consisted of two-and-forty arches. Magna Britannia says it " is longer than any bridge in England, having near forty arches ; yet much shorter than the bridge over Drave, at Essec, which Dr. Brown tells us is at least five mbes long, and made all of wood." The tradition is, that it was built by the county, in compbment to the last Devereux, earl of Essex, who resided much at Chartley ; and being a keen sportsman, was often deprived of his diversion for want of a bridge. Mr. Pennant, who states this, says he was not clear about the truth of this report; and adds, "then there certainly had been a bridge here long before ; so that, if there was any foundation for such a mark of respect, it could only have been rebuilt after fabing to decay." The chief reason for the notice which we have just given of Haywood, and of this bridge, is that we might more conveniently introduce the beautiful vale of Shugborough, winch from the middle of the bridge is seen to great advantage. This vale, varied with almost every thing that nature and art could give to render it delicious, is watered by the Trent and Sow ; the first, to use the words of the author last quoted, animated with mbk-white cattle, emulating those of Titian, the last with numerous swans. The boundary on one side is a cultivated slope ; on the other, the lofty front of Cannock Wood, clothed with heath, or shaded with old oaks, scattered over its glowing bloom by the free hand of nature. It is more difficult, continues Mr. Pennant, to enumerate the works of art dispersed over this Elysium ; they epitomize those VOL I. 2 K 258 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : of so many places. The old church of Colwich ; the mansion of the ancient English baron at Wolseley Hall ; the great windowed mode of bubding in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in the house of Ingestre ; the modern seat in Oak-edge ; and the lively improved front of Shugborough — are embebishments proper to our own country. Amidst these rise the genuine architecture of China, in all its extravagance ; the dawning of the Grecian, in the mixed Gothic gateway at Tixal ; and the chaste buddings of Athens, exemplified by Mr. Stuart, in the counterparts of the Choragic monument of Lysicrates, and the octagon tower of Andronicus Cyrrhestes. From the same hand arose, by command of a grate ful brother, the arch of Adrian of Athens, embellished with naval trophies, in honour of Lord Anson, a glory to the British fleet ; who stbl survives in the gabant train of officers who remember and emulate, nay, who surpass, his actions. Pennant's friend, as he informs us, the late Thomas Anson, Esq., preferred the stbl paths of private life, and was every way qualified for its enjoyment ; for with the most humane and the most sedate disposition, he possessed a mind most uncommonly cultivated. He was the ex ample of true taste in this county ; and at the same time that he made his own place a paradise, made every neighbour partaker of its elegancies. He was happy in his Ibe, and happy in his end. Mr. Pennant saw him about thirty hours before his death, listening calmly to the melody of the harp, preparing for the momen tary transit from an earthly concert to an union with the angelic harmonies. The improvements which he began were carried on with great judgment by his nephew and successor, George Anson, Esq. He was father to the proprietor who was created a peer of Great Britain February 17, 1806, by the titles of baron of Soberton, in the county of Southampton, and Viscount Anson, of Shugborough and Orgrave, in the county of Stafford. The improvements at Shugborough were farther carried on by his lordship, the bouse having been considerably enlarged, and a handsome portico added to it. " The highly cultivated state of the demesne marks the laudable agricultural taste of the noble owner." Of the great number of statues which embellish the place, an Adonis and Thaba are the most capital. There is also a very fine figure of Trajan, in the attitude of harangubig his army. The number of Etruscan figures in the garden show the great PAST AND PRESENT. 259 antiquity of the art of sculpture hi Italy, long before the Romans became a people. The beautiful monument in the lower end of the garden does honour to the present age. It was the work of Mr. Schemecher, under the direction of Thomas Anson, Esq., just mentioned. The scene is laid in Arcadia. Two lovers, expressed in elegant pastoral figures, appear attentive to an ancient shepherd, who reads to them an inscription on a tomb. " George; Lord Anson, the celebrated admiral and navigator, was born here, and after spending a long and useful bfe in the service of his country, retired to his seat at Moor Park, Herts ; where he expired suddenly in 1762. At his demise his immense property devolved to his eldest brother, Thomas Anson, Esq., of Shug borough ; he, immediately upon this vast accession of fortune, not only beautified and enlarged the family mansion, but spiritedly and tastefully entered into the grand project of improving the grounds and embellishing the scenery of the surrounding country, of which more hereafter; for in reference to Lord Anson, while on this subject, it may not be uninteresting to lay before our readers the following biographical sketch of his lordship, as drawn by Mr. Stephen Jones : — " George, Lord Anson, was the son of Wbliam Anson, Esq., of Shugborough, a very ancient and worthy family in Staffordshire, and was bom in 1700. On the breaking out of the Spanish war he was appointed to command a fleet of five ships, destined to annoy the enemy in that dangerous and unfrequented sea which lies beyond America, and in that unexpected quarter to attack them with vigour. His departure being delayed some months beyond the proper season, he sailed about the middle of September, 1740 ; and about the vernal equinox, hi the most tempestuous weather, arrived in the latitude of Cape Horn. He doubled that dangerous cape in 1741, after a bad passage of forty days, in which he lost two ships, and, by the scurvy, four or five men in a day. He arrived off Juan Fernandez in June, with only two ships, besides two attendants on the squadron, and three hundred and fifty men ; he left it in September, took some prizes, burnt Paita, and stayed about the coast of America till May, 1742. He then crossed the Southern Ocean, proceeding with the Centurion only, the other ships having been destroyed in August. Having refreshed his crew at Tinian, he sailed in October for China ; stayed there tbl the beginning of 1 743 ; waited for the galleon at the Philippine 260 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Islands, met her on the 20th of June, and took her. Having sold the prize hi China, he set sab for England in December, 1 743, and on the 15th of June, 1744, arrived at Spithead, having sailed in a fog through the midst of a French fleet, then cruising in the channel. In 1747, being then on board the Prince George, of ninety guns, in company with Admiral Warren and twelve ships more, he intercepted off Cape Finisterre a powerful fleet from France to the East and West Indies, and by his valour and conduct again enriched himself and his officers, and strengthened the British navy, by taking six men-of-war and four East Indiamen, not one of them escaping. The French admiral, M. Jonquiere, on presenting his sword to the conqueror, said, ' Monsieur, vous avez vaincu V Invin cible et la Gloire vous suit,' pointing to the two ships so named. King George II. , for his signal services, rewarded him with a peerage by the title of Lord Anson, baron of Soberton, in Hants ; he died suddenly at his seat in Moor Park, in Hertfordshire, June 16, 1762. His natural disposition was calm, cool, and steady; but it is reported that our honest, undesigning seaman was frequently a dupe at play ; and it was wittily observed of him that he had been round the world but never in it." Shugborough was visited in 1832 by the present queen, then Princess Victoria. Ellenhall is a small parish, and is chiefly remarkable for its being the seat of the noble famby of the Noels ; and for containing one of Dr. Plot's famous oaks. He says the trunk of it was of such a vast size, that his man and he on horses fifteen hands high, stand ing on opposite sides, were unable to see each other! The parish contains 1750 acres, 261 inhabitants, 48 houses, and real property valued at £2574. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £150, in the gift of the earl of Lichfield. Fradswell is a township chapelry in the parish of Colwich. It contains 1140 acres, 209 inhabitants, 39 houses, and real property valued at £2374. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £208, and the bishop of Lichfield is the patron. Gay ton, a village and small parish, from the higher grounds of which there is a fine view "of Sandon Obelisk, the plantations of Lord Harrowby, and the still more picturesque ruins of Chartley Castle." It contains 1270 acres, 237 inhabitants, 56 houses, and real property valued at £2833. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £136. The very ancient church of St. Peter was repaired in PAST AND PRESENT. 261 1732, and in 1870 it was restored, greater respect being on this occasion paid to the original architectural features. It contains a very ancient monument of the Ferrers family. Hopton and Coton, a township containing 3400 acres, 1174 inhabitants, 95 houses, and real property valued at £5086. There is no church nearer than that at Salt. The earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot is lord of the manor. Ingestre. — This parish contains 868 acres, 163 inhabitants, 30 houses, and real property valued at £2566. Ingestre Hab is a fine old mansion, standing on the dechvity of a gentle eminence. Behind it, the hbl is covered with a profusion of trees, among which rise numerous ancient oaks of immense size. This wood forms part of the surrounding pleasure grounds, throughout which extends a great variety of noble walks, some of which terminate on the skirts of the wood, while others penetrate a considerable way beneath its umbrageous shade. The house is bubt according to the style of architecture prevalent in the reign of Queen Ebzabeth. At each end is an arched projection or bow, in which appear four large windows, two and two, separated by a sort of flat square column. These bows are built of stone ; but the central portion of the edifice is constructed of brick, and is ornamented with a number of large windows. The entrance is under a very handsome tower, which likewise projects from the rest of the edifice, and is surmounted by an elegant balustrade, simbar to that which passes along the whole length of the front, several feet beneath this elevation. Rising from a base within this balustrade is a smab erection bearing a strong resemblance to an observatory, for which purpose it may have been used by its ancient proprietors. Over the fireplace in the great hall hangs an excellent picture of Walter Chetwynd, Esq., hi a great wig, and crossed by a rich sash. This house has lately undergone considerable alteration, but not to such an extent as to obhterate the general features of the Ehzabethan style. The north front has, indeed, been rebubt after the same manner. In the reign of Henry II. the manor of Ingestre was in the possession of Eudo de Mutton. By the marriage of Isabel, daughter of Phbip de Mutton, with Sb- John Chetwynd, it passed into the noble famby of that name, in the reign of Edward III. His descen dants were created barons of Ingestre and Talbot; and in 1784 John Chetwynd Talbot, who had previously succeeded his uncle William in the barony, was raised to the dignity of an earl of 262 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : the United Kingdom by the style and title of Earl Talbot of Ingestre. The church at this place is a very neat edifice, and finely stuccoed. It was built by Walter Chetwynd, Esq., of Ingestre, in the room of a more ancient one which had nearly fallen to ruins. For this purpose, Dr. Plot says, he generously petitioned the most Rev. father in God, Gbbert archbishop of Canterbury, whereupon that prelate, by a deed dated in 1672, commissioned Sir Edward Bagot, of Blithfield, Baronet, Wibiam Chetwynd, of Rugeley, Esq., Richard Harrison, B.D., and canon of Lichfield, and Wbliam Jennings, clerk, rector of Church Eyton (Church Eadon), all of the county of Stafford, to survey this church, and report to him upon its state and con dition. Accordingly these commissioners, having examhied within and without, declared that they were of opinion it ought to be demolished, and that the spot proposed for building the new one was much more convenient for the inhabitants than the site upon which it then stood. In consequence of this declaration the archbishop granted a power to the said Mr. Chetwynd to erect his proposed new church, and to use the materials of the old one to assist him in that object. The foundation of this church was accordingly laid in the year 1673, when a variety of corns of that year were deposited in holes cut for that purpose in the corners of the steeple. The appearance of this chapel is remarkably neat and uniform. It is built of freestone, and adorned at the- west end by a very handsome tower, the top of which is ornamented with a fine balustrade, with flower-pots at each corner. The chancel is paved with black and white marble ; and on the windows, in this part of the church, are paintings on glass of the arms of Chetwynd. On the cebings are the same in fretwork, and the side-wabs exhibit many fine funereal monuments of that famby, curiously carved in white marble. The nave or body of the church is separated from the chancel with an elegant screen of Flanders oak, ornamented with the king's arms and a great variety of other grotesque embelbsh- ments. At the south corner stands the pulpit, made of the same wood, adorned in like manner with carved work, and iron work curiously painted and gilt. The seats are likewise of Flanders oak, and ab equally elegant. Near the entrance on the left hand is placed a curious font of solid white marble ; and over the same on the outside is a small table also of white marble, with this inscription : PAST AND PRESENT. 263 Deo. opt. Max. Hoc Templum A fundamentis extructum WALTBRUS CHETWYND (WALT. FIL. WALT. EQTJ. AUK. HEPOS.) L. M, D. D. D. Anno iErse Christiana? 1676. The fobowing curious account of the consecration of this church is given by Dr. Plot : — " The church being thus finished at the sole charge of the said Walter Chetwynd in August, An. 1677, it was solemnly consecrated by the right reverend father m God, Thomas, lord bishop of Coventry and Lichfield ; the dean of Lichfield preach ing the sermon ; and some others of the most eminent clergy reading the prayers, baptizing a child, churching a woman, joyning a couple in matrimony, and burying another ; all which offices were also there performed the same day, the pious and generous founder and patron offering upon the altar the tithes of Hopton, a vblage hard by, to the value of fifty pounds per annum, as an addition to the rectory for ever ; presenting the bishop and dean at the same time each with a piece of plate double gilt, as a grateful acknow ledgement of the service ; and entertaining nobility, clergy, and gentry, both men and women, of the whole country, which came in that day to see the solemnity performed, with a most splendid dinner at his house near adjoining, which, together with the new church, are both here represented, where ab things were carryed with a sobryety and gravity suitable to the occasion. Concluding the day with hearty prayers for the prosperity of the church ; and a univer sal applause of the piety and generosity of the noble founder ; and for the whole manage ofthe work from the foundation to the end." Ingestre Hab and manor now belong to the earl of Shrewsbury. The living is a rectory worth £525, in the gift of the earl. Marston, a township-chapelry, containing 6024 acres, 490 inhabi tants, 90 houses, and real property valued at £3200. The living is a perpetual curacy, united with that of Whitgreave, and is worth £180, and in the patronage of the rector of St. Mary's, Stafford. Milwich. — This parish includes the hamlets of Coton and Gar- shab-Green, together with part of Day hbls. It contains 2987 acres, 575 inhabitants, 121 houses, and real property valued at 264 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE". £4867. The living is a vicarage worth £162. The church is modern and small, and is very pleasantly situated. Ranton is also called Ronton, and is a small parish and vibage, which belonged to a Saxon nobleman named Goderick at the time of the General Survey. It was afterwards possessed by the Noels and the Harcourts. It includes the hamlets of Hexbebs, Brough Hbl, Long Compton, Pannook, and Woodside. It contains 1970 acres, 267 inhabitants, 57 houses, and its real property is valued at £2956; The living is. a vicarage worth £93, in the gift of the earl of Lichfield, to whom the manor belongs. Ronton Abbey. — This extra-parochial tract takes its second name from an ancient abbey, or priory, cabed Ronton, abas De Sartis, or Essar's abbey, which was founded by Robert Fitz-Noel in the reign of Henry II. It was afterwards made a ceb to the abbey of Haughmond in Shropshire, and the canons in it were placed under its rule and obedience. At the Dissolution it was valued at £90 2s. 11-jjC?. a year. Some remains of the old abbey are stbl standing. "They consist principally of a lofty, web-bubt tower, and the outer walls of the church, which are extremely low, together with a smab portion of the cloisters. The south garden front of the house is by far more ancient than the western one." The earl of Lichfield has a shooting box near the ruins. This tract contains 700 acres, 2 inhabitants, 1 house, and real property valued at £1007. Salt and Enson. — Salt is a vibage, a township, and a chapelry, and Enson a hamlet included with it. It contains 1710 acres, 470 inhabitants, 105 houses, and real property valued at £2795. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £180, in the gift of the earl of Shrewsbury. The inhabitants of Hopton and Coton attend this church. Sandon. — Before the Conquest this manor belonged to Algar, earl of Mercia ; and after that event it was given by the king to Hugh, earl of Chester, who gave it to William, Baron Malbank. His son Hugh founded Combermere Abbey, and his son Wbliam gave Sandon church to the monks. Adbla, the daughter of Wibiam, married Sir Wbliam Stafford, and had the manor of Sandon for her portion. She left it to her son, James Stafford. He had issue one daughter, who, marrying Thomas Erdeswick, brought this manor into his family. Sampson Erdeswick, the famous anti quarian, and dear to us as the author of the " Survey of Stafford shire," was born here, and was the last of his famby. In the reign PAST AND PRESENT. 265 of James I. the manor was sold to Mr. George Digby, and came into the possession of Charles Lord Gerard, of Burnley, by marriage. His grand-daughter carried it to Wibiam, duke of Hamilton, by one of whose descendants it was sold to Lord Harrowby, and it still remains with that famby. Sandon Hall belongs to the earl of Harrowby, by whom it has been greatly enlarged and improved. On a wooded hbl, opposite the south front of the house, stands an obelisk, seventy-five feet high, erected in 1806 to the memory ofthe "heaven-born" minister, William Pitt. On the southern side of the pedestal are these words : — GULIELMO PITT, DTJDLEIUS BARO HARROWBY, PATEI PATRLE CIVIS, AMICO AMICUS, MCERENS POSUIT. On the north side is this inscription :- SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM PITT. MBCCCVI. The parish includes the hamlet of Smahrice and part of Day- hbls, and contains 3640 acres, 576 inhabitants, 113 houses, and real property valued at £6502. The living is a vicarage worth £355, in the gift of the earl of Harrowby. The church is small and ancient, bubt of stone, with a square tower, " on the western side of which a very beautiful ivy-tree has cbmbed almost to the pinnacles, rising like two wings, and leaving the aperture or Gothic window of the belfry uncovered." Erdeswick repaired and glazed the church, and he now sleeps beneath its roof. It contains a number of monuments, some of which deserve particular notice. That in memory of Sampson Erdeswick, the celebrated antiquary of the county, is by much the finest. It represents a colossal figure of himself in a recumbent posture, and dressed in a jacket with short skirts and spurs on his legs. Above, in two niches, appear his two wives kneeling; the one was Elizabeth Dikeswel, and the other Maria Neale, widow to Sir Everard Digby, whose son was the unfortunate victim of the gunpowder plot. This inscription is such a peculiar one that, although it is long, we must quote it, as no account of Sandon would be complete without it : VOL. I. :, T 266 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : " Ricardus de Vernon Baro de Sibroc 20 Willmi Conquestoris Pater harum ffamiliar ' de Vernon Holgreve et Erdeswick 1086. Hoc sibi spe in Xpo resurgendi posuit Samp son Erdeswick Armiger. qui gen. recta serie ducit a Ruo de Vernon, barone de Sibroc tempore gui' loqst. Hujus ffili et heres Hugo de Verno duxit ffilia et haerede Rainaldi Ballioli dm de Erdeswick et Holgreve dedernt ffilio Mattheo uyu: ffili' inde diet' fuit de Holgreve. Vernon. Malbanc. Vernon. Manderill. Stafford's Vernon.Stafford Walkelin. Vernon — 1 Vernon — Vernon. Baliole — Vernon — 1 Holgreve. Holgreve. Ricardus ffilius junor Mathaei de Holgreve tertij cum pater illi Erdeswik dedisset nomen de Erdeswik sibi assumpsit reliquit et ex altera haerede Guil. dni de Leighton Thomam. — de Erdeswik genuit cujus pronepos Thomas quartus, accepit in uxore Margareta unica filia et heredem Jacobi Stafford de Sandon militis cujus proava fuit AVda una ffiliar et heredu Warini ultimi baronis de Sibroi proav. vero Guil. Stafford ffilius secund' Harvaei Bagod ex Meliceta Baronissae Staffordiae quae fuit proneptis Roberti primi baronis Staffordiae qui Anglia Guil. Conquestore ingressus. Staff orde Stafforde Stafforde Erdeswik j Minshal Erdesw. Clinton Erdeswik Sampson Erdeswik. Elizabetha Dikeswell Elisabetha uxor prima fuit filia secunda et una trium heredum Humfridi Dikeswell de church Waver in com. Warwici armigeri ex qua quinque suscepit filias Margaretam non- dum nuptam, Helenam uxorem Thomae Coyne de Weston Coyne in comitatu Staffordiae Armigeria Elizabethan!, Mariam, et Marger- iam. omnes superstites necdum enuptas. Erdeswik Stafforde ErdeswikErdeswikErdeswik Basset Erdeswik Haxcourt Erdeswik Grey Erdeswik Lee Sampson Erdeswik. Maria Neale Maria uxor secunda fuit ffilia secunda geni- taetuna heredu Ffrancisci Neale de Kaythorpe in comitatu Lecestrie armigeri quae illi peperit Richardum et Matheaum filios et Jehana ffilia ut priori marito Everardo Digby armigero 14 liberos enixa est, e quibus Everardus, Joannes, Georgius, Maria, Elizabetha, Ffrancisca, et Christiana, nunc sunt superstites. Vernon Semper Viret. Anno Domini 1601." A plain marble tomb, altar-shaped, in honour of Mr. George Digby, presents the fobowing inscription : " SI QUIS HIC JACEAT, ROGES VIATOR GEORGIUS DIGBAEUS ARMIGER. VIR (SI QUIS ALIUS) CELEBRATI NOMINIS, NOBILI CLARUS PROSAPIA, SED VITA N0BILI0RI QUIPPE QUI IPSUM NOBILITATIS FONTEM CAENO TURBATUM DEMUM LIMPIDUM REDDIDIT HOC EST UT MEMET EXPLICEM QUI REGIS JACOBI PURPURAM MALEDICTI Schopii DICTERICI FOEDATAM OBTRECTATORIS SANGUINE. PAST AND PRESENT. 267 RETIUNIT, NEC TAMEN HOMUNCIONEM PENITUS SUSTULIT SED GRAVTUS STIGMA FRONTI INCUSSIT QUAM HENRICUS MAGNUS LE3ELL0. QUO SCILICET TOTO VITAE CURRICULO (UTPOTE OMNIUM CONTEMPTUI EXPOSITUS) SENSIT SE MORI, HUJUS EGREGn FACINORIS INTUITU A Jacobo HONORIBUS AUCTUS EST Digbaeus MERITIS TANDEM ANNISQUE PLENUS VIVERE DESHT, SEMPER VICTURUS IPSIS IDIBUS DECEMBRIS A. f ^g/ffo/owaj jiEtatis suse LXXXV1 TANTI HEROIS LAUDES LICET NON TACEANT HISTORICI HAEC SAXA LOQUI CURAVIT lectissima heroina Jana baronissa Gerrard De Bromley, clarissimi Digbcei fllia superstes unica." The history to which this inscription relates is thus given by Mr. Pennant, in his "Journey from Chester to London," in three separate notes : — " Gaspar Scioppus," says that author, " was a German of great erudition, but of a most turbulent disposition. He became a convert to Popery in 1599, and naturally distinguished himself by a blind and furious zeal against his former religion, and even went so far as to recommend the utter extirpation of its professors. He was a fierce antagonist to Scabger, Casaubon, and other Protestant writers; and in his book intituled "Ecclesiasticus," 1611, he attacked James I. in a very indecent manner. In conse quence of this affront, Mr. Digby, and some other followers of the earl of Bristol, his ambassador to Spain, attacked Scioppus in the streets of Madrid in 1614, where they left him for dead. As soon as he recovered, he removed to Padua, dreading another attack. He bved in continual apprehensions, insomuch that he shut himself up in his room during the last fourteen years of his life, and died in 1649, at enmity with all mankind. He was equally profuse in his aspersions against Henry IV., in the book above-mentioned, as he was of the English monarch. The regency of France, in honor to the memory of that great prince, directed it to be burned by the hands of the common hangman." 