CANNOCK
The ancient parish of Cannock consisted of the
townships of Cannock (including Hednesford,
Leacroft, and Cannock Wood), Huntington, and
Great Wyrley. The greater part of the parish lay
in Cannock constablewick with which the present
Urban District of Cannock is roughly coextensive.
The history of Huntington and of Great Wyrley will
follow that of the area now in this Urban District.
The account of recusancy in the three townships
will be given under Cannock.
The Urban District is situated to the south and
south-west of Cannock Chase, the ground sloping
from 801 ft. at Castle Ring Camp near the hamlet
of Cannock Wood in the north-east to 365 ft. at
Wedges Mill in the south-west. The boundary on
the south and south-east is formed by the Wyrley
Brook, the Wash Brook, and the Newlands Brook.
The soil is light, with a subsoil of gravel and clay,
the geological formation being Bunter around Cannock itself and Coal Measures to the east. (fn. 1) The area
is highly industrialized, mining being the chief
industry, and the main centres of population are
the towns of Cannock and Hednesford. There are,
however, several farms around Leacroft and Cannock
Wood. Under the Staffordshire Review Order of
1934 the hamlet of Hazel Slade, then in Brereton
(in Rugeley), and a portion of the parish of Norton
Canes (in Offlow hundred) were added to the
Urban District, part of which was transferred to
Norton Canes. The area of the Urban District was
thereby increased from 7,965 acres to 8,155 acres. (fn. 2)
The population in 1951 was 40,917. (fn. 3)
The town of Cannock lies about a mile north of
Watling Street some 300 ft. lower than Cannock
Chase to the north-east. The original built-up area
of Cannock lies south and west of the parish church
where the roads from Penkridge, Stafford, Rugeley,
Walsall, and Wolverhampton converge. This part
forms the centre of the modern town and, although
much altered, still contains buildings of the 16th,
17th, and 18th centuries (see below). Cannock constablewick comprised 86 households in 1666, (fn. 4) and
the district was described in 1747 as having 'a delightful situation' (fn. 5) and in 1817 as 'formerly a place of
great resort on account of the salubrity of Reaumorehill well, which was a fashionable watering-place in
its day'. (fn. 6) By c. 1843 there was continuous building on
both sides of High Street and High Green, a short
way along the east side of Stafford Road, and along
the south-west side of Old Penkridge Road. (fn. 7) Mill
Street was built up, particularly on its south side,
but the Walsall and Wolverhampton roads were
almost clear of building. (fn. 8) By 1851 Cannock was
'a large and well-built village, with about 1,100
inhabitants'. (fn. 9) In 1956 the district south-west of
Cannock was still being developed as an industrial
area, and there were several factories on the east side
of the Wolverhampton Road. Residential development at Moss Wood to the south-west of the town
dates largely from between the two World Wars
and later, and there is an estate of pre-fabricated
bungalows south of Longford Road. The area to
the north-west was still developing as a residential
district in 1956.
Hednesford, two miles to the north-east of
Cannock, developed rapidly in the second half of
the 19th century, after the opening of the Uxbridge
Pit, from a small hamlet providing local staging
services for travellers and facilities for the training
of racehorses. The Cross Keys Inn and a few
cottages remain from the original hamlet which was
situated at Hill Top and immediately to the south
of it. (fn. 10) There are still pre-19th century buildings in
Forge Street and at Littleworth. Hednesford contained 53 households in 1666, (fn. 11) and was described
in 1851 as 'an enclosed hamlet on Cannock heath'; it
then had a population of 304, (fn. 12) which had risen to
about 800 by 1860. (fn. 13) The present town centre, with
the railway station as its nucleus, dates almost
entirely from between 1860 and 1880, reflecting the
sharp rise in population during these twenty years.
The market hall and the gasworks were built in 1872,
the public rooms in 1876, and the police station in
1877. (fn. 14) The present railway station dates from 1876,
replacing a building of 1859 which was burnt down. (fn. 15)
The latest expansion of Hednesford has been mainly
to the north-west. There are large Council housing
estates, some dating from before 1939, at Pye Green
and Green Heath. At Pye Green there are also
prefabricated bungalows and a caravan site.
Wedges Mill is a hamlet in the south-west corner
of the Urban District dating from the foundation
of William Gilpin's edge-tool works in 1790; a long
range of two- and three-story workmen's cottages
on the east side of the road are probably of the
original date. (fn. 16) The site of the mill itself lay between
the canal bridge and Watling Street. (fn. 17)
In Bridgtown which lies farther east along Watling
Street, the oldest surviving building is part of the
edge-tool works of Cornelius Whitehouse &; Sons
Ltd., Walsall Road, an early-19th- century factory
building of brick with round-headed metal windows.
A slightly later factory of similar type, occupied in
1956 by E. W. Wynn, ironfounders, stands at the
corner of Watling Street and North Street. The
built-up area of Bridgtown, contained in the triangle
between Watling Street and Walsall Road, dates
uniformly from the last third of the 19th century. By
1876 it was already laid out for streets which were
being 'rapidly built'. (fn. 18)
The hamlet of Leacroft to the south-east of
Cannock town had 24 households in 1666. (fn. 19) A few
scattered farms and cottages remain there. Since
1945 new houses have been built on raft foundations
in this area (fn. 20) because of the danger from subsidence
due to mining operations. There was an open-cast
mining site to the south in 1957. (fn. 21)
CANNOCK
Chadsmoor and High Town to the north-east of
the town represent the late-19th-and 20th-century
expansion of Cannock as a mining area. They now
form an almost continuously built-up area joining
Cannock to Hednesford. Much of West Chadsmoor
consists of council and other housing dating from
between the two World Wars and later.
Heath Hayes and Wimblebury to the south-east
of Hednesford date largely from the twenty years
between 1890 and 1910, but there are later houses
on the outskirts, including a Council housing estate
at Wimblebury. At Rawnsley, to the north-east of
Wimblebury, are 100 houses of the terrace type
built by the Cannock &; Rugeley Colliery Company
in 1914. (fn. 22) Prospect Village to the south-east of
Rawnsley was built in its entirety c. 1926. (fn. 23) It consists of roughcast semi-detached houses standing in
small gardens.
Cannock Wood, in the north-eastern corner of
the Urban District, is a scattered hamlet lying on a
south-eastern spur of Cannock Chase. A few cottages
and farms date from before the 19th century. In
1666 it had eighteen households, (fn. 24) and in 1851 there
were 'a few good farms and 275 inhabitants' with 'a
large portion of the open heath, where there are a
number of cottages with small plots of garden ground
attached to them'. (fn. 25)
The Stafford-Walsall road runs through the town
of Cannock where it is joined by the roads from
Wolverhampton, Penkridge, Rugeley, and Lichfield.
Watling Street crosses the south-western part of
the Urban District. In the 18th century the road
from Birmingham to Stafford and the north of
England crossed Cannock Chase via Hednesford,
where the Cross Keys Inn, built in 1746, (fn. 26) was
an important posting station. Coaches travelling
between London and Liverpool passed through the
town of Cannock three times a week in each direction by 1818 (fn. 27) and once a day by 1834, when there
were also two a day in each direction between
London and Manchester. (fn. 28) There were two tollhouses on Watling Street in Cannock c. 1843, one
at the corner of Walkmill Lane and the other near
Churchbridge, and there was another on the
Stafford road a little to the north of its junction with
Watling Street. (fn. 29) By 1818 letters were conveyed to
Lichfield three times a week and to Walsall five
times, (fn. 30) and by 1829 Cannock lay on the route of
a horse-mail travelling daily between Walsall and
Penkridge. (fn. 31) There was a post-office at John Cook
the tailor's by 1834 with letters coming and going
to all parts via Walsall. (fn. 32)
In February 1858 Cannock station, then the
terminus of the line from Walsall, was opened for
passenger and goods traffic. (fn. 33) In the same year the
South Staffordshire Railway began 'a well-appointed
omnibus' service between Cannock and Rugeley, (fn. 34)
pending the completion in the next year of the railway from Cannock to Rugeley, where it meets the
main line from London to Stafford and the northwest of England. (fn. 35) There are also numerous branch
lines serving the collieries. The Cannock extension
of the Wyrley and Essington Canal had been constructed as far as Churchbridge by 1844 (fn. 36) and to its
present termination in Hednesford by 1858. (fn. 37) The
Churchbridge extension of the Hatherton branch of
the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal was built
in 1860 (fn. 38) to join the first canal to the north-east of
Churchbridge. It was no longer in use owing to the
danger of mining subsidence by 1957 when part of
the eastern end was blown up to make way for the
open-cast mining site. (fn. 39)
A bridge in Cannock, probably that near the mill,
was rebuilt in 1281. (fn. 40) The 'bridge of Cannock near
the mill' existed by 1427 when Thomas Heth of
Great Wyrley bequeathed 6s. 8d. to its maintenance, (fn. 41)
and the Riddings Bridge on the brook leading to
the mill was mentioned in 1697. (fn. 42) The bridge at
the hamlet of Wedges Mill, carrying the road from
Cannock to Shareshill over the Wyrley Brook, was
a wooden foot-bridge in the 17th century maintained
by the parishioners of Shareshill and Cannock. (fn. 43)
It was rebuilt in 1711 as a stone horse-bridge at a
cost to the county of £20, (fn. 44) but the bridge there was
described as new in 1830. (fn. 45)
In 1877 Cannock was divided into the three wards
of Cannock, Chadsmoor, and Hednesford under a
Local Board which had offices in Church Street
from 1880. (fn. 46) (fn. 47) The Urban District was established
under the Local Government Act of 1894, the three
new wards of Bridgtown, Heath Hayes, and Littleworth being added in 1900. (fn. 48) The main council
offices have been situated at High Green in the centre
of Cannock town since 1927, (fn. 49) although the offices
in Church Street are still used.
