Brewood - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Brewood refers both to a settlement, which was once a town but is now a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

, in South Staffordshire

South Staffordshire

South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. The district lies to the north and west of Wolverhampton and the West Midlands, bordering Shropshire to the west and Worcestershire to the south...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and to the civil parish of which it is the centre. Located around , Brewood village lies near the River Penk

River Penk

The River Penk is a small river flowing though Staffordshire, England. Its course is mainly within South Staffordshire, and it drains most of the northern part of that district, together with some adjoining areas of Cannock Chase, Stafford, Wolverhampton, and Shropshire...

, eight miles north of Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...

city centre and eleven miles south of the county town of Stafford

Stafford

Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately north of Wolverhampton and south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14...

. Some three miles to the west of Brewood is the border with the county of Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

Definition

The current Civil Parish of Brewood and Coven has a population of around 7,500, mostly grouped in four distinct villages:

Brewood
Bishops Wood
Bishops Wood
Bishop's Wood, Bishops Wood, or Bishopswood is a small village on the Staffordshire border with Shropshire. It is home to the Royal Oak public house, the first to be named after the nearby oak tree at Boscobel House in which King Charles II hid after the Battle of Worcester.The village, in the...
Coven
Coven, Staffordshire
Coven is a small village in the district of South Staffordshire, England, near to the border with Wolverhampton. Together with Brewood it forms part of the parish of Brewood & Coven.-Etymology:...
Coven Heath.

The civil parish boundaries are based on those of the ancient parish of Brewood, which likewise included Coven and Bishop's Wood, although not Coven Heath. Despite the emergence of distinct civil and eccesiastical parishes under the Victorian Poor Law

Poor Law

The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief which existed in England and Wales that developed out of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws before being codified in 1587–98...

, the civil parish remained almost identical to the ancient parish for more than a century. To this day, the only change, and a fairly minor one, is the addition of a small corner of neighbouring Bushbury

Bushbury

Bushbury is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It lies two miles north-east of Wolverhampton city centre, divided between the Bushbury North and Bushbury South and Low Hill wards.- Place name and history :...

parish, when the latter was absorbed into Wolverhampton in 1934. This brought Coven Heath and Brinsford

Brinsford

Brinsford may refer to:* Brinsford , a prison and Young Offenders Institution in Wolverhampton* Brinsford Lodge, a former hall of residence for The Polytechnic, Wolverhampton...

into the parish.

The entire ecclesiastical parish was served by the church of St Mary and St Chad, probably from Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...

times and certainly from the 12th century, until the Victorian period. In 1852, Bishops Wood, to the west, was given its own chapelry

Chapelry

A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England, and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel which acted as a subsidiary place of worship to the main parish church...

, followed by the eastern hamlet of Coven in 1858. Coven, together with Coven Heath, evolved into and remained a separate ecclesiastical parish, served by St Paul's church. The remainder of the ancient parish is now a single ecclesiastical parish, served by the two churches of St Mary and St Chad, Brewood, and St John the Evangelist, Bishops Wood.

Government

Brewood is part of a two-tier system of local government, with an additional parish community council.

The top layer authority, to which Brewood and Coven elects a single representative, is Staffordshire County Council. This has differed greatly in the area it has covered, but Brewood has been part of it in all its manifestations since the Administrative County was established in 1889.

The lower-tier authority, to which Brewood and Coven elects three representatives, is South Staffordshire
South Staffordshire
South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. The district lies to the north and west of Wolverhampton and the West Midlands, bordering Shropshire to the west and Worcestershire to the south...

District Council. This was formed in 1974 through the merger of Cannock Rural District

Cannock Rural District

Cannock was a rural district in Staffordshire, England from 1894 to 1974.It was created by the Local Government Act 1894, based on the Cannock rural sanitary district, and has the town of Cannock on its eastern border...

and Seisdon Rural District

Seisdon Rural District

Seisdon was a rural district in Staffordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It lay west of Wolverhampton and was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 based on the Seisdon rural sanitary district....

. Brewood had been a part of Cannock Rural District since 1894, and was included in its predecessor, the Cannock Rural Sanitary District from its inception in 1875. Prior to this, Brewood was included in the East Cuttlestone Hundred of the Ancient County of Staffordshire.

Brewood has had a parish council since time immemorial. Evolved from a vestry

Vestry

A vestry is a room in or attached to a church or synagogue in which the vestments, vessels, records, etc., are kept , and in which the clergy and choir robe or don their vestments for divine service....

system of government by local notables in the early modern period, it became an elected Civil Parish council in Victorian times. It now has a community council which styles itself The Parish of Brewood and Coven with Bishops Wood and Coven Heath.

In UK Parliamentary elections, Brewood and Coven forms a part of the South Staffordshire constituency.

Politics

Brewood's representative on Staffordshire County Council is Rex Roberts OBE, Conservative. It is represented on South Staffordshire District Council by two Conservative councillors and one Independent councillor.

The local M.P. is the Conservative Gavin Williams

Gavin Williams

Gavin John Williams is a Welsh international professional footballer who is currently plays for League One side Yeovil Town.Williams' younger brother Lewis is a winger with Pontypridd RFC.-Hereford United:...

. From 1974 to 2010, the M.P. was the Conservative Sir Patrick Cormack.

Features

The Shropshire Union Canal

Shropshire Union Canal

The Shropshire Union Canal is a navigable canal in England; the Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union system and lie partially in Wales....

passes through the western edge of Brewood (and over Stretton Aqueduct

Stretton Aqueduct

Stretton Aqueduct is a short cast iron canal aqueduct between Stretton and Brewood, and near to Belvide Reservoir, in south Staffordshire, England...

). The River Penk

River Penk

flows along the eastern edge. Belvide Reservoir

Belvide Reservoir

Belvide Reservoir is a reservoir in South Staffordshire, England. Owned by British Waterways, it was constructed c. 1833 to feed the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, which is now the Shropshire Union Canal...

, which feeds the canal, is about one kilometre to the north-west.

Brewood has four schools:

St. Mary & St. Chad's Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

(VC) First School
First School
First school and lower school are terms used in some areas of the United Kingdom to describe the first stage of primary education. Some English Local Education Authorities have introduced First Schools since the 1960s...

, with around 150 pupils
Brewood Middle School
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...

, with about four hundred students. Originally Brewood Grammar School
Brewood Grammar School
Brewood Grammar School was a boys' school in the village of Brewood in South Staffordshire, England.Founded in the mid 15th century by the Bishop of Lichfield as a chantry school it was closed by the 1547 Act of Dissolution of Chantries...

, founded mid 15th century
St Mary's Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

Primary School, with some 90 children on the roll
St Dominic's High School for Girls

There is a Brewood Civic Society and a Rotary Club of Brewood. Brewood is also the home of the Brewood Singers. The village came second in the South Staffordshire Best Kept Village 2005 challenge and has won the competition numerous times.

George Harrison

George Harrison

George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

once attended a wedding in Brewood, a popular destination for society Midlands weddings. It is something of a mecca for seventies music: Roy Wood

Roy Wood

Roy Adrian Wood is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.-Career:Wood...

of Wizzard educated his daughter Holly Wood at a nearby school and Jim Lea

Jim Lea

Jim Lea , is an English musician, most notable for playing bass guitar, keyboards, violin, guitar, and singing backing vocals in Slade.-Career:...

of Slade

Slade

Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...

lives on the outskirts and sent his daughter to St Dominic's High School for Girls. More recently, excitement was caused when Jas Mann

Jas Mann

Jasbinder Singh "Jas" Mann is a British song-writer, musician, singer and record producer.-Early life:...

of Babylon Zoo

Babylon Zoo

Babylon Zoo were a British rock band of the mid-1990s from Wolverhampton, England, fronted by Jas Mann. They were best known for the song "Spaceman", which on its release on 21 January 1996, went straight to #1 on the UK Singles Chart, selling 418,000 copies in the first week of...

was rumoured to have bought a house near the church. Martin Gilks

Martin Gilks

Martin Richard Gilks was an English musician. He was a founder member and original drummer for The Wonder Stuff, based in Stourbridge ....

, drummer of the British pop band The Wonder Stuff

The Wonder Stuff

The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock band, originally based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the Black Country, England.-Origins:...

, grew up in Brewood. Siân Reeves

Sian Reeves

Siân Reeves is a British actress, most famous for playing the role of Sydney Henshall in the BBC drama Cutting It, and for playing villain Sally Spode in Emmerdale.-Early life:...

