Brewood History

BREWOOD, a parish and ancient town in the eastern division of the hundred of Cuttlestone, in the county of Stafford, 10 miles to the S. of Stafford, its post town, and 7 N. of Wolverhampton. It is situated on a branch of the river Penk, near the London and North-Western railway, which has a station at the Four Ashes, 1½ mile to the E. of the town. The Great Western and Shrewsbury line also has a station about 4 miles to the S.W. of the town, at Codsall. The Birmingham and Liverpool, and the Stafford and Worcester, canals pass through the parish.

Brewood is an ancient place, bearing evidence of its Roman occupation, and about a mile to the N. of the town is the Roman way Watling Street. King John had a temporary residence here, called in the Chronicles "camera regis." On the Patent Rolls, in the Public Record Office, is a grant by Henry III, in 1221, to William de Cornhull, Bishop of Lichfield, licensing him to hold a market on Friday. It had a small nunnery of the Benedictine order, founded in the 12th century by Isabel Launder, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The site, still called Black Ladies, was given at the Dissolution to the Giffords, whose seat is Chillington Hall.

The town is pleasantly situated on gently rising ground, the streets are paved, and there is a good supply of water. The old market-house fell down in 1809, and has not been rebuilt. There is a savings-bank, a reading-room (established in 1857), and a small parish library.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield, value £670, in the patronage of the Dean of Lichfield. The church, dedicated to St. Mary is a large and handsome building, partly in the early English and partly in the perpendicular style of architecture, with a lofty spire. It stands on high ground, and contains several handsome monuments of the Giffords, the Fowkes, the Moretons and other families of distinction. The register dates from the year 1562.

In addition to the parish church there are two district churches, one at Bishopswood, the other at Coven. The former was erected in 1849, and has a parsonage-house and National schools attached, the latter in 1867, also with parsonage and schools; both have their separate districts assigned, and constitute distinct parishes, though the patronage is vested in the vicar, for the time being, of the mother church. There are chapels in the town belonging to the Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Roman Catholics, the latter erected in 1843.

Here is a free grammar school, founded and endowed by Dr. Knightley in the reign of Elizabeth. Its revenue, increased by later bequests, now amounts to about £410 per annum. The head master's house, and both the upper and lower schoolhouses, have recently been rebuilt. The mastership was held by Dr. Johnson's friend, the Rev. William Budworth, who died in 1745. Bishop Hurd, of Worcester, the tutor of George IV., and who refused the primacy of England; Dr. Beddoes, the eminent physician of Bristol; Sir E. Littleton; Dr. Jeremiah Smith, of Manchester, and other distinguished men, received their education here. There are also an English free school, a Roman Catholic school, and a spacious National school, opened in 1860. The other charitable endowments of the parish are worth about £150 a year.

Roman coins and other remains have been found in the vicinity. The market is now obsolete. Fairs for the sale of horses and cattle are held on the second Thursday in May, and the 19th September. These fairs were opened with great ceremony by the lord of the manor till the year 1834, when the tolls were abolished, and a stop put to the annual bull-baitings, which used to take place in the market-place.

The chief seats in the neighbourhood are Brewood Hall, a mansion of the Elizabethan period, built by the Fowkes; Chillington, the family seat of the Giffords since the reign of Henry III. (it is situated in an extensive park, with a fine sheet of water, and was visited by Queen Elizabeth in 1575); Somerford Hall, the seat of the Barbers and Moncktons; and Long Birch, formerly a seat of the Giffords, and subsequently the residence of the "vicars apostolic " of the Midland Counties. The last is now a farmhouse.

 

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]