Before 1834 the three townships of Cannock,
Huntington, and Great Wyrley were each supporting their own poor, while the hamlets of Hednesford, Leacroft, and Cannock Wood supported theirs
jointly. (fn. 50) A parish workhouse was built at Snout's
Gap, Walsall Road, in 1743. (fn. 51) The workhouse on
the Wolverhampton road half a mile from the centre
of Cannock was built in 1872 with a capacity of 200
to replace that at Brewood as the workhouse for the
Penkridge Union, which by 1880 had been renamed
the Cannock Union. (fn. 52) In 1948 the workhouse became a county hostel, used partly as a hospital for
the aged and partly as a home for the aged and the
temporarily homeless. (fn. 53)
The village of Cannock, situated on a slight hill of
gravelly soil, was often short of water in the summer
until pipes were laid by the Cannock Conduit
Trustees from a spring in Stringer's Meadow in
Leacroft, given in 1736 by Dr. Birch to the inhabitants of Cannock. (fn. 54) The cost was met by subscriptions, the last in 1786, and also from the rents
of some land within the parish inclosed in 1737, (fn. 55)
and although the South Staffordshire Water Works
Company was set up in 1853 the Conduit Trust
continued to supply water until 1942 when through
mining subsidence piping finally became impossible. (fn. 56) Under a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners of 1954 the trust's income is applied for the
general benefit of the inhabitants of the ancient township or liberty of Cannock by the provision of shelters
against the weather, of places of recreation and of
lectures and exhibitions. (fn. 57) The income in 1955 was
£276 16s. 2d. interest on stock and £22 4s. rent. (fn. 58) The
tank building of the Cannock Conduit Trust, erected
in 1736, stands west of the Bowling Green. It is a
small hexagonal stone structure with a pyramidal
roof and a ball finial.
The South Staffordshire Water Works Company's
reservoir in the hills west of Rawnsley was in
existence by 1880 (fn. 59) but was disused by 1952. (fn. 60)
The cemetery at Oldfallow, West Chadsmoor,
which has a small mortuary chapel of variegated
brick, was established in 1865 on 4 acres of land
granted for this purpose out of Cannock Chase by
the Inclosure Commissioners. (fn. 61) In 1923 a further
five acres were added. (fn. 62)
The Bowling Green, forming an island site in the
centre of Cannock town, existed in 1753 when a
brick wall was built round it. (fn. 63) After a long dispute
over the ownership of this acre or so of land the
Green was, in 1896, vested in trustees, four appointed by the Bowling Club and four by the Urban
District Council, and leased to the Club at a peppercorn rent. (fn. 64) The Trust was still in existence in 1956. (fn. 65)
By 1817 the Hednesford district was already being
used for the training of race-horses, (fn. 66) as it still is, (fn. 67)
and by 1834 about 100 horses were trained during a
season on the Hednesford Hills. (fn. 68) In 1839 Hednesford was 'the most noted place for training available
to persons in the Midland Counties'. (fn. 69) In addition
to public training establishments there were two in
private hands, the larger belonging to Edmund Peel
who had built Hednesford Lodge (see below), at
the side of Hednesford Pool in 1831 with stables for
his horses. (fn. 70) He also owned one of the two studs. (fn. 71)
By 1851 eleven distinguished trainers and jockeys
were training some 120 horses during a season. (fn. 72) The
Grand National Trophy has been won four times
from the stables at Hednesford. (fn. 73)
Cannock was the scene of a skirmish in 1646 in
which a troop of parliamentarian horse from Stafford
repulsed a royalist force from Lichfield. (fn. 74) The
Cannock Rifle Volunteers Corps was formed in 1860
and given a range on Cannock Chase by the 2nd
Marquess of Anglesey. (fn. 75) In 1873 the Chase was used
for part of the British Army manoeuvres. (fn. 76)
Castle Ring Camp, an earthwork of the hill-fort
type, situated to the north of the hamlet of Cannock
Wood at the highest point on Cannock Chase (801
ft.), was bought by the Urban District Council in
1933 from the 6th Marquess of Anglesey and is
scheduled as an ancient monument. (fn. 77) At Red Moor,
less than a mile to the south of the camp, is the site
of the Cistercian abbey of Radmore. (fn. 78)
Two pools called 'Hedne Ford Poole', situated
alongside the road to Rugeley in what is now the
centre of Hednesford (fn. 79) and possibly connected with
local iron-working, were held of the manor of
Cannock in 1595 by Gilbert Wakering (fn. 80) and were in
the hands of the Marquess of Anglesey c. 1843. (fn. 81) The
larger covered 27 acres in 1834, (fn. 82) but probably as a
result of the floods of 1845 it had shrunk to 23 acres
by 1851. (fn. 83) They have long since been built over.
Cannock town still possesses several ancient
buildings. No. 79 High Street, now an ironmonger's
shop, was originally a timber-framed house, probably dating from the 16th century. It has been faced
with brickwork but retains a massive stone chimney
at its west end and a roof truss with curved struts.
There was formerly a Tudor-arched porch in the
angle of one of the two gables facing the road. (fn. 84) A
fine late-16th- or early-17th-century timber house
which stood near the west end of the parish church
has now disappeared. Drawings of 1836 and 1841 (fn. 85)
show a three-gabled front with timbering of chevron
pattern on its overhanging upper story. No. 2
Walsall Road is a much altered timber-framed
cottage, now a shoe shop and store rooms. The Crown
Hotel is a brick house dating from c. 1700 with two
gables facing the road. It formerly had mullioned
and transomed windows and a central pedimented
doorway over which hung the inn sign. (fn. 86) No. 10 Mill
Street has an unaltered mid-18th-century brick front
with a moulded eaves cornice, angle pilasters and a
pedimented central doorway. The windows have
brick aprons and stone key-blocks. No. 8 had at one
time a similar front. No. 5 Mill Street is a tall
late-18th- or early-19th-century house retaining
its original garden and outbuildings. The Council
House, High Green, is a dignified mid-18th-century
house facing the Bowling Green. The front, faced
with later stucco, has sash windows and a pedimented doorcase. The original wrought-iron gates
and part of the railings are in position. The building
has been used as offices by the Cannock Urban
District Council since 1927. (fn. 87) There are several 18thand early-19th-century houses on the south side of
High Green, mostly much altered and with inserted
shop-fronts. A Georgian house known as the Manor
House which formerly stood at High Green was
demolished in 1936, and modern buildings, including a cinema, occupy the site. (fn. 88) The former Local
Board Offices, built in 1880, have a red-brick front
with a central entrance flanked by marble shafts with
carved foliage capitals. (fn. 89) The Benton Memorial
Clock turret in Market Square was erected in 1935. (fn. 90)
The Anglesey Hotel, formerly Hednesford or
Hedgeford Lodge, in the centre of modern Hednesford, was built in 1831 by Edmund Peel of Fazeley
(in Tamworth), (fn. 91) as a summer residence and to
provide stabling for racehorses. The house was unoccupied in 1851 (fn. 92) and became a hotel between 1860
and 1868. (fn. 93) The white stucco front has two stepped
gables with a smaller gable and a Tudor-arched
portico between them. Part of the original stabling
is in existence. The Cross Keys Inn, Old Hednesford, dates from 1746 and carries an original date
stone on an altered stucco front. Cross Keys Farm,
which lies 100 yds. farther south, is the only timberframed building in Hednesford and probably dates
from the 16th century.