, British actress most famous for playing the character Sydney Henshall in the Manchester-based television drama Cutting It
Cutting It
Cutting It was a popular BBC television programme set in Manchester, England, which ran for four series between 2002 and 2005.- Series 1 :...

, grew up in Brewood.

Artemas Roof, the poet and writer, is a native of Brewood.

Etymology

The Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

documented the village as 'Breude'. The name is probably a compound made up of a Celtic, Brythonic word with an Anglo Saxon, Old English

Old English language

Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

word.

The first element is the British word 'briga', which appears in modern Welsh as 'bre'. This is the most common of a number of Celtic place-name elements signifying a hill. It appears in various combinations, but sometimes on its own, as in Bray. Margaret Gelling

Margaret Gelling

Margaret Joy Gelling, OBE was an English toponymist, Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, and member of the Society of Antiquaries of London and the British Academy....

, a specialist in West Midland toponyms, suggested that it was often misunderstood by the Anglo-Saxons as a name rather than as a common noun. So they thought they had come upon a place called by the natives Brig or Bre, rather than simply a hill. This is why the word is often combined tautologically, as in Breedon on the Hill, where all three elements have the same meaning.

The second element is probably obvious: the Anglo-Saxon 'wudu', signifying a wood. Hence the name Brewood means either "Wood on or by a hill" or "Wood near a place called Bre".

Origins

The old Roman road

Roman road

The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

, Watling Street

Watling Street

Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...

, stretching from Londinium

Londinium

The city of London was established by the Romans around AD 43. It served as a major imperial commercial centre until its abandonment during the 5th century.-Origins and language:...

across the Roman Province

Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...

of Britannia Superior

Britannia Superior

Britannia Superior was one of the provinces of Roman Britain created around 197 AD by Emperor Septimus Severus immediately after winning a civil war against Clodius Albinus, a war fought to determine who would be the next emperor. Albinus was the governor of Britannia during that civil war...

to Wroxeter

Wroxeter

Wroxeter is a village in Shropshire, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Wroxeter and Uppington and is located in the Severn Valley about south-east of Shrewsbury.-History:...

and later Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

, runs one mile to the north of the village as the A5. There were small Roman stations along this route and the most important settlement locally was Pennocrucium

Pennocrucium

Pennocrucium was a Romano-British settlement and military complex located at present day Water Eaton, just south of Penkridge, Staffordshire, with evidence of occupation from the mid-1st century until the 4th century....

, which had an outlying fort. The name Pennocrucium is clearly associated with Penkridge

Penkridge

Penkridge is a market town and ancient parish in Staffordshire, England with a population of 7,836 . Many locals refer to it as a village, although it has a long history as an ecclesiastical and commercial centre. Its main distinction in the Middle Ages was as the site of an important collegiate...

, the town and parish north of Brewood, which is separated from it by the line of Watling Street, and these important remains do lie just outside the parish boundary. However, the remains of a small Roman villa have been found about 500m south of Watling Street, close to Engleton, and so within Brewood parish. Clearly there was a small population in the Brewood area in Roman times, and quite possibly earlier. However, there is no evidence of continuity at any of the main settlements in present-day Brewood. The history of Brewood really begins with the Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon

settlement, when it emerged as a village within Mercia

Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...

. The place name suggests that it came into existence during the earlier part of the Anglo-Saxon period, when there were still people in the area of Celtic language and culture. However, the first real documentation comes after the Norman conquest of England

Norman conquest of England

The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...

.

At the Domesday survey, in 1086, Brewood fell within the Cuttlestone Hundred of Staffordshire. The survey records that it was held by the Bishop of Chester

Bishop of Chester

The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York.The diocese expands across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the City of Chester where the seat is located at the Cathedral...

and that it had been a church property before 1066. However, the landholder of the manor of Brewood in the Middle Ages is generally stated to be the Diocese of Lichfield. This is not a contradiction, but reflects the shifts in the seat of the diocese. In 1075, Peter, bishop of Lichfield, had transferred his see to Chester, and there it remained until 1102, when it moved to Coventry. From 1228, the official title was the Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield.

Brewood was assessed for tax purposes as 5 hides

Hide (unit)

The hide was originally an amount of land sufficient to support a household, but later in Anglo-Saxon England became a unit used in assessing land for liability to "geld", or land tax. The geld would be collected at a stated rate per hide...

, the hide being notionally an area of 120 acres, although at this time it had become simply a unit of tax liability, irrespective of actual area. Domesday also records Brewood as consisting of enough land for 20 ploughs. The bishop had twenty slaves cultivating his land in the village. The rest of the population consisted of 24 villagers, 18 smallholders and a priest. There were two mills, presumably on the River Penk. There was also a substantial area of woodland, tending to confirm the accepted etymology. However Domesday records that the value of the village was £10 in 1066, and had halved in the twenty years since. Hence we can be sure that it had prospered in the late Anglo-Saxon period but had suffered a check to its growth during, and perhaps because of, Norman rule.

Development of a town

Norman rule brought Forest Law to the area, and it was not until 1204, in the reign of King John, that Brewood Forest was abolished. It should be noted that a forest was a royal hunting reserve, not necessarily wooded. The area of the parish to the east of the Penk was not part of Brewood Forest, but belonged to the Forest of Cank or Cannock Chase

Cannock Chase

Cannock Chase is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Chase gives its name to the Cannock Chase local government district....

. It was not deforested until about a century later.

Shortly after deforestation, in 1221, a charter

Charter

A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...

for a Friday market

Market

A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...

at Brewood was granted to the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield by King Henry III

Henry III of England

Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...

, suggesting considerable growth and increased prosperity since the Domesday survey. However, the charter was valid only until the seniority of the king, who was a child at the time. The market continued, nevertheless, and the king recognised a Monday market too in 1259, as well as granting the right to hold an annual fair over the feast of the Nativity of Mary

Nativity of Mary

The Nativity of Mary, or Birth of the Virgin and various permutations, is celebrated as a liturgical feast in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and in most Anglican liturgical calendars on 8 September, nine months after the solemnity of her Immaculate Conception, celebrated on 8 December...

, or 7–9 September, although it was transferred to 19 September after the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...

in the 18th century. In 1382 the burgesses of Stafford tried to get Brewood's markets suppressed, claiming that they had been unlicensed for twenty years and injured their trade. However, Stafford lost to Brewood and both market and fair were confirmed some time around 1390, in the reign of Richard II. The market petered out during the 18th century, and competition from Wolverhampton killed off an attempted revival in the following century. Although a general fair, the most important trade at the annual event was in horses. It continued until after World War I.

From the mid-12th century, two religious communities of women developed in the Brewood area. The priory of St Mary, Brewood

Black Ladies Priory

Black Ladies Priory was a house of Benedictine nuns, located about 4km west of Brewood in Staffordshire, on the northern edge of the hamlet of Kiddemore Green. Founded in the mid-12th century, it was a small, often struggling, house. It was dissolved in 1538, and a large house was built on the site...

, generally known as Blackladies, was a Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

house, to the west of the village. It owned land and property around Brewood, and elsewhere in Staffordshire and Shropshire. The nuns petitioned Pope Gregory IX (1227–41) for protection, and he confirmed them in all their present and future holdings. He conferred the right to elect their own prioress and decreed that their flocks and herds were to be free of tithes. However, the nuns seems to have struggled financially, and they often solicited small gifts of cash from notables and even from kings. For example, in 1241 Henry III

Henry III of England

sent a gift of one mark so that they could redeem their pawned chalice. Even more telling was an incident of 1286. About ten years previously, a stag had escaped from the royal huntsman in Gailey Hay (then part of the forest of Cannock) and subsequently drowned in Blackladies' fishpond. The nuns split the carcass with John Giffard of Chillington. When the case came to court, Giffard received a fine and a prison sentence but the nuns were pardoned because of their poverty. However, there were criticisms of the financial management at the priory. In 1326, Roger Northburgh

Roger Northburgh

Roger Northburgh was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. He served as Lord Privy Seal from 1312 to 1316, as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1321 to 1326, and as Lord High Treasurer of England from June to December of 1340...

, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, made a visitation and demanded that the prioress present proper accounts, which she seemed unable to do, and that the cellaress and steward be dismissed. It seems that the community was always very small, and as dissolution approached it never numbered above four, although with a number of lay staff.