268 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Sampson Erdeswick, the author of the "Survey of Staffordshire," was born at Sandon, but we are not acquainted with the date of that event. He was admitted a gentleman commoner at Brazenose Cobege, Oxford, in the year 1553, and remained two years at the university, when he returned to Sandon, busying himself with antiquarian researches, especially in all that related to his native county. He left in MS. " A Short View of Staffordshire, containing the Antiquities of the same County." Of this work an incorrect copy was published in 1717, and a second edition in 1723. There are two copies in the British Museum, and one in Gough's MSS. in the Bodleian Library. Fuller speaks of Erdeswick as a gen tleman descended of a right worshipful and ancient family, and by Camden he is called " venerandse antiquitatis cultor maximus." He began his work on Staffordshire in 1593, and continued it untb his death in 1603, so that it occupied him ten years. The Rev. Thomas Harwood edited a new edition of his work, which was published in 1820. This is the edition so often referred to in these pages. Seighford. — This parish includes two vblages and two hamlets, and contains 4451 acres, 781 inhabitants, 174 houses, and real property valued at £6778. The living is a vicarage worth £200, in the gift of Colonel F. Eld, to whom the manor belongs. Stone. — Nightingale says, that what chiefly renders this town remarkable, is the rehgious foundations which it anciently con- tamed. Wulferus, king of Mercia, whom we have already noticed as having bubt a castle at Bury Bank, founded a monastery here for canons regular of the order of St. Augustine, about the year 670. This prince had been brought up in the pagan worship, but after his father's death became a convert to Christianity, and married Ermenbda, a Christian princess, daughter of Egbert, kmg of Kent, by whom he had two sons, Wulfad and Rufin, also a daughter named Werburgh. In this faith he continued for some years, when he thought proper to embrace Paganism again, and educated his chbdren in that rehgion. Wulfad, however, during a hunt, having accidentally entered the ceb of St. Chad, who resided as a hermit at Stowe, in the neighbourhood of Lichfield, was converted to Christianity by that saint. Rufin, his brother, soon fobowed his example, and both joined hi requesting their instructor to remove himself nearer to theb- father's castle, which he accordingly did, and fixed himself at a neighbouring hermitage. At this place the princes, under pretence of hunting, constantly PAST AND PRES EXT. 269 visited him to receive his instructions ; but being discovered by Werebod, one of Wulfere's pagan counsebors, they were accused by him of apostasy to their father's tenets. This inhuman monarch having in vain urged them to renounce theb* new faith, watched their steps so closely, that having traced them to then* devotions, he put them immediately to death. St. Chad, to avoid the same fate, fled to his former ceb near Lichfield. To this spot Wulfere soon after repaired likewise ; and, becoming a sincere penitent, was once more converted to the true faith, and abolished idolatry from his dominions. Besides the monastery so founded by Wulfere, Ermenilda his queen is said to have established a nunnery here, whose religieuses were dispersed by the Danes. Upon their retreat, however, they seem to have returned, or at least a new establishment was formed, for there can be no doubt but that nuns existed here at the time of the Conquest. Enysan, a Norman, is reported to have murdered the nuns and a priest here ; but the truth of this state ment is extremely questionable. He appears, however, to have removed the female votaries, and converted the house into a priory, by fihing it with canons from Kendworth, and making it a cell to that abbey. The church belonging to this institution was the place of interment of several of the Stafford family, whose magni ficent monuments lay here tbl the Dissolution, when they were removed to the Augustine friary at Stafford. A fragment of this house is stbl visible on the roadside, at the southern extremity of the town ; and at the construction of that road, about forty years ago, several subterraneous passages, connecting its different bubd- ings, were discovered. The parish includes the chapelries of Aston and Hbdestone, also parts of those of Blurton, Normicott, and Forsbrook ; it contains six townships, five liberties, and a hamlet. Its area is 20,030 acres, and there are 10,3 8 7 inhabitants, 2086 houses, and its real property is valued at £14,960. The living of the parish church is a rectory worth £240, in the gift of the bishop of Lichfield ; that of Christchurch is a perpetual curacy worth £300, and is in the patronage of Simeon's trustees. The Congregationalists, Methodists, and the Roman Catholics have each places of worship. There are a grammar school and a mechanics' institute. In the neighbour hood there are a number of noble residences, including Stowe Park, Trentham Hab, Meaford Hall, Swinnerton Park, and others 270 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: Stowe Park belongs to Earl Granvibe, and Meaford Hall to General Forester. Stone has long been a thriving and prosperous town. Stoioe. — This parish is situated about three mbes eastward from Sandon, and at the distance of two mbes from the river Trent. The church here, which consists of a smab nave and chancel, was formerly distinguished by numerous monuments in honour of the noble family of Devereux ; but only one of them now remains. It is the tomb of Walter, first Viscount Hereford, grandson of the first Lord Ferrers, and founder of the house of Chartley. This nobleman gamed himself great renown in the wars against France, during the reign of Henry VIII. His bravery and good conduct in the naval attack upon Conquet in 1512 procured him the honours of the Garter from that monarch ; and his successor elevated him to the dignity of Viscount Hereford. His monument was erected during his lifetime, and is a very fine specimen of that department of architecture. It is an altar tomb supporting a recumbent effigy of his lordship in robes, with the cobar of the Garter round his neck, his head reclining on a plume of feathers wreathed round a helmet. On one side of him lies his first wife, Mary, daughter of Thomas, marquis of Dorset, and on the other his second, Mar garet, daughter of Robert Garnyche, Esq., of Kyngeton in Suffolk. The sides of this monument are ornamented with six male and female figures, the former begirt with swords. The parish includes Chartley Castle and the villages of Hixon and Haywood, and contains 5347 acres, 1167 inhabitants, 241 houses, and real property valued at £7734. The living is a per petual curacy worth £85. At Hixon, until very recently, the post of a pblory remained, to remind the modern vblagers of the punishments endured by their ancestors. Tillington is an extra-parochial district containing 947 acres, 97 inhabitants, 17 houses, and real property valued at £2327. Tixall. — Sir Thomas Clifford, Bart., and Arthur Clifford, Esq., produced a " Topographical and Historical Description of the Parish of Tixab," which was privately printed at Paris m 1817, and is now very rare. From this work we make the following quotation : — " The parish of Tixall (which was anciently written Tichesall, Tickshab, and Tyxab) is situated two mbes east of the borough town of Stafford, and about twelve mbes to the north-west of the city of Litchfield. It lies in the very middle of Staffordshhe, PAST AND PRESENT. 271 and nearly in the centre of England. The earliest account which I have been able to find of this parish is contained in the following passages, extracted from Domesday Book. In that ancient and invaluable record, the parish of Tixab is thus de scribed : — " 'The land of Earl Roger, in Pireholle Hundred. — The earl himself holds Tichesab, and Henry Ferriers holds of him. There is half a virgate of land. The arable land contains four carucates. One carucate is in demesne, with one vblan. There are two acres of meadow — a wood, three furlongs long, and two broad. It is worth ten shblings. Elmundus held it. '"The land of Robert de Stafford, hi Pireholle Hundred.— The same Robert holds in Tichesab three parts of a hide, and Hugo holds of him. Alric and Ormar held it, and were free. There are six carucates of arable land. One is in demesne, and three serfs, and seven vblans, and two borderers, with two carucates. There are six acres of meadow, a wood a mbe long and three furlongs broad. It is worth thirty shblings.' " By this extract from Domesday Book it appears that Tixall was given by the Conqueror, partly to Earl Roger, and partly to Robert de Stafford, or Stafford ; that Henry Ferriers and Hugo held under them ; and that Elmund, Alric, and Ormar, were the original Saxon proprietors before the Norman Conquest. " The famby of Earl Roger was, in a few years, utterly extirpated out of the kingdom ; but the various branches of Stafford and Ferrers continued to flourish for many centuries in great splen dour and power; and among their descendants are to be found some of the most noble and illustrious fambies in England at this day. " Upon the death of Earl Roger his part of Tixall devolved, with his other estates in England, to Hugh de Montgomery, his second son; who being slam in battle, in the year 1098, Roger de Behesme, of Normandy, his eldest brother, obtained possession of the English estates on paying a fine of £3000 to the king. In 1102, in conse quence of his attainder, and the confiscation of all his property m England, his share of Tixall was probably annexed to the barony of Stafford ; and it seems likely that it continued to be a dependency of the barony tib the attainder of Stafford, duke of Buckingham, in the reign of Henry VIII. "Early in the twelfth century Tixall appears to have been pos- 272 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: sessed by the family of Wasteneys. This name of Wasteneys, or Gasteneys, is found among the list of Normans of distinction who came over with the Conqueror, and was probably derived from Le Gastinois (Wastinium or Vastinium, Lat.), a province of France, which is a subdivision of the district cabed the Orleanois. It continued in the possession of this famby for many generations, till the reign of Richard II. , when Roger de Wasteneys had an only daughter, called Rose, who, inheriting her father's estates, married Sir John Merston, Knt., and they having no issue, in the year 1469 sold the reversion of Tixall, after their death, to Sir Thomas Littleton, at that time a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. This Sir Thomas Littleton was the famous lawyer, whose ' Treatise on Tenures ' is so justly celebrated, as well for its own merits as for the ample commentary with which it has been illustrated by Sir Edward Coke. " Sir Wibiam Littleton, eldest son of Sir Thomas, inherited Tixab. He married Ellen, daughter and co-heiress of Wbliam Walsh, Esq., of Wanless, in the county of Leicester, by Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Richard Byron, Esq., of Chirton, in Lancashire. By her he had a daughter and only child, Joan de Littleton, who married Sir John Aston, of Haywood, knight banneret. By this marriage Tixall and Wanless came to the family of Aston. Sir Edward Aston, son and heir of Sir John, who lived in the reign of Henry VIIL, transferred his residence from Haywood to Tixall, and built there a magnificent mansion, of which the venerable ruins stib remain. It descended from him to his grandson, Sir Walter Aston, who was made a knight of the Bath at the coronation of James I. ; was one ofthe first Engbsh baronets ; and finally, in the year 1627, was created Baron Aston, of Forfar, in the kingdom of Scotland. From him the estate of Tixall descended, in lineal succession, to James, fifth Lord Aston, who married the Lady Barbara Talbot, daughter of George, fourteenth earl of Shrewsbury ; but dying in the year 1780 without male issue, his estates were equally divided between his two daughters and co-heiresses : Mary, married to Sir Walter Blount, Bart., of Sodington and Mawley, in the county of Worcester ; Barbara, wife of the Hon. Thomas Clifford, fourth son of Hugh, third Lord Clifford, of Chudleigh, in Devonshire. Tixab feb to the lot of the Hon. Barbara Clifford, who died in 1786, and upon the death of her husband, the Hon. Thomas Clifford, the year fol lowing, the estate of Tixall devolved to their eldest son, Sir Thomas Hugh Clifford, Bart., the present possessor.' PAST AND PRESENT. 273 A LIST OF PERSONS AND FAMILIES WHO WERE PROPRIETORS OF THE PARISH OF TIXALL A.T THE PERIOD OF THE CONQUEST, AND SINCE, DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME. Edmund, Alric, Ormar (Saxons), 1066 Roger de Montgomeri, earl of Shrewsbury, Chichester, and Arundes, . ) „fi Robert de Toeni, or de Stafford, S Hugh de Montgomeri, second son of Earl Roger, 1094 Robert de Bellesme, eldest son of Earl Roger, 1098 In the Crown, or annexed to the barony of Stafford, 1102 Family of Wasteneys— from about 1120 to 1469 Rose de Wasteneys, married to Sir John Merston, Knt., — — Sir Thomas Littleton, 1481 His widow, during her life, Sir William Littleton, their eldest son, 1505 Joan de Littleton, married to Sir John Aston, knight banneret, . . . 1507 The family of Aston, James, fifth Lord Aston, 1747 The Hon. Mary and Barbara Aston, 1750 The Hon. Thomas Clifford, 1768 Sir Thomas Hugh Clifford, Bart., 1787 Tixab Heath was the scene of the assassination of Sir William Chetwynd, which is thus narrated by Dugdale : — " Sir Philip Chet wynd, knight, departed this life 24 H. 6, leaving Wbliam, his grandchild, his heir. Which William, afterwards one of the gentle men-ushers of the chamber to King Henry VII., became so much envied by Sir Humphrey Stanley (then of Pipe, co. Staff), one ofthe knights for the body to the same king, and sheriff for that county, 9 H. 7, as that by means of a counterfeit letter, in the name of Randolf Brereton, Esq., delivered on Friday night before the feast of St. John the Baptist's nativity, requesting his meeting with him at Stafford the next morning by five of the clock — being allured out of his house at Ingestre, and passing thitherwards accordingly, with no more attendance than his own son and two servants, he was waylaid on Tixall Heath by no less than twenty persons, whereof seven were of the said Sir Humphrey's own family, some with bows, and others with spears, all armed with brigandines and coats of mail ; who issuing out of a sheep-cote, and a deep dry pit, furiously assaulted him, saying that he should die, and accordingly killed him ; the said Sir Humphrey at that time passing by, with at least twenty-four persons on horseback, under pretence of hunting a deer. All which the petition to the king made by Alice his widow, wherein she craves that the said Sir Humphrey and his servants might answer for it, doth manifest." The widow, however, failed to obtain any redress for this disgraceful murder. The manor of Tixall now belongs to the earl of Shrewsbury. The old manor house was vol. 1. 2 M 271 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : taken down, and the present mansion bubt about 1780. The parish contains 2352 acres, 256 inhabitants, 46 houses, and real property valued at £3338. The living is a rectory worth £200, in the gift of the earl of Shrewsbury. Weston-upon- Trent. — The situation of this vblage, says Mr. Pitt is " particularly pleasant, and affords a delightful view of a variety of interesting objects. The ancient village church with its airy spire; barges constantly passing along the canal, towed by horses ; the turnpike road, with a handsome stone bridge of one large arch over the Trent ; a corn-mih at work hi a field on the right of the road towards Stafford, and about a mile distant on the same side ; the woody elevations of Sandon Park, with an obelisk to the memory of that great statesman Mr. Pitt, on an airy summit environed by trees; on the left near the bridge, Weston Hall, now a farm house, in rather a neglected state, and the environs of Ingestre Park, covered with clumps and groves." The parish contains 825 acres, 495 inhabitants, 117 houses, and real property valued at £3922. The living is a vicarage worth £150. The ancient church was thoroughly restored in 1872, at the sole expense of Miss Moore, of Wychdon, in memory of her father. Excellent schools were erected in 1871 by the same lady, Earl Ferrers presenting the site. At a short distance from Weston are the famous old salt works, Shirleywich, the brine for which is supplied from springs in Ingestre parish. To these works the prosperity of the place is mainly due. Whitgreave is a township-chapelry, and contains 2276 acres, 152 inhabitants, 30 houses, and real property valued at £4043. The hving is a vicarage annexed to Marston. Worston and Yarlett.— These two extra-parochial tracts contain 890 acres, 16 inhabitants, and 3 houses. Newcastle-under-Lyme. — This borough is in the southern division of the hundred of Pirehhl. It is not mentioned in Domesday Book, and derives its name from the new castle which was built by Earl Lancaster to replace the old one, which was rapidly decaying. Of this castle scarcely any vestiges can now be discovered ; it having fallen to decay at least three centuries ago. Leland says that, in his time, the whole edifice was destroyed, with the exception of one tower. The first charter of corporation granted in favour of this town is dated in the reign of Henry VIII. This deed was afterwards con firmed by Queen Elizabeth and Charles IL, with some additional privbeges. In virtue of these charters the government of the town. PAST AND PRESENT. 275 is now vested in a mayor, two justices, two bailiffs, and twenty-four common councb men, who possess the right of holding a court for the recovery of debts under forty pounds. Newcastle sends two members to Parliament, and has done so ever since the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Edward III. The right of election has several times been the subject of parlia mentary investigation during the last two centuries. The first time the question was thus agitated was in 1624, when the decision favoured ancient custom, which declared that the freemen residents did not forfeit their title to a vote till a year and a day after they had left the town. In the subsequent contests, in 1705 and 1792, the discussion was confined to the question of residence for a year and a day, that they had actually ceased to reside in the town, and was decided against their claim. In the trial of the last petition by Thomas Fletcher, Esq., and Clement Kinnersley, Esq., against Sir Archibald MacDonald and the Honourable Leveson Gower, the sitting members, it appeared in evidence that a great part of this borough was the property of the marquis of Stafford, whose influence directed the choice of the electors ; that it was found customary for the burgesses to live ten, fifteen, and even twenty years in the houses without payment of rent ; and that the then members were brother and son-in-law of that nobleman. Upon the trial of this petition, the counsel for the petitioners stated the right of election to be vested in the mayor, baihffs, and burgesses, or freemen, whose place of residence at the time of giving their votes was in the said borough ; or who at such time have no place of residence elsewhere, and who have never been absent from the borough a year and a day, without interruption, since they were admitted to the freedom thereof, or whose families (if they were masters of families) have not been absent for the space of time aforesaid, without interruption, after the time of the admission of . such burgesses or freemen having families to the freedom of the said borough. The counsel for the sitting members maintained the right of election to be in the freemen residing in the borough of New castle, and not receiving alms or church bread ; and that persons hving a year and a day out of the borough lose their freedom. The committee having considered these statements, and examined evidence, both written and oral, relative to the question at issue determined that neither the view of the petitioner, nor of his opponent in the petition, coincided with fact ; but declared their 276 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: opinion, that the right of election was vested in the freemen residing in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. The parish contains 554 acres, 15,538 inhabitants, 3096 houses, and real property valued at £29,249. The parish church of St. Giles' was almost entirely rebuilt in 1720: the living is a rectory worth £285. St. George's church was erected in 1828 : the living is a perpetual curacy worth £230. The patronage of both livings is with Simeon's Trustees. There are numerous dissenting places of worship, a grammar school, Orme's free school, national, British, and board schools, a town hall, Young Men's Christian Association, &c. Newcastle-under-Lyme was formerly spoken of as the capital of the Potteries, and it is now a prosperous and thriving borough. Bradshaw, speaker of the House of Commons, who was the first to sign the death-warrant of Charles I., was recorder of this town. Here also was born Thomas Harrison, who was one of Charles l.'s judges, and a major-general in Cromweb's army. He was born in 1606, and was the son of a grazier. He was sent to London when young, and was first placed in the office of an attorney. " On the breaking out of the civil war Harrison entered the parliamentary army, and fought at Marston Moor as a major. His zeal and military skill both contributed to advance him ; and through ab the transactions of those times we find him vigorously siding with the army, first against the king, and then against the Parliament. He was one of the commissioners by whom Charles was condemned to death. In 1650 he had attained the rank of major-general, and he com manded a brigade of horse at Worcester. It was Harrison whom Cromwell beckoned to his side and consulted just before he rose in the House of Commons and pronounced the doom of the Rump ; and Harrison's apostrophe on that occasion to the reluctant speaker, Lenthah, 'Sir, I wbl lend you a hand,' is among the sayings of history. When Cromweb became Protector, however, the repub lican Harrison repudiated his old comrade, and as a leader of the Anabaptists and Fifth Monarchy Men fiercely opposed the new government. After the Restoration, on the 10th of October, 1660, he was tried for his participation in the death of Charles, and was executed a few days afterwards, dying cheerfully and fearlessly." The Rev. Mr. Nightingale states that John Goodwin, the eminent Puritan divine, was also born here ; but this is a mistake. Goodwin was a native of Norfolk. PAST AND PRESENT. 277 Stafford. — The county town of Stafford is also in the southern division of the hundred of Pirehih. The early history of the town is full of obscurity, which tradition has not failed to increase. From Erdeswick, Dr. Plot, the Rev. Mr. Nightingale, Mr. Pitt, and other writers, ancient and modern, we compile the fobowing account of this town. Plot says that "about 705, the place or island where the town of Stafford now stands, anciently cab'd Bethnei, began first to be inhabited by St. Bertehine, the son of a king of this country, and scholar to St. Guthlac, with whom he tarried tib his death ; after which, though not unknown to his father, he begged this island of him, where he led a hermit's Ibe for diverse years, tbl disturbed by some that envyed his happiness, when he removed into some desert mountainous places, where he ended his hfe ; leaving Bethnei to others, who afterwards bubt it, and called it Stafford, there being a shallow place in the river hereabout that could easily be pass't with the help of a staff only. Now, whereabout this desert place should be, that St. Bertel- line went to, tho' historians are sbent, yet I have some grounds to think that it might be about Throwley, Ilam, and Dovedale ; and that this was the St. Bertram who has a web, an ash, and a tomb at Ilam ; ' for if,' as Cassgrave says, ' the town of Bertamly in Cheshire took its name from a miracle that St. Bertehine did there, I know not why the people about Ilam, Throwley, &c, might not corrupt his name as much as they in Cheshire, and call him St. Bertram, instead of St. Bertehine.' About the year 1386 'there was a wonderful miracle wrought at his altar, in Stafford, if we may believe Cassgrave.' " At the time of the Conquest, Stafford was undoubtedly a place of some importance, for in Domesday Book it is termed a city, in which the king had eighteen burgesses belonging to him, and there were twenty mansions of the honour of the earl of Mercia. It then paid for ab customs £9 in deniers, and was governed by two baihffs. But the earliest records of its immunities as a corpora tion is the charter of King John, which is rather an exemplification and confirmation of former privileges, than a new grant. "When Wibiam of Normandy conquered England, he built several castles, over which he appointed his confidential fobowers as gover nors, with troops to keep his English subjects in .awe. Robert de Tonei was appointed by him governor of Stafford Castle ; from hence he took his name De Stafford. 