At Leacroft Hill Farm an early-17th-century
timber-framed house of three bays is almost derelict.
The front framing has small brick-filled panels and
three gabled dormers. The farmhouse dates from
1930. (fn. 94)
The architecture of houses attached to lesser
estates and of the mill is treated below under the
relevant sections.
Manors
In 1086 CANNOCK (Chenet) was
assessed at one hide with appurtenances and was
held by the king in demesne as part of the escheated
lands of the Earldom of Mercia. (fn. 95) Some rights in the
vill seem to have been among those confirmed to
Bishop Walter Durdent by the Pope in 1152, (fn. 96)
and any such rights were exempted from the grant
made by Henry Plantagenet in 1153 to Ranulph Earl
of Chester of all royal lands in Staffordshire. (fn. 97)
Ranulph died at the end of that year but had meanwhile granted the vill of Cannock with all rents and
appurtenances to the Cistercian abbey at Radmore. (fn. 98)
This grant had been confirmed by Henry. (fn. 99) The
monks were transferred to Stoneleigh (Warws.) at
their own request by 1155, (fn. 100) and from at least 1169
to 1187 the vill was assessed for aids and tallages like
other royal lands. (fn. 101) In 1189, when raising money
for his crusade, Richard I conveyed Cannock and
Rugeley to Hugh de Nonant, Bishop of Coventry
and Lichfield, in free alms, together with the advowson of the church and all other rights and appurtenances, exempt from suit to the shire and hundred
courts. (fn. 102) In 1191 the Pope confirmed the bishop in
possession. (fn. 103) Because he conspired with John during
Richard's absence, Hugh was deprived of his see,
offices, and temporalities when the king returned
from captivity in 1194, (fn. 104) but he was restored to favour
in 1195 (fn. 105) and given Cannock and his other possessions
for a fine of 2,000 marks. (fn. 106) At some date between
1195 and 1198 Archbishop Hubert Walter, as
primate and legate, confirmed Richard I's original
grant of the vill. (fn. 107)
On Hugh de Nonant's death in March 1198, the
temporalities of the see passed into the king's hands,
and tallage was imposed on Cannock for the year
ending Michaelmas 1198. (fn. 108) The next bishop had
received the temporalities by the end of the year, (fn. 109)
but by Michaelmas 1200 he had restored Cannock
and Rugeley to the Crown in exchange for a rent of
£10 for the two. (fn. 110) This was paid until his death in
1208, (fn. 111) after which the see was kept vacant until
1215. Meanwhile the two towns were again tallaged,
with other royal manors, in 1205 (fn. 112) and 1214. (fn. 113)
Bishop William de Cornhill (1215–23) received £5
rent for the half year ending Easter 1215, (fn. 114) and
although the manor, with Rugeley, was confirmed
and restored to him in 1217, (fn. 115) yet from at least
his last year, 1222–3, until Easter 1230, he and his
successor were paid £10 from the Exchequer in
return for the farm of the two manors, (fn. 116) which were
once more tallaged as royal demesne in 1227. (fn. 117) In
April 1230 Richard I's charter of liberties, granted
to the bishop in 1189, was confirmed, and the two
manors were restored to the bishop, (fn. 118) although they
were tallaged for the year ending Michaelmas 1230. (fn. 119)
In 1255 the bishop, as lord of Cannock and its
members, was returned as holding 1 hide which was
not geldable. (fn. 120) In 1259 the king granted to Bishop
Roger de Meuland or Longespèe (1258–95), his
kinsman, free warren in all his demesne lands, including the manors of 'Kanocbury' and Rugeley. (fn. 121)
The charters of 1189 were confirmed in 1290 (fn. 122) and
at intervals again until 1510. (fn. 123) The vills of Cannock
and Rugeley were stated in 1316 to be held by the
bishop as part of his liberty, with return of writs. (fn. 124)
On 28 September 1546 the Chancellor of the
Court of Augmentations was ordered to 'practize
and conclude' with Bishop Richard Sampson for the
surrender of lands and manors, including Cannock
and Rugeley, in return for benefices of equivalent
value. (fn. 125) The lands were surrendered by the bishop
on 29 September (fn. 126) and on 26 October were granted
to Sir William Paget by letters patent, (fn. 127) confirmed
by Act of Parliament the same day. (fn. 128) Sir William,
created Lord Paget of Beaudesert in 1549, (fn. 129) settled
his estates in 1554 on himself and his heirs male,
with contingent remainder to his daughters. (fn. 130) He
was succeeded in 1563 by his eldest son, Henry 2nd
Lord Paget of Beaudesert. (fn. 131) Henry died in 1568,
leaving an infant daughter Elizabeth (fn. 132) who became
de jure Baroness Paget. (fn. 133) Although the estates should
have descended to Henry's brother Thomas, under
the settlement of 1554, Elizabeth seems to have
had some rights in them until her death in 1570. (fn. 134)
Thomas, her uncle, was her heir, (fn. 135) and from this
time Cannock and Rugeley descended in the Paget
family with the barony, of which the caput was
at Beaudesert in Longdon (Offlow hundred), (fn. 136) until
the 6th Marquess of Anglesey (d. 1947) disposed
of his property in Cannock and Rugeley in various
sales after 1918. (fn. 137)
In 1298 there was a capital messuage here with a
garden, together valued at 26s. 8d. (fn. 138)
From at least 1309 the courts of Cannock and
Rugeley were held jointly, usually at each manor
alternately. (fn. 139) A twice-yearly view of frankpledge
was being held by 1274. (fn. 140) From that date until
1510 the townships there represented were Cannockbury (or Cannock) by five frankpledges, Rugeley
and Brereton by five, Great Wyrley by two, and
Huntington by two. (fn. 141) From at least 1529 the vill of
Cannock had only three, with one for Leacroft and
one for Hednesford and Hatherton (in St. Peter's,
Wolverhampton) jointly. (fn. 142) The lord's revenue from
the view of frankpledge amounted to 3s. in 1274 and
1281, (fn. 143) and by at least 1424 the proceeds of the
manor included 3s. called frithsilver from the view
of frankpledge. (fn. 144) The same sum was paid in 1533, (fn. 145)
and by 1560 it had risen to 4s. (fn. 146) Cannock was paying
1s. 6d. in frithsilver between at least 1740 and 1769,
Great Wyrley 1s. and Huntington 6d. (fn. 147)
At the three-weekly courts, held by at least 1309,
business included not only the usual surrenders,
admittances of tenants and payments of heriots and
reliefs but also the presentment of offences within
the lord's woods by the forester of Cannock, the
forester of Rugeley and the rider (equitator) and
the presentment of brewing and baking against the
assize of bread and ale by the ale tasters of Cannock
and Rugeley respectively. (fn. 148)
At a court of survey held in 1595 defining the
bounds of the manor and leet and the customs of the
manor it was stated that the 'oldholders' had timber
rights on the Chase and might hunt the fox, the hare,
and the roe there and hawk with a sparrow-hawk. (fn. 149)
These 'oldholders' owed suit only at the two great
leets, while other tenants (copyholders) had to
appear at the three-weekly courts or else buy their
exemption at ½d. a day or 8d. a year. When an 'oldholder' died, one heriot was due for his holding, and
his heir paid the equivalent of a year's chief rent
when he entered upon the property. On the death
of a copyholder a heriot was due for each messuage,
with a year's rent from the heir or two years' rent
from anyone who secured the property by purchase.
The heriot on each cottage was 6d., but all other
heriots had to be appraised by 'the twelve men',
with payment at the next audit. 'Oldholders' and
copyholders might sublet their land without the
lord's consent, provided he lost no rent, and they
could not be impeached for committing waste on
any of their lands. No cottagers might serve as jurors
at the great leet so long as there were sufficient freeholders, oldholders, and copyholders to serve. When
the great court was held at Rugeley, the lord gave
dinner there to all the tenants from Cannock who
served on the jury, and similarly for the Rugeley
tenants when the great court was held at Cannock.
All inhabitants might turn their cattle loose on the
Chase all the year round and let them browse the
hollies there in winter for a reasonable amercement.
Lesser Estates
A carucate of land in Cannock
worth 5s. was held in 1086 by Alvric, one of the
king's thegns. (fn. 150) The subsequent descent of this land
is not known.