White Ladies Priory

White Ladies Priory , once the Priory of St Leonard at Brewood, was an English priory of Augustinian canonesses, now in ruins, in Shropshire, in the parish of Boscobel, some eight miles northwest of Wolverhampton, near Junction 3 of the M54 motorway...

was an Augustinian house, outside the parish in Shropshire, but generally styled the priory or convent of St Leonard of Brewood. The complement here was also small: generally five canonesses and the prioress. It too was poor and had scattered holdings in Shropshire, and even in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Nevertheless, a visitation of 1338 by the zealous Bishop Northburgh led to censure of the prioress for her extravagant dress and for her hunting with hounds. Both White Ladies and Blackladies were suppressed in the first wave of the Dissolution of the monasteries

Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

under Henry VIII and their buildings and local estates ended up in the hands of the Giffard family.

Around the same time that the market was established, building of the large sandstone church of St Mary and St Chad was commenced, probably replacing a less impressive earlier church. It has undergone numerous alterations and restorations, but it was clearly a large and impressive structure from the outset. Around 1176, the bishop had conferred the church on the deanery

Deanery

A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...

of Lichfield Cathedral

Lichfield Cathedral

Lichfield Cathedral is situated in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The Diocese of Lichfield covers all of Staffordshire, much of Shropshire and part of the Black Country and West Midlands...

. The deans kept advowson

Advowson

Advowson is the right in English law of a patron to present or appoint a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a process known as presentation. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish...

, the right to nominate the priest until 1868. In medieval England, the local priest, in this case titled the vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

from 1275, was not a salaried

Salary

A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis....

official but a feudatory, dependent on a benefice

Benefice

A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...

designed to support him in office and owing service to his patron, the dean, in return. The vicar was to receive the altar dues and various other revenues, including mortuary dues and tithes on wool - with the notable exception of wool from the dean's flock, of course. In return, he was to pay the dean a pension of 10 marks.

The most notable of the medieval vicars was William de Pecco, who showed a shrewd eye for economic advantage. He somehow persuaded the nuns of Blackladies to let him impose a tithe on sheep and lambs that belonged to other people but were kept on their land - a long-standing matter of dispute between the parish and the nunnery. He also exchanged parcels of land with John de Horsbrok to rationalise the vicarage lands, and arranged to pay John and his successors the small annual rent of 3d. to site the vicarage bakehouse on his land. Apparently the financial position of the vicars fluctuated wildly. The vicarage was supposed to be worth £6 17s. 8d. in 1535, but in 1604 the vicar received an income of about 100 marks, despite the fact that he was described as "no preacher, a notable swearer and drunkard". In 1646, after the first round of the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

the living was valued at a mere £20 and the vicar was bailed out by Parliament's Committee for Plundered Ministers, which gave him £50 from the seqestrated

Sequestration (law)

Sequestration is the act of removing, separating, or seizing anything from the possession of its owner under process of law for the benefit of creditors or the state.-Etymology:...

estates of the dean and £8 from those of John and Peter Giffard at White Ladies and Blackladies. In the early 18th century the vicarage needed another subvention, this time from Queen Anne's Bounty

Queen Anne's Bounty

Queen Anne's Bounty was a fund established in 1704 to augment the incomes of the poorer clergy of the Church of England. The bounty was funded by the tax on the incomes of all Church of England clergy, which was paid to the Pope until the Reformation, and thereafter to the Crown.In 1890, the total...

, a fund designed to aid the poorest Anglican clergy.

An unusual feature of the area was the presence of sulfur

Sulfur

Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...

wells, at Chillington and Gunstone. The latter seems to have had a leper house

Leper colony

A leper colony, leprosarium, or lazar house is a place to quarantine leprous people.-History:Leper colonies or houses became widespread in the Middle Ages, particularly in Europe and India, and often run by monastic orders...

: there is a farm with this name today at Gunstone and the Ordnance Survey records a Leper Well on the banks of the Moat Brook close by. Sulfurous water was a medieval, actually ineffective, remedy for leprosy. Leprosy

Leprosy

Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...

or Hansen's disease was common in medieval Europe and seems to have reached a peak between the mid-12th and mid-14th centuries. The Third Lateran Council decreed segregation for lepers in special leper houses. These were generally under monastic supervision. Leprosy declined rapidly until it faded from consciousness after the Black Death

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

, but the waters were still used by people and animals suffering from skin ailments in the late 17th century.

Brewood Grammar School

Brewood Grammar School

Brewood Grammar School was a boys' school in the village of Brewood in South Staffordshire, England.Founded in the mid 15th century by the Bishop of Lichfield as a chantry school it was closed by the 1547 Act of Dissolution of Chantries...

was founded in the town in the reign of Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

, replacing a chantry

Chantry

Chantry is the English term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest...

school founded in the previous century and dissolved when all chantries were suppressed in 1547. Richard Hurd, educated at the school by William Budworth

William Budworth

William Budworth , schoolmaster at Brewood in Staffordshire, England. He taught several notable pupils, but he is most remembered for not employing Samuel Johnson as an assistant at Brewood Grammar School.-Biography:...

in the 1730s, and later to become a Bishop of Worcester

Bishop of Worcester

The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. He is the head of the Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury...

, was one of the most notable students.

The market, the grand church and the grammar school mark out Brewood as a small town, not just a village, by the standards of this period, and it was sometimes referred to as the Borough of Brewood. Around 1680, the township had about 60 houses, but this had grown to 210 houses, with a population of 919 by 1811. In 1834 William White described Brewood as "a small but well-built market town, with several good streets and a spacious market-place." The historic centre consisted of the market place, with Bargate, Newport and Stafford Streets, and Sandy Lane meeting at it. Dean Street, south-east of the church was another important old street. These still contain many houses of considerable age, mostly Georgian, but with many also from the 16th and 17th centuries. They form a large proportion of the many listed buildings in the parish of Brewood and Coven. Speedwell Castle, in Bargate, is a striking eighteenth century house said to have been built from the proceeds of a bet on a horse.

In the early 19th century the parish consisted of eight liberties or constablewicks: Brewood town, Chillington, Coven, Engleton, Gunstone and the Hattons, Horsebrook, Kiddemore, and Somerford. The liberties outside the township were mainly based on the old medieval manors of the parish, centred on the seats of local landowners of note and influence. The fortunes of these varied considerably over the centuries. By the early 19th century, Coven had grown considerably and was described as "a considerable village" by William White in 1851. Chillington, on the other hand, had been a village of about 30 houses in the 17th century but had declined to a collection of five farms by 1834.

The traditional economy

Brewood was the centre of an essentially agricultural community throughout the Middle Ages and well into modern times. Under the feudal manorial system, a large proportion of the land was held in return for service. Typically, peasant farmers, some of them unfree serfs and villeins, worked strips of land in open fields

Open field system

The open field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe from the Middle Ages to as recently as the 20th century in some places, particularly Russia and Iran. Under this system, each manor or village had several very large fields, farmed in strips by individual families...

, which they held in return for services rendered to the lord - generally including labour service on his land. This was essentially a subsistence system

Subsistence agriculture

Subsistence agriculture is self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed their families. The typical subsistence farm has a range of crops and animals needed by the family to eat and clothe themselves during the year. Planting decisions are made with an eye...

, with any surplus consumed locally by the lord and his entourage, who often travelled regularly between his various estates. Such a system certainly formed part of the medieval economy of Brewood.

The bishop's land in Brewood was farmed on a three-field system in the 14th century, and probably much earlier. By the late 17th century we find various field throughout the parish subject to piecemeal enclosure

Enclosure

Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...

. They include Shurgreave Hill Field, Hargreave Field, Eachells (or Nechells) Field and Burgage Field in the manor of Brewood. There were also Quarry Field and Church Field, apparently shared by the bishop's manor and the deanery manor, as well as Cross Field, Mill Field, Street Field, and Butts Field in the vill

Vill

Vill is a term used in English history to describe a land unit which might otherwise be described as a parish, manor or tithing.The term is used in the period immediately after the Norman conquest and into the late medieval. Land units in Domesday are frequently referred to as vills, although the...

of Horsebrook, a part of the bishop's manor. In Coven manor we find Broadmeadow Field, Fulmore Field, and 'Rycrofte', all still open fields at the end of the 16th century, although only the first was still farmed in this way by the mid-17th century.

However, there was clearly a good deal of variety in the way the land was let and worked. The bishops leased most of the land to other magnates, who established a number of separate manors and vills throughout the parish, each with its own pattern of exploitation. As early as 1297, lands left by Sir John Giffard in the vills of Chillington and La Hyde included a house and gardens, surrounded by 80 acres under wheat and 40 acres under rye, with 12 acres of woodland and pasture and rents from free and villein tenants. This sounds like large scale farming for the market by the landowner, as well as subsistence cultivation by the peasants, and the fact that Sir John preferred at least some of his dues in rents suggests that he was using some paid workers instead of inefficient compulsory labour. As time passes we hear more and more of farmers, like the Pendrells and the Careless family, who rented integral areas of various sizes from the landlords to cultivate.