278 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : "The barony of Stafford, from the Conquest to the reign of Richard IIL, was very extensive, including sixty knights' fees, of which nine were in demesne, and fifty-one in services. Eighty vibages held of this barony; but by the attainder of Humphrey de Stafford, duke of Buckingham, who Avas beheaded at Salisbury for rebelling against Kmg Richard, the barony was dissolved. "Edward, the son and heir of this unfortunate duke, was restored to his honour and great part of his estates ; but he also soon after wards feb a sacrifice to the false accusation of Knevet, his steward, whom he had discharged for unjust exactions on his tenants. The castle and manor of Stafford was restored to the family in the 23rd year of the reign of Henry VIII.; but issue male failing, on the death of Henry, Lord Stafford, in 1637, his sister Mary became sole heiress of his estate. She married Sir William Howard, who was created a baron by Charles I. by the title of Lord Stafford. This lord being found guilty of a plot against Charles II. , was publicly beheaded on Tower Hib in 1682, and the title devolved on Henry, his eldest son, who was created Earl of Stafford by James II. On the abdication of James, this earl, who was a zealous papist, attended tbe fugitive king into France, and married Claud Charlotte, eldest daughter of the Count de Grammont, by whom he had no issue. " In the reign of Edward VI. the burgesses obtained a confirma tion of the charter of King John, with many additional privbeges. Queen Elizabeth also extended her munificence to this town, and established the assizes and quarter sessions here by Act of Parlia ment, hi the seventeenth year of her reign. During her progress through England in 1575, her Majesty perceiving the town to be rather on the decline, inquired the reason, and was informed it was partly owing to the circumstance of the assizes having been removed, in consequence of which she promised that this beneficial privilege should be restored. A record of this memorable visit is preserved in the parish register of St. Mary's church. " 'Mem.. — That the sixth day of August, 1575, our sovereign lady Queen Elizabeth came from Chartley in progress to Stafford Castle, and was received upon the Pool Dam, without the east gate, by the bailiff and burgesses, with an oration made by Mr Lamb the school master, in the name of the town. And the bahiff delivered to her Majesty a goodly large standing cup of silver and gbt, of white wine, which her Highness respectfully and gratefully received ; PAST AND PRESENT. 279 and so she passed through the East Gate Street, the market-place, the Crobury-Lane, and the Broad Eye, and thence on the road to Stafford Park, in the seventeenth year of her Majesty's most gracious reign.' ' ' According to the charter granted by Edward VI. , Stafford is governed by a mayor, recorder, ten aldermen, twenty common councb men, a town-clerk, and two serjeants-at-mace. "In the twenty-third year of the reign of Edward L, A.D. 1295, Stafford sent two representatives to Parliament, and has continued to enjoy this privilege since that time. The following memoranda are curious blustrations respecting this subject : — "1519. This yere John Ferrers and Humphrey Barber, being burgesses in Parliament for the towne of Stafford, received cer taine waightes out of the King's exchequer, which were appoynted to be kept here within this towne as in the King's treasure. 10 Henry VIIL' "'1532. This yere Mr. Erdeswick and Mr. Bickley, being bur gesses of the Parliament for this towne, were allowed their charges from the town.' " Stafford was once a fortified place, but from its low situation it could never have been a fortress of much strength. It was fortified, except towards the river Sow, by a wab and a ditch supplied with water from that river. But it was taken on the first assault, and without difficulty, m May, 1643, by Sir Wibiam Brereton, general of the parliamentary army. The walls are now demolished, and the ditch fibed up, though some traces of the fortifications are yet per ceptible near the old gaol and the grammar school. The ground under the walls, at the outside, was marshy, and might easily be laid under water around the town. " When fortified, Stafford had four gates. That near the bridge over the Sow was cabed the Green-gate, being at the south and on the London road; it was taken down in the year 1780. The arch of the East-gate was standing a few years ago. The Gaol-gate was in ruins in 1680. The site of the fourth gate is unknown." St. Mary's Church is one of the most attractive buildings in Stafford. It has been described as a "fine specimen of that class of ecclesiastical edifices which were used for the joint purposes of parochial and collegiate churches. It is bubt in the form of a cross, and consists of a nave, which was probably used exclusively for parochial purposes, transepts, and central tower, and a choir or 280 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : chancel nearly equal in size with the nave, and which was, in all probability, appropriated to the collegiate establishment. There are entrances at the western end, in the sides of the nave, and in each transept; but two of those in the nave have been blocked up. Those in the sides were originally screened by porches, one of which has been destroyed, and the other rebuilt in the worst style of modern Roman architecture. " It appears from some indications in the western end, that the original church must have been in the Anglo-Norman style. It must, however, have been rebubt at an early date, as nearly the whole of the present building is in what is termed the Early English style, or in the earbest variety of Pointed architecture. "The oldest portions are the noble piers and arches which support the central tower, and those of the nave, with the side doorways of the same. They indicate, by their style, that the nave must have been rebubt during the latter part of the twelfth century, at the period when the use of the pointed arch was first fully estabbshed in England. The square abacus, and the pecubar character of the capitals and mouldings, identify this part of the church with the works of Wbbam of Sens, and Wbliam the Enghshman, who rebuilt the eastern portion of Canterbury Cathedral between the years 1 1 74 and 1220 ; and also with the earliest parts of the Temple Church, which was finished in 1185 ; though it is free from those indications of a hngering taste for Norman detab which is to be observed in those buhdings. To this period may be referred the singular font which has attracted so much the attention of antiquarians. "The south transept seems to have been the next work, and was probably proceeded with soon after the completion of the nave ; its style, so far as the barbarous mutbations it has suffered permit us to judge, is of the period when the early English or Lancet style had been brought to perfection, and may be placed between 1220 and 1240. The chancel might have been commenced at about the same time, as its lower mouldings appear to range with those of the south transept ; but the superstructure must have been of a somewhat later date, as it shows a leaning towards the suc ceeding style, some of the windows having plain geometrical tracery instead of the simple lancet, which would connect it with the style of the choir of Westminster Abbey, which was erected between 1245 and 1269 ; with St. Mary's Abbey, at York, which was built in 1270 ; the Presbytery, at Lincoln ; the Chapter-house, at Sabs- PAST AND PRESENT. 281 bury; the monument of Bishop Bridport (a.d. 1262); and other splendid works of the latter half of the thirteenth century. The details of the internal pibars and arches also display a decided tendency towards tho later style. The chancel was originally covered with a high-pitched roof of three spans, like those of the Temple Church, the lady chapel of St. Mary Overie, and many other beautiful specimens. The north wall of the chancel, from the window sibs upwards, appears to be of later date, and the west doorway and window of the nave appear to have been inserted soon after the erection of the chancel ; after which the works were probably discontinued for a few years, as was frequently the case with the great works of the middle ages. " The next work in succession is the north transept, which, when perfect, must have been a splendid specimen of the architecture of the fourteenth century, commonly called the Decorated style. The peculiar form and character of the crocketting and foliage, the style of the mouldings, and the absence of flowing lines as the leading forms of the tracery, show it to belong to the earlier division of the style, of which the Eleanor crosses, erected about 1295, are among the most perfect types ; whbe its occasional departure from geometrical severity, and the free play of its tracery, show a slight tendency towards the later and more sumptuous variety ; and on the whole, it may with tolerable certainty be attributed to the earlier part of the reign of Edward II. This transept had, like the other parts of the church, a highly-pitched gable. " Shortly after the completion of the last-mentioned work, the tower seems to have been either finished or rebuilt, with its octa^ gonal lantern and spire ; thus completing a work which comprised a progressive series of architectural variety from the days of Richard Cceur de Lion to those of Edward IIL, ab so happily blended as to constitute one harmonious design. The interior, grand as it doubtless was with appropriate fittings and decorations, and enriched with painted glass and enamebed tiling, must have presented an appearance in some degree worthy of the sacred uses to which it was dedicated." The church has been admhably restored at a cost of upwards of £16,000. The living is a rectory and a perpetual curacy : the rectory, worth £400, is in the gift of the Lord Chan- cebor; the curacy is worth £170, in the gift of the rector of St. Mary's. The church of St. Chad is small, but very old. It is of Saxon VOL. I. 2 N 282 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE or Norman origin, "there being two arches in that style in the north wall of the chancel." The living is a perpetual curacy, worth £85, in the gift of the prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral. That of Christchurch is also a perpetual curacy, worth £300, and in the gift of the rector of St. Mary's. St. Thomas' Church, Castle Town, built in 1866 at the cost of J. Tryer, Esq., of Tixall Hall, is a vicarage, yearly value, £300, in the gift of J. Tryer, Esq. St. Paul's Church, Forebridge, is also a vicarage worth £150, in the gift of the Rev. Edward Allan. There are also places oi worship, some of recent and handsome construction, for the Roman Catholics, Wesleyans, Baptists, Independents, Presbyterians, New Connection and Primitive Methodists, United Brethren, and Society of Friends. Before the Reformation Stafford contained many monastic institu tions. "At the north end of the town, without the walls, a monastery of Franciscans or Grey Friars was founded by Sir James Stafford of Sandon. A priory of Black Canons was likewise founded by Richard Peakes, bishop of Lichfield, in the year 1180, on the banks of the Sow, two miles east of Stafford. It was dedicated to Thomas a Becket, ten years after the death of that imperious but unfortunate prelate, and the place is yet known by the name of St. Thomas. At the Dissolution its revenue amounted to £198 a year. The ruins of this priory are near a corn-mill. The place where the priory stood is now considered extra-parochial, and the ancient church of Baswich is supposed to have originally belonged to the institution. In the year 1344 Ralph, Lord Stafford, bestowed a piece of ground on the Green, south of the river Sow, on the Augustine Friars, where they founded a religious establishment, but since the Dissolution it is gone to ruin." The grammar school is one of the numerous foundations of Edward VL, and has about seventy scholars. There is a church institute held in St. Mary's national schoolrooms, and a mechanics' institute, both having excellent libraries and reading rooms. In 1872 the town acquired, through the liberality of Mrs. W. Salt, the valuable library and archaaological collection of her late husband, W. Salt, Esq., together with a house suitable for their accommodation, purchased by Mrs. Salt at a cost of £2000. To provide for the proper keeping of the collection, and for the salary of a librarian, a sum of £6000 has been subscribed. The town is rich in charitable institutions, of which we may particularise tbe county infirmary, which was founded in 1766, and has since been twice enlarged; it has PAST AND PRESENT. 283 accommodation for 130 patients : the county lunatic asylum, which was established in 1818. It receives' patients not only from the county itself, but from the kingdom generally, though the former are received on lower terms than the others. The asylum is supported both by subscriptions and funded property. It is admirably conducted, and may rank among the principal asylums in the kingdom. The buildings comprise accommodation for 530 patients, and the gardens and grounds cover an area of thirty acres. There are also several alms-houses and endowed charities. The Shire Hall is used as a corn market, and for concerts, public meetings, Sec The county prison, on the north side of the town, can accommodate 850 prisoners. Stafford Castle, about a mile distant, is built on a lofty situation, commanding extensive and beautiful views. It was rebubt in 1815, on the site of a former castle destroyed in 1643, and is the property of Earl Stafford, but never having been occupied by its owners, it is falling into decay. The parish includes the townships of Hopton and Coton, Mar ston, Salt and Enson, and Whitgrea,ve, and contains 6373 acres, 14,540 inhabitants, 2512 houses, and its real property is valued at £61,715. The municipal government now consists of a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen town councillors. Stafford adopted the Local Government Act of 1858 in 1872. The famous Richard Brinsley Sheridan represented Stafford from 1780 to 1806; and Edward Stafford, chancellor of England in the reign of Henry IV., was a native. 284 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: CHAPTER IV. THE HUNDRED OF TOTMONSLOW. This hundred is divided into North and South ; and the hundred of North Totmonslow contains the fobowing parishes : — 1, Alstone field; 2, Bradnop and Cawdry; 3, Cauldon; 4, Caverswall; 5, Cheddleton; 6, Cunsall; 7, Dbhorne; 8, Endon; 9, Longsdon and Stanley; 10, Fairfieldhead ; 11, Grindon; 12, Heathylee; 13, Heaton; 14, Hobinsclough ; 15, Horton; 16, Ipstones ; 17, Leek and Lowe; 18, Leekfrith ; 19, Longnor; 20, Onecote ; 21, Quarnford ; 22, Rushton James ; 23, Rushton Spencer ; 24, Tittisworth. Alstonefield. — This parish is famous as containing the source of the Dove, whose praises have been sung by " good old Izaak Walton" and his friend Cotton. The latter lover of the "gentle craft" sings: — " 0 my beloved Nympha ! fair Dove — Princess of rivers ! how I love Upon thy'flowing banks to lie, And view thy silver stream When gilded by a summer's beam; And in all that wanton fry Playing at liberty, And with my angle upon them, The all of treachery I ever learned to practise, and to try." The parish partakes of " a general appearance of the moorlands ; abounding in hbls and dales, and interspersed with several fertbe spots in a high state of cultivation." It includes the townships of Heathylee, Hollinsclough, Fairfieldhead, Longnor, Quarnford, Warslow, and Elkstone, and contains 21,860 acres, 3902 inhabitants, 876 houses, and real property valued at £19,824. The vblage con tains 2700 acres, 562 inhabitants, 132 houses, and its real property is valued at £4488. The church is Gothic, and the interior, says Mr. Pitt, is worthy of observation. It consists of a nave, chancel, and two small aisles. The roof is supported by six large Gothic arches. The pulpit and reading-desk are curious ; they are painted PAST AND PRESENT. 285 blue, with gbded cornices, and remarkable as being the gift of the celebrated Charles Cotton, the poet, who resided many years at Beresford Hall, on the banks of the Dove. The date carved in the wood is 1637. Opposite the pulpit is a pew which belonged to the Cotton family ; it is also painted blue. The hving is a vicarage worth £300, in the gift of Sir J. H. Crewe, Bart. Near the vblage, upon an elevated situation, there were, in Plot's time, the remains of a fortress simbar to the one near Maer, only much larger, which the people used to call Bonebury. It is described to have been of an irregular figure, encompassed with a double trench; and in some places with a treble one, according as the natural situation of the place seems to have required, particularly on the north-west and north-east sides; all the rest being naturally inaccessible: the whole including about one hundred acres ; which, adds Dr. Plot, " I have no doubt had been made by Ceolred, king of Mercia, the successor of Kenrid, when he was invaded (bke manner as Kenrid by Osrid), in the seventh year of his reign, by the potent Ina, king of the West Saxons, in the year of Christ 716. Cujus anno septimo Ina rex West Saxice, magno exercitu congregato, contra eum apud Bonebury strenue proslivat: i.e., in the seventh year of Ceol- red's reign, Ina, king of the West Saxons, having raised a great army, fought him stoutly at Bonebury, says the abbot of Jourvall, when yet Ceolred (by the advantage of his strong fortification), so warmly received him, that he was glad to withdraw upon equal terms, neither having much reason to brag of victory." Nothing of this once extensive fortress now remains; nor, we believe, is the name of Bonebury now remembered. Bradnop and Cawdry. — These two small places contain 3400 acres, 445 inhabitants, 87 houses, and real property valued at £5020. Cauldon is a small parish in a barren and dreary part of the Moorlands. It abounds in limestone, and is rich in fossbs. Flint- headed arrows and urns have been found in the neighbourhood It contains 1458 acres, 365 inhabitants, 73 houses, and its real property is valued at £2985. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £80 ; and there are several monuments in the church. Caverswall. — The name of this place is sometimes written Cares- well, and towards the latter end of the reign of Edward IL, Sir Wbliam de Caresweb bubt a large and uncommonly strong stone castle at this place, and surrounded it by extensive ponds, and a deep moat with a drawbridge. The heads of the ponds had square 286 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : turrets, for further defence of the place. It was, for a long time, the chief seat of the ancient and noble family of the Vanes, now extinct. The old "Magna Britannia" gives the fobowing account of this castle: — "Caresweb, or Caverswell, was, 20 Conq., held of Robert de Stafford by Ernulph de Hesding, but hath long been the lordship of a famby of that name, antient and gentile, descended probably from him; for in the reign of Richard I., one Thomas de Caresweb, knight, whose grandson, Wbliam de Caresweb, erected a goodly castle in this place ; the pools, dams, and houses of office, being all masonry. His posterity enjoyed it till the 19th of Edward IIL, when, by the heir-general, it passed from the Careswebs to the Montgomeries, and from them, by the Giffords and Ports, to the family of Hastings, earls of Huntingdon, who were owners of it in the last century (the seventeenth), and, as we suppose, are stbl. The castle, in the beginning of that century, was in reasonable good repair; but was suffered to run into decay (if not ruinated on pur pose) by one Brown, the farmer of the lands about it, lest his lord should be at any time in the mind to live there, and take the demesne from him. It hath been since sold to Matthew Cradock, Esq., in whose posterity it was in 1655: but is since come to Captain Packer." This Matthew Cradock was the son of George Cradock of Stafford, a wool merchant, who was clerk of the assize of this circuit. He built a good house on the part' of the site of the castle. Of this house, Plot and Mr. Grose have both given engraved views. It was after this place had passed out of the hands of the Cradocks that it became the property of William, Viscount Vane, of Ireland, who possessed it in right of his mother, the daughter and co-heir of Sir Wbbam Jobiffe, Knt., who married Mary, daughter of Ferdinando, the sixth earl of Huntingdon. It is now the property of the Honourable Booth Grey, brother of the earl of Stamford. Leland calls it "the castel or prati pbe of Cauerweb." In Caresweb church is a monument, erected to the memory of Wibiam de Caresweb, the builder of the castle. It bears the following inscription : — " Willielmus de Careswellis : " This is at the head. Surrounding it is this distich : — " Caatri structor eram, domibus, fossisque cemento. Vivam dans operam, nunc claudor in hoc monumento." PAST AND PRESENT. 287 Anglice :- " I built this castle, with its rampiers round, I shaD live in the work, who am under ground. According to Erdeswick, the fobowing lines were subsequently written on this monument : — "William of Careswell, her lye I, That built this castle and pooles hereby. William of Careswell, here thou mayest lye ; But thy castle is down, and thy pooles are dry." It has been thought that this latter portion of the stanza was written to excite the attention of the owner of the castle to its ruinous state, and to induce him to notice the rapacious conduct of the tenant, Brown. The former portion, it will be observed, is an erroneous translation of the original Latin epitaph.* In the year 1811 a number of nuns, who had emigrated from France, and settled at Preston in Lancashire, removed to Caverswab Castle, as a more secluded place. "This castle," writes Mr. Pitt, "which was sold by the Honourable Booth Grey to Mr. Brett, a banker, of Stone, in this county, was taken on lease by Walter Hill Coyney, Esq., of Weston Coyney, for the nuns; and the sisterhood, amount ing to sixteen in number, with their confessor, came hither. This priest, who is a man of very agreeable manners, has taken much pains to convert several of the peasantry of the parish to the principles of Catholicism. His success, however, has not been commensurate to his zeal : when he has anything to bestow upon them they are mean and willing enough to receive it ; but he has discovered that the majority of his converts come to the chapel in Caverswab Castle more for the hope of gain than the hope of salvation. . In the meantime the nuns are sufficiently active in the good work of instructing young ladies in the principles of their faith, and they have at present about thirty pupbs hi progress. Then discipline is sufficiently strict ; the pupbs wear a uniform of buff-coloured cotton ; they are not suffered to ramble beyond the bounds of the gravel-walk which surrounds the moat, and two or three small fields; they walk two and two, like other boarding- school girls, and in theb- half-hour's exercise along the walks hi the garden, are required, as a religious duty, to utter their ave- marias and paternosters in a low voice. The nuns themselves may be termed the Black Ladies. Their dress is entirely sable, with * Nightingale's Staffordshire. 288 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : long thick black vebs thrown over the right shoulder. Their demeanour is grave, and they generally walk with a book in their hands. Their countenances are pleasing "and pensive ; and if a man approach them, they turn away as if they feared the impu tation of vanity." The castle is now the property of Joseph P. P. Radcliffe, Esq., J.P. The parish includes the township of Weston-Coyney-with-Hulme, and contains 5300 acres, 4082 inhabitants, 789 houses, and its real property is valued at £16,937. The living is a vicarage worth £250. The church is near the castle, and is a smab Gothic bubding. The chancel contains monuments of the Cradocks. The late Countess St. Vincent was buried here in 1816, and there is a splendid monument to the memory of the Earl St. Vincent. Cheddleton. — This place is mentioned in Domesday Book, as belonging to Wbliam, who held it of Roger de Montgomery, earl of Arundel, &c, and that it belonged to Wersley in Alstonefield. In the reign of Wbliam Rufus one Sisardus was lord of the manor. He had issue Peter, whose son ,or grandson, Peter, had a son Wbliam, who being a knight took the name of Chettleton ; but his son Robert was cabed Robert Sisard, lord of Chettleton ; yet his posterity kept the name of Chettleton, and were not called Sisard. After some descents, male issue fabing in William Chet tleton, who in fact died chhdless, and Annabella his sister being heir, who marrying Wbliam Bromley, carried her estate into his famby; but having only a daughter of her own name by him, married to Sir John Hawkstone, Knight, by whom she had also a daughter and heir Ellen, who married Wbliam Egerton, her estate passing into that famby. The parish includes Basford and Cunsall, and contains 9080 acres, 2098 inhabitants, 429 houses, and real property valued at £14,213. The vblage is situated on a hill, and has a pleasant aspect. The hving is a perpetual curacy worth £190. Ashcombe, a seat ofthe Sneyds, is in the parish. Cunsall is a township in Cheddleton parish, and contains 986 acres, 226 inhabitants, and 45 houses; its real property is valued at £2110. Dilhorne. — This parish affords a remarkable instance of the great good which a benevolent and enterprising land-owner may effect. At one time almost all this parish and the neighbourhood were moorland, when Mr. John Holbday, of Dilhorne Hall, reclaimed it and planted a large portion with trees. In 1792 the gold medal PAST AND PRESENT. 