A virgate in Cannock was held of the king at some
time before 1236 by Robert Trumwyn, as by his
ancestors before him, possibly since the time of the
Conqueror when it may have been held by Lewinus,
by the service of keeping the Hay of Cheslyn
within the royal forest of Cannock. (fn. 151) The overlordship had passed to Bishop Alexander Stavensby by
1236, (fn. 152) but from at least 1250 (fn. 153) until at least 1575 (fn. 154)
this overlordship remained with the Crown. By 1250
Robert Trumwyn had been succeeded by William
Trumwyn (fn. 155) who was dead by 1296. (fn. 156) The virgate,
now valued at ½ mark, passed to his son William (II) (fn. 157)
who was dead by 1318 and had held a messuage as
well as this land. (fn. 158) The messuage, being ruinous,
was worth nothing, but the virgate, consisting of
12 acres, was worth 12d. (fn. 159) William's son and heir
William (III) (fn. 160) was dead by 1340 when the messuage
was still ruinous and the virgate was stated to be
worth only 5s., because of the sandy nature of the
soil. (fn. 161) William was succeeded by his son William
(IV) (fn. 162) who died in September 1349 with a son
William (V) as his heir. (fn. 163) Meanwhile a messuage,
garden, land, and wood in Cannock now belonging
to William had been leased for ten years to a John
le Carter who, towards the end of 1349, was sued
by William for pulling down a chamber there and
selling the timber, digging pits, and selling the stone
and clay, and cutting down and selling oak, ash,
hazel, and apple-trees. (fn. 164) The messuage was still
worth nothing in 1350, (fn. 165) but when William died in
1362 there was a dovecot there. (fn. 166) William (VI), his
son and heir, was a minor (fn. 167) and in the same year the
king granted the wardship of two parts of the child's
lands, along with his marriage, to Philip de Lutteleye. (fn. 168) William was succeeded by his brother John
who himself died under age in 1369, and whose heir
was his sister Elizabeth, also a minor. (fn. 169) Her marriage
was bought for £20 by William Strete, yeoman and
butler of the king, (fn. 170) and by 1370 she was the wife of
Roger Lansant. (fn. 171) She died childless in 1375, when
her lands passed to her aunt Isabel, wife of William
Reynald. (fn. 172) When Isabel died in 1399 she was the
wife of Nicholas Ruggeley, but it was John Salwey,
her son by her second husband, who succeeded her. (fn. 173)
John died in 1420, with a son Humphrey, aged
only nine years, to succeed him. (fn. 174) Humphrey settled
the messuage and virgate on his second son Thomas
in 1486, reserving ½ acre worth 6d. out of the virgate
as the inheritance of his eldest son, the lunatic Sir
John. (fn. 175) Thomas succeeded in 1493 (fn. 176) and at his death
in 1513 left as his heir a minor, his son Thomas (II), (fn. 177)
who passed into the king's wardship. (fn. 178) Sir John
Salwey now seems to have secured these as well as
other of Humphrey's lands, and when he died in
1518 he was holding in serjeanty a messuage and
virgate in Cannock worth 12s., with three daughters
to succeed him. (fn. 179) Richard Biddulph, husband of
Margaret one of the coheirs, was holding a share in a
messuage and other lands in Cannock at his death in
1552, (fn. 180) and shortly afterwards Thomas Salwey (II)
was suing the heir Francis Biddulph, along with
John Leveson of Wolverhampton who had acquired
an interest in some of the Salwey lands, for detention
of deeds relating to lands in Cannock and elsewhere. (fn. 181)
In 1564 and 1567 Thomas again sued for his lands,
including those in Cannock, (fn. 182) and it was decreed in
1568 that pending further suits the disputed inheritance should be divided among the various claimants. (fn. 183) John Leveson was said to be holding a
messuage and virgate in Cannock of the queen at
his death in 1575, (fn. 184) and his son and heir Thomas, (fn. 185)
who in 1590 was granted two parts of a messuage
and lands in Cannock by Thomas Salwey's sons
Arthur and Matthew, (fn. 186) was probably holding the
estate at his death in 1594. (fn. 187)
In 1310 Margery, widow of John le Olde of Leacroft, and Adam and John, sons of William Salwey,
were disputing land within the manor of Cannock. (fn. 188)
An Adam Salwey occurs in 1332 (fn. 189) and 1342 (fn. 190) and
Richard son of Adam Salwey of Leacroft in 1360. (fn. 191)
A John Salwey, who was dead by 1399, may have
held land in Leacroft. (fn. 192) His son John died in 1420,
leaving a son Humphrey, then aged nine, (fn. 193) who at
his death in 1493 was holding land and rents in
Leacroft of the bishop. (fn. 194) This land seems to have
followed the same descent as his land elsewhere in
Cannock (fn. 195) until at least 1594. (fn. 196)
John Birch of Leacroft, yeoman, occurs between
1586 and 1603. (fn. 197) In 1614 a settlement of land in
Leacroft was made by a John Birch and his wife
Elizabeth (fn. 198) and in 1624 by John Birch (of Bloxwich)
and his wife Alice. (fn. 199) John Birch, attorney, of Cannock,
presumably the son of John and Alice, was imprisoned by the Parliamentarians in 1643, and his
estates, including lands and rents in Leacroft worth
£100 annually before the Civil War, lands in
Cannock called 'the Kingswood' previously worth
£60, and lands in Cannock held by the courtesy of
England and previously worth £50, were sequestered,
having been twice plundered by the Royalists. (fn. 200) He
was fined £100 in 1645, but his petition for release
from sequestration in June of that year was granted
in August in view of his parliamentarian sympathies. (fn. 201)
This John was still living in 1663, aged 69, (fn. 202) but it
was his son Edward (of the Middle Temple) aged
28 in 1663, who was assessed at fifteen hearths in
Leacroft for the Hearth Tax in 1666. (fn. 203) Edward
was appointed deputy to the High Steward of the
honor of Tutbury in 1675, (fn. 204) and was living at Leacroft in 1694 and 1696. (fn. 205) A Dr. Birch owned the
estate in 1736. (fn. 206) About 1843 a Mr. Henry Birch owned
land in Leacroft, some of which was in his own
hands, including a house at the junction of the roads
from Lichfield and Norton by the present canal
bridge. (fn. 207) Leacroft Old Hall had probably been partially demolished by 1851 when such buildings as
remained were occupied by a farmer. (fn. 208) The site
is now part of the Cannock and Leacroft Colliery
and is the property of the National Coal Board. A
long red-brick range with stone quoins, moulded
cornice, and central pediment probably represents a
late-17th-century stable block. At its south end a
barn with a gable-end facing the road carries a date
tablet of 1676. An outhouse farther north has a
tablet inscribed 'Dr. W. B.' 1737. Another outhouse
with an octagonal brick base may represent the
remains of a dovecot. A field south of the road
was formerly known as Dovecot Meadow. (fn. 209) Later
buildings on the site are occupied by the National
Coal Board and part of the stable range has been
converted into cottages.