In 1851, William White reported that Brewood parish contained 6718 acres of arable land, 4040 of pasturage, and 1090 of woods, etc.. It is impossible to know how this compares with earlier centuries, but it is likely that the area was always mainly arable, but with a good proportion of pasturage, as this suits the conditions.

Among the most valuable resources in the medieval economy were the watermill

Watermill

A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

s, which the lords' tenants were generally compelled to use, either by law or of necessity. The mills were very profitable and the water power on which they depended constituted could become an important point of conflict. The two mills held by the bishop in 1086 were probably those at Engleton and Somerford, and these were certainly the most important and contested mills in the parish for many centuries, although there were a number of others on minor streams. The mills were leased to tenants, sometimes the holder of the surrounding land, but sometimes to an independent speculator. In either case, the miller, usually the butt of peasant complaints and humour, was simply an employee of the lessee. Both owners and lessees guarded the water supply fiercely. In 1318 Ralph de Coven leased Coven mill to John de Aldenham, together with the homage and services of Walron the miller, John, his son. By 1337, the bishop was complaining that John de Aldenham had diverted the Saredon Brook for his own purposes, greatly reducing the capacity of Somerford Mill. Almost three centuries later, in 1623, Francis Somerford, who now operated the same mill, was making a similar complaint: this time a new forge further up the Penk was reducing water power.

Francis Somerford's complaint was not only that the forge stole his water supply, but that it had also flooded the surrounding meadows (presumably by use of a dam or weir), and that his family was disturbed "by the usual knocking thereof at several times of the night", and by "the unwholesome smoke, sparks and air . . . and by the ill neighbourhood of disordered and ill-disposed persons usually employed in and repairing unto such iron-works". This dispels any notion of a rural idyll. Brewood was, in fact, the centre of considerable, and often noisome, industry from an early date. By the 18th century, timber sales and a tannery brought their own particular smells and noise, as well as employment, to the town, and in 1817 the chief industry was reckoned to be manufacture of agricultural machinery. Both Brewood and Coven also had locksmiths, a speciality also of nearby Wolverhampton and Willenhall

Willenhall

Willenhall is a town in the Black Country area of the West Midlands of England, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of Staffordshire...

.

The forge on the Penk seems to have used a water mill to power its bellows and hammers. This was nothing new, but a medieval technology. The lord of the manor of Brewood was letting out a forge by 1485 and there was probably iron production and working in the woodlands - a pattern very similar to that in nearby areas where rivers ran close by woods that could supply charcoal, as along the Smestow and the Stour

River Stour, Worcestershire

The Stour is a river flowing through the counties of Worcestershire, the West Midlands and Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England. The Stour is a major tributary of the River Severn, and it is about in length...

. The forge that so annoyed Somerford was built by Thomas Chetwynd of Rugeley and Walter Coleman of Cannock in 1620. A forge in Brewood Park was rented from the Giffard family from the mid-17th century by Thomas Foley (1616–1677) and Philip Foley

Philip Foley

Philip Foley was the youngest of the three surviving sons of the British ironmaster Thomas Foley . His father transferred to him in 1668 and 1669 all his ironworks in the Midlands for £60,000...

(1648–1716), perhaps the most famous ironmaster

Ironmaster

An ironmaster is the manager – and usually owner – of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain....

s of their period in the West Midlands. In 1717 there were two forges operating in the parish, with a combined output of 100 tons. However, decline had set in by mid-century, with a forge closing in 1753 and the other shortly after. By this time, Brewood was living in the shadow of an industrial revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

that transformed the nearby Severn valley, Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton

and the Black Country

Black Country

The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...

, but largely passed it by. Abraham Darby I

Abraham Darby I

Abraham Darby I was the first, and most famous, of three generations with that name in an English Quaker family that played an important role in the Industrial Revolution. He developed a method of producing pig iron in a blast furnace fuelled by coke rather than charcoal...

's work in developing coke-fired blast furnaces at Coalbrookdale

Coalbrookdale

Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. This is where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby using easily mined "coking coal". The coal was drawn from drift mines in the sides...

slowly changed the whole pattern of iron working, moving it towards the coal fields and away from the woods.

Local magnates

Brewood and the area around it were dominated for centuries by families belonging mainly to the landed gentry

Landed gentry

Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....

, a social class basing its economic, social and cultural power on control over landed estates, but generally not so powerful or influential as the aristocracy

Aristocracy

Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...

. Tracing the ownership of estates in Brewood, it is apparent that there was a great influx of new blood among the landowners in the early 14th cenntury, and that this new group begins to peter out in the 18th century. This neatly brackets the period of gentry dominance, not only in Brewood, but in England generally. The beginning of the period is marked by the end of feudalism

Feudalism

Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...

in the wake of the Black Death

Black Death

, and a transition to tenant farming and wage labour. The period ends with a prolonged period of crisis, culminating in the Long Depression

Long Depression

The Long Depression was a worldwide economic crisis, felt most heavily in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by the Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War. At the time, the episode was labeled the Great...

, that creates the modern countryside.

The only major landowning dynasty to survive in Brewood through all these transitions of the medieval and modern periods were the Giffard family, whose main local seat was, and still is, Chillington Hall

Chillington Hall

Chillington Hall is a Georgian country house near to Brewood, Staffordshire, four miles northwest of Wolverhampton, England. It is the residence of the Giffard family. The Grade I listed house was designed by Francis Smith in 1724 and John Soane in 1785...

, about three miles south-west of the village centre. Their connection with Chillington has been traced back to before 1175: around that date, the then lord of the manor, Peter Corbesun, transferred it to his wife's nephew, Peter Giffard. The family claims descent from Osborn de Bolebec, count of Longueville, a Norman baron allied to William the Conqueror. By the 17th century, the Giffards held the manor of Brewood itself and land in most other parts of the parish. Politically, the family's influence reached a peak with Sir John Giffard, who died in 1556. He was five times Sheriff of Staffordshire and was appointed Ranger of the Seven Hays of the Forest of Cank, i.e. Cannock Chase

Cannock Chase

. For some years a member of the household of Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

and he accompanied the king to the Field of the Cloth of Gold

Field of the Cloth of Gold

The Field of Cloth of Gold is the name given to a place in Balinghem, between Guînes and Ardres, in France, near Calais. It was the site of a meeting that took place from 7 June to 24 June 1520, between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France. The meeting was arranged to increase...

in 1520. After Sir Thomas, his son, died only four years later, Recusancy

Recusancy

In the history of England and Wales, the recusancy was the state of those who refused to attend Anglican services. The individuals were known as "recusants"...

impeded the family's political ambitions, but less so their financial acumen.

The Giffards were major donors to Brewood's large parish church of St Mary and St Chad, although they had little control over it because of the power of the deanery. The choir of the church contains a number of elaborate alabaster tombs, surmounted by effigies of important family members of the 15th - 17th centuries. One of these, Sir John Giffard, built a substantial mansion at Chillington, probably in the 1540s. Some improvements were made in the early 18th century, to the design of Francis Smith of Warwick

Francis Smith of Warwick

Francis Smith of Warwick was an English master-builder and architect, much involved in the construction of country houses in the Midland counties of England...

, and around 1786 work began on the present Chillington Hall, designed by Sir John Soane

John Soane

Sir John Soane, RA was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources...

- a large Neo-Classical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

structure, which incorporates Smith's earlier work. At the dissolution of the monasteries

Dissolution of the Monasteries

in the reign of Henry VIII, the Giffards purchased the buildings and lands of both Blackladies, a Benedictine

Benedictine

convent just west of Brewood, and White Ladies Priory

White Ladies Priory

, an Augustinian convent, about three miles west of the village, in Shropshire. Both were adapted for residential use. On the land of White Ladies, a short distance north of the former priory buildings, they adapted a farmhouse into a hunting lodge, which they named Boscobel House

Boscobel House

Boscobel House is a building in the parish of Boscobel in Shropshire, as is clear from all Ordnance Survey maps, although the boundary of the property is contiguous with the county's boundary with Staffordshire, and it has a Stafford post code. It is near the city of Wolverhampton...

. The name signifies "beautiful woods", and originally stood in woodland, although it is also reminiscent of the family's Norman ancestor. The Giffards also held lands in other parts of the parish, sometimes intertwined with those of other important local landowners.

