Ilam History

ILAM
Description and History from 1868 Gazetteer

ILAM, a parish in the hundred of Totmonslow, county Stafford, 5 miles N.W. of Ashbourn, 9 N.E. of Cheadle, and 12 S.E. of Leek, its post town. The village is small, and situated in a glen, where the rivers Hamps and Manifold have their source, 15 yards apart.

The parish contains the hamlets of Castern, Throwley, and Rushley, and the inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture. Nearly the whole of the land is pasture. The great road from London to Manchester passes near the village. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £410.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield, value £355. The church, dedicated to the Holy Cross, was rebuilt in 1618. It has a tower containing five bells, and an octagonal chapel recently erected on the N. side by W. Russell, Esq., in which is a monument to P. Watts, by Chantrey. In the church is the tomb of St. Bertram, also effigies of the Meverell family.

In the village, near the bridge, is an hexagonal cross over a fountain erected in memory of Mary Russell, and bearing date 1840. The parochial charities produce about £5 per annum. There is a school endowed by W. Russell, Esq. Ilam Hall, the principal residence, is a mansion rebuilt in the Elizabethan style. It has an armoury and some pictures, and is surrounded with grounds, in which are St. Bertram's well and ash. Congreve wrote his "Old Bachelor" here.

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