289 of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures was awarded to him, for having planted no fewer than 113,000 mixed timber trees at Dbhorne. The woods alone form a chain of three or four mbes in length, consisting of tall straight oaks and ash, in general so web fibed up with underwood as to be cut in gradual falls, at seven years' growth. Eighty-four acres of wood wbl admit of twelve acres being cut annually ; and wbl produce, when sold to the Potteries for crates, 17s. per acre per annum, for the underwood only ; whbe the unplanted bleak hibs are not worth more than 3s. or 4s. per acre. It is neither irrelevant nor unin teresting to pursue these observations on the cultivation of the Moorlands. Mr. Holbday has described it m a pleasing manner. " The east side of Dilhorne heath," he observes, " was cultivated with potatoes, after the heath and gorse had rotted, and been mixt with lime and compost. The crop of potatoes was so abun dant as to admit of many loaded waggons being sent in the winter into the vicinity of the pottery, about six miles from Dbhorn. The quantity was not only immense, but the quabty in so high repute, as to produce about two-pence a bushel above the common market price. In this part of the Moorlands the potato-harvest is of great consideration, and the 30,000 artificers and yeomanry eat very bttle wheaten bread." Dilhorne Hab is now the seat of Sir Edward M. Buller, Bart., D.L., M.P. for North Staffordshire. The parish includes the township of Forsbrook, and contains 2560 acres, 1536 inhabitants, 341 houses, and real property valued at £7975. The vblage is smab, and possesses a fine grammar school endowed by the Huntingdon family, with land which now produces £257 per annum ; there is also a national school for girls. There is another school at Blithemarsh, in this parish, which is for the township of Forsbrook. The church is ancient, built of stone, and has a Norman octagonal steeple. The living is a vicarage worth £250, in the gift of the dean and chapter of Lichfield. The parish is a meet for the North Staffordshire hounds. Endon includes Longsdon and Stanley, and contains 6400 acres, 1370 inhabitants, 278 houses, and real property valued at £5554. The living is a rectory worth £170, in the gift of the earl of Macclesfield. The church, which was rebuilt in 1873, is situated on a hib, and has a pinnacled tower. A part of the township is hbly, but on the whole is well cultivated. Longsdon and Stanley are in the parish of Endon. Longsdon is vol. i. 2 o 290 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : a hamlet, and Stanley a township, and united they contain 4020 acres, 527 inhabitants, and real property valued at £4932. There is a Wesleyan chapel at Longsdon, and a mission church and school were opened at Stanley in March, 1868. Fawfieldhead. — This township is also called Farefieldhead. It contains 5773 acres, 750 inhabitants, 165 houses, and real property valued at £4298. Grindon. — This is a parish and a township. The manor is ancient, and was possessed by Robert de Stafford in the time of the Conqueror. In the reign of Henry III. it was held by William Audley of the baron of Stafford. Joanna le Strange held the manor in the reign of Edward III. ; she married Sir John Brahsford, whose daughter and heir, Joan, married Sir John Bassett, descended from the Bassetts of Cheadle. It continued in this famby tbl the close of the seventeenth century, when it devolved to Christopher, duke of Albemarle. The parish includes the "hamlets of Deepdale, Ford, Hibsdale, and Martinslow, and contains 3229 acres, 381 inhabitants, 78 houses, and real property valued at £5243. The living is a rectory, worth £400. The churchyard furnishes us with one curious epitaph. It is in memory of Charles Smith, who died. in 1814, and runs thus : — • " He taught at Grindon School near five and thirty years, And it was his desire that his bones might rest here till Christ appears." Heathylee. — The name of this township describes its charac teristics. A considerable portion of the land is moor and heath, more delightful to the rambler than grateful to the agriculturist. Finer walks than those to be had at Heathylee it would be diffi cult to imagine. This part of Staffordshire — the Moorlands of the county — is rich in examples of wbd uncultivated nature, dear to all hearts capable of appreciating the glory of gorse and heather, and long stretches of mossy-land yet unconquered by the hand of man. The manor belongs to Sir John H. Crewe ; and the township contains 4756 acres, 440 inhabitants, 96 houses, and real property valued at £3097. Heaton is a township containing 1920 acres, 361 inhabitants, 78 houses, and real property valued at £3142. Hollinsclough is also a township containing 1839 acres, 425 inhabitants, 90 houses, and real property valued at £1071. Sir John H. Crewe is lord of the manor. PAST AND PRESENT. 291 Horton.— This parish includes the township of Blackwood and Crowborough, and contains 4570 acres, 1159 inhabitants, 227 houses, and real property valued at £6211. The living is a rectory worth £180. The church has some monuments of the Cromptons, the Foresters, and the Wedgwoods ; and if epitaphs are to be bebeved, one woman at Horton attained the extraordinary age of 119; she is said to have died in 1787. In Rudyard Vale, near to Horton, is the great reservoir, made by the proprietors of the Great Trunk Canal. It is about a mbe and three-quarters in length, and more than one-eighth of a mbe in breadth, and its depth is about fifteen feet above their gauge. It contains when full 2,420,000 cubic yards of water, or sufficient to supply their canal 100 miles in length, or to fib a lock three yards deep 10,000 times ; it is consequently a sufficient supply in a dry season. The name Rud yard is derived from the Old British yr rhydyard, the ford of the height. Ipstones. — " The summits of some of the hbls in this county," observes Mr. Pitt, "terminate in huge tremendous cliffs, particu larly those cabed Leek Rocks or Roches, and Ipstones Sharp Cliffs, which are composed of larger heaps of rugged rock pbed one upon another, and have a most terrific aspect; in some places, single blocks of immense size are heaped together, and overhang the precipices, threatening destruction to the traveller ; and some broken masses of prodigious bulk have evidently rolled from the summits. Leek Rocks, or Roches, are composed of a coarse sandy grit-rock ; those of Ipstones of coarse plum-pudding stone {breccia arenacea), and seem like sand and small pebbles cemented to gether." The parish is large and extensive, including the town ship of Morridge, a part of the hamlet of Foxt. It contains 5642 acres, 1673 inhabitants, 341 houses, and real property valued at £25,224. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £130, of which the freeholders of Ipstones are the patrons. There is a national school, with endowment ; and the Wesleyan and Primitive Metho dists have chapels. The scenery in this neighbourhood is exceed ingly romantic and picturesque. Near to the village of Ipstones is Belmont, a. seat of the Sneyd famby. The Crome, says Mr. Nightingale, is pleasantly situated on a gently rising hbl fronting the south-east, nearly surrounded by deep woods of oak ash, elm, lime, maple, Sec, with underwood of mountain ash, hazel, birch, alder, salixes of different species, Sec, Sec ; which underwood 292 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: is cut, on an average, once in six years, to make crates for the pottery. At the bottom of this romantic glen runs a brook, which, after feeding eight or nine large fish-ponds, runs into the river Churnet. Mr. Sneyd's plantations here are very extensive ; and it is remarked, that had every gentleman who has landed property in the Moorlands improved their estates in the way he has done, there would be little occasion to complain of the "nakedness of the land" in so large a portion of this county. The woods and walks abound with numerous rare plants, of which a list, amounting to not less than twenty-seven different kinds, is given in Mr. Pitt's Survey. Besides these, there are many others which are not peculiar to these gardens and plantations ; yet growing here in abundance. The example of Mr. Sneyd and others is not without its beneficial effects ; and many parts of these Moorlands begin to assume as much an appearance of comfort and usefulness as other parts of the county. Many of these rude and bare rocks, it is true, must for ever remain exposed naked to the elements, unless another eruption, similar to the one to which, in all probability, they owe their present appearance, shall again sink them to then- native beds, when the level plains on which they now stand may once more be covered with a fruitful sob, pregnant with animation, and teembig with verdure and fruitfulness. Till then theb" flinty eminences must continue an example of the awful power of that Being, who " kibs and makes alive," who to one place says, Be fruitful and multiply, be replenished and beautified with the bounties and the ornaments of spring; and to another, Be ye the seats of winter, and the constant abodes of snow and gloom. At present, to many of these rocky elevations may justly be applied the beautiful lines of Montgomery : "Spring— the young cherubim of love, An exile in disgrace — Flits o'er the same, like Noah's dove, Nor finds a resting place. When on the mountain's azure peak Alights her airy form, Cold blow the winds, and dark and bleak Around her rolls the storm." We are informed by Dr. Plot that, in digging in a low or barrow at no great distance from this place, there were found PAST AND PRESENT. 293 men's bones of an extraordinary size, which were preserved for some time by a Mr. Hambton, vicar of Alstonefield. As this writer does not mention the exact size of these supposed human bones, and as he received his information from report only, it is probable that some exaggeration had been used ; and that, hi fact, this circumstance can throw no light on the numerous traditions we have of the existence of a race of giants, either in this, or any other parts of the country. The Blue Hills, in this neighbourhood, are remarkable for send ing forth a saline stream, which gives the rocky district through which it runs a brown rusty colour. This water, with an infusion of gabs, immediately turns as black as ink. This, doubtless, is owing to the almost inexhaustible strata of lead ore which abounds in various parts of these hills. The scenery here and in the neighbourhood is very picturesque, including cliffs of considerable height and great beauty. Of late years the country has been much improved by extensive planta tion, which is now producing its natural results. It may also be mentioned here that gritstone of a very good quality is largely quarried, and adds materially to the prosperity and web-being of the people. Leek and Lowe. — Leek is the principal market town in the northern division of the hundred of Totmonslow. In Camden's time it was said to have a good market. The manor was the estate of one Algarus Ca before the Conquest; and hi the Conqueror's hands, Reg. 20 ; but it was, 6th Stephen, the estate of Ranulph de Gernoiis, the fourth earl of Chester, a great man in King Stephen's time, in whose reign, a.d. 1153, he died, being poisoned, as it was suspected, by William Pevereb and others. His wife Maud, daughter of Robert, earl of Gloucester, base son of King Henry I., was the foundress of Repton Priory, in Derby shire, and, surviving her husband, in the 32nd of Henry II. held the lordship of Wadington in dowry. Ranulph was a person of singular piety in his days ; and, among many other benefactions, to divers monasteries in several counties, as to the nuns of Chester monks of Geroudon, in Leicestershire, &c, he gave the tithes of his mill in this place to the monks of St. Werberg, at Chester. His heir and successor in his earldom was Hugh, surnamed Kivi- liock, a town in Powis in Merionethshire where he was born. He died at his seat in this town, in the year 1181, 27 Henry IL, 294 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : and was succeeded by Ranulph, his son and heir, who gave this manor to the monks of the abbey of Dieu le Creyse, adjoining. That the Romans made frequent incursions into these parts is evident from various concurring circumstances ; and that the neigh bourhood of Leek, in particular, has been the scene of some signal action, fought between the Britons and their invaders, is clear from the circumstance of several pieces of Romish and British arms having been from time to time discovered in its immediate vicinity. Dr. Plot, speaking of the manner in which the Britons used to head their arrows, writes thus : — "Nor did the Britons only head their arrows with flint, but also their matarce or British darts, which were thrown by those that fought in Essedis, whereof, I guess, this is one I had given me, found near Leek, by my worthy friend, Mr. Thomas Gent, curiously jagged at the edges with such-hke teeth as a sickle, and otherwise wrought upon the flint ; by which we may conclude, not only that these arrows and spear-heads are ab artificial, whatever is pretended, but also that they had anciently some way of working flints by the tool, which may be seen by the marks, as well as they had of Egyptian porphyry." This town, says Mr. Nightingale, is remarkable also for the fol lowing singular circumstance : — By the intervention of one of those craggy mountains which we have already described, at a considerable distance westward of the town, the sun sets twice in the same evening at a certain time of the year ; for after it sets behind the top of the mountain, it breaks out again on the northern side of it, which is steep, before it reaches the horizon in its fall. So that within a very few mbes the inhabitants have the rising sun when he has. in fact, passed his meridian, as at Narrowdale, before noticed, and the setting sun twice in the space of a very few hours, as here at Leek ! The parish includes the townships of Bradnop, Endon-with- Longs don, and Chorley, Heaton, Leekfrith, Onecote, Rudyard, Rushton- James, Rushton-Spencer, and Tittisworth. It contains 34,370 acres, 15,544 inhabitants, 3235 houses, and real property valued at £54,526. The hving is a vicarage worth £300, In the gift of the bishop of Lichfield. In the churchyard are the remains of a pyra midal cross. It is about ten feet high, having three steps at the foot. It is adorned with imagery and fret-work; but has no inscrip tion to designate its origin or precise objects. There are several such in various places, as we have already noticed : particularly in PAST AND PRESENT. 295 the churchyards of Chebsey, Ilam, and Checkley, "serving," says Mr. Gough, " where single, as crosses ; where more, as sepulchral monuments, probably of the Danes." This stone is, we think, not of Danish origin, though it is usually so denominated. Besides the parish church, the church of St. Edward the Confessor, there is St. Luke's Church, which was bubt in 1846 ; the living is a perpetual curacy worth £300, and in the gift alternately of the crown and the bishop of Lichfield. The Independents, the Wesleyans, the Primi tive Methodists, the New Connexion Methodists, and the Roman Cathobcs, have also places of worship. Leek can likewise boast an excebent bterary and mechanics' institution, and a goodly number of schools and charities, the latter including a memorial cottage hospital, erected in 1870 to the memory of James Alsop, Esq., by his widow, Mrs. Alsop. The town-hall was rebuilt in 1873. At a smab distance from Leek is Dieu le Cresse, or rather, Dieu Encres, now commonly called Delacres, where was an abbey bubt by Ranulph, the third earl of Chester, and at the Dissolution given, with most of its appurtenances, to Sir Ralph Baggenholt, by Kmg Edward VL, for his advancement ; but Sir Ralph dispersed it abroad, and gave it partly to the poor, for he sold it almost ab to the tenants who held it, to every one his own, at so smab a price that they were able to make the purchase, and then spent the money gentleman like, leaving his son nothing but his natural endowments, which proved sufficient to raise him to an equal dignity with his father ; and it is likely to as good or better an estate ; for he was for his valour knighted at Calais, Anno 1596. This, as the same author informs us, was an abbey of Cistercian monks ; and the fobowing legend is mentioned as immediately con nected with its foundation and name : — " Upon this occasion, the ghost of Earl Ranulph's grandfather appeared to him one night when he was in bed, and bid him go to a place cabed Cholpesdale, within the territory of Leek, and there he should find a chapel dedicated to the blessed virgin, and form there an abbey of White monks, and endow it; 'For by it,' said the ghost, 'there shab be joy to thee and many others who shall be saved thereby. Of this it shab be a sign, when the Pope doth interdict England. But do thou, in the meantime, go to the monks of Pulton, and be partaker of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper ; and in the seventh year of that interdict thou shalt translate those monks to the place I have appointed." Ranulph having had this vision, related it to Clementia 296 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: his wife, who hearing it, said in French, " Dieu encres ! — -God increase," whereupon the earl, pleased with the expression, said: "The name of the place shab be Dieu le cres," which is now corrupted to Dieulacres. This house, being thus founded, was furnished accordingly with monks of the Cistercian order, from Pulton in Cheshire, which was bubt in this earl's name by Robert de Pincerna, or Butler, his servant, and web endowed by the earl himself with divers lands and possessions, which his successors, earls of Chester, confirmed, and made considerable additions to it. Robert de Menb- wannin also gave to the monks of this house, " for the health of his soul," and of Ranulph, earl of Chester and Lincoln, and his mother's brother, in pure and perpetual alms, free common in the wood of Peven, with housebote, and haybote, and pannage for fifty hogs."* After the Dissolution it was possessed by the Bagnabs and the Rudyards. On the site of this abbey was afterwards erected an abbey of French nuns. Leek gave birth to Thomas Parker, the first earl of Macclesfield, who was the son of Thomas Parker, attorney, of this town. He was born in Leek in the year 1666, and after a grammatical educa tion, applied himself to the study of the law, under the direction of his father. He became so eminent as a barrister, that he was appointed one of Queen Anne's counsel, and was exalted to the degree of sergeant-at-law, and had the honour of knighthood con ferred on him on the 8th of June, 1705. He was a representative in Parliament for the town of Derby from 1705 to 1708. In 1710 he was appointed lord chief justice of the Court of King's Bench, and, on the death of the queen, he was one of the lords' justices tib the arrival of George I. from Hanover. On the 10th of March, 1716, he was created a baron of England, by the title of Lord Parker, baron of Macclesfield; and on the 5th of November, 1721, he was advanced to the dignity of earl of Macclesfield. In conse quence of some notorious malpractices his lordship was impeached by the House of Peers on charges of corruption, tried at the bar of the house, and pronounced guilty, hi consequence of which he was removed from his offices, and fined £30,000. Of this accomplished but unfortunate earl, Mr. Noble writes as fobows : — " This every way distinguished character was the son of Thomas Parker, an attorney at Leek, in Staffordshire, in the chancel of which church I have read the inscription on his grave-stone. He * Nightingale's Staffordshire. PAST AND PRESENT. 297 left his son about £1C0 per annum. He received the Great Seal May 11, 1709, which he held tbl January 4, 1724-25. It was an extraordinary event that Lord Macclesfield, one of the great orna ments of the peerage, who had so long presided at the adminis tration of justice, should himself be arraigned as a criminal, be convicted of malpractices, and sentenced to pay a fine of £30,000 as a punishment for his offence ; that a second lord chancellor of England should be impeached by the Grand Inquest of the nation for corruption of office, and be, bke his predecessor, Lord St. Alban's, found gudty of the charge. The prosecution was carried on with great virulence ; and though rigid justice, indeed, demanded a severe sentence, yet party zeal and personal animosity were sup posed to have had their weight in that which was passed upon him. The whole fine was exacted, and actually paid by his lordship and his son, notwithstanding the favourable disposition that was shown in a certain quarter to relieve him in part by a considerable dona tion. • It is certain there had been gross mismanagement in the offices of the masters in chancery, by which the suitors had been great sufferers ; and it appeared that those places had been some times conferred upon persons who had evidently paid for them a valuable consideration. The public cry against corruption in high stations was loud and long ; and it was not thought prudent to stay proceedings against the supreme judge in the kingdom. The statute on which the chancellor was impeached had, indeed, grown into disuse, but it was stbl a law ; a breach of it was proved, and the consequence was inevitable. Lord Macclesfield was a man of learning, and a patron of it. Bishop Pearce, of Rochester, among others, owed his first introduction to preferment to his lordship's encouragement. He was always very eminent for his skill in his profession ; but rather great than amiable in his general character, being very austere and inattentive. In the vicinity are several fine residences, including Ball Haye Hall, formerly occupied by the Davenport family, and at present by A. J. Worthington, Esq. ; Haregate, the occasional residence of T. Atkinson Argles, Esq. ; Highfield Hall, occupied by C. E. Glover, Esq.; and Westwood Hall, the seat of J. Robinson, Esq., J.P. Leelcfrith. — A township in Leek parish, including Newbrook and Pool End. It contains 665 acres, 771 inhabitants, 155 houses, and real property valued at £7360. Near it are the celebrated Roches, previously described. There is a Wesleyan chapel and a smab church. vol. i. 2 p 298 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: Longnor is in a " remote, hilly, and rather barren district." The vblage is on the river Manifold, near to the Dove, and is in Alstonefield parish. The township contains 1200 acres, 520 inhabi tants, 120 houses, and real property valued at £1919. The chapelry was constituted about 1799, and is more extensive than the town ship, having a population of 2453. The hving is a perpetual curacy worth £150, in the gift of the vicar of Alstonefield. In the churchyard is the fobowing biographical epitaph, which is worth quoting : — " In memory of William Bilbnge, who was born in a corn-field at Fairfieldhead, in this parish, 1691. At the age of thirteen years he enlisted into his Majesty's service, under Sir George Rooke, and was at the taking of the fortress of Gib raltar in 1704. He afterwards served under the late duke of Marlborough at the ever -memorable battle of Ramhlies, fought on the 23rd of May, 1706, where he was wounded by a musket- shot in the thigh ; afterwards returned to his native country, and, with manly courage, defended his sovereign's rights in the rebellions of 1715 and 1745. He died within the space of 150 yards of the place where he was born ; and was interred here the 30th of January, 1791, aged 100 years. " Billeted by Death, I quarter'd here remain ; When the trumpet sounds, I'll rise and march again.' Onecote is a vblage, a township, and a chapeby, and contains 1460 acres, 837 inhabitants, 173 houses, and real property valued at £9471. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £100, in the gift of the vicar of Leek. Close to Onecote is Narrowdale, remarkable for the high rocks by which it is surrounded. Dr. Plot remarks that many of the mountains about here are of so vast a height that, in rainy weather, he has frequently seen the tops of them above the clouds. Those of Narrowdale, in particular, are so very narrow that the inhabitants there, for that quarter of the year when the sun is nearest the tropic of Capricorn, never see it at ab ; and that at length, when it does begin to appear, they never see it tib about one o'clock, which they call the Narrowdale-noon, using it proverbially, when they would express a thing done late at noon. The once famous Mixon copper mine was at Onecote ; but it is no longer worked. Quarnford. — This township chapelry includes also the vblage of Flash, and contains 3330 acres, 485 inhabitants, 117 houses, and PAST AND PRESENT. 