The Lane family of Bentley Hall

Bentley, West Midlands

Bentley is an area in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall located around Junction 10 of the M6 Motorway. It shares borders with the areas of Willenhall, Beechdale, Ashmore Park, Pleck, Darlaston and Alumwell.- History :...

had considerable holdings and influence in the Brewood area, starting in the early 15th century. At Broom Hall, north-west of Brewood town, they held land from the early 15th century. By the 16th, the Giffards also held land here and let some of it to the Careless family. In 1715, the Giffards and Lanes agreed to an amicable re-allocation of land so that they could exploit it more efficiently. Another important Lane family holding was at the Hyde, between Brewood and Chillington, which they acquired at the same time as Broom Hall and owned until the late 18th century. They also acquired land at Coven from the 1430'3, gradually replacing the Coven family, the original Norman landowners, but selling to the Wrottesley family

Baron Wrottesley

Baron Wrottesley, of Wrottesley in the County of Stafford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1838 for Sir John Wrottesley, 9th Baronet. He was a Major-General in the Army and also represented Lichfield, Staffordshire and Staffordshire South in House of Commons. He...

, from the Tettenhall

Tettenhall

Tettenhall is a historic part of the city of Wolverhampton, England. The name Tettenhall is probably derived from Teotta's Halh, Teotta being a person's name and Halh being a sheltered position...

area, in the early 18th century.

The Moreton family, who originated in Moreton, Gnosall

Gnosall

Gnosall is a large village in the Borough of Stafford, Staffordshire, England, with a population of approximately 5,000. It lies on the A518, approximately half-way between the towns of Newport and the county town of Staffordshire, Stafford...

and had considerable estates in Staffordshire, first appear at Engleton, on the Penk, in the mid-16th century. By the late 17th century, with the Giffards isolated by Recusancy, the Moretons were the most important lay presence in the parish church, marked by a magnificent memorial for Mathew and Sarah Moreton. Their grandson, Matthew Ducie Moreton (1663–1735), went a stage further, being elevated to the peerage

Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...

as 1st Baron Ducie

Earl of Ducie

Earl of Ducie is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1837 for Thomas Reynolds Moreton, 4th Baron Ducie. The family descends from Edward Moreton , who married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Ducie. Their son Matthew Ducie Moreton represented Gloucestershire in the House of...

. However, the estate passed to a junior branch of the family in the 18th century and was sold to Edward Monckton in 1811.

Monckton was a younger son of John Monckton, 1st Viscount Galway

Viscount Galway

Viscount Galway is a title that has been created once in the Peerage of England and thrice in the Peerage of Ireland. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1628 in favour of Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde. He was made Earl of St Albans at the same time...

(1695–1751), and the brother of the distinguished soldier and colonial administrator Robert Monckton

Robert Monckton

Robert Monckton was an officer of the British army and a colonial administrator in British North America. He had a distinguished military and political career, being second in command to General Wolfe at the battle of Quebec and subsequently being the Governor of New York State...

. He was already a major landowner in the area, a nabob

Nabob

A nabob, an English form of "nawab", is a merchant-leader of high social status and wealth.Nabob may also refer to:*Nabob , a brand of coffee in Canada*HMS Nabob , a Bogue-class escort aircraft carrier...

whose fortune came from his adventures and trading deals in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Around 1779, he had acquired Somerford Hall

Somerford Hall

Somerford Hall is an 18th century Palladian style mansion house at Brewood, Staffordshire which now serves as a conference and function centre. It is a Grade II* listed building....

, due west of Brewood, and always an important centre of influence locally. Long held by the Somerford family, who first appear in the 1120s, Somerford passed through the hands of Sir Walter Wrottesley

Baron Wrottesley

, the third Baronet of the same name, in the early 18th century. Robert Barbor, a wealthy lawyer, who held it for a time after the Wrottesleys, built a substantial Georgian house. Monckton remodelled and enlarged the house, garnishing it with Adam style

Adam style

The Adam style is an 18th century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practiced by the three Adam brothers from Scotland; of whom Robert Adam and James Adam were the most widely known.The Adam brothers were the first to advocate an integrated style for architecture and...

features. His wealth gave him great influence and he was able to reshape the landscape to his requirements. The road to Wolverhampton passed straight through the Somerford grounds, which Monckton was reforesting and improving. At a hotly-contested vestry

Vestry

meeting in 1781 he tried to have it routed further south, to cross the Penk at Somerford Mill. It emerged that this would throw the expenses of construction and maintenance on the parish. So Monckton agreed to divert it to the north of his property and paid to construct a new section to Four Ashes

Four Ashes, Staffordshire

Four Ashes is a village in Staffordshire, England, located about four miles west of Cannock.Until 1959 the village was the location of Four Ashes railway station on the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line of the Grand Junction Railway. The station is now closed however the railway line still runs past...

, on the main turnpike

Turnpike trust

Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...

road between Wolverhampton and Stafford.

Recusancy and dissent

Like many of the Staffordshire and Shropshire gentry, the Giffard family remained Catholic Recusants throughout the Reformation

Reformation

- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...

and the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

, sheltering priests and hearing mass in their houses, despite continuing to be buried in ornate tombs in the in the chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

of the Anglican parish church for four generations of religious turmoil and persecution. John Giffard, who held Chillington in the reign of Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

came into direct confrontation with the monarch. Elizabeth stayed at Chillington on the night of 11 August 1575 and was able to see for herself that he did not attend Anglican worship, despite having promised to do so. On this occasion he was fined, but five years later he was imprisoned. John's son, Walter, maintained the family's support for the Catholic cause in the reign of James I

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

. Hoping that the Stuart monarchs would relax some of the discrimination

Penal law

In the most general sense, penal is the body of laws that are enforced by the State in its own name and impose penalties for their violation, as opposed to civil law that seeks to redress private wrongs...

they suffered, the Giffard family took the royalist side in the Civil Wars. Andrew Giffard of Chillington was killed in a skirmish, fighting for Charles I.

The network of alliances and patronage among the gentry of Brewood played a pivotal role in the escape of Charles II

Escape of Charles II

The Escape of Charles II from England in 1651 is a key episode in his life. Although it took only six weeks, it had a major effect on his attitudes for the rest of his life.-The fugitive king:...

after his defeat by Parliamentary forces at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Most famously, White Ladies Priory

White Ladies Priory

and Boscobel House

Boscobel House

, together with nearby Moseley Old Hall

Moseley Old Hall

Moseley Old Hall is a National Trust property located in Fordhouses, north of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom. It is famous as one of the resting places of Charles II of England during his escape to France following defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.-Background:The Hall was built in...

, provided refuge for Charles

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

as he sought a way out of the West Midlands. It was at Boscobel that the king hid from his pursuers in an oak tree, as well as in one of the priest holes inside the building. The king was cared for by members of the Pendrell or Penderel family, who rented land and had a farm on the Boscobel estate - today Pendrell Hall at Codsall Wood. He was accompanied in the oak by another recusant Catholic native of Brewood, Colonel William Careless

William Careless (Carlos)

Colonel William Careless was a Royalist officer of the English Civil War. It has been estimated that he was born c. 1620, however, it is more likely that he was born c. 1610. He was the second son of John Careless of Broom Hall, Brewood, Staffordshire...

of Broom Hall. Finally, Charles was spirited away from the Midlands mainly by the efforts of Jane Lane of Bentley

Jane Lane, Lady Fisher

Jane Lane played a heroic role in the Escape of Charles II in 1651. The main significance of the story is the key part that the escape played in forming the character and the opinions of Charles.-Origins:...

, whose family were major landowners in Brewood. The Giffards were deprived of most of their property by Parliament and recovered it only on the Restoration of Charles II. Charles publicised the role of those local Catholics who aided his escape and a not entirely reliable account of his adventures by Thomas Blount, published after his Restoration in 1660, was actually entitled Boscobel.

Gentry support kept the number of Catholics in Brewood relatively high. The figure was given as 74 in 1641 and a very considerable 399 in 1780. Most of the Giffards' tenants and servants were Catholic until the mid-19th century. One of Andrew Giffard's sons, Bonaventure Giffard

Bonaventure Giffard

Bonaventure Giffard was a Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District of England from 1687 to 1703 and Vicar Apostolic of the London District of England from 1703 to 1734.-Life:...