Fletcher's Farm in Leacroft, held in 1641 by
John Giffard of Wolverhampton, (fn. 210) and by 1645 in
the tenure of Simon Breffitt at a rent of £38, (fn. 211) was
sequestrated with the rest of John's estates in 1647
for his recusancy. (fn. 212) It was leased for a year in 1651 by
the County Commissioners to a certain Andrew
Mills (fn. 213) and sold in 1652 by the Treason Trustees
to Francis Gregge of Clement's Inn. (fn. 214) Meanwhile
John's son Peter claimed, in 1651, that the farm had
been settled in 1641 in trust for him and his youngest
sister. (fn. 215) In 1653 Anthony Dormer, by then married
to Peter's sister Dorothy, claimed that the purpose
of the trust had been the provision of £700 for
Dorothy. (fn. 216) Dormer's claim to the estate was allowed
in 1654, (fn. 217) and the lessee, Mills, was compensated in
1655 by the County Committee. (fn. 218)
John Coleman of Cannock, son of Thomas Coleman of Cannock, occurs from 1564 (fn. 219) , and when he
died in 1596 his estates included a messuage and
cottage in Hednesford, 40 acres of land and oneninth of a meadow called Organs Meadow in Cannock, and lands held in chief elsewhere in the parish. (fn. 220)
He was succeeded by his son, Walter, aged 30, (fn. 221)
who with his wife Dorothy was holding a messuage
and lands in Cannock at some time between 1603
and 1625. (fn. 222) Walter seems to have been succeeded by
a son John whose estates in Cannock included the
Old Hall, (fn. 223) but by 1646 his possessions had been
sequestered because he was a papist. (fn. 224) He was dead
by 1650. (fn. 225) His widow, Margaret, also a recusant,
petitioned in 1652 for release from sequestration
of one-third of her estate, which consisted mainly of
the parish tithes, pleading the impoverishment of
her six small children, and in the same year she was
allowed this one-third along with her house. (fn. 226) The
house of a Charles Coleman in Hednesford was
stated in 1666 to have been demolished and sold. (fn. 227)
A messuage or cottage with lands and appurtenances
in Cannock, called 'le Old Hall' and held by copyhold tenure of the manor, was being claimed in 1703
by a Charles Coleman, as the son of another Charles
Coleman and Anne, against William Wilson and his
wife Margaret. (fn. 228)
Henry Plantagenet, as Duke of Normandy,
granted 'Hedenedford' as pasture free from pannage
dues to the local Cistercian abbey of Radmore
c. 1153. (fn. 229)
A freehold in 'Edenesford' and elsewhere was held
in 1352 by Roger son of Roger Trumwyn. (fn. 230) A
messuage, carucate, and other lands held by Roger
at his death in 1362 of the bishop (fn. 231) then passed to
Katherine, sister and heir of Roger and widow of
John Musard. (fn. 232) This land had passed by 1408, with
the lands of the Cannock branch of the Trumwyns,
to John Salwey, first husband of Iseult Washbourne,
who was a relative of John Musard. (fn. 233) The estate
descended with John Salwey's lands elsewhere in
Cannock, (fn. 234) being held of the manor of Cannock by
Thomas Leveson in 1594. (fn. 235)
Another plot of land in Hednesford, called 'le
Plash', was held by Roger Trumwyn at his death in
1362 of his kinsman William Trumwyn of Cannock. (fn. 236)
A field called Middle Plashes and lying to the south
side of Splash Lane between Hednesford and
Wimblebury was owned by the Revd. Richard
Levett c. 1843. (fn. 237)
King Stephen gave land at 'Radmore' (now Red
Moor) near the present hamlet of Cannock Wood to
two hermits, who with others founded the Cistercian
abbey there in 1141. (fn. 238) The monks had exchanged
Radmore for land at Stoneleigh (Warws.) by June
1155, (fn. 239) and by Michaelmas Radmore was in the
hands of the king, (fn. 240) who was there during 1155. (fn. 241)
The 'king's houses at Cannock', for the upkeep
of which 35s. 5d. a year was allowed between 1156
and 1161 (fn. 242) and 6s. 8d. from 1162 to at least 1215
while the canons of Lanthony Secunda (Glos.) were
custodians, (fn. 243) may possibly be identified with the
'king's houses and hays' at Radmore where building
or repair work was carried out in about 1159. (fn. 244) The
king continued to hold the houses at Cannock after
the manor had been granted to the see of Lichfield
in 1189 (fn. 245) until at least 1215 (fn. 246) but by 1230 they seem
to have passed out of his hands. (fn. 247) They may be
connected with the large rectangular moat, now dry,
with an outer bank which still exists at Courtbanks
Covert near the abbey site. (fn. 248)
'All the land of Redemore' was held by Henry de
Audley in about 1228 (fn. 249) and at some time after 1245
land in 'Rugemor' was held of Bishop Roger de
Weseham by Henry's son James de Audley who
undertook not to introduce any monks there without
the bishop's permission. (fn. 250) James granted his land
in 'Redemor', with buildings and woodland, to the
bishop in about 1250, (fn. 251) and the estate seems then
to have descended with the manor of Cannock until
1937 when it was sold with the abbey site by the
6th Marquess of Anglesey (d. 1947) to Mr. Daniel
Clewley. (fn. 252)
A plot of waste in Cannock Chase called 'Le
Newehaye' was leased, with two other parcels of
waste, in 1348 by the bishop to Sir Richard de
Stafford and his wife Isabel, with the confirmation of
the dean and chapter. (fn. 253) By 1355, when the bishop
confirmed the lease, the hay was surrounded by a
double ditch and hedge. (fn. 254) As the 'pasture called
Newhay' it was later leased to John Stanley who was
dead by 1528 when his daughter Elizabeth, with her
husband John Hercy, and Walter Moile or Moyle,
husband of the other daughter Isabel, reconveyed
their respective moieties to Bishop Geoffrey Blythe. (fn. 255)
A lease for 21 years of all coal mines 'taken or found
but not yet worked' in 'Newheye' and 'Redmore',
near Beaudesert Park, and formerly part of Cannock
Forest, was given by the queen in 1589 to Gilbert
Wakering, with licence to dig and make pits. (fn. 256)
A house at Chestall (or Cheshall) to the east of
Castle Ring seems to have been held by Simon de
Rugeley of Hawkesyard (in Armitage parish, Offlow
hundred) in 1333 and by James de Rugeley in 1370. (fn. 257)
A descendant, Francis Rugeley, son and heir of
either Humphrey or Antony Rugeley of Chestall,
sold the house to Richard Hussey of Albrighton
Hussey (Salop.) in 1562. (fn. 258) Hussey sold it to a Barlow
of Derbyshire and he to a Lawrence Wright, who
probably held it in about 1600 when Sir Edward
Littleton of Pillaton (in Penkridge parish) also had a
house there. (fn. 259) Chestall was mentioned in 1595 as one
of the bounds of the manor of Cannock, (fn. 260) and Chestall
Hall in Cannock Wood occurs c. 1640. (fn. 261) By the end
of the 18th century the farmhouse called Chestall
was owned by the Earl of Uxbridge (d. 1812) (fn. 262) and
between at least 1834 and 1892 was occupied by
members of the Darling family, land (and later
mineral) agents to the Marquess of Anglesey. (fn. 263) John
Reid Walker was the tenant in 1896 and 1900 (fn. 264) and
Arthur Chetwynd in 1912 and 1916. (fn. 265) In 1938 it
was sold by the 6th Marquess to Charles Wootten, (fn. 266)
whose widow had put it up for sale by 1956. (fn. 267) The
house, which has an 18th-century farmhouse as its
core, was much enlarged in the middle of the 19th
century and is now a red-brick mansion with stone
dressings in the Tudor style. There are extensive
gardens, stabling, and outbuildings.