299 real property valued at £11 SI. The living is a perpetual curacy worth £95, in the patronage of Sir J. Crewe, Bart., to whom the manor belongs. The Wesleyans have a chapel here. Rushton- James and Rushton- Spencer. — These are two townships and a chapeby hi the parish of Leek. " In the latter place they point out a small well, which the people of the neighbourhood cab St. Helen's Web. It is plentifully supplied by a spring, that (joined by another of equal force) furnishes water to a pretty large reservoir belonging to a cotton mill, when we visited it occupied by Mr. Peter Goostry, who employed many of the neighbouring people in the spinning of cotton weft for the Manchester market. This well is remarkable for some shigular qualities. It sometimes happens that it will become suddenly dry, after a constant discharge of water for eight or ten years. This happens as well m wet as in dry seasons, and always at the begmning of May, when the springs are commonly esteemed highest ; and so it usually continues tbl Martinmas, Nov. 12 fobowing. The people imagine, that when tins happens, there wbl soon fobow some stupendous calamity of famine, war, or some other great national disaster, or change. They say that it grew dry before the late civb war, and again before the beheading of Kmg Charles I. ; and also agabist the great scarcity of corn in 1670; and lastly in 1679, when what is ridiculously and falsely cabed the popish plot was discovered. Mr. Peter Goostry, whose influence hi this neighbourhood was considerable, being himself an mtebigent man, helped materially to bring these superstitious notions into contempt" The two townships contain 1750 acres, 611 inhabitants, 140 houses, and real property valued at £4299. The hving is a perpetual curacy worth £160, in the gift of the vicar of Leek. The church, which stands on a hill, was erected in the thirteenth century, and is a curious structure, at one time known as " The Chapel in the Wilderness." There is a Wesleyan Chapel. Rushton Marsh and Heaton are hamlets included within the townships. At Heaton is Swithamley Hall, once occupied by the Trafford famby, now the seat of P. L. Brocklehurst, Esq., J.P. Tittisworth. — Also a township in Leek parish, and contains 3500 acres. 1397 inhabitants, 301 houses, and real property valued at £3792. Warslow and Flkstone consist of the township of Upper and Lower Elkstone, and of Warslow ; and of the chapelries of Elk- stone and Warslow. They contain 5420 acres, 720 inhabitants, 156 houses, and real property valued at £3770. The two chapelries are 300 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: perpetual curacies, and are united in one living; that of Elkstone is worth £98, and that of Warslowe £100, in the. gift of the vicar of Alstonefield. The hundred of South Totmonslow contains the following : — 1, Alton ; 2, Bradley-in-the-Moors ; 3, Bramshab ; 4, Butterton ; 5, Cheadle ; 6, Checkly ; 7, Cotton (Lower and Upper) ; 8, Croxden ; 9, Denstone ; 10, Draycott-in-the-Moors ; 11, Farley; 12, Field; 13, Gratwich ; 14, Kingsley; 15, Kingston; 16, Leigh; 17, Rocester; 18, Rudyard ; 19, Sheen; 20, Uttoxeter ; 21, Warslowe; and 22, Wetton. Alton. — Mr. Llewebynn Jewett, in his admirable " Guide to Alton Towers,"* gives the following account of this place, and of the noble famby to which it belongs. " At the time of taking the Domesday Survey," he writes, " Alton (Elveton, Alveton, or Aulton) was held by the crown, but evidently afterwards reverted to its original owners, Rohesia, the heiress of whom, marrying Bertram de Verdun (who had previously been married to Maude, daughter to Robert de Ferrars, first earl of Derby), brought it to that family. Alton thus became the chief barony of the Verduns, its members being Wooton, Farley, Stanton, Ramsor, Coton, Spon, Denston, Bradley, Stramshall, and Whiston ; and, afterwards, Fen- ton, Bockenhole, Balterdley, and Biddulph, were joined to it. Among other places which belonged to this family in Stafford shire were Rudyerd (which had been granted to them at the Conquest, and which thus became a member of the manor of Alton), Ipstones, and other places. From the Verduns, as wbl be seen from the following notes, Alton passed to the Furnivals, from them to the Nevbes, and so from the Neviles to the Talbots, who are its present possessors. " Godfreye Compte le Verdun, surnamed Le Caplif, had a son, Bertram de Verdun, who held Farnham-Royal, in Buckinghamshire, by service of grand-sergeantry, circa 1080. He had three sons, Mbo, Wibiam, and Norman, the latter of whom, who was lord of Weobly, and was living in 1140, married Lascehne, daughter of Geoffrey de Clinton, lord-chamberlain and treasurer to Henry I., and by her had issue — Nicholas, who was abbot of Burton ; Robert, who married Joan, daughter and heiress of Henry de Bourton ; Simon; Abcia, wife of Ivo Pantulf; and Bertram. This Bertram de Verdon, who was a crusader, founded the abbey of Croxden * Black's Picturesque Guide to Alton Towers and Dovedale. PAST AND PRESENT. 301 or Crokesdene, near Alton, in 1176. He married twice, his first wife being Maude, daughter of Robert de Ferrars, first earl of Derby (who died without issue in 1139), and his second being Rohesia, daughter and heiress of a former possessor of Alton, through which marriage he became possessed of that manor, castle, Sec He was sheriff of the counties of Warwick and Leicester, and dying at Joppa, was buried at Acre. By his wife Rohesia (who died in 1215) he had issue — William; Thomas, who married Eustachia, daughter of Gbbert Bassett ; Bertram ; Robert ; Walter, who was constable of Bruges Castle ; and Nicholas, through whom the line is continued through John de Verdon, who, marrying Marjorie, one of the co-heiresses of Walter de Lacie, lord palatine, of the county of Meath, had issue by her — Sir Nicholas de Verdon of Ewyas-Lacie Castle ; John de Verdon, Lord of Weobly ; Humphrey ; Thomas ; Agnes ; and Theobald, who was constable of Ireland, 3rd Edward I., and was in 1306 summoned as Baron Verdon. He died at Alton in 1309, and was buried at Croxden Abbey. His son, Theobald de Verdon, by his first wife, Elizabeth, widow of John de Burgh, earl of Ulster, and daughter and one of the co-heiresses of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, by " Joane de Acres," had a daughter, married to Lord Ferrars, of Groby ; and, by his second wife, Maude, daughter of Edmund, first Baron Mortimer, of Wigmore, had issue, besides three sons who died during his lifetime, three daughters, who became his co-heiresses. One of these, Margaret (who married three times), had Weobly Castle for her portion ; another, Elizabeth, married to Lord de Burghersh, had Ewyas-Lacie Castle for her portion ; and the other, Joan, had for her portion Alton, with its castle and dependencies. This lady (Joan de Verdon) married, firstly, Wbliam de Montague ; and, secondly, Thomas, second Lord Furnival, who, for marrying her without the king's licence, was fined in the sum of £200. She had by this marriage two sons, Thomas and Wibiam, who were successively third and- fourth Barons Furnival, lords of Habamshb-e. This William, Lord Furnival, married Thomasin, daughter and heiress of Nicholas, second Baron Dagworth, of Dag worth, and had by her a sole daughter and heiress, Joan de Furnival, who, marrying Thomas Neville, of Hallamshire, brother to the earl of Westmoreland, conveyed to him the title and estates, he being summoned in 1383 as fifth Baron Furnival. By her he had issue two daughters and co-heiresses, the eldest of whom, 302 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Maude, "Lady of Hallamshire," married, in 1408, John Talbot, afterwards first earl of Shrewsbury and sixth Baron Talbot, of Goderich — " Le Capitaine Anglais." This nobleman, whose mili tary career was one of the most brilliant recorded in English history, was summoned as Baron Furnival, of Sheffield, in 1409 ; created Earl of Shrewsbury, 1442 ; and Earl of Waterford, Sec, 1446. He was slain, aged eighty, at Chatibon, in 1453, and was buried at Whitchurch. This earl of Shrewsbury, who so con spicuously figures in Shakspeare's Henry VI, enjoyed, among his other titles, that of " Lord Verdon, of Alton " — a title which continued in the famby, the Alton estates having now uninter ruptedly for nearly five centuries belonged to them. The titles of this great earl of Shrewsbury are thus set forth by Shakspeare when Sir William Lucy, seeking the Dauphin's tent, to learn what prisoners have been taken, and to " survey the bodies of the dead," demands — " Where is the great Alcides of the field, Valiant Lord Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury 1 Created, for his rare success in arms, Great earl of Washford, Waterford, and Valence ; Lord Talbot of Goodrig and Urchinfield, Lord Strange of Blackmere, Lord Verdun of Alton, Lord Cromwell of Wingfield, Lord Furnival of Sheffield, The thrice victorious lord of Falconbridge ; Knight of the noble order of Saint George, Worthy Saint Michael, and the Golden Fleece ; Great Mareshal to Henry the Sixth Of all his wars within the realm of France." From John, first earl of Shrewsbury — " the scourge of France," " so much feared abroad that with his name the mothers stbl their babes" — the manor and estates of Alton and elsewhere passed to his son John, second earl, who married Elizabeth Butler, daughter of James, earl of Ormond, and was succeeded by his son John, third earl, who married Catherine Stafford, daughter of Humphrey, duke of Buckingham. The next in succession was their son George, fourth earl of Shrewsbury, K.G., Sec, who was only five years of age at the time of his father's decease. He died at Wingfield Manor, Derbyshire, and was buried at Sheffield. He had been twice married, firstly to Ann, daughter of Wbliam, Lord Hastings, and secondly to Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Michael Walden. By his first wife he had, among others, Francis, who succeeded him as fifth earl, and who in his turn dying in 1560, PAST AND PRESENT. 303 was succeeded by his son George (by his wife Mary, daughter of Lord Dacre, of Gblesland) as sixth earl. This George, sixth earl of Shrewsbury, married first Gertrude Manners, daughter of Thomas, earl of Rutland, and by her, who died in 1557, had a numerous issue, among whom was Gilbert, who succeeded him as seventh earl and Edward, who succeeded as eighth earl ; and, second, Elizabeth (generaby known as " Bess of Hardwick"), daughter of John Hardwick, of Hardwick Hall, and. successively widow, first of Robert Barlow, of Barlow, second of of Sir Wibiam Cavendish, of Chatsworth, and third of Sir Wbliam St. Loe. She outlived her fourth husband, the earl of Shrewsbury, and dying in 1607 was buried at Derby. She was the founder of Chatsworth and of Hardwick Hall. Before this already three times widowed woman would consent to be raised to the bed of the first peer of the realm, she stipulated that he should give his daughter Grace to her eldest son, Sir William Cavendish, of Chatsworth, in marriage, and that his second son Gbbert (after wards earl of Shrewsbury) should espouse her youngest daughter Mary, then only twelve years of age. This the earl agreed to, and the double nuptials were solemnized at Sheffield. To him was confided the care of the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, who was in his custody at Chatsworth and other places for several years. " Gbbert, seventh earl of Shrewsbury, as has been seen, married when under fifteen years of age Mary, youngest daughter of Sir Wbbam Cavendish, of Chatsworth, by " Bess of Hardwick," who was only twelve years old, and by her had two sons, who died young, and three daughters. He was succeeded as eighth earl of Shrewsbury by his brother Edward, who married Jane, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Cuthbert, Lord Ogle, by whom he had no issue. His lordship, the last of this descent, died hi 1617, and the title then passed to a distant branch of the famby, the ninth earl being George Talbot, of Grafton, who was descended from Sir Gbbert Talbot, thud son of John, the second earl, by Elizabeth Butler, daughter of James, earl of Ormond. From them the title descended in regular lineal succession to Charles, twelfth earl, who was created by George I. Duke of Shrewsbury and Marquis of Alton, and a K.G. At his death in 1717 the dukedom and marquisate expired, and it is not a bttle sin another eighty-seven, and another eighty-two, and one young man of sixty-eight. Yesterday I talked with a man of ninety, who had all his senses, and walks without a staff. About a month since he had a fever, and was speechless two days ; his daughter is sixty ; and about six months since he buried bis wife, who had lived sixty- three years with him, and was aged eighty-five. In this town are now living three men and their wives who have had fifty-three children, and each has the wife by whom he had his children now alive. They are ab young men, the oldest not being above sixty. I will only tell you that in 1702 there died here three women, their years as follows: — One 103, the second 126, and the third 87." Judging from the ages which we saw on the tombstones, we should say that longevity is stib a characteristic of Uttoxeter. Nor need we be surprised at this. In such a town, with such a situation, no stir, no excitement, one might drag out an existence for ever. We should, however, be inclined to say with the poet, " More bfe and fuller 'tis we want," and, "Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay." Better the short, active, useful life of our busy towns than the hundred and twenty-six years of emotionless Uttoxeter. The following is a chronology of remarkable events at Uttoxeter from the year 1252 to 1689; transcribed from the Church Wardens' and Constables' Accounts, and other authentic papers : — ¦ 1252. — Earl Ferrers' charter, granted to the burgesses of Uttoxeter, is dated August 15, 1252. 1308. — In the second year of King Edward IL, Thomas, earl of Lancaster (eldest son of Edmund, second son of Henry IIL), obtained a charter for a market every Wednesday, at Uttoxeter, and a yearly fair on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Mary Magdalene, July 21st and 22nd. 1642. — Paid to them that swept Mr. Ward's hall, for King Charles I., Is. Trained soldiers pay here, and to Stafford, to wait on the king, .£34 6s. Charges when the country went against Stafford the first time, 3s. id. Doveridge men's charges when they came to guard the town, Is. Paid for match, powder, and coals, for some ofthe town ends, in February, £l 5s. Id. John Sherratt, for leading clods five days to the bulwarks, 16s. Bestowed on the countrymen when they came to guard the town, when the soldiers went to Lichfield, 2s. 3d. Paid to carpenters and labourers at the bulwarks, £5 13s. 2,d. For watching Lord Stanhope and his son at the Crown, lis. To a prisoner who came from Hopton battle, 4d. N.B. Fought near Stafford. Paid for match, powder, candles, bullets, and coals, for PAST AND PRESENT. 323 some of the town ends, in March, £2 10s. 9d. For removing one of the bulwarks, and for entrenching, 12s Ad. Bestowed on Loxley men when they came to trench, Ad. November.— Paid for drink bestowed on Loxley and Tean men when they came to help the town against Worthley, 2s. Paid for drink for Marchington, and Crakemarsh, and Creighton men, 2s. Paid to Johnson for prisoners, which were Worthley's men, 6s. Id. 1643— January.— Fire and candle for the watch, being Derby men, Is. bd. Paid for butter, cheese, five quarters of peas, and oats, to Tutbury and Lichfield, £19 2s. Bd. Paid two men for going to Tutbury with provisions, Is. Ad. Paid William Ferrall and others, who watched the ordnance at the Crown door, Is. 6d. Paid Richard Cartridge for watching on the church, Bd. February.— Charges when the country went against Stafford twice, £5 lis. Ad. Paid to the ringers when King Charles I. was here, 5s. June.— Paid to a townsman when he went to guard a field-piece to Tutbury, 8d. Charges to Wooton-lodge with a horse-load of bread, Is. July. —Paid to workmen for pulling down the bulwarks, and taking them away, 10s. October.— Paid down when Colonel Hastings was in town, £5. December.— Ale for the captain and his men, who brought a warrant from Lord Loughborough for £50 3s. December.— For twenty-five strikes of oats, which were sent for by warrant to Tutbury, £2 4s. lOd. December 27.— Provisions sent to Ashbury by warrant from Colonel Dudley, in the king's army, £3. For ale, tobacco, wood, coals, and hay, for guards and sentinels, £2 10s. Ad. 1644.— January.— Paid Captain Vernon, what he laid upon the township, £ll. February 26. — Paid to the committee's treasurer at Stafford, for weekly pay in money and returns, £100. March 11.— Paid to Tutbury Castle in money and returns, £50. April.— For a rope to hang the man who killed John Scott, and for a cord to pinion the prisoner, Is. May 7.— For eight cwt., two qrs., seven lbs. cheese to Tutbury, £7 15s. lOd. September.— Levies upon the town of Uttoxeter, £608 13s. 2d 1645.— January 1.— The parishioners of Uttoxeter paid £6 2s. Ad. weekly, besides extra ordinary expenses to a considerable amount. Paid to Prince Rupert's cook for his fee, §s. August 4. — Hay, oats, beer, tobacco, wood, and coals, for the guard three nights, when the Parliament forces went against Tutbury Castle, £l 19s. Bd. For guides to go a scouting three nights, 9s. October.— For a sheet, making the grave, ringing, beer, and for burying the soldier that was slain in the street, 4s. 1646. — February 5.— The constable's accounts amounted to £975 7s. Id. October 6. — Paid to two men for blocking up the town with carts, 6d. Beer for soldiers for barri cading the town ends, Is. February 8. — Paid Commissary Ward three weeks' contribution, £14 13s. Bd. Paid General Egertqn at Tutbury, £30. February 22. — For carrying two soldiers to Caverswall, who were maimed in the High Wood beyond Uttoxeter, 2s. 6d. On the 15th of February, 1646, a sharp encounter betwixt a party of the king's troops from Tutbury Castle, and a party of the Parliament's from Burton-house, in Derbyshire. (Wharton's " Gesta Britannica.") February 1 4. — For two horses and a man to carry bread and cheese to Tutbury in the night, being in great want, 3s. Ad. February 22.— Paid to Parson Langley's soldiers in bread and beer 3s. March 30. — For provisions to the leaguers (or Parlia ment forces) at Tutbury, £7 4s. 6d. April 8.— Ditto, £11 2s. 9d Tutbury Castle was taken by Sir William Brereton in 1646. April 20.— Paid Captain John Cloyd for pulling down the bulwarks at Tutbur.', £3. August 26.— Paid to Ashburn by the churchwardens of Uttoxeter, when the town was infested with the plague, £3. Paid to the inhabitants of Clifton when the plague was there, £5. October. — For quartering General Fairfax's soldiers, £20. October 13.— For quartering Colonel Cromwell's soldiers, £20. December.— Quartering Colonel Oakley's men, £13 2s. 6d. 1647-— May 12. To fifteen men, for pulling down Tutbury Castle, £2 10s. Ad. October 324 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : — To forty-six travellers, or Egyptians, with a pass from Parliament to travel by the space of six months together, to get relief, 4s. 1648.— May. — For two men watching in the steeple when the town was fearful of an in surrection, Is. Ad. For quartering fifteen of Colonel Monk's soldiers, 13s. 1651. — For a warrant to fetch in and search for Papists' and delinquents' arms, Ad. August 11. — To Robert Goodall for horses, saddles, and bridles, towards horsing the militia, £5 15s. Five horses and five men were provided by the town of Uttoxeter. Each of the men were paid 7s. 6d. Their names were, John Clarke, Francis Allen, Philip Needham, Richard Wilkinson, and Thomas Vernon. August 20. — To ale, bread, and pottage, to relieve the Scotch prisoners taken by Lieu tenant-colonel Downes, whilst in custody, £2 8s. To another body of Scotch prisoners, £1 10s. 1658. — Note. — £67 10s. was paid to the army, yearly, for several years. November 5. — Paid the ringers 5s.; and for proclaiming the Lord Protector, Is. 1660. — May.— Paid the ringers when King Charles II. was proclaimed, 5s. For painting the king's arms, 19s. 2rf. ; ringing on the Coronation Day, 8s. 1662. — We paid for 622 fire-hearths. May 16. — A warrant for Quakers, Is. 1667. — Royal aid at Christmas, £44 Is.; at Midsummer, £44 Is. 1672. — One month's pay to the Government, £14 13s. 6d. April 8.— Two months' pay, £29 7s. July 30. — A great fire happened in the rear of Richard Cludd's house, which consumed most of the lower part of the town. Paid Mr. Edge and Mr. . Chamberlayne for going to Stafford with a petition to the judge about the fire, 15s. October 6. — Repairing stocks and cuckstool, 10s. 1688. — For wine and ale at the Crown, the thanksgiving day for the Prince of Wales (son of James IL), and the day after, when the bishops were released, £2 2s. 6d. ; a load of coals that day for bonfires, 8s. Gd.; ale at High Street bonfire, 4s.; ditto at the Churchyard bonfire, 4s.; ditto at the Cross bonfire, 4s.; ditto for the watchmen and others the night after the bishops were released, 9s. 6d ; given to two drummers at the same time, 2s. June 8.— King James II. sent seven bishops to the Tower, but they were afterwards released. Wibiam, Prince of Orange, afterwards King William IIL, came to England to oppose the popish proceedings of King James IL, whose daughter Mary he had married. Great exertions were made by the Protestants to dethrone James. They employed a number of active, intelligent, and resolute men to run and ride through ab parts of the kingdom, in the daytime, crying, " Fire and Sword ! The French are coming !" which fibed the people's minds with terror. Uttoxeter shared the alarm with the rest, as may be seen by the following record : — 1688. — December.— Given to four lads for gathering coals, and for making fires when the alarm was, Ad. December 25.— Paid Mr Morton for ale for strangers and towns- ' men, when the alarm was, £1 Is. When the Prince of Orange landed in 1688, King James fled from London ; on the 12th of December he was seized and brought back to Whitehall, but on the 23rd of the same month he fled out of England. King William and Queen Mary were crowned April 11, 1689. PAST AND PRESENT. 325 The parish contains 9000 acres, 4692 inhabitants, 1021 houses, and real property rented at £18,700. The livmg is a vicarage, worth £200, in the gift of the dean and canons of Windsor. The population of the town numbers 3604. There are chapels for the Roman Catholics, Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Metho dists, a Friends' meeting house, free grammar and national schools, numerous charities, and a very handsome town hall. The town is well lit, and no doubt partly owes its especially healthy reputation to its abundant supply of excellent water. It has several famous names to boast among its natives. Of these we may notice : — Admiral Lord Gardner. — -This famous seaman was born at Uttoxe ter on Aprb 12, 1742. He was the eighth son of Lieutenant-colonel Gardner, ofthe 1 1th regiment of dragoons. Having at an early period shown a strong bias towards the naval service, he was rated, when fourteen years old, as a midshipman on board the Medway, and accom panied his captain, first on board the Namur, and afterwards into the Dorsetshire. In the former he served under Admiral Hawke during the expedition against Rochfort, and while on board the latter was present at the capture of the Raisbnnable, on which occasion Captain Denis put in practice the plan adopted by the new school, of not firing a single bab tbl within a few yards of the enemy's ship. He likewise bore a share in the general engagement which took place off Bebeisle, in 1769, between the British and French fleets, commanded by Sir Edward Hawke and the Marshal de Conflans. Mr. Gardner having now been five years in constant service, was appointed lieutenant on board of the Bellona, after the customary examinations. In this station he distinguished himself at the capture of the Le Courageux, where upon he was raised to the rank of master and commander, and appointed to the Raven of sixteen guns. After the lapse of four years he was made post in the Preston of fifty guns, which had been fitted out as the flag ship of Rear-admiral Parry, whom he accompanied to Port Royal in Jamaica. During the whole time of his being stationed here Great Britain was at peace with all the nations of Europe, so that the only circumstance which occurred, requiring notice in this sketch, was his marriage with Susannah Hyde, only daughter of Francis Oale, Esq., a planter in Liguania. This lady having soon brought him a numerous famby, and being himself ambitious of rising in the service, he made every effort to obtain an appointment as soon as the American contest began. 