(1642–1734), was the Roman Catholic Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District of England from 1687 until 1703 - effectively the first Roman Catholic bishop of the area after the Reformation - and he was assisted by his brother, another Andrew, also a bishop. These were the first steps towards rebuilding the Catholic hierarchy in England after the Reformation

The Catholic community at Brewood used the chapel at Chillington for baptisms and weddings from about 1721, but it was demolished to make way for the enlargement of the house around 1786. After that they used the chapel at Blackladies, which became effectively a church for the community, with two priests. In 1727, while Catholics were still prohibited from opening public places of worship, the building of Giffard House was commenced in the centre of Wolverhampton. Purportedly a town residence for the family, it was actually a chapel for the Catholic population of the area - the first urban place of worship built for the Roman Catholic Church since the Reformation.

In the 19th century, after Catholic Emancipation

Catholic Emancipation

Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws...

, the Giffard family were able to give lavishly and publicly to local Catholic causes. Most importantly, they gave the land and subsidised the priest's stipend for the Roman Catholic church of St Mary in Brewood itself. This was one of fourteen buildings in Staffordshire designed by Augustus Welby Pugin and promoted by John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, in the period 1836-48, as part of a campaign to revive and consolidate Catholicism in the region. It is in Pugin's characteristic Gothic Revival style and was opened in 1844. It stands on land formerly belonging to Blackladies, overlooking the canal. However, from this time, the influence of the gentry in English Catholicism was on the wane, as immigration from Ireland brought large Catholic working class communities to towns like Wolverhampton, making it an urban faith.

Meanwhile, the struggle of Protestant dissenter

Dissenter

The term dissenter , labels one who disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. In the social and religious history of England and Wales, however, it refers particularly to a member of a religious body who has, for one reason or another, separated from the Established Church.Originally, the term...

s to establish themselves in Brewood was even harder. Without gentry support, they seem to have been led mostly townspeople of some education but little money, probably shopkeepers and artisans. George Whitefield

George Whitefield

George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...

's Calvinist Methodist preachers visited the town in 1745. However when the eminent Nonconformist preacher George Burder

George Burder

George Burder was an English Nonconformist divine.-Biography:Burder was born in London on the 5 June 1752. In his early twenties he was an engraver, but in 1776 he began preaching, and was minister of the Independent church at Lancaster from 1778 to 1783. Subsequently he held charges at Coventry ...

tried to address a meeting in a barn in 1775, it was attacked by a mob. Several houses were certified for dissenters' meetings over the years, but none of the communities seems to have lasted long. The first sign of real progress came after 1800, when John Simpson, the parish clerk defected from the Anglican church. By 1803, he had persuaded his brother-in-law, James Neale, a Londer dissenter, to pay for a small Congregationalist chapel, which was built in Sandy Lane. The little community grew, aided by holiday working parties of students from New College at Hackney

New College at Hackney

The New College at Hackney was a dissenting academy set up in Hackney, at that time a village on the outskirts of London, by Unitarians. It was in existence from 1786 to 1796...

, a dissenting academy, and the chapel had to be extended in 1825 and rebuilt in 1842.

After this, the Methodists too got a foothold in the area. The first Wesleyan chapel was built at Coven in 1828 and replaced with a bigger building in 1839. In 1831, William Holland, a Brewood lock-maker, and his brother George got their house certified as a meeting house, with a congregation of three. They persevered and by 1851 they were using part of a house in Shop Lane, moving to an 80-seater Primitive Methodist chapel in Pendryl Avenue seven years later. In 1868, the Wesleyans too opened a chapel in Brewood. Gradually the old consensuses in religion, as in much else, were breaking down as the countryside entered a period of dislocation and change.

The Victorian crisis

Brewood in the early 19th century still seemed a hive of economic activity. These were good times for agriculture, with the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

and the Corn Laws

Corn Laws

The Corn Laws were trade barriers designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. The barriers were introduced by the Importation Act 1815 and repealed by the Importation Act 1846...

protecting producers against foreign competition. From the 1840s, things changed for the worse. Since there are reliable statistics for this period, based on the UK Census

Census in the United Kingdom

Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 and in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State in 1921; simultaneous censuses were taken in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, with...

it is fairly easy to chart the decline.
The 1831 census marks a peak in population for the Brewood parish of 3799. After that date, there is decline for the rest of the century, and only a modest recovery in the 20th century. In fact, the 1831 peak was not surpassed until the housing boom of the 1950s, even the expansion of the parish in 1934 failing to lift the population by much. The fall in the male population throughout the Victorian period is particularly significant. There were 2099 males in 1831, although this was unusually high, perhaps because this was the year canal building commenced at Brewood. The figures for 1841 and 1851 hover around 1800, but this plunges to 1180 in 1901. The female population was much steadier, reaching a peak in 1851, and outnumbering the male from that point onwards. One of the results of population decline was a proliferation of empty houses. In 1831 only six of the 699 houses in the parish were unoccupied. In 1891, 84 houses out of 630 stood vacant - about 13.3% or more than one in eight.

Figures for employment in various occupations are generally hard to interpret, as definitions changed through the century. However, it is relatively easy to extract those for agriculture. The 1831 census found that the parish had 377 adult male agricultural labourers and 76 farmers, of whom about half were employers of labour, while the rest presumably relied on their own family. This gives a total of 453 men directly earning their living on the land. The 1881 census gives a more detailed analysis under so-called occupational orders, but this mainly affects industrial occupations. Adult male agricultural employment is stated simply as 317, although the women agricultural workers are now also numbered - at just three. Almost a third of jobs on the land have gone in 50 years, and it is a process that can only continue.

Not only did the Long Depression

Long Depression

grip world agriculture for almost a quarter of a century, but any relief was slight and temporary. After World War II, the even deeper Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

was to place more pressure on agriculture. Moreover, there were changes in farming techniques that tended to drive down employment even when the market was good. Boscobel House has a good selection of late Victorian and early 20th century far machinery. Still horse-powered, it is nevertheless ingenious and substantial, and manufactured already in the Uttoxeter

Uttoxeter

Uttoxeter is a historic market town in Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. The current population is approximately 13,711, though new developments in the town will increase this figure. Uttoxeter lies close to the River Dove and is near the cities of Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and...

area or along the Humber

Humber

The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal River Ouse and the tidal River Trent. From here to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank...

, not locally. It had the power to displace many labourers. A simple potato plough, for example, could harvest several acres a day, undermining the bargaining power of labourers at precisely the time of year when it was traditionally strongest, and starving families of the little extra, often earned by women and children, that cleared debts and kept their heads above water. When less successful farmers sold out to the more efficient, the effect was irreversible: employers did not sacrifice efficiencies of scale when the times were better. By 1940, eleven of the farms exceeded 150 acres - very different from the small holdings of one and two centuries earlier - and the full effects of mechanisation and scientific agriculture were yet to be felt.

There were many signs of decline to confirm this overall pattern. The weekly market had ceased and the market cross fell down in 1810. Attempts to revive it came to nothing in the face of growing prosperity elsewhere. Iron working disappeared altogether, and the other industries declined. Malting gave employment in mid-century, but soon followed the other trades into decline. Other improvements arrived too late or gave too little. Work began on the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal (now the Shropshire Union Canal

Shropshire Union Canal

The Shropshire Union Canal is a navigable canal in England; the Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union system and lie partially in Wales....

) in 1830, but progress was slow and it was not opened until 1843. It passed north to south straight through the parish, with large wharves on the western edge of Brewood itself and at Chillington. The large Belvide Reservoir supplied water to the canal and also provided fishing. However, the great days of canals were already over: although it brought some welcome employment and trade, especially during the early phases of its construction, it did not stimulate the long-term growth Brewood needed. The railway, much more revolutionary in its impact, merely grazed the parish, with a station at Four Ashes

Four Ashes railway station

Four Ashes railway station was a railway station built by the Grand Junction Railway in 1837. It served the small village of Four Ashes, Staffordshire, 6 miles north of Wolverhampton City Centre, and was located near to the A449 road, on Station Drive....

and two trains a day initially - essentially a commuter route from the very beginning. Brewood needed a station of its own to fire commerce. An extension of the railway from Bushbury to Brewood was in the planning stage in 1874, but it never happened.

This decline contrasts strongly with the national pattern. While agriculture was in trouble everywhere, industrial and urban Victorian Britain was growing fast. Between 1831 and 1901, the population of Brewood fell from almost 3800 to just over 2500 a reduction of about a third - perhaps a little exaggerated by the presence of migrant navvies at the earlier date. In the same period the population of England as a whole soared from just under 13 million. to about 32.5 million - almost two and a half times the size. Even nearby villages in Staffordshire outperformed Brewood. Wombourne

Wombourne

Wombourne is a very large village and civil parish located in the district of South Staffordshire, in the county of Staffordshire, 4 miles south-west of Wolverhampton. Local affairs are run by a parish council. At the 2001 census it had a population of 13,691...

