SHUSTOKE - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"SHUSTOKE, a parish in the Atherstone division of the hundred of Hemlingford, county Warwick, 3 miles N.E. of Coleshill, its post town. It is a station on the Birmingham, Whitacre, and Leicester section of the Midland railway. The village is situated on the high road from Birmingham to Atherstone, near the Midland railway. The parish, which extends for nearly nine miles in length, though very narrow, contains the chapelry of Bentley and the hamlet of Blythe. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture. The river Blythe, and a stream called the Bourne, intersect the parish. The living is a vicarage* with the curacy of Bentley annexed, in the diocese of Worcester, value £258, in the patronage of the lord chancellor. The church, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, has a lofty tower, containing five bells. The interior of the church contains monuments of the Dugdale and Dilke families. The registers date from 1538. The parochial charities produce about £54 per annum, of which £49 go to Huntbach's school and almshouses."

"BENTLEY, a chapelry in the parish of Shustoke, Atherstone division of the hundred of Hemlingford, in the county of Warwick, 3 miles to the S.W. of Atherstone. Coleshill is its post town. The living is a perpetual curacy annexed to the vicarage of Shustoke, in the diocese of Worcester. The church is decayed. A fair is held in this hamlet on the 20th July."

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