326 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Accordingly he was nominated to the command of the Maidstone frigate, in which he sailed for the West Indies early in 1778 ; and in the course of that year was so fortunate as to make a rich capture on the coast of America. On the 4th of November he fell in with the Lion, a French man-of-war, having on board 1500 hogsheads of tobacco, arid after a severe action compelled her to surrender. With this prizte he sailed for Antigua; and was, soon after his arrival, promoted by Admiral Byron to the command of the Sultan of seventy-four guns. In the drawn battle which was fought some time subsequent with the French "Heet under Count d'Estaing, off /ihe': island of Grenada, Captain Gardner led the van, and greatly distinguished himself. His ship, however, suffered so much, that he was "ordered to Jamaica, from whence he shortly after sabed for England, when the Sultan was discharged. He did not, however, remain long out of commission, having been appointed to the Duke in the course of a few months, with which ship he sabed to join the fleet in the West Indies, then under the orders of Sir George Rodney, and was fortunate enough to arrive in time to participate in the glorious victory of the 12th of April, 1782. On that memorable day, his ship was the first to break through the enemy's line of battle, according to tbe new plan of attack suggested by Mr. Clerk of Eldin, and then for the first time put in practice. At one period of this action the Duke, in conjunction with the Formidable and Namur, had to sustain the fire of eleven of the enemy's ships. Soon after this triumph the American war terminated, and peace continued for several years to shed her benignant influence over the several nations of Europe. During this period, Captain Gardner was employed in different capacities. For some time he acted as Commodore on the Jamaica station, and in 1790 was appointed a lord of the Admiralty, when he likewise obtained a seat in Parbament. In the year 1793, having been raised to the rank of Rear- admiral of the Blue, he hoisted his flag on board the Queen of ninety-eight guns, in which he sabed as commander-in-chief to the Leeward islands. Soon after this event, finding the disputes between the republicans and royalists in the colony of Martinico to run very high, and being earnestly pressed by the latter to effect a descent on the island, accordingly Major-general Bruce landed with 3000 men ; but that officer judged it expedient to re-embark again almost immediately, being satisfied that the PAST AND PRESENT. 327 republican party was too strong to afford just hopes of success in the royal cause. Admiral Gardner now returned to England, and the following year bore a part in the action of the 1st of June, under the gallant Earl Howe. On this occasion his conduct was conspicuous in the extreme, his ship having suffered more than any other in the fleet, with the exception of the Brunswick. In consequence, he not only was particularly thanked by the com mander-in-chief, but was appointed major-general of marines, and created a baronet of Great Britain. On the 22nd June, 1795, Sir Alan was present at the action off Port l'Orient, when the French fleet only saved itself from total destruction by a timely flight. Two years after this event, when a dangerous mutiny had broken out at Portsmouth, he manifested a degree of firmness and resolution, during that trying period, worthy of his high character as a British naval officer. From this time he continued to serve in the Channel fleet till the close ofthe year 1799, when he was sent with sixteen sab of the line to reinforce the fleet off Cadiz, and in the Mediter ranean. Perceiving, however, that bttle danger was to be appre hended in these quarters, he returned with nine sail of the line, accompanied by the convoy from Lisbon. In 1800 we once more find him serving in the Channel fleet, but he was soon after appointed to succeed Admiral Kingsmbl, the naval commander in Ireland, being previously raised to the dignity of an Irish peer. This command he continued to hold tbl the year 1807, when he hoisted his flag as admiral of the Channel fleet; which bl health, however, soon compelled him to relinquish. He died in 1810, and was buried in the abbey church of Bath, with the grandeur and solemnity due to his rank and merit. ^ Lord Gardner's political career was not distinguished by any circumstance of great moment. He sat in three successive parlia ments. His first election took place in 1790, when he was returned one of the representatives for the town of Plymouth. In 1796 he was colleague to Mr. Fox in the representation of Westminster. On this occasion he was opposed by Mr. John Horne Tooke, whose wit, satire, and eloquence were more alarming to the admual than a shower of cannon balls from an enemy's fleet. Notwithstanding this circumstance, however, he once more offered himself as a candidate for the same city, and was again successful. At this time Mr. Fox, in addressing the electors, said, "A noble admiral has been proposed to you. I certainly cannot boast of agreeing 328 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE: with him in political opinions: but whom could the electors pitch upon more worthy of their choice, than the noble lord, in his private character universally respected, and a man who has served his country with a zeal, a gallantry, a spirit, and a splendour, that wib reflect upon him immortal honour."* This place also gave birth to Sir Simon Degge, an antiquary principally known for his MS. notes on Plot's " Natural History of Staffordshire." He died at the advanced age of ninety-two. Mary Howitt. — This delightful writer, whose maiden name was Botham, was born at Uttoxeter in the year 1800. Her parents were members of the Society of Friends, and were exceedingly careful to provide an excellent education for their children. She was taught Latin and French, and also chemistry, beneath her father's roof. Poetry, novels, and the drama are for the most part prohibited in the curriculum of the Friends ; but these forbidden books Miss Mary Botham contrived to peruse by stealth, and the usual consequence followed. At a very early age she began to write verses. In 1823 she was married to Mr. Wbliam Howitt, and ever since their names have been indissolubly connected in the various works which they have jointly published. In addition to these, says Mr. Walford, Mrs. Howitt is author of a volume of ballad and other poetry; of " The Seven Temptations," a series of dramatic sketches; "Wood Leighton," a novel; and a great number of volumes, in prose and verse, for children. She has translated the whole of Miss Bremer's works, and H. C. Andersen's " Impro- visatore," into English. Mrs. Howitt edited for three years the " Drawing-room Scrap-book," and illustrated by biographical vig nettes a series of portraits of the Queens of England. To one of the popular libraries she contributed an original story, entitled the "Heir of West Wayland;" and among her numerous writings for the young maybe especially mentioned, "The Chbdren's Year," "Our Cousins in Ohio," and "The Dial of Love," a series of stories in thirteen volumes. Her latest juvenile works are " Lilieslea," in one volume ; " A Treasury of Tales for the Young," edited and partly written by herself, in three volumes; and in 1863 the "Stories of Stapleford," and a work of fiction in three volumes, entitled " The Coast of Caer- gwyn" (1864). Mrs. Howitt has also translated Miss Bremer's Travels in Italy and Switzerland ; in the Holy Land ; and " Greece and the Greeks," in ab six volumes. Mrs. Howitt has been a * Imperial and County Annual Register, for 1810. PAST AND PRESENT. 329 frequent anonymous contributor to the periodical literature of the last twenty years. She also accompanied her husband in his rambles to many of the pleasant spots and famous places in which this kingdom is so especially rich. The result of these delightful journeys was those exceedingly attractive and interesting books, entitled "Visits to Remarkable Places," and "The Homes and Haunts of British Poets." She has written some admirable poetry for children, and many of her ballads display a thorough appreciation of and a rare mastery in that style of composition. A daughter of Mrs. Howitt has appeared before the public, both as an artist of several successful paintings, and authoress of "The Art-Student in Munich," and the " School of Life." Wetton. — This parish is remarkable for that wonderful cavern known as "Thor's Cave;" which is situated in the side of a lofty rock and mountain, which rise abruptly from the banks of the Manifold. "This cave," writes Mr. Jewett, "is of large size, and is about 250 feet above the bed of the river, and 100 feet from the top of the rock. The entrance is due north, and is 23 feet wide by 30 feet in height. This cave, although partly choked up with mud, had long been considered one of the greatest objects of curiosity in the neighbourhood, and in 1864 it was determined to clear out and excavate the interior. The interior, even before operations were commenced to clear it, was both chaste and grand. From the centre a massive pillar arose from the floor, perpendicularly to the roof, where it spread out like a palm-tree, giving a cathedral appearance and a greater security to the roof. A second pibar, called the altar, rose immediately beyond this, and reached about half the height of the other, dividing by their junc tion the cave into two parallel passages, the more capacious one tending in a straight bne towards the east, the other turning at a right angle with the altar towards the south. The mud or clay formed a smooth floor, which, from the trampling of visitors during ages, was almost as impenetrable to the shovel as a macadamized road; at the main entrance it formed but a thin layer, which rapidly increased in depth, forming a steep slope that almost reached the roof at the end of the east branch, yet leaving sufficient room for a man to creep along the tops of the fissures into which this branch is divided. About one-half of the south branch was com pletely blocked up. In addition to the great northern entrance, there is a large open cleft in the west side in a direct line with the 2 T VOL. I. 330 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : east division, so that betwixt them the interior, to a short distance beyond the altar, was well lighted. Beyond them, owing to the rapid rising of the mud, it gradually merged into total darkness. Several small excavations had, at different times, been made in the cave by different persons, in the expectation of discovering the remains of extinct animals, without success ; stbl, it appearing probable that something of an interesting character might be brought to light by clearing out the whole, the members of the Midland Scientific Association having gained the consent of his grace the duke of Devonshire, and having agreed that whatever was discovered should be deposited in the Derby Town and County Museum, the operations, under the superintendence of Mr. Carting ton, were commenced in 1864, and continued at intervals until October, 1865. The result was the discovery of a number of highly interesting objects, including spin die- wheels, perforated bones, bone-combs and pins, iron adzes, arrow-heads, knives, &c," bronze armdlee, fibulae, rings, Sec, and many other objects. From the remains discovered, it is evident that the cave had been occasionaby occupied, or at all events used, in the late Celtic, the Romano- British, the Anglo-Saxon, and in later times. The minerals deposited in the cave, which, with the surrounding rocks, is of mountain limestone, were all derived from the mblstone grit, as clay, sand, and pebbles, which rock, with carboniferous shale, prevails where the river Manifold and its tributary streams now take their rise. In the centre of the cave, opposite to the west opening, there was a considerable depth of fine sand, free from any mixture of other substances. Towards the pblar a perpendicular section, seven feet deep, presented a series of diversely-coloured materials lying in regular thin bands, in order as fobows, commen cing at the bottom : — The first was composed of small fragments of grit, of a darkish colour ; then fine red sand, and above that hght ash-coloured loam or mud. The generality of these bands was not more than one inch in thickness, that is, three inches to one series ; a thick stratum of clay lay over all. The clay, more or less mixed with sand, continued to increase in depth, and at the extremity of this branch was literally heaped up and intermixed with stalactites that had fallen from the roof and sides of the rock ; and also with numerous fantastic nodules, caused by calcareous drippings from the roof permeating portions of the sand and clay. The proportion of sand increased with the depth, the lower part being only sand with PAST AND PRESENT. ool bands of small pebbles, which were in most abundance on the right band side, where most of them united ; they seldom ever reached to the opposite side. Towards the end, the different-coloured layers became thick and irregular, with a downward dip in the middle, which dip was apparent from the commencement ; some of the beds of sand were so perfectly lapidified, that they resembled a bed of grit in its native quarry. The depth of clay and sand at this end was very great, the workmen cutting to the depth of twenty-seven feet without ascertaining the depth to the bottom. In some of the small holes or caves the scratchings by the claws of the wolves, or other wbd animals that formerly inhabited it, were distinctly visible on being opened." In this parish is Ecton Hib, which was at one time especially rich in lead and copper. It was first worked in the seventeenth century by the duke of Devonshire, upon whose estate is Ecton Hill. It faded to be remunerative, and remained unworked until, in 1720, it was again examined by a Cornish miner ; a company was formed, and £13,000 expended before any returns could be realized. Their perseverance was, however, rewarded at last, and for many years the mines produced 190 tons of pure copper, and realized an annual profit of £30,000. This rich treasure-house is at the present tune nearly exhausted. The parish contains 2600 acres, 397 inhabitants, 93 houses, and real property valued at £3400. The living is a perpetual curacy, worth £150. The church, which is old, and was getting into a ruinous state, was rebuilt in 1820 with the exception of the tower, which is of stone. Over the entrance to the church there is a very curious old arch, with emblems engraved on stone, representing the Lamb and cross, with a dove underneath opposed to the figure of a dragon, over which Christ appears triumphant. The Wesleyans have a chapel here. 332 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE CHAPTER V. THE HUNDRED OF SEISDON. Seisdon Hundred is divided into North and South; the southern division contains: — 1, Bilston; 2, Bushbury; 3, Himley; 4, King- swinfbrd; 5, Lower Penn; 6, Rowley Regis; 7 Sedgley; 8, Tettenhall Regis with Tettenhab Clericorum; 9, Upper Penn; 10, Wombourne; and 11, Woodford Grange. Bilston. — " The first mention of Bilston, " says Mr. G. T. Lawley, " occurs in Lady Wulfruna's charter, which she granted to the church of the Virgin at Wolverhampton, where the name was " Bilsretation." In the autograph letter of Sigeric, a Saxon noble, to Wulfruna, it was written " Bilstona." In Doomsday Book, and in Edward III.'s charter, it was written " Bibestune." In an old deed, dated 26 of Henry VL, it was written "Bybestone;" in Erdeswick's survey "Bibsington ;" whbe at other times and later, it has been successively rendered "Bylstune," "Bylston," "Bdson," and "Bilston." The derivation of the word has long since been a matter for conjecture. There appears to have been three distinct classes of names of towns in the Saxon tunes; the first derived from some natural feature in the position of a town, such, for instance, as Staff-ford, Weald-Heale (Walsall) or "the palace in the wood;" the second derived from the names of their owners, such as Wolverhampton, or Wolfrune's Hamtune; Ettingshall, so called from an old Engbsh family, named "Ettings," who once held the manor of Stow Heath; and the third, from events which have occurred in their immediate neighbourhood, as Wibenhall or Winehala, " a victory ; " Wodensfield, signifying a battle-field, or the field of Woden, the Anglo-Saxon god of war. To neither of these classes, however, can Bilston be said to belong. Dr. Oliver, in his history of Wolverhampton church, supposes the word to have been derived from the Saxon word "Bel" or "Beli," signifying " Sun ;" though he gives no evidence in support of his supposition, yet a little examination will serve to confirm that opinion. PAST AND PRESENT. 333 In the first place, the name was written by Sigeric, "Belstona;" and in the second place, there are evidences extant of the existence of a Saxon temple — founded by Oswy, king of Mercia, on the occasion of his victory over the army of Penda, king of North umberland — at Bbston, dedicated to the " Sun," and given to the See of Lichfield, but which, on the accession of Wulfere to the Mercian throne, became a royal possession. With much corroborative evidence, proving that this district was the great seat of Sun-worship, we have no hesitation in accepting Dr. Oliver's opinion of the meaning of the former part of the word. The latter part of the word "Tuna" or " Tana," is open to several explanations. Mr. Price in his history supposes this part of tbe word to have been derived from the stone for which the town has long been famous ; but this is an impossible supposition. There are evidences which prove that the stone was not used for several centuries after the village had received its name. "Tuna," or "Tana," is unquestionably derived from the Saxon word tynan, "a town or dwelling-place." According to this explana tion, then, we find that Bilston literally means "the Village of the Sun." Lady Wulfruna's charter, already referred to, gives a very inter esting account of this district in the tenth century, from which we have taken the following extracts relating to Bbston : — Commencing at "Hind Brook" or "Stag River," the boundary line continued straight along the ditch between Ettingshalem — where stood a large Saxon manor-house — and Belstona untd it turned off at an angle eastward towards a thorn-bush, where was placed a landmark to show the junction of Belstona, Ettingshalem, and Wulfrunehamton. It then proceeded to a remarkable over flowing pool, and onward to the ford where Beorgitha's paved road crosses the stream; thence along the ditch which separates Wul frunehamton from Wodnesfelde, to Goldthorn— Holythorn (Sanctum Spinetum)— thence to the ditch on the road to Penn (Viam) to the boundary where Wulfrunehamton, Bishbyrie, and Wodnesfelde meet in an angle. From this point the line proceeded along the Burgesses' River to a grove of alders; thence through Wodnesfelde, to the old village of Belstona, by the miry road where the herds of swine are nightly folded in buildings erected for that purpose; thence to the fosse of Kunesford by the mbitary road, to the bridge 334 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : of white stones, and onward to the Virgin's Ferry; thence down the river untd it arrived at the point where the survey commenced. In Doomsday Book it is recorded, that " in Bbston there are two hides of land, which is three carucates, and there are eight vdleins and three bordarers with three carucates. Also one acre of meadow- land. It is about half a league long, and a half broad. Was worth twenty, now thirty shblings." In the 20th year of the Conqueror (1086), says Erdeswick, " Bbston belonged to the canons of Wolver hampton, which was incorporated by charter by Lady Wulfruna, with the church of Wolverhampton, the canons of which receive the tithes." In the reign of Henry VI. a patent was granted for a chantry in Bilston, called the St. Leonard's Chantry, and this is doubtless the foundation of the church of St. Leonard, of which Shaw gives the fobowing information : — "In the 36th of Henry VI. (1458) this chantry was founded, when John Mobesby, Gent., Clement Foxall, William Pipe, John Attee Lee, Wibiam Hopkins, Richard Adkins, Hugh Howchins, Richard Thomkys, William Robbins, William Kempson, Thomas Jackson, John Pipe, Wbbam Wbkes, Joan, wife of John Duddley, and William Perry, did surrender all their lands, lying in a field, called "Windmdl" field in Bbston near the way lying from the said Bilston to Wolverhampton, and three crofts, called the Prisons, Pagebirch, and Moxalbirch, to the use of Sir Thomas de Erdington, Kt., according to the custom of the manor, which lands (by the license of Lord Lovell) the said Sir Thomas gave to Thomas Clark, perpetual curate of the chantry of St. Leonard's, in Bilston, called Erdington's Chantry, together with several other lands, &c, viz. : one messuage and five shops in Wolverhampton, forty acres of land and six acres of meadow in a pasture called " Le Prieste Fields," in Bbston; twenty-five acres of land in a certain pasture called Stowbrook; ten acres of land in Codsall, three acres in Bradley; 5 s. rent in Handsworth, and ten acres of land in the Rumbelows in Wolverhampton, all in the county of Stafford, to be held by the said Thomas Clarke and his successors, in perpetual alms. This grant was made on the feast of the Annunciation of St. Mary the Virgin, the first year of Edward IV."* The king's commissioners, in the reign of Henry VIIL, visited Bilston, and made this return : — " Examined into the state of the chantrie of St. Leonard's, called Erdington's Chantrie, Bbston. Its * Shaw's History of Staffordshire. PAST AND PRESENT. income is very small, and the priest gudty of unlawful practices; we have, therefore, commanded that it be dissolved." On this subject the ohurch register says : — " The Chantrie being dissolved, it appears that one Hugh Lee was possessed of the same land and chapel ; dying seized (possessed) thereof the 28th year of Elizabeth (1586), and Hugh Wrottesley was his son and heir." The church was rebuilt in 1827 ; the living is a perpetual curacy worth £800, and the resident householders of the parish have the right of presentation. Mr. Lawley gives the following interesting account of one of these elections: — "In the year 1813, the living of St. Leonard's church was contested by the Rev. W. Leigh — who had been curate for some years — and a sharp struggle took place. Scenes of riot and disorder prevailed, such as ' Boz ' would have delighted in depicting. ' Voting for the parson ' wras by no means a dub and uninteresting event in those days. The people, feebng a conscious pride hi the exercise of the privilege of voting, made the event one of the utmost importance, and, as a consequence, party spirit ran high and abuses crept in — abuses, however, which resulted from the ignorance and low character of the people, rather than the necessary concomitants of the privbege itself. Bacchus had a considerable share of patronage during election time, and the quantity of 'small beer' some of our venerable forefathers drank was something incredible. Fortified — we beg pardon — encouraged by the application of such liquid eloquence to their inner life, our brave ancestors engaged hi any branch of usefulness for the party whose cause they espoused, even to the singular and amiable act of breaking the heads of theb" opponents, which must have been very difficult, at least, we suppose. This laudable feature of the election was of some importance; for whenever the factions resorted to such logical reasoning, the stronger very naturally man aged to have the best of the discussion. On these occasions the presence of the parish constable had not the slightest effect upon the mob. Hats were smashed, coats torn, and other innocent and playful amusements indulged in, to the utter defiance of the worthy con stable and eke the beadle, who represented abke the dignity and weakness of the law. No doubt it was rare fun to guard true, and attack recalcitrant, voters; but it was poor fun— and they must be excused if they couldn't see any fun in it— for the parties aggrieved, who, after a fair amount of inconvenience in 'running the gauntlet,' returned home considerably damaged in body, mind, 336 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : and estate. But the mob rather liked it, and, of course, no one could grumble; for it only came once in a lifetime, and a mob is but a crowd of ungovernable chbdren. They not only engaged in such classical sports as pugihsm, hat - smashing, and stone- throwing, but they cheered the voter by singing, with admirable effect and vigour, snatches of songs which described the virtues of their champion or the vices of his opponent ; and many a wavering voter, charmed by the power of music, arrived at a conclusion and recorded his vote, to the gratification of the loud-voiced musicians, thus affording another blustration ofthe truth ofthe sentiment — ' Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.' " A local writer gives the fobowing chorus as a specimen of this kind : — " With grievous sticks and stones, They sought to break our bones ; They dragged their people near, And treated 'em wi' beer, And made 'em vote for fear. But, see, boys, see ! Who won the victory 1 We, boys, we, And Mr. William Leigh. Mr. William Leigh, Shall our parson be, boys, Shall our parson be.'' St. Mary's church was built in 1830, at a cost of £9000 ; it is a vicarage worth £300, and in the gift of the bishop of Lichfield. St. Luke's church was built in 1860 ; the living is a vicarage worth £300 ; the gift is alternately with the crown and the bishop of Lichfield. Wesley anism has effected great good in Bilston. The following is the record of two of its founder's visits and revisits to this member of the Black Country: — October 2, 1745. — "It was exceedingly dark when we rode on to Bilston. However, we did not stick fast tbl we got into the Wednesbury road. Several coming with candles, I got out of the quagmire, and leaving them to disengage my horse, walked to Francis Ward's, where I preached." " Soon after this time a few of Wesley's converts began to meet privately in an old house, of the Elizabethan style of archi tecture (formerly standing at the south end of Wood Street), occupied by a person named Samuel Ferriday. These meetings were often attended by Francis Ward, Stephen Hipkiss, Wbliam PAST AND PRESENT. 