, for example, had a rising population through most of the Victorian period and only saw a falling back during the worst of the Long Depression

Long Depression

. Most importantly, of course, the nearby industrial town of Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton

doubled its population from about 47,000 to 94.000 - a figure which leaves out of account its growing suburbs. Clearly there was population drift from Brewood - probably towards the much greater employment opportunities of the industrial towns, like Wolverhampton and the Black Country

Black Country

.

In 1872, the curfew bell, which had been rung each winter evening since the Middle Ages, ceased. Within two years even the Sunday "Pudding Bell" and the Shrove Tuesday "Pancake Bell" had followed it into memory. It seemed that the countryside was falling silent.

This was not the case throughout the parish. At its extremities, there were considerable signs of life. In both cases, a local landowning family played an important part in promoting and consolidating the facilities needed by a growing community. To the west it was the Evans family, who had bought Boscobel, initially as a holiday home. Once established, they fell in love with the place and did much to elaborate the legend of Boscobel as a royalist shrine. They also put a great deal of money into the new community of Bishops Wood, which adjoined their property. At the eastern edge of the parish, the Monckton family, with their combination of business acumen and philanthropic zeal, helped save the situation.

In the 1724 century, Bishops Wood had no human inhabitants - only a rabbit warren

Warren (domestic)

A domestic warren is an artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. It evolved from the Anglo-Norman concept of free warren, which had been, essentially, the equivalent of a hunting license for a given woodland.-Architecture of the...

leased by the Giffards to one John Blakemore. and a few animals grazed there. In the early 19th century it was still just pasture

Pasture

Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...

land, but in 1844, the Diocese and the lessee, T.W. Giffard, agreed to enclose it. It proved immediately popular with those, both inside and outside the parish, who wanted to create a new home or a smallholding. Within a decade, this former waste place needed a church of its own to accommodate its Anglican residents.

Coven had already received a great stimulus from the improvement of communications. The main road between Wolverhampton and Stafford, which passed very close to Coven, was turnpiked

Turnpike trust

under an Act of 1760. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal

Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal

The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a narrow navigable canal in the English Midlands, passing through the counties of Staffordshire and Worcestershire....

was built between 1768 and 1772, passing very close to Coven, and bringing into existence the hamlet of Coven Heath, just beyond the southern boundary of the parish at that point. Both of these were vast improvements in their day. Coven was brought much closer to the growing urban centres of the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

, just as Brewood town was passed by. As a result, most of the growth in population and the new housing within the parish, through to the early 20th century, appeared either at Coven or along the Kiddemore Green Road to Bishops Wood, not in Brewood itself.

Just north of Coven, Four Ashes, originally just a pub fronted by four ash trees, grew into a small distinct settlement, boosted not just by increased traffic on the main road, but by Edward Monckton's diversion of the Brewood-Wolverhampton route. Significantly, Monckton either owned or soon bought, Four Ashes as part of his Somerford estate. From 1785, Four Ashes was visited every night by the Birmingham-Liverpool mail coach, and from 1810 the Bristol-Manchester mail coach called each day. Brewood acquired a coach stop, on the London to Liverpool run, only later, and that needed extra horses to get it over the bad road through Bishops Wood to Watling Street. Not surprisingly, a rival operator soon opened up a route through Four Ashes and Gailey

Gailey, Staffordshire

Gailey is a small village in Staffordshire, England. It is at the junction of the A5 and A449 roads, and is on the boundary of the parishes of Brewood and Coven and Penkridge, in South Staffordshire....

, by-passing the old town. The arrival of the railway killed most of Four Ashes' coach connections but gave the eastern edge of the parish a huge advantage that the centre could not match. Four Ashes was to evolve into the main industrial zone of the area. Such were changes in population distribution and economic activity that ran alongside the general decline, and ran against it in defined localities. They redrew the map of Brewood, creating the three-centred structure which persists to this day.

Education was the main focus for philanthropic efforts. The origins of the present Church of England primary school in Brewood lie in a scheme to set up an Anglican National School

National school (England and Wales)

A national school was a school founded in 19th century England and Wales by the National Society for Promoting Religious Education.These schools provided elementary education, in accordance with the teaching of the Church of England, to the children of the poor.Together with the less numerous...

drawn up in 1816 and already in the process of implementation two years later. By 1834, several decades before primary education became compulsory, about 140 were being schooled by subscription, and the was around 110 in 1851, with a master and a mistress to teach them. In 1870, the school's finances received a welcome boost in the form of a bequest of £2000 from Revd. Henry Kempson, formerly headmaster of Brewood Grammar School. Meanwhile the Evans family had paid to start both primary education for Catholic children at Blackladies and a National School at Bishops Wood: in fact, Miss Evans actually taught at the latter. The Monckton family too supported a dame school

Dame school

A Dame School was an early form of a private elementary school in English-speaking countries. They were usually taught by women and were often located in the home of the teacher.- Britain :...

for their tenants' and workers' children at Somerford, before George Monckton switched their support to growing Coven, where a National School accompanied the new St Paul's church, largely built at the Monckton's expense.

Evolution of a residential village

While it is true that Brewood was considered a town in the past and a village today, it is also true that it has a much bigger population now than at any time in the past. This is almost entirely to a complete change of character in which Brewood and the other centres alike have evolved from places of work to places of residence. One of the paradoxes of the period of decline was that houses were being built all the time houses stood empty and others fell into decay. In fact the total number of houses stood up well, at above 700, throughout the Victorian period, before plunging to a recorded low of 615 in 1921. It seems that the drift to the towns was already partly balanced by building at and around Coven, as middle-class workers and professionals discovered they could live in the country but work in the town - something made possible especially by the railway. In the 20th century, this residential growth became the central feature of Brewood's history - especially after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, when rising general prosperity and the ubiquity of the motor car totally transformed the situation of the Village and the parish as a whole.

Despite the general gloom of the late Victorian period, many features of modernity were not especially slow to arrive in Brewood. The town had its own gas works from about 1872 until around World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, when Stafford

Stafford

council took over the supply. Mains electricity arrived in 1928, and was available throughout the parish by 1940. The Four Ashes Manufacturing Company opened its carbon works in the early 1920s, beginning the transformation of Four Ashes into an industrial zone that now stretches both sides of the main Wolverhampton-Stafford road. That road, now the A449 road

A449 road

The A449 is a major road in the United Kingdom. It runs north from junction 24 of the M4 motorway at Newport in South Wales to Stafford in Staffordshire....

, was turned into a dual carriageway between 1936 and 1939, responding to the increasing importance of motor vehicles. The majority of the muddy or stony lanes that had isolated so much of the parish, including Brewood itself, yielded to tarmac between the wars or shortly after.

Road building gathered pace after World War II and Brewood was to find itself at a favoured corner of the motorway network - albeit after long delays in planning and execution. The M6 motorway

M6 motorway

The M6 motorway runs from junction 19 of the M1 at the Catthorpe Interchange, near Rugby via Birmingham then heads north, passing Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and terminating at the Gretna junction . Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74 which continues to...

came around Stafford in 1962 but did not link to the M1 motorway

M1 motorway

The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...

until 1971. The M54 motorway

M54 motorway

The M54 is a 23 mile east-west motorway in the English counties of Shropshire and Staffordshire. It is also referred to as the Telford Motorway, after the road's primary westbound destination, the new town of Telford...

was opposed by Staffordshire County Council and took a long time to complete. Nevertheless, in 1983 it opened, cutting through to Telford

Telford

Telford is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, approximately east of Shrewsbury, and west of Birmingham...

just to the south of Coven, a fast, modern link shadowing the ancient Watling Street. Already a new Birmingham North Relief Road was under discussion. Although the debate seemed interminable, when it finally arrived in the form of the M6 Toll

M6 Toll

The M6 Toll , connects M6 Junction 4 at the NEC to M6 Junction 11A at Wolverhampton with of six-lane motorway. The weekday cash cost is £5.30 for a car and £10.60 for a HGV...

motorway, construction was swift, with a start made in 2000 and the road in use by the end of 2003.