The rectory of Cannock belonged to a prebend
in Penkridge collegiate church by the late 12th
century. (fn. 268) In 1189, however, the king granted the
ecclesia of Cannock to the Bishop of Coventry and
Lichfield (fn. 269) who by 1192 had given it to the canons
of Lichfield, subject to an annual payment of 4s. to
the canons of Penkridge. (fn. 270) The bishop subsequently
allowed the Penkridge prebendary or his lessee to
hold the rectorial estate of the canons at a rent of
4s. (fn. 271) In 1207 the Dean of Penkridge, after some dispute, conceded the right of appointing the chaplain
to the canons of Lichfield who in turn granted to
Penkridge the mortuaries of Cannock and an annual
payment of one mark. (fn. 272)
Despite the speedy renewal of the dispute, (fn. 273) the
rectory seems to have remained with Lichfield (fn. 274) until
c. 1274 when the church of Penkridge had reestablished its claim and the Dean and Chapter of
Lichfield complained to the Pope, demanding half
the mortuaries. (fn. 275) In 1290 the king confirmed the
grant of 1189. (fn. 276) In 1313, however, the Crown took
the opportunity of a vacancy in the deanery of
Penkridge to present a royal clerk to what was then
called the prebend of Cannock in Penkridge church. (fn. 277)
The Dean and Chapter of Lichfield withheld the
mark due each year to the canons of Penkridge (fn. 278) and
apparently ejected the royal nominee from 'some
of his prebendal possessions' until the sheriff intervened on the king's orders and prevented the dean
and chapter from collecting tithes in Cannock. (fn. 279)
The king, however, in 1315 allowed the dean and
chapter to have the tithes until their complaint
should be heard in the king's court. (fn. 280) The canons of
Penkridge continued to exercise their right to burials
and mortuaries until the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield had a graveyard at Cannock secretly consecrated by the Bishop of St. Asaph in 1330 and started
conducting burials there and taking the mortuaries. (fn. 281)
Three canons of Penkridge challenged their action,
and the dean and chapter had them imprisoned in
Stafford gaol. (fn. 282) When the king once more appointed
a royal clerk to the prebend and chapel of Cannock in
1337 during a vacancy in the deanery of Penkridge, (fn. 283)
the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield sued in Chancery
for a revocation of the grant (fn. 284) and meanwhile made
their own appointment to the chapel. (fn. 285) In 1345 the
king confirmed the grant of 1189 to the bishop
and the bishop's grant to the canons of Lichfield. (fn. 286)
Despite these renewed disputes the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield seem to have enjoyed uninterrupted
possession of the tithes of Cannock from at least
1323 (fn. 287) and to have retained the rectory without
further dispute after 1345. (fn. 288)
The rectory was leased out by the Penkridge prebendary in the late 12th century for a rent of 4s. (fn. 289)
and by the canons of Lichfield from at least 1323. (fn. 290)
By 1564 the lease was held by John Coleman, (fn. 291) who
in 1588 was occupying a house in Cannock called
The Priest's Chamber. (fn. 292) In 1605 the rectory was
demised to William Cumberford of Wednesbury
(Offlow hundred) for the lives of John and Walter,
sons of Walter Coleman of Cannock, and Thomas
Hall of Sedgley (Seisdon hundred), at a rent of
£18. (fn. 293) John Coleman seems to have lost the tithes by
sequestration, as a papist and delinquent, by 1646, (fn. 294)
and in 1650 two-thirds of the Coleman estate, which
consisted mainly of the tithes, were granted to
Richard Twigg of Stockton (Baswich parish) and
Thomas Hide and Simon Brevett of Great Wyrley. (fn. 295)
One-third of John Coleman's estate was restored to
his widow Margaret in 1652. (fn. 296)
A tithe barn situated in a croft adjoining the
church had disappeared by 1650. (fn. 297) The field was still
called Tithe Barn Croft c. 1843. (fn. 298)
Woods
In 1086 the king had woodland 6 leagues
long by 4 wide attached to his manor of Cannock
and woodland 3 leagues by 2 leagues attached to
the adjoining manor of Rugeley. (fn. 299) Liberties in 'wood
and plain' were given in 1189 by Richard I to the see
of Lichfield along with these manors. (fn. 300) This woodland lay within the metes of the king's forest of
Cannock. (fn. 301) The bishop's rights were limited until,
with the confirmation of the manors to him in 1230,
Bishop Alexander Stavensby (1224–38) claimed the
'covert of the forest of High Cannock', taking venison and excommunicating the king's steward or chief
forester who sought to oppose him and at the same
time preventing the two hereditary foresters in fee,
William Trumwyn, who held a virgate in Cannock,
and Richard de Putes, who held a virgate in Rugeley
by serjeanty, from presenting attachments of vert
and venison in the swanimote of Cannock before
the royal steward. (fn. 302) The king subsequently regained
control of at least Trumwyn's bailiwick, but by
1286 it was evidently in the bishop's hands again. (fn. 303)
The bishop had a park at Cannock by 1274, (fn. 304) and in
1280 2s. 3d. was paid to an 'oterhunter' and 11s. 6d.
as the expenses of the hunters (venatores). (fn. 305) During
proceedings following the forest eyre. of 1286,
Bishop Roger de Meuland (1258–95) claimed the
same rights as his predecessors, namely to hold the
woods free from all interference from the king's
foresters, verderers, or other ministers and to hunt
and take there at will all wild beasts which came
from the king's forest. (fn. 306) In 1290, after being surrendered to the king, these same woods were restored
to the bishop to be held in free alms as his free chase
for ever, with permission to enclose and impark them
so long as there were no deer leaps nor stretched nets
to take deer outside the parks which might be made
there. (fn. 307) These woods, although within the metes of
the royal forest of Cannock, were to be quit of pleas
of the forest, waste, assart, and regard, so that no
justice of the forest should intermeddle, and any
free tenants of the bishop there should have their
rights in woods, lands, and holdings with common of
pasture. (fn. 308) The metes and bounds of this free chase of
Cannock, covering Cannock and Rugeley manors,
were then set out. (fn. 309)
The chase, comprising the two bailiwicks of
Trumwyn and of Puys (or Rugeley), descended
with the manors of Cannock and Rugeley, passing
in 1546 to Sir William Paget (fn. 310) and in 1583, after the
flight of Thomas Lord Paget, to the queen. (fn. 311) The
wood and timber in the manors of Cannock and
Rugeley were valued at £20,000 in 1588, (fn. 312) and in
the next year the queen leased the timber in Cannock
'Forest', apart from the hollies and 3,000 marked
trees, to Fulke Greville for 21 years. (fn. 313) It was stated
in 1595 that those appointed to mark the trees had
not marked the full number while those marked were
mostly inferior and that Greville, unlike Lord
Paget, was failing to make coppices and leave standels
for the preservation of the woodland. (fn. 314) By 1595 78
marked trees within the bailiwick of Trumwyn had
been delivered by royal warrant and three without
warrant, while 33 marked trees had been taken by
unauthorized persons and others by Gilbert Wakering, the royal woodward there, for the repair of
Beaudesert House (in Longdon, Offlow hundred),
likewise without warrant. (fn. 315) In addition 47 unmarked
trees had been taken without warrant. (fn. 316) There were
similar losses in the Rugeley bailiwick. (fn. 317) William
Paget, later 5th baron (d. 1628), regained his father's
estates in 1597 (fn. 318) and subsequently confirmed Greville's lease. (fn. 319) The disafforestation of the area was
lamented by Drayton in Polyolbion (1613 and 1622)
and by Masters in his Iter Boreale (1675). (fn. 320) The 6th
Marquess of Anglesey, with other landowners,
leased land to the Forestry Commission after 1920
for the new State Forest of Cannock Chase, (fn. 321) which
includes Shoal Hill and other land at Huntington
and the area to the north and west of Cannock Wood.
The area of woodland and heathland now known
as Cannock Chase lies in the parishes of Cannock,
Rugeley, Colwich (Pirehill hundred), and Baswich.
With the creation of the bishop's chase of Cannock in 1290, the former royal forest officials were
replaced by those of the bishop. The chief wardenship of his free chase of Cannock as well as of the
woods belonging to his barony of Haywood and
Lichfield and of the parks already made or planned
therein was given by Roger de Meuland (1285–95)
to Roger de Aston of Haywood and Bishton in
Colwich parish (Pirehill hundred). (fn. 322) Except for
temporary dispossession during vacancies of the see
in 1386 and 1415 when the king appointed his own
nominees, (fn. 323) this office descended in the Aston
family (fn. 324) and included in 1496 'the mastership of the
game and rule of the Cankewodde'. (fn. 325) In 1538, to
end disputes, Sir Edward Aston agreed to surrender
the keepership of the woods, hays, and parks together with the perquisites, including four trees a