337 Hackett, and other early Methodists, who, by their warm-hearted zeal and kindness, kept the converts together, and added others to their number. March 21, 1770, John Wesley again visited Bilston, when he preached in this house. During the service a mob con gregated in the street, and after indulging in hooting and yelling, fell to stone -throwing on the appearance of Mr. Wesley ; several of his supporters being hit by the missiles. One of the mob struck at Mr. Wesley with a heavy stick, but the blow was turned aside by one of his followers. Mr. Wesley, however, displayed the most perfect calmness, and we are informed that on one of the mob pushing his way to Mr. Wesley's side and threatening with an oath to strike him, he turned mildly toward him, and in a firm, but gentle voice, said, ' If I have done thee harm, strike, man !' a proceeding which had such an effect upon the man, that he turned away and departed, followed by most of the mob." They have now several chapels in the town. The other bodies of dissenters, and the Roman Catholics, have also places of worship. Bbston was visited by the cholera both in 1832 and in 1849, and suffered so severely that the place was called the " epidemic centre of the Midland Coldfield." The first case in Bilston was on August 3, and its ravages continued for seven weeks. In the third week, out of a population of 14,500, 309 died, while the number of deaths during the seven weeks' continuance of this terrible scourge was 742. ' Mr. Lawley provides the following table, which shows how fearfully Bilston suffered on this occasion : — Town. Sedgley, ... Darlaston, .... Wolverhampton, . . . Willenhall, Wednesfield, . Bilston, .... Population. . . . 20,577 . 6,667 Qn 600 Deaths. . .. 290 68 193 6 900 8 7,000 . . . 14,492 0 742 On Wednesday, September 12, by notice, a day of humiliation and prayer was kept throughout the township: the shops were closed, business was suspended, and the different places of worship were crowded with people. In Mr. Etheridge's Memorial of the Cholera we find the follow ing :—" A school-house was erected, called the 'Cholera School,' for teaching (free of expense) the numerous orphans. This school was opened on the anniversary of the cholera visitation, August 3, 1833, when a very interesting sight was witnessed. All the 2 u VOL. I. 338 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : orphan children, headed by friends who had interested themselves in the movement, walked in procession through the town; each wearing a medal descriptive of the cholera visitation. The whole assembly then attended divine service in the old church, and the Rev. Wbliam Leigh delivered a truly interesting and pathetic address, which aroused the inmost souls of his hearers, as he spoke of the scenes of blackness through which they had passed; and the solemnity of the occasion was heightened by the hving memen toes of the awful pestbence — tbe dear bttle orphans who were gathered together; and the big tear was seen to roll down the furrowed cheeks of many present, and they retired full of gratitude in knowing that they were the spared monuments of God's tender mercy, whbe so many had been swept away." The cholera school is now a dissenting chapel. The country behaved generously to the afflicted town. A sub scription was opened for the rebef of the sufferers, and in a short time £8536 were raised. In 1849 the Asiatic cholera again visited Bbston, which retained its title of the " epidemic centre of the Midland Coldfield" by distancing ab its neighbours in the fatal race of death. In about the same period as that of 1832, 730 persons were hurried to the grave. The awful scenes of 1832 were repeated, and still the people and the place were as dirty and miserable as heretofore. Lessons, learned at such a cost, failed not this time in theb- object. Immediate action resulted, and strenuous efforts were made to improve the condition of the town. The inhabitants procured the passing of an Act for paving, lighting, cleansing, and improving the township of Bilston, for improving the market, for supplying the town with water, and for providing a cemetery." The carrying out of these various objects has been attended with the best sanitary results. The town contains 1730 acres, and had, in 1871, 24,188 inhabit ants, 4681 houses, and real property valued at £139,980. The principal streets now show a fair proportion of good substantial dwellings. The town has several good schools, news rooms, a temperance hall, baths and wash-houses, embracing a swimming bath and twenty-three private baths, three beautiful water fountains, given by John Mason, Esq., in 1866, and an excellent cemetery. The new town-hall, which was erected in 1873, is in the Italian style, and includes a free public library. PAST AND PRESENT. 339 "A very important art and industrial exhibition was opened in St. Leonard's Schools, on June 13, 1859, by Lord Dartmouth, who was supported by the Right Honourable C. P. Vilhers, M.P. ; J. Hartley, Esq., mayor of Wolverhampton ; and Sir R. Peel. The noble lord, after speaking highly of the exhibition, said, " It was an oft-repeated assertion that their countrymen had no taste. He would, however, only ask those who were fond of crying up what they saw in foreign parts to come here, and they would admit that there was great taste and cleverness even among the people of Bbston. He (the speaker) said, even of Bilston, because he believed it had not had the fairness and impartiality it deserved, being so mixed up with the Black Country and pre-eminently cabed ' Smoky Bbston,' and that he thought it high time something was done to remove the false and ungenerous impressions." The exhibition was highly successful, and had a most elevating influence on the people.* John Etheridge. — -This eminent philanthropist was a native of Bbston. He was the son of John Etheridge, an artist in Japan ware, and was born in the year 1772, in Church Street, in the same house in which he died. Mr. Lawley has gathered the fobowing particulars of the life of this exemplary and active benefactor of his native town: — In early bfe John Etheridge, the younger, displayed many of those qualities which made his after hfe so glorious and so noble. As he grew up he became deeply impressed with the state of morality around him, and even before he reached to the years of discretion formed many plans for the amelioration of the condition of his febow-men. His first step was the establishment of a school to teach the poor to read, and his scholars were obtained from some of the worst hovels in the town. What Robert Raikes was to Gloucester, John Etheridge was to Bbston, viz., the founder of Sunday schools. He was a teacher in the first Sunday school, which was held at the " Old Meeting House." He was a teacher at the old Wesleyan chapel, Temple Street, in 1798, and at the Baptist chapel, Wood Street. Sunday after Sunday, year after year, John Etheridge was seen, like the " Good Shepherd," leading ragged children and grown-up persons to the Sabbath schools. He was no sectarian, no narrow- minded bigot: the whole parish was the object of his solicitude and * Price and Becbee's History of Bilston. By G. T. Lawley. 340 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : care, and all who needed were welcome to his help. He gave of his substance to feed the poor, and never turned away from the cry of distress. Perhaps the most striking and stirring periods of his bfe were during the cholera visitations of 1832 and 1849. These events caused the gold of his religion and life to gleam with the brightest lustre; and to his active benevolence many people owed their lives. Who does not recollect something of his noble deeds % Who does not recollect his quaint card, displayed in his shop window, on which was written in large letters the word " Out," to show he was from home ? Who ever remembers going into his shop without receiving a kind word of advice, or a religious tract 1 An estimate may be formed of the extent, of his gifts in that and other ways, from the following statement: — " He gave away with his own hands 10,000 bibles, 41,000 prayer- books, 15,000 testaments, and 100,000 religious tracts." His shop was truly a " house of God," and the good thus done wbl never be ascertained until the last great day of account. It was a sad day for Bilston when the Christian hero feb asleep. The news rang bke a death kneb upon the hearts of the whole people. What 1 John Etheridge dead % was the question on every body's lips, and the breathless suspense told how eagerly they waited for the answer. Many wept with heart-felt grief as the bitter truth was realized. Had a stranger passed through Bilston on the morning of the 6th of November, 1856, he would have seen that something sad was transpiring. The closed shutters, the drawn blinds, the crowds of people clad in mourning, all told of no common bereavement. The very poor, with scarcely a rag to cover them, put on some faded remnant of better days, and exhibited more heartfelt sorrow than is often seen among that class. A sadder day Bilston never witnessed than the one on which its phbanthropic inhabitant was borne to his last resting-place. The town was wrapped in gloom; the solemn tolling of the death-beb and the sable trappings of the mourning multitudes were the most distinguishable features. When the funeral cortege reached the grave, with its train of thousands, and the low, sacred, and impressive service for the dead fell upon their ears, there broke forth a deep and audible sob, and down the weather-beaten faces of hundreds the tears rolled quickly, as a tribute to departed worth. PAST AND PRESENT. 34 { Never wbl that scene be forgotten by the witnesses ! The inhabitants resolved to perpetuate his name by the erection of a monument, which bears this inscription— South. " Erected by subscription of the inhabitants of Bilston in memory of John Etheridge, late of this township. Endeared throughout the district by a long life of practical phhanthropy, spending his Sabbaths for half a century in teaching miners to read the Scriptures, in a little school of his own; his co-operation and support effectually promoted every other school in the parish." _ East. "His humble shop was the gratuitous dep6t for the sale of bibles and religious works a generation before reduced prices made them accessible through other means, and his counter was the savings' bank and clothing club of the district. His intrepid exertions during the visitations of the cholera in 1832 and 1849; his active superintendence of the school, and long-continued distribution of the funds raised for the relief of the widows and orphans— won the gratitude of the bereaved and the admiration of the neighbourhood." North. "Having no descendants of his own, his catholic heart adopted the general poor as his famby, and when some 15,000 of all grades fobowed him, as a father, to the tomb, the consciousness of a public bereavement, and their appreciation of their extraordinary loss, prompted its perpetual expression in this monument." West. "Never known to allude to his multiplied charities untd his death-bed called for an explanation of the little he had to bequeath; having been his own executor by mortgaging his last freehold to effect a legacy for a neighbouring hospital. The mort gages and the bequest touching!/ symbolized the mingled sacrifice of self and substance which had characterized his life." He died in peace, gathered as a full shock of corn in his season already white unto the harvest, October 28, 1856, aged eighty- four. Bradley is a township adjoining Bilston, its general character and industries being of the same nature as those of the larger town. There is a web-bubt stone church, St. Martin's, erected in 1868, the living of which is a vicarage worth £300; and chapels for Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists. Population, 3950 ; houses, 775. Bushbury. — The ancient name of Bushbury was Biscopesburie ; hence it has been inferred that it was the seat or residence of some of the Mercian bishops. At the Conquest the manor was held by 342 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : the possessor of so many manors, Wibiam Fitz- Ansculf ; and his posterity assuming the name of Byshbury, gave it to the place, which has since become Bushbury. It was for a long tune the property of the Goughs, ancestors of the famous antiquary. In Bushbury Hall is" stib kept the chair in which Charles II. sat, when here, among other places, during the period of his conceal ment in this county. There are, bkewise, in this house, several spoons of solid gold, discovered under the sob, which had probably belonged to the Byshbury famdy; but they bore no crest, or other mark, whereby to ascertain the fact. A skeleton in complete armour was found about the same time, when cleansing a pit in an adjoining field. From the dress, Mr. Shaw supposed the deceased to have been a cuirassier hi King Charles' service. The parish includes the hamlet of Moseley and the township of Essington, and contains 6377 acres, 2283 inhabitants, 444 houses, and real property valued at £13,101. The living is a vicarage worth £159. The church, dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Mary, formerly belonged to the priory of St. Thomas' juxta Stafford. It is an ancient stone edifice, in the pointed style of architecture, surmounted by a massy embattled tower. The nave is spacious, and rests upon two handsome arches. The chancel, more modern than the rest of the building, is of excebent work manship, particularly the roof, which is constructed of oak, and is supported by flying buttresses curiously carved with the arms of Byshbury and Grosvenor. Several paintings on glass serve to ornament the windows of this division of the church. One of these represents a man in sacerdotal robes, kneeling to a lady carrying a babe. The monument of Hugh Byshbury, who is said to have bubt the chancel, is situated here. It was opened about fifty years ago, and found to contain a stone coffin with a skeleton tolerably entire, and a chalice, now used for the communion service. Nothing else m this church seems to require notice, except the tomb of Thomas Whitgrave, Esq., celebrated for the protection he afforded to the monarch last mentioned. Near this vibage appears a very considerable tumulus, which Dr. Plot supposes to have been of Roman construction, seemingly upon no other ground but that the brass head of the bolt of a catapulta was dug up in a smab wood here called "the Burchen Lesow." That the opinion of this author may be correct we will not deny ; but we cannot refrain from reprobating the absurd PAST AND PRESENT. 343 practice of concluding every work to be Roman, near which a coin of that nation, or other trivial remnant of antiquity, has been discovered. The church also contains monuments of the families of Moseley, Huntbach, Hblier, Leacroft, and Gough. The hamlet of Moseley contains 600 acres, and 50 inhabitants. In Moseley Court Charles II. was concealed after the battle of Worcester. His bed and hiding-place are still shown to the loyal visitor. The township of Essington contains 3957 acres, 1065 inhabitants, 209 houses, and real property valued at £4086. It is a growing and thriving place. A coal mine has been worked here from "time immemorial," but the mining operations have been so much extended as to materially increase the prosperity of the township. The population has nearly doubled itself since 1851, and an iron church has been appropriately provided for its accommodation. Himley. — This is a most pleasantly situated village, and Himley Hall is a seat of the earl of Dudley, who is "lord of the manors of Sedgley, Himley, Swindon, Kingswinford, and Rowley Regis. " The mansion," says Mr. Pitt, " is a noble structure, situated in the midst of an extensive and rich park, abounding with deer, having at a proper distance in front a magnificent sheet of water, and in the back ground, close on the left, a steep rocky hbl, finely clad with ancient and modern foliage; whbe, to the right, the woods and hbls gradually arise towards the horizon, where the spire of Sedgley church, and windmill towards Dudley, raise their lofty heads amidst the picturesque scene, charmingly secluded by a barrier of hills from the manufacturing country beyond. From the upper part of the park, the woods and water on the right appear to great advantage. Over the house the vibage church is a pleasing object, and the rising background, over Swindon Common and Ashwood, is richly terminated by the distant hills and woods of Envibe. " The interior of the house consists of a spacious hall or dining- room, well furnished with pictures, &c, on the left of which is a billiard-room, and beyond that the library. The opposite wing consists of a large and elegant music-room, decorated with fub- length portraits of the late Lord and Lady Dudley,^ Sec, and furnished with one of the best private organs in the kingdom^ " Himley has frequently been the scene of rejoicing and festivity upon public occasions. The king's escape from assassination in 1786, and several of our great naval victories, were celebrated here 344 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : by illumination, fire-works, &c. But the noble owner is not more conspicuous for his loyalty than for his benevolence of heart. In 1792 no less than 1000 poor persons in the neighbourhood were regularly relieved by him ; and his lordship's princely donations to the subscriptions in London, and in this county (1816), for the relief of 'the poor, besides innumerable acts of private charity) entitle him to the thanks of his countrymen, and the enviable appellation of the Poor Man's Friend." The following lines, written by W. T. Fitzgerald, Esq., are fixed against an old yew tree in a walk near the house : — " This stately yew, which has for ages stood, The gloomy monarch of its native wood, Perhaps some Norman baron planted here, Who liv'd by rapine and who rul'd by fear ; The tree a symbol of its master's mind, Emblem of death, and fatal to mankind ! Beneath its boughs no verdant plants are seen, Its baneful branches poison every green : And thus the feudal tyrant's hated reign Oppress'd the village, and laid waste the plain. To these dire scenes a happier age succeeds ; No despot threatens, and no vassal bleeds. At Himley now, the poor man finds relief, Forgets his poverty, and checks his grief, Raises his languid eyes and drooping head To bless the liberal hand that gives him bread; While in the mansion mirth and song attend, To cheer the stranger, and delight the friend. But still the yew, though hastening to decay, Retains the venom of its pristine day ; Its branches still their gloomy nature show, And frown upon the cheerful scene below." Besides this aged yew, there are many other remarkable trees of this and other species, particularly some large oaks, and several fine specimens of forest scenery. The beautiful and extensive wood called Baggeridge, adjoining, is intersected with commodious carriage roads, and well stocked with pheasants. The parish contains 1185 acres, 389 inhabitants, 73 houses, and real property valued at £2939. The living is a rectory worth £315, in the gift of the earl of Dudley. Although Dudley is in the county of Worcester, it is a district registrationaby in Staffordshire, and a brief account of its pictur esque ruin, Dudley Castle, will not inappropriately have a place here. PAST AND PRESENT. 345 It was built by Dudo, a Saxon noble, about the year 700. It stands on a lofty hill of limestone, and was so thickly surrounded by trees, that it was called " the Castle in the Woods." It was destroyed by the Parhamentarians in 1646. From the summit of the castle hbl a most extensive and beautiful view is obtained, including the counties of " Worcester, Stafford, Derby, Leicester, Warwick, Salop, Hereford, and part of Wales. The woods of Enville and Himley, with the castle and obelisk at Hagley, the Malvern hbls, the hills of Rowley, Clent, Abberley, the Cleys, and Wrekin, are noble features in the scene." Mr. Charles Twamley, a native of Dudley, has written an exhaustive history of Dudley Castle and Priory, and from this work we quote the following " Historical Description of the Castle." Mr. Twamley shows that there is no evidence to warrant us in accept ing the tradition of Dudo, or for the existence of the castle before the Conquest. After that event, about the year 1080, William Fitz-Ansculf had " a castle here," of which, says Mr. Twamley, we have this entry in Domesday Book : — " The said William holds Dudley, and there is his castle. Earl Edwin held this lordship. There is one hide. In demesne is one carucate, and three villains, and ten bordars, and one smith, with ten carucates. There are two bondmen, and two miles of woodland. In the time of King Edward it was valued at four pounds, now at three. " The said William holds Belintones in his castlewick. Elric and Holand held it for two manors. There are five hides. The cultivated land is five carucates. It was, and is, waste. There are four furlongs of wood, but it is in the king's forest. The meadows of this manor are valued at four pence." Belintones was, probably, the lower part of Dudley parish and Pensnet Chase. The latter is mentioned soon afterwards as being included in the king's forest of Kinver. Whence it appears .that Fitz Ansculf had one hide of land, or about 100 acres of tillage and pasture land ; of which one carucate was tillage, and two miles of woodland in Dudley. He also had three villains, who held the land they occupied at his will, had farms, and did his work of husbandry : ten bordars, who had bords or cottages, with ten carucates of land, on condition of supplying his table with small provisions, doing his domestic work, or any base service (i.e., other than military) he might require ; a smith and two bondsmen, or servile ten ants, who most likely had cottages ; with five hides, or 500 acres of waste lands in Belin tones, in his castlewick, and two furlongs of wood there in the king's forest. We may picture to ourselves the castle of the lord standing on high, frowning on the lands below, and looking down on the little village at its foot with a patronizing air ; the slaves of various degree erecting their little cottages under the protection of their feudal tyrant ; the smith clanking at his anvil, shoeing the horses, or forging their warlike weapons, and rude agricultural implements ; the villains watching their lord's cattle on the wastes, cultivating his fields, or, with him, following the hunt through the woodlands, or over the wastes of Belintones and the surrounding manors : over u Domains that once, at early morn, Rang to the huntsman's bugle horn ! And chasing wide the wolf or boar, Bade the deep woodlnnd valleys roar." — Bloomfield. VOL. I 2 X 346 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE After Gervase Paganel, in 1174, had his castle demolished, for supporting young Henry against his father, he and his successors continued to reside on the same spot in an uncastel- lated mansion, until the latter part of Henry IIL, when Roger de Somery began to make a castle of it ; but was prohibited by the king to proceed therein without his special license. However, in 1263 (48 Henry III.) he obtained a license "to make a castle ofhis manor house at Dudley, and the like of his manor of Weolegh.'' His grandson, John de Somery, in the early part of the fourteenth century, either completed the building, or probably, from its style, rebuilt it, as appears from the report of his besetting men's houses in Staffordshire, and threatening to murder them unless they bribed him in contributing largely towards the building of his castle at Dudley. From the style of the building, it is probable that all the most ancient parts were built by this John, except the vault under neath the chapel. They consist of the keep, the south gateway and the chapel, and some adjoining rooms. These, with some low buildings for offices, kitchens, &c, oh the opposite side of the inner baily, or court, the whole surrounded with a moat, completed the establishment. The keep is of an oblong shape, having at each corner a semicircular tower, with winding staircases, all of limestone, with facings of a reddish sandstone. To prevent the undermining of the walls, the bases of the towers are enlarged, and gradually increase to their foundations ; an improvement in building castles suggested in the twelfth century.