COPPENHALL
Coppenhall, a civil parish formerly part of the
ancient parish of Penkridge, is bounded on the east
by the Pothooks Brook. The centre of the village lies
at 416 ft., the ground rising from under 275 ft. in
the east of the parish to over 475 ft. in the west. The
soil is stiff loam, with a subsoil of clay and gravel. (fn. 1)
The parish is still mainly agricultural. A detached
strip of Coppenhall, running northwards along the
east side of Thornyfields Lane, was added to Castle
Church between c. 1849 and 1878. (fn. 2) The area of the
parish is 907 acres. (fn. 3)
About 1558 the inhabitants of Coppenhall including the hamlet of Butterhill ('Butterall')
numbered over 120. (fn. 4) In the constablewick of
Coppenhall and Butterhill there were fourteen
households chargeable for hearth tax in 1666 and
five too poor to be taxable. (fn. 5) Coppenhall contained 10
or 12 houses in 1680 and Butterhill 4, there being no
gentleman's residence in either, (fn. 6) and in 1811 there
was a population of 92 with 16 houses. (fn. 7) The population of the civil parish in 1951 was 113. (fn. 8)
Coppenhall had 332 acres under cultivation in 1801,
152 acres being sown with wheat, 19 with barley,
67 with oats, 3 with potatoes, 81 with beans, and 10
with turnips or rape. (fn. 9) Four farmers with a blacksmith were named in 1834, (fn. 10) and in about 1849
there were three farms of over 100 acres, one of
them being of nearly 300 acres, with several of less
than 100 acres. (fn. 11) In 1940 there were four farms, two
of them over 150 acres. (fn. 12)
On low-lying ground at Coppenhall Gorse is a
large moated site. (fn. 13) The area enclosed is about 100
yds. in diameter and is approximately oval. Beyond
the moat is an outer bank and to the east is a further
incomplete system of banks, roughly rectangular in
shape. Most of the moat is dry but there are indications of an inlet to the north-west, leading from a
field formerly known as The Springs. (fn. 14) Surrounding
the site the names of eleven fields incorporate the
word 'park', (fn. 15) indicating the existence of an important early dwelling. A detailed examination of the
site and excavations undertaken in 1951 suggest that
the period of its occupation was during the earlier
14th century. (fn. 16)
Coppenhall Hall is a much-altered farmhouse,
built mainly of brick. The west end of the front
range is timber-framed and consists of two bays and
part of a third. The roof and attic story appear to
date from the 16th century, but it is possible that the
lower part of the framing is older. The front gables
are later additions and the east end of the range
has been rebuilt. There is also a mid-19th-century
brick addition at the rear. Two carved oak bosses,
probably of 15th-century date, have been reset in
the present hall. They consist of grotesque faces
framed in foliage and with stems issuing from their
mouths. Depressions to the north and west of the
house may represent the remains of a moat. The
buildings of Church Farm, the other large farm in
the village, are not ancient. Doxeywood Cottage in
Thornyfields Lane is a small timber-framed structure of two bays, probably having at one time a third
bay to the south. The front and the north gable end
have exposed framing of the late 16th or early 17th
century. On the west side of the road to Hyde Lea
is the former smithy, which ceased working soon
after 1950. Chase View is a mansion of yellow brick,
built c. 1865 on a commanding site as a residence
for Henry Woodhouse, engineer to the L. & N.W.
Railway at Stafford. (fn. 17) It has been used as offices by
the English Electric Co. since c. 1942. (fn. 18) Since the
First World War the residential outskirts of Stafford
have spread along the west side of the road from Hyde
Lea and there are several modern detached houses to
the south-east of the village.
Manor
COPPENHALL (Copehale), which had
been held, T.R.E., by three freemen, was held in
1086 as a hide by Bueret from Robert de Stafford. (fn. 19)
The overlordship descended in the barony of Stafford
until at least 1524. (fn. 20) Lord Stafford was still described
as lord of the manor in 1884, (fn. 21) and payments from
Coppenhall were included among Stafford Rents
from at least 1368 until at least 1720. (fn. 22) Land there
remained in the Stafford family until at least 1892. (fn. 23)
Bueret, the tenant in 1086 (fn. 24) seems to have been
followed before 1166 by an Ulpher de Coppenhall. (fn. 25)
Coppenhall seems to have formed the 2/3 fee held
in demesne by Geoffrey de Coppenhall in 1166. (fn. 26)
Robert fitz Geoffrey had succeeded before 1222. (fn. 27)
A Robert de Coppenhall held a small or mortain fee
here in 1242 (fn. 28) and this or another Robert' de Coppenhall' or 'de Botarhale' was released, before 1255, by
Robert de Stafford from his service due for ½ fee. (fn. 29)
Ulpher had granted half his demesne lands in
Coppenhall, with woodland there, probably before
1166, to a William Bagot. (fn. 30) The land has been
identified with The Hyde, and this William Bagot,
described as of The Hyde, was succeeded, by 1182,
by a son William (II) (fn. 31) who was holding ½ knight's
fee in Coppenhall of Robert fitz Geoffrey in 1222
and 1227. (fn. 32) He had married one of the three
daughters and coheirs of Robert fitz Odo of Loxley
(Warws.), through whom he acquired Patshull
(Seisdon hundred). (fn. 33) By 1236 he had been succeeded
by his son Robert, and he, by 1248 or 1249, by
his son William (III), when his widow Ascira was
claiming dower in rents in The Hyde and Coppenhall. (fn. 34) Following the surrender of the intermediate
lordship by Robert de Coppenhall, William (III)
was described as lord of Coppenhall in 1255. (fn. 35) It was
presumably this same William (III) on whom a
manor of Hyde was settled, for life, by a Richard
Bagot in 1276, with successive remainders to his sons
William, Robert, and Edmund. (fn. 36) In 1279 Richard
recovered possession (fn. 37) but in 1285 William (III)
was holding the manor of The Hyde as 1 knight's
fee. (fn. 38) In 1303 a grant of free warren in his demesne
lands in The Hyde was made to William Bagot