year for firewood and one tree for repairs to his
houses in Tixall (Pirehill hundred) and Haywood,
in return for confirmation in the office of the mastership of the game within the chases of Cannock and
Haywood and the parks of Beaudesert and Haywood. (fn. 326) As master of the game he was allowed to
take two bucks in summer and two does in winter
from the chases of Cannock and Haywood and a
third buck and doe in Beaudesert Park after giving
due warning to the bishop's keepers. (fn. 327) The fee of this
office was the right to some portion of each deer
killed in the woods by persons other than the bishops
or their surveyors, with 100 cart loads of firewood
annually for burning only in his own dwelling-places
in Haywood and Tixall. (fn. 328) Sir Edward retained this
office when the bishop's manors passed to the
Pagets, and described either as chief custody of the
chase or mastership of the game it descended in
his family, his grandson Sir Edward dying seised of
it in 1597. (fn. 329) Further disputes between the Pagets
as overlords and the Astons as hereditary wardens or
masters were ended by a compromise in 1712 when
Walter Lord Aston agreed to waive all claim to the
mastership of the game and accept instead four bucks
a year, an arrangement still in force in 1815. (fn. 330)
Besides the hereditary chief warden and master of
the game, there were two foresters of the chase, one
for Cannock who by at least 1473 was described
as the forester of Trumwyn, (fn. 331) and one for Rugeley,
each making their presentments at the joint courts of
the two manors by at least 1342. (fn. 332) There was also the
rider or ranger (equitator) who was similarly presenting forest offences in the manor courts by at least
1342, (fn. 333) and from at least 1424 until at least 1542 he
presented an annual account of his office with the
other bailiffs, collectors of rents, and farmers of the
lands of the bishops and their successors, the Pagets. (fn. 334)
His account in 1424 included 38s. 2d. from perquisites
of court and sale of woods, loppings, and bark, and
22s. 6d. from fines. (fn. 335) Among the riders were Richard
de Hampton, the king's yeoman, appointed in 1359
during a vacancy of the see, (fn. 336) James Arblaster,
whose appointment was confirmed during another
vacancy in 1385, (fn. 337) and, in 1415, Roger Assent, the
king's 'servant', who was also given a forestership
to hold while the temporalities were in the king's
hands. (fn. 338) By 1423 the rider was Richard Ruggeley (fn. 339)
and by 1472 John Eggerton. (fn. 340) Ralph Longford occurs
in 1535 as rider and bailiff of Cannock Chase, (fn. 341) and
in 1542 William Hervy accounted as rider for
£17 10s. 5d. from the sale of wood and bark. (fn. 342) The
bishop, probably in 1542, gave the office of rider,
in tail, to a Littleton, (fn. 343) probably Sir Edward
Littleton, keeper of Teddesley Hay. (fn. 344)
Agriculture
By 1273 there was no demesne in
Cannock manor and all the land was held by tenants. (fn. 345)
It was stated in 1595 that there was no site of a
manor and no demesne except the mill and Mill
Meadow. (fn. 346) The assised rents amounted in 1273 to
£8 13s. 8d., with new rents of 16s. 5½d. (fn. 347) and in 1424
to £11 14s. 1¼d. with ¼d. new rent from a John
Bounde for a small piece of land next his demesne
on the Green added to his garden out of the lord's
waste. (fn. 348) In 1560 the rents from free tenants amounted
to 21s. 5½d. and those from copyhold tenants to
£14 8s. 5½d. (fn. 349) Forty-one persons in Cannock paid
pannage dues of 7s. 2½d. in 1350 for 38 pigs and 73
'hogs' (hogg'), while five persons in Hednesford paid
5½d. for one pig and nine hogs. (fn. 350)
The following open fields within the manor were
mentioned at various times between c. 1300 and
1640: 'Callughull' ('Calfe Hylles') Field, Greystones
Field, Half Field, Hawsley Field, Newland Field,
Sladeland Field, Hatherton Sich, and Sich Field. (fn. 351)
It was stated in 1794 that the best land on Cannock
Chase for sheep and crops, especially barley and
turnips, lay on the west and north sides and around
Hednesford, the soil being light as opposed to the
gravelly undrained heathland to the south and east. (fn. 352)
At this time a breed of greyfaced hornless sheep
native to Cannock Chase was very prolific, 'the
common being now in many places perfectly
whitened with them'. (fn. 353) The parish of Cannock,
described as 'extensive . . . with scattered small
farms', had 1,933½ acres sown in 1801, 481 acres
with wheat, 549 with barley, 491 with oats, 12 with
peas, 20½ with potatoes, and 280 with turnips or
rape. (fn. 354) By 1819 seven freeholders and copyholders
from Cannock were pasturing 369 sheep on the
chase; 38 from Leacroft and Hednesford were
pasturing 1,782 sheep, 28 cows, 1 ass, and 6 horses;
and 43 from Cannock Wood were pasturing 789
sheep, 13 cows, 3 asses, and 2 horses. (fn. 355) The Cannock
Agricultural Association was formed in 1845, with
the help of Lord Hatherton, for tenant farmers living
within an eight-mile radius of Cannock. (fn. 356) The land
was used in 1940 mainly for oats, wheat, turnips,
mangolds, and pasture. (fn. 357)
William Coleman and other men of Cannock in
1544 forcibly threw open certain pastures and
meadows in Cannock inclosed by Ralph Bostock
and Thomas Alport who had acquired them from
Richard Biddulph. (fn. 358) Thomas Lord Paget held a
conyger within the manor before his forfeiture in
1587, (fn. 359) and in 1595 Thomas Wolseley, William
Chetwynd, William Hough, and Thomas Littleton
held various inclosures on Cannock Chase to the
detriment of the queen and the tenants of the manors
of Cannock and Rugeley. (fn. 360) Piecemeal inclosure of
the common fields seems to have begun by this
time. (fn. 361) William Lord Paget as lord of Cannock and
Rugeley, having come to an agreement with his
tenants in 1605, made an inclosure within the parish
of Cannock which was subject to renewal in the
manorial court every nine years, but in 1651 his son
and heir William complained of attempts to throw
this inclosure open. (fn. 362) It was stated in 1682 that
temporary inclosures, usually for five years, were
made on Cannock Chase for the growing of corn by
the inhabitants of Cannock, as by those of Rugeley,
Penkridge, Baswich, Brocton, Haywood, Colwich,
Longdon, and Norton, by agreement with the lord
of the manor concerned. (fn. 363) Henry Lord Paget, Earl
of Uxbridge, at some time after 1735 allowed the
inclosing of some 30 acres of Cannock Chase so that
the rents might be used towards defraying the cost
of piping Cannock's water-supply from Leacroft. (fn. 364)
Hednesford, Leacroft, and Rumer Hill were described in 1817 as 'enclosed hamlets of Cannock'. (fn. 365)
Some 3,000 acres of land on Cannock Chase
within the parish of Cannock were inclosed in 1868
under an Act of 1861. (fn. 366)
Mills
The lord's mill at Cannock was leased at a
rent of 3s. 4d. in 1274, (fn. 367) and in 1281 the mill, still held
by a tenant, was extensively repaired. (fn. 368) In 1424
William the miller paid 73s. 4d. for the farm of the
water-mill and a 'mora' called 'Mulnemore'. (fn. 369) Timber
for the mill and repairs to the mill pond in this year
cost the lord 14s. 1d. (fn. 370) In 1449 the bishop granted
a twenty-year lease of the mill, called 'Coyngere', to
John Justice, millward, and after John's death, the
mill was leased in 1463, along with fish ponds and
the 'Mylnemore,' to John Parker and Hugh Collins
for 21 years. (fn. 371) During the year ending Michaelmas
1473 14d. had been spent on repairs to the mechanism
of the mill and the river bank by it. (fn. 372)
In 1641 the water corn-mills in or near Cannock,
commonly called Cannock Mills and lately held by
John Coleman, were leased by William Lord Paget,
then lord of the manor, to Walter Chetwynd for 21
years at an annual rent of £22. (fn. 373) Lord Paget sold the
lease of what may have been the same mills to John
Byrch of Stafford and Robert Sankey of Cannock in
1650, (fn. 374) but by 1659 the mills were held by Edward
Rowley of Leacroft. (fn. 375) In 1697 Cannock Mill,
situated on the brook leading from Ridding Bridge,
was held by Rowley's grandson Henry Barton who
in that year conveyed his rights in it to Edmund
Wilson of Cannock. (fn. 376) Wilson died in 1709, and his
executors renewed the lease in 1710 to Thomas
Barton, miller, for another thirteen years. (fn. 377) The
present-day Cannock Mill also stands on the Ridings
Brook, on the north side of Mill Street with the mill
pool lying to the north. (fn. 378) It is a red-brick building
retaining its water-wheel and was still operating on
a small scale c. 1954. (fn. 379) The mill-house is a roughcast
building of three stories dating from c. 1800. Northeast of the mill pool there was formerly land called
Windmill Bank. (fn. 380)
About 1250 James de Audeley granted the Bishop
of Coventry and Lichfield a rent of 10s. a year from
a mill at 'Canocbury'. (fn. 381) A water-mill in Cannock was
held of the bishop by William Trumwyn at his death
in 1317 or 1318 (fn. 382) and descended with his lands in