After decades of stagnation the population of Brewood parish began to rise a little in the 1920s. After the War, the rise became rapid, and in the 1950s headlong. The recorded rise was from 3,576 in 1951 to 5,751 in 1961 - more than 60% in a single decade. This was the result of large-scale housing development. While Coven continued to grow, Brewood sprouted a series of developments to the north-east, some built by the council and some private. This growth has continued to the present. The private car overcame all the obstacles in the way of growth but changed the entire nature of the place. The vast majority of residents now work outside the area. With the coming of the motorway network, the ease of commuting

Commuting

Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.- History :...

was greatly increased, bringing almost the whole of the West Midlands region within easy daily travel distance.

The medieval parish church

The Anglican parish church of Brewood is Saint Mary the Virgin and Saint Chad. It shares its dedication with Lichfield Cathedral

Lichfield Cathedral

, probably because the bishop was lord of the manor of Brewood. Veneration of The Virgin Mary was very important in the Middle Ages and many major churches contemporary with Brewood's parish church have this dedication, including Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral is a historic Anglican cathedral in Lincoln in England and seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 249 years . The central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt...

and Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...

. St. Chad

Chad of Mercia

Chad was a prominent 7th century Anglo-Saxon churchman, who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. He was later canonized as a saint. He was the brother of Cedd, also a saint...

was the 7th century Northumbrian missionary most closely associated with the establishment of Mercian Christianity, and there are many medieval dedications to him in the West Midlands, including important churches at nearby Stafford, Pattingham

Pattingham

Pattingham is a village in South Staffordshire, close to the border with Shropshire. The village is seven miles to the west of Wolverhampton and seven and a half miles east of Bridgnorth....

and Shrewsbury

St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury

St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury occupies a prominent position in the county town of Shropshire. The current church building was built in 1792, and with its distinctive round shape and high tower it is a well-known landmark in the town. It faces The Quarry area of parkland, which slopes down to the...

.

The present building was begun in sandstone in the early 13th century, in Early English style, probably on the site of an earlier church, perhaps a wooden Mercia

Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...

n structure. The aisles are wide, making the nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

, which has five bays, very square in appearance. The present plan is probably very similar to the original 13th century lay-out. The chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

is the part of the church that is structurally most similar to when it was first built. However, the remainder of the church has been altered so often and so substantially that it is impossible to be sure of its exact architectural history. Major changes took place in the 14th and 16th centuries, with the height of the nave being raised greatly, necessitating large alterations to the aisles. This greatly altered the cross-section of the building, with lean-to roofs on the aisles replacing the original gabled design.

The Georgian period saw the most radical and least sympathetic alterations. At some point in the 18th century, the east wall of the chancel was rebuilt in brick, with Venetian windows installed. In the 1770s, amid great controversy in the parish vestry

Vestry

, major structural changes were forced through. First the roof was completely stripped off and a new one fitted, a single pitch

Roof pitch

In building construction, roof pitch is a numerical measure of the steepness of a roof, and a pitched roof is a roof that is steep.The roof's pitch is the measured vertical rise divided by the measured horizontal span, the same thing as what is called "slope" in geometry. Roof pitch is typically...

construction which covered both the nave and its aisles, and which greatly reduced the height of the building. Then the north and south doors were stopped up, their porch

Porch

A porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...

es demolished, and the west door adopted as the entrance. In 1815 the galleries were altered to take a new organ, and from 1827 to 1830, nearly all the old furnishings and fittings were ripped out and replaced, along with the font

Baptismal font

A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...

.

Despite these changes the Victorian period saw more radical work, this time in the cause of restoration. At a cost of £6600, the architect and restorer George Edmund Street

George Edmund Street

George Edmund Street was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex.- Life :Street was the third son of Thomas Street, solicitor, by his second wife, Mary Anne Millington. George went to school at Mitcham in about 1830, and later to the Camberwell collegiate school, which he left in 1839...

directed a major operation between 1878 and 1880. The vandalised east wall of the chancel was rebuilt in stone, the roof returned to approximately its former height, with the pitched roof of the nave separated from those of the aisles, and the north vestry demolished. Street made a serious attempt to respect the 13th century plan of the building, although its cross section is now close to the 16th century reconstruction. In many cases, he used the old stone in the restoration. Some new furnishings were bought around the same time, including a pulpit and choir stalls. However, even Street's restoration was not the end of the story. The tower was restored in 1890: the noted tower and spire

Spire

A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....

have a peal

Ring of bells

"Ring of bells" is a term most often applied to a set of bells hung in the English style, typically for change ringing...

of eight bells. In the early years of the 20th century much was done to make the church more usable and accessible. A screen used to provide a temporary vestry at the eastern end was removed and a reredos

Reredos

thumb|300px|right|An altar and reredos from [[St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic Church|St. Josaphat Catholic Church]] in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. This would be called a [[retable]] in many other languages and countries....

installed, placing the main altar in its proper place. Floors levels were changed and railings removed from the Giffard tombs. The old font was recovered from a garden in Coven and reinstalled.

The church contains a large number of memorials, mainly of local gentry families. These include four large marble tombs of the Giffard family, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as a fine monument to the members of the Moreton family, and a large memorial inscription for the Monckton family, the later members of the family being buried at Coven, though remembered here. Located to the rear of the church, next to an Oak Tree, is a small worn gravestone, a Victorian replacement for a lost original monument, marking the final resting place of Sir William Careless (Carlos)

William Careless (Carlos)

, a local Recusant who played an important part in the escape of Charles II from the parliamentary forces after the Battle of Worcester

Battle of Worcester

The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 at Worcester, England and was the final battle of the English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarians defeated the Royalist, predominantly Scottish, forces of King Charles II...

Victorian Gothic

Three examples of Gothic Revival church building are to be found in the Brewood area.

The Roman Catholic church, dedicated to St. Mary, built in 1844 under the direction of Pugin , who donated three windows to it. The style is modelled on that of the late 13th century, with an open roof, an aisle
Aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...

d nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

, a lady chapel
Lady chapel
A Lady chapel, also called Mary chapel or Marian chapel, is a traditional English term for a chapel inside a cathedral, basilica, or large church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary...

and a west tower with a small spire
Spire
A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....

. The church contains a Madonna and child, thought to have sustained leg damage from a sword stroke during a search of Blackladies' by Parliamentary soldiers during the escape of Charles II
Escape of Charles II
The Escape of Charles II from England in 1651 is a key episode in his life. Although it took only six weeks, it had a major effect on his attitudes for the rest of his life.-The fugitive king:...

. It was long considered thaumaturgic
Thaumaturgy
Thaumaturgy is the capability of a saint or magician to work miracles. It is sometimes translated into English as wonderworking...

. The wound was said to weep continually and the liquid was used to effect cures.

The Anglican church at nearby Bishops Wood
Bishops Wood
Bishop's Wood, Bishops Wood, or Bishopswood is a small village on the Staffordshire border with Shropshire. It is home to the Royal Oak public house, the first to be named after the nearby oak tree at Boscobel House in which King Charles II hid after the Battle of Worcester.The village, in the...

is dedicated to St. John the Evangelist
John the Evangelist
Saint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...

. The church was designed by George Thomas Robinson of Wolverhampton, who was regarded as a maverick architect, although this is regarded as one of his most successful buildings. Built 1848-50 and consecrated in 1851, it has a notable crossing beneath an open roof. Surrounded by monuments to local families, it has windows dedicated to several members of the Evans family, who lived at Boscobel and played a large part in developing Bishops Wood.

The Anglican church at Coven, dedicated to St. Paul, was consecrated in 1857. It was designed by another Wolverhampton architect, Edward Banks, who was responsible for designing or restoring many churches and also designed the famous Royal Hospital in the town. St. Paul's was largely financed by George Monckton, who died shortly after it opened and is commemorated in the east window. The style is strongly influenced by 13th century Gothic.

Protestant Nonconformity

The oldest surviving purpose-built meeting places for Protestant nonconformists

Nonconformism

Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...

are Wesleyan in origin, although there were significant Congregationalist and Primitive Methodist groups in Brewood during the 19th century. A small Wesleyan chapel was opened at Coven in 1828, and in 1839 replaced by a larger structure in Lawn Lane, now Coven's Methodist church. At Brewood, a small brick chapel was opened in 1868. With pitched roof and round-arched windows, it is typical of its time: now extended considerably and painted white, it still serves as Brewood Methodist Church.

External links

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Definition

Government

Politics

Features

Etymology

Origins

Development of a town

The traditional economy

Local magnates

Recusancy and dissent

The Victorian crisis

Evolution of a residential village

The medieval parish church

Victorian Gothic

Protestant Nonconformity

Further reading

External links