* In examining the base apartment of the keep, instead of windows, we find loop-holes, having a flight of steps ascending to the apertures, for the use of cross bow men, similar to what is engraved from Rochester castle by Mr. King, in his valuable and scarce account of ancient castles.t The entrance to the keep was through a low pointed gateway, in the middle of the curtain connecting the two towers on the north side. It was defended by a portcullis from above, which was strengthened by strong horizontal beams of wood. The holes in which they were withdrawn still remain, immediately on the right as you enter. The chapel stood over a vault, commonly, but erroneously, called the dungeon. The dun geon, or donjon, in ancient castles was its principal guard, in consequence of its strength. Beneath the keep were the vaults, in which prisoners were confined, whence the modern acceptation of the word dungeon. Chaucer, in the " Knight's Tale," alludes to " The grete tour, that was so thikko and strong, Which of the castle was the chief dongeoun (Ther as this knightes weren in prisoun, Of which I tolde yow, and telle schal), Was evene joining to the gardeyn wal." The purpose for which the vault under the chapel was used is uncertain ; and a fireplace in its south-west corner fails to enlighten us on the matter. From the great irregularity of the layers of stone in the walls, the rudeness of construction, and the smallness of the windows in its thick walls, I think it likely that this vault formed part of the ancient manor house, and consequently is the most ancient part of the castle. The western window of the chapel still remains, a beautiful specimen of the flat pointed style of architecture, characteristic of these ancient portions of the castle ; and which, an elegant writer observes, " attained, it is considered, its more perfect state, during the reign of Henry III., the period of the castle's restoration."! In the southern side is the entrance to the chapel from the court, reached by a flight of steps, the marks of which against the wall are still perceptible. The doorway is of that peculiar form, called " ogee," composed of the segments of four circles, prevalent in the fourteenth century. § * See Fosbrooke's Encyc. of Antiquities. f See Shaw's Staffordshire, vol. ii. t Sketch of Dudley Castle; its History, &c, by Rev. E. Sims. 1837. § See Fosbrooke's Encyc. of Antiquities. Dr. Booker calls the ogie doorway " a window of an elegant lancet form ! " See his History, p. 30. PAST pVND PRESENT. 347 The south gateway was of great strength, defended in front by a dike or trench, crossed by a drawbridge. At the end of this was a large gateway, flanked with two circular towers, the lower parts of which still remain. The arch is singularly flat, and, with its two towers, was the work of an age later than the rest of the gateway, probably added by the duke of Northumberland. Next to the flat gateway stands the more ancient flat pointed archway, with walls nine feet thick, and deep grooves therein, where a heavy portcullis descended. A vaulted passage, with a machicolation, or trap door, in tbe top, connects this with another similar flat pointed archway, at the other end, having deep grooves in the thick walls for another portcullis. The duke of Northumberland, in the early part of the sixteenth century, when he possessed the castle, greatly repaired it, and built that stately fabric on the north part, which was called the " new work." He likewise adorned the gate-house tower with the arms of Malpas Somery, and the lion rampant, assumed by him for the coat of Sutton, curiously cut in large shields of stone, and fixed in the walls over the portcullis.* The "'new work" consisted of the great hall, and the other buildings between it and the northern gateway. The entrance was by a flight of steps on the eastern side of the court, ascending to a covered gallery, which ran along the front of the hall, over four arches, with its roof supported in the front upon fluted pillars. To the left the gallery led into an ante room ; and from thence, by a door on the right, into the magnificent hall, upwards of seventy-five feet in length, and having two rows of square mullioned windows ; one on each side. Underneath extended a low room, forming the basement, dimly lighted with square windows, looking into the court. At the north end of the basement room, a doorway leads across a narrow wedge-shaped passage into a room with an oriel window, looking into the court. The Rev. Mr. Sims observes : " The purposes for which this chamber was employed are very uncertain : scarcely a trace remaining in its present dilapidated condition on which to found a conjecture. Its traditionary -name is ' the family dining-room,' or ' drawing-room ;' and the account given by an aged inhabitant of the town, who died ten years since, and who remembered the condition of the castle before its devastation by fire, on 24th July, 1750, seems to confirm the appella tion. His statement was, ' that he well remembered the room in its furnished state ; and that the walls were then covered with dark oak panelling, and decorated with tapestry.'t Beyond this room, on the other side of a passage, whence a flight of stairs conducted the servants to the grand hall, is the immense kitchen, on a scale suited to the magnitude of the hall. In it are two fireplaces, each nine feet wide, large enough to roast an ox whole. The kitchen opened into a part of the court, at its northern end, separated from the rest by a low wall running across it, from the north-west corner of the kitchen to a square pdlar near the little postern gate, in the wall on the opposite side ofthe court. The marks where it joined the building, with its triangular-shaped coping, still remain ; and in a dry summer, the course of the foundation of the wall and pillar are clearly seen. The' other buildings, between the kitchen and the northern gateway, were used as a brew- house, bakehouse, and offices for the servants; and the beautiful octagon tower in the court was for the staircase to the upper rooms and the roof, t From the irregular endings of the walls, and the doorway and stone steps, in the side of the northern gateway, it is evident that the buildings extended still further westerly. Some years ago, on digging for a foundation for a wall, the floor of a room about three feet from the surface was discovered, into which the doorway opened. The several times in which the different parts of the castle have been erected, sufficiently account for the variety in style and diversity of workmanship which is observable throughout. * Dug. Bar. vol. ii. p. 220, a. f See his History of the Castle, p. 19, published in 1837. t The active imagination of Dr. Booker has convert, d this staircase tower, standmg .ns.de the court and buildings, which effectnally prevented anything being seen outside, into a "watch-tower." 348 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : Huge halls, long galleries, spacious chambers, join'd By no quite lawful marriage of the arts, Might shock a connoisseur j but when combin'd, Form'd a whole, which, irregular in parts, Yet left a grand impression on the mind, At least to those whose eyes are in their hearts. We gaze upon a giant for his stature, Nor judge, at first, if all be true to nature. — Byron. Such must have been the appearance of this venerable pile when the imperious Elizabeth visited my Lord and Lady Dudley, in 1575 ; and when, ten years later, Sir Amyas Powlett visited it, to ascertain if it would do for the prison of Mary Queen of Scots, then confined at Tutbury. As it has never before been printed, I give the whole of the following curious and interesting letter from Sir Amyas Powlett to Sir Francis Walsingham, knight, her Majesty's principal secretary : — " Sir, — I would not faile, according to your former directions, to use all diligence for the removing of this Q. to Chartley; and to that purpose have caused greate store of woodd to be felled, sea coale and charke coale to be burned, tymber to be sawed, bere to be brewed, brick to be carried, and manie other like necessaries to be provided ; but your letters of the iiiith of this present coming to my hands the vith of the same at ten of the clock at night, I retired my servants from Chartley, I discharged my carpenters and masons for one week, I disapointed as manie carriages as I could upon so short warninge, and stayed all my other proceedings there untill my returne from Dudley castle, where finding my L. Dudley absent I was forced to take my lodging in one of the poorest townes that I have sene in my life ; and the next day tooke a full view of the castle, with the assent of my sayde L. who being then at Warwick, sent the keys with all expedition. The lodgings of this castle are not so manye in number as I would wishe, and are also verie little and straight, saving the lodgings which must serve for this Q., wch are so faire and commodious as she cannot desire to haue them amended. Touchinge the rest of the howse, these defects and inconveniences following cannot be denied : There is great plenty of sea coale, charke-coale, and fire woodd at hand, which cannot be had but for readie money, and therefore will prove chargeable when it shall be compared with the charge in other place, where fire woodd and coale came owt of the Queenes owne woodd, and cost nothing but the makinge. Also the howse is utterly destitute of table boord, cup boords, fowrmes (Qy, benches), stooles and bedsteades, saving that the hall and greate chambre are provided of table boord ; the furnishing of which said wants will prove to be a matter of some charge, which is not to be greatelie accounted of, if it be intended that this household shall remain there any tyme. A barn must be converted to a stable for the Govenors horses, a matter of no greate charge. This Queenes gentlemen servants will not like with their straight lodginge, because they have no inner chambers. The brewing vessels are somewhat decayed ; and some are wanting, which may be supplied from Burton. The water for the kitchens and household must be fett out of the dikes with out the gate, and yet some will say that the pump wch standith in the myddes of the court yf yt were clensed would furnishe sufficient and good water, but I find others that doubt thereof. The chamber windows of this Q. lodgings are open upon the park, as likewise the windowes of her kitchen, which I trust may be supplied by a good watch and a deep ditche, but specialie by this Q. infirmitie, which will not permit her to run away on her feet. These defects are recompensed yn parte with the strength of the howse in other respects, and with manie other good commodities. The counties of Worcester and Warwick adjoining yelding good plentie of all kinds of victuals, and at reasonable prices, saving that corne groweth to be deere in all these parts. Thus, I have delivered unto you my simple opinion herein with out partiality, referring the same to your better consideration, and so do forbeare to trouble you with anything ells until I shall hear from you what will be resolved herein. The pro visions made at Chartley, of woodd, coals, bere, &c, will be put away with help of Mr. Bagott with no great losse. I am now glad that I stayed my proceedings at Chartley, wherein PAST AND PRESENT. 349 I thought good to make choyse of the lesse damage, because if I proceeded in my work and carriage, and that the remove had bene disapointed, I had increased her majestyes charge greatele, and altered my L. of Essex howse in something which perchance would not have been pleasing to his L. These are the fruites of irresolution, charge to her majestie, trouble to the countrie in carriage, and the losse of my labour in vague journeys. " I have according to your directions carried this journey, and the dependence thereof in such sort, as neither my household at Tutbury dothe know where I am, nor my L. of Essex servants at Chartley do think that any thing ys lesse intended than the disapoynting of the Scottish Quenes removal thither. I thinke myself much bound to God that I have not bene hindered by my gowte to perform all these journeys, a blessing whereof I had no hope in this season of the yeare ; but this is in the goodness of God towarde me to supplie the want of my letter of assistance, which I trusted to have receaved long before this tyme. And although the remove to Dudley castle shall be resolved, yet I would be gladd to receave this letter for Mr. Bagot to serve my turne in case of necessitie during my abode at Tutburie, because I look every day for harme. I think myself assured by the sight of a memoriall sent this last weeke from C. Serelles to Han, that the Scottishe gentlewoman came with the carrier to Tutburie the ix of this present. And whereas I wrote unto you that I would bestowe her with Mr. Baggot or Mr. Greysley untill I knew your pleasure, I have confidence that they would think themselves yil handled to be troubled with any belonging to this Q, and therefore have taken order with my wife to bestow her with an honest merchant of Burton. Being sorie that I have not heard from you herein by your last letters, but it may not seem strange that you forget these like trifles, in this busie and troublesome tyme. Yt maye please you to give me leave to say unto you once againe that in respect of the long cariage, and greate charge wch will ensue of this remove to Dudley castle, I will not advise the same yf yt be not intended that wee shall remayne there some long tyme, and then some greater charge than those before remembered will not be yil bestowed. Yt seemeth that your doubt of the neighboures of Chartley wch will hardly be matched at Dudley castle, or ellswhere in these parts ; Sir Walter Acton dwelling within thre miles, Mr. Bagot as neare, Mr. Trentam within six miles, all three lietenants of the sherr, Mr. Griesley within four miles by the late death of his mother, besides some others, well affected gentlemen of good calling, and among the rest of the good neigbours, my L. of Essex tenants may not be forgotten. And thus not having wherewith ells to trouble you at this tyme, I committ you to the mercy and favour ofthe highest. From Rushall, the 11 November, 1585. " Your most assured poor friend, "A. Powlett."* From the letter of Lord Dudley to Sir Amyas Powlett, in reference to this matter, being dated " Himley" or " Hemley," it appears that he had then ceased to reside in the castle, which accounts for the neglected state in which Sir Amyas found it. Sampson Erdeswick, about ten years later, describes the castle as " a goodly built house, of an ancient building, and large, with great trenches about it, hewn out of a hard rock, and a fair chief tower within it, on the south side."t Thus it continued until the year 1647, when the House of Commons, acting on the 8th article of capitulation, "that (the parliament giving order) the works, wals, and towre of the said castle shall be sleighted (i.e., demolished), and made uncapable of a garrison," resolved that it should be made untenable. It was accordingly reduced by the parliamentary com missioners to the defenceless state in which Dr. Plot found it about the year 1686. The whole account of this author is curious, and, as a specimen of his loose rambling style, is given entire. Treating of Aldridge and Hanbury, which lie high, he says :— "Both which, no doubt, enjoy a fresh pleasant air, though I must confess I should have liked them consider ably better, had they been thinner beset with trees and inclosures ; unless the buildings had * State Papers relating to Scotland. Mary Queen of Scots. f See his History of Staffordshire, commenced in 1593, and continued until his death, In 1603. 350 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE surmounted the tops of them all, so as to have been more exposed to the ventilations of the air, as at Dudley castle, whose magnificent ruins, as well as habitable part (built on a lofty rock), notwithstanding the shrubbs and trees all about it, are mounted so high above them all as not only to afford a most wholsom air, but a delicat prospect over the country below it, as the reader cannot but be satisfied it must needs do from the sculpture of Tab. 7, which, notwithstanding its ruins (the marks of its loyalty in the civil war), yet remains the seat ot the right honourable Lord Ward, baron of Birmingham, a person of most exemplary fidelity to his prince, and a most noble encourager of this work, and is therefore here represented wrought off a copper plate, that I might gratefully render his lordship's munificence as immortal as the brass." According to "the sculpture" referred to, the keep, the chapel, and all the buildings between the latter and the great hall, were in ruins, and one side of a small outer tower, at the end of the triangular passage between the hall and dining-room, pulled down. The grand hall with a row of windows looking to the east, the kitchen, and the remainder of the new work, formed the habitable part. The hill was covered with trees of small growth, and the whole surrounded with a wall, which, on the south, east, and west sides, stood very nearly on the site of the present boundary wall. On the north, the remains are still visible about half way on the lower drive, and on the walk along the top of the hill, by the limestone excavation. In the great hall was a table seventeen yards long, and nearly one broad, cut from an oak that grew in the new park. " Certainly," says Dr. Plot, " it must be a tree of prodigious height and magnitude, out of which a table, all of one plank, could be cut, twenty-five yards three inches long, and wanting but two inches of a yard in breadth for the whole length ; from which they were forced (it being so much too long for the hall at Dudley) to cut off seven yards nine inches, which is the table in the hall, at Corbyn's Hall, hard by, the ancient seat ofthe Corbyns." The park was well stocked with deer, and a living white buck was kept within the castle, which put up annually from the burrs only two beams, without either brow or back antlers, palm or spellers, ascending pretty straight, and adorned at the top with balls or knobs. Nobody knew whence it came ; it having been taken alive by the colliers in an old coal work, and brought to the castle bound, in a wheelbarrow.* Himley had become the more regular residence of the noble owners, so that the castle buildings gradually became more dilapidated ; yet the assemblies of the town were held there, and an aged lady, a relation of the writer, now deceased, remembered having in her youth mingled in the gay and festive throng, and moved in the mazy dance to the sweet sounds ol music, in the large hall, where all is now so desolate. "Nettles and vilest weeds that grow To mock poor grandeur's head laid low, Creep round the turrets valour rais'd, And flaunt where youth and beauty gaz'd." — Bloomfield. It continued thus habitable until the year 1750, when a fresh disaster overwhelmed the surviving mementos of the bygone ages. " Be it ever remembered, Dudley castle was on fire St. James' fair day eve, July 24, 1750, and was burning the 25th and 26th. The folks would not go near it, on account of the gunpowder said to be in the place. The eastern part of the roof being mostly lead, it ran down the hill red hot, and set fire to the long grass, which, for the time, looked a hill of fire, and sadly feared the town folks." The grass at this season being extremely dry, would easily be ignited by floating pieces of burning wood, carried by the wind ; and it is not easy to understand how a current of molten lead could cross the moat and terrace, in order to run down the hill red hot. The fire raged on unchecked until the whole habitable part was reduced to the present state of vacant desolation, and naught was left but the * Plot's Staffordshire. Pub. 1686. PAST AND PRESENT. 351 "Naked walls That stared upon each other."— Wordsworth. The origin of the fire has remained a mystery. Tradition states that a set of coiners, to whom the castle served as a retreat, were concerned in it ; but omits to say whether designedly or by accident. An old inhabitant of Dudley informed the writer that he remem bered his mother telling him that there was a person well known in the town called " Castle Jacob," who was suspected to be a coiner, and the person who set fire to the castle. He disappeared at the time of the fire, and was never heard of afterwards. Dr. Booker inferred design, from two unfinished lines of doggrel inscribed on a soft stone. to the left of the kitchen entrance from the court : — "Water went round it, to guarde it from the Fooe, The fire shall burn it ." Here the mysterious words end. Had we proof of their existence at the time of the fire, it would be evidence of design. But the length of time before they were discovered, and the ease with which they might have been scrawled upon the soft sandstone at any time, involves the whole in doubt. Mr. Grose, who visited the ruins in 1784, omits all mention of them, although he notices the tradition. The Parliamentary Committee and the fire left the ruins very nearly in their present state. But in the year 1799, William, the third Viscount Dudley and Ward, employed a number of workmen in removing the vast heap of limestone which filled up the rear of the old keep, the work of the parliamentary commissioners, and exhibited the form in which it was originally built. At the same time he raised one of its mutilated towers to its present height and appearance. Kingswinford. — This place is also cabed Swinford Regis, and derives its name from having been a royal domain, and from Sweyn, the Danish king, who was crowned king of England about the year 1000. It remained a possession ofthe Crown untb King John gave it to Baron Dudley, and it is still one of the possessions of that family, the earl of Dudley being the present lord of the manor. The parish includes the town of Brierley Hbl, the hamlets of Bromley, Pensnet, Sheb End, Wall Heath, and Wordsley, and contains 7315 acres, 35,041 inhabitants, 6838 houses, and. real property valued at £270,228. The living is a rectory worth £950 ; and the bving of St. Mary's is a perpetual curacy worth £400, both of which are in the gift of the earl of Dudley. There is a church at Brierley Hill, Brook- moor, Pensnet, and Quarry Bank. All the dissenters have places of worship. The church is ancient, and over the north door there is some rude sculpture, and the monuments in the interior are numerous, but not worthy of any special description. At Holbeche House, Stephen Littleton, and others concerned in the Gunpowder Plot, were taken prisoners in 1605. In the middle of the village is the ancient manor-house of Bradley Hall, a very curious half-tim bered mansion, which was for some time used as a Catholic chapel. Prestwood House is, says Mr. Nightingale, a fine modern seat, 352 STAFFORDSHIRE AND WARWICKSHIRE : placed on the site of one more ancient, built by Sir John Littleton, of which the gateway still remains. It is now the residence of H. J. W. H. Foley, Esq., J.P. The surrounding pleasure grounds exhibit a most delightful variety of hbl and dale, wood and water, effected chiefly by the hand of nature. The Roman road passes in this vicinity, which abounds with extensive mines of coal, lying upon a stratum of clay, esteemed the best in England for making glass-house pots, from the great intensity of beat it is able to endure. This circumstance has already attracted hither several capitalists in the glass trade, whose elegant villas tend greatly to the improve ment and beauty of the neighbouring country. On Brierley Hbl, immediately adjoining, stands a small chapel built by subscription, on account of the distance from hence to the mother church. The first clergyman here was the Rev. Thomas Moss, author of the elegant little poem, called " The Beggar." This poem is better known by its first line — " Pity the sorrows of a poor old man." On Ashwood Heath, in this parish, appear the remains of a Roman encampment, or fortification, usually denominated by the people Wolverhampton Churchyard, from a tradition current among them that the cemetery of that parish was actually translated to this spot many years ago. The tumuli or barrows on Barrow Hbl, which now seem to be entirely formed of solid rock, are supposed by Dr. Plot to have been brought into that condition by the action of subterranean heat. Brierley Hill. — This active town is in Kingswinford parish, and is the centre of a rapidly-increasing district. The chapelry includes the town, and contains 11,046 inhabitants, 2170 houses, and real property valued at £64,180. The living is a rectory worth £300, in the gift of the rector of Kingswinford. Most of the dissenters have places of worship here. Penn. — This parish comprises the townships of Upper and Lower Penn, and contains 3986 acres, 2184 inhabitants, 437 houses, and real property valued at £12,693. The living of the parish church is a vicarage worth £226, in the gift of the bishop of Lichfield. There are also schools and charities. Penn Fields, an ecclesiastical parish detached from Penn, has a church, built in 1859. It is a vicarage in the gift of and held by the Rev. William Dalton, B.D., who has endowed the living, value £200. Population, 1150. 0179