Cannock until at least 1639 when Thomas Leveson
made a settlement of two water-mills and lands in
Cannock and Wednesfield. (fn. 383) In 1448 the bishop sued
John Justice, millward, for taking the corn of the
bishop's men for grinding at this mill instead of at
the lord's mill. (fn. 384)
The Walk Mill, situated a little to the south of
Watling Street on the road to Cheslyn Hay southwest of the modern Bridgtown, was in existence in
1775. (fn. 385) In about 1843 it was owned by Jonathan
Stokes, M.D., (fn. 386) and it was advertised for auction
in the following year as a water corn-mill. (fn. 387) There
was a miller here in 1880. (fn. 388)
A Robert Wedge was holding Whitnall Mills in
Cannock of Sir Edward Littleton of Pillaton (in
Penkridge) c. 1643, (fn. 389) and in 1709 Robert Wedge,
Mary his wife, and Robert their son made a settlement of grain mills and lands in Cannock and
Saredon (in Shareshill). (fn. 390) What was called Wedges
Mill was held of Sir Edward Littleton in 1754 by a
John Olerenshaw, (fn. 391) but in 1768 and 1769 (fn. 392) William
Webb was paying the lord of Cannock 1s. 6d. rent
for Wedges Mill. (fn. 393) In 1817 the mill was described as
a water-mill 'situated on the Hedgeford river' and
forming part of William Gilpin's edge-tool factory
at Churchbridge about a mile to the east in the township of Great Wyrley. (fn. 394) It was owned by George
Gilpin c. 1843. (fn. 395)
Markets and Fairs
In 1259 Henry III
granted Bishop Roger de Weseham, his kinsman, the
right to hold in his manor of Cannock a market
every Tuesday and an annual fair on the vigil, feast,
and morrow of St. Michael in Monte Tumba (15,
16, 17 October). (fn. 396) The right was upheld in 1293 (fn. 397)
and confirmed between 1387 and 1390. (fn. 398) The Tuesday market had been discontinued by 1747, but fairs
were then held on 20 April, 20 August, and the
second Monday after Michaelmas. (fn. 399) By 1834 cattle
fairs were held on 8 May, 24 August, and 18 October,
with a feast or wake on the Sunday following the
last of these. (fn. 400) By 1868 markets were being held on
Saturday evenings, (fn. 401) and a market-hall was built in
Cannock in 1869. (fn. 402) By 1924 the fairs were no longer
held, but markets were then held on Tuesday and
Saturday. (fn. 403) By 1956 an additional market was held
on Friday. (fn. 404)
A Saturday evening market was held at Hednesford from 1872 when the market-hall was built. (fn. 405) In
1956 the Hednesford market was open on Tuesdays
and Saturdays. (fn. 406)
Industries
There was coal mining within the
manor by 1298. (fn. 407) In 1589 the queen leased for 21
years all mines and veins 'of coal "called pitt cole,
stone cole, and sea cole"' in New Hay and Red
Moor near Beaudesert Park, with permission to
dig pits and ditches called 'le sowghes' and to cut
the necessary timber, to Gilbert Wakering, (fn. 408) who in
1595 held two coal-mines on the Chase, one of black
coal and one of cannel coal. (fn. 409) Three colliers of
Cannock Wood occur in 1601 (fn. 410) and a collier of
Hednesford in 1603, (fn. 411) and in 1688 Lord Paget
granted a lease of his mines at Cannock Wood,
'Newhay', and elsewhere in the vicinity. (fn. 412) There
were pits a little to the north-west of New Hayes on
the site of the present Cannock Wood Colliery in
1775, (fn. 413) and a colliery here called Park Colliery was
noted in 1820. (fn. 414) In 1817 William Gilpin was raising
coal at the Walk Mill for use in his edge-tool factory
at Churchbridge and for sale. (fn. 415) The colliery at
Rumer Hill, near Leacroft, belonging to Edward
John Littleton, later Lord Hatherton, was in operation in 1832, (fn. 416) but by 1858 these pits, over 70 yds.
deep, had been closed. (fn. 417) Lord Hatherton also owned
the Long House Colliery, of which Joseph Palmer,
coalmaster, held the lease between 1848 and 1854. (fn. 418)
The Cannock Chase Colliery Company, launched
in 1850 by the Marquess of Anglesey, had opened
the Uxbridge Pit at Hednesford by 1852. (fn. 419) Between
1860 and 1867 this company opened pits at Chase
Terrace (in Chasetown parish, Offlow hundred),
Rawnsley, and Heath Hayes which were still in use
in 1954. (fn. 420) It was among the first companies to build,
about 1866, its own railway linking its collieries to
the main line, and, in about 1886, to generate its own
electricity. (fn. 421) In 1865 and 1874 the Cannock &
Rugeley Collieries Company sank two shafts at the
Cannock Wood Colliery. (fn. 422) In 1869 the West Cannock Collieries Company opened three pits in
Hednesford. (fn. 423) During the trade boom which
followed the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 there
were several new undertakings in the Cannock Chase
region, most of which failed. (fn. 424) Only one within
Cannock itself survived in its original form, the
Cannock and Leacroft Colliery (fn. 425) begun between 1874
and 1877. (fn. 426) The East Cannock Colliery at Hednesford, on which some £150,000 was spent, was sold
for £20,000 to a new company which survived until
nationalization in 1947. (fn. 427) The Wimblebury Pit was
opened in 1872, (fn. 428) but it was nearly exhausted by
1896 when the Cannock &; Rugeley Collieries
Company took it over and started coal-drawing there
instead of at their Valley Pit in Hednesford, opened
in 1874. (fn. 429) The Mid-Cannock Colliery, started in
1873, was abandoned in 1882. (fn. 430) The Cannock &
Huntington Colliery Company, which began to
make sinkings at Huntington in 1877, met with
serious water difficulties and, having abandoned the
shafts, was dissolved in 1881. (fn. 431) During the 'Great
Federation Lock-Out' of 1893 a Hednesford miner,
Thomas Thomas, wrote ballads designed to win
public sympathy for the strikers. (fn. 432)
The first new venture after the slump was the
opening in 1894 of the Coppice, or Fair Lady,
Colliery at Heath Hayes by the Coppice Colliery
Company. (fn. 433) Lord Hatherton recovered one of the
shafts at Huntington in 1897 and sank another, and
coal-drawing started in 1904. (fn. 434) In 1954 the colliery
was one of the largest in the Cannock Chase Coalfield. (fn. 435) The abandoned Mid-Cannock Colliery was
taken over by Messrs. William Harrison in 1913 and
reopened in the following year. (fn. 436) The West Cannock
Collieries Company opened their No. 5 Pit at
Hednesford in 1914. (fn. 437) Open-cast mining was begun
in 1956 at a site on the north side of Watling Street
to the east of Churchbridge and was being extended
northwards from there in 1957. (fn. 438) The National Coal
Board's office in Cannock covers the Cannock Chase
area of the West Midlands Division. The County
Mining College in Cannock was opened in 1928 and
enlarged in 1935. (fn. 439)
The presence of slag and refuse on the western
slopes of the Castle Ring Hill may indicate the site
of a bloomery, while the oaks growing out of these
deposits show its long disuse. (fn. 440) There was a forge
at Hednesford by 1473 when William Colmore was
paying the lord of Cannock 2d. new rent for its site,
a parcel of waste 20 ft. square. (fn. 441) 'Blome smithes' at
Risom Bridge on Cannock Chase near Beaudesert
Park (in Longdon parish, Offlow hundred) were
leased to William Fletcher in 1542 and still held by
him in 1549. (fn. 442) Joyce Ashebye was mining ironstone
in Cannock about 1553 at a place called 'Woddy
Hey', selling nine loads for 33s. 4d. (fn. 443) Lord Paget
received £20 as the farm of 'all le blumsmythes' in
Cannock in 1560 and was working a furnace on the
Chase by 1563. (fn. 444) In the year ending 24 December
1584 the Paget ironworks on Cannock Chase and in
Teddesley Hay produced 164 tons 1 cwt. of iron. (fn. 445)
Between at least 1692 and 1710 a forge in Cannock
under the control of a partnership known as 'The
Staffordshire Works' was specializing in chafery,
and its output of bar iron reached 109 tons in the
year ending Michaelmas 1709. (fn. 446) A plot of 'boggy
ground' at the head of Green Brook Valley was
leased in 1734 by the lord of Cannock for the making
of two pools to John Biddulph, who before 1761 was
tenant of two pools in Rugeley. (fn. 447) A forge in Cannock
was still active in 1750 when the output of iron was
180 tons. (fn. 448) By 1953 there were iron-foundries in
Cannock, Hednesford, and Rawnsley. (fn. 449)
Other industries in Cannock, many of which
were started after 1939, include light engineering,
enamelling, and the manufacture of precision instruments, brushes, electrical appliances, food preparations, and jewellery. (fn. 450) There are also clothing mills
and saw-mills in the town. (fn. 451) By 1868 bricks and tiles
were being manufactured at a factory on the Watling
Street, (fn. 452) and by 1953 some 100,000 tiles a day
were produced at the Longhouse Works on Watling
Street, owned by Messrs. Henry Hawkins L'td. (fn. 453)
William Gilpin seems to have opened an edge-tool
factory at Wedges Mill in 1790, but by 1817 most of
the work was done at the factory opened in 1806 at
Churchbridge in Great Wyrley. (fn. 454) Industrial development was taking place to the south-west of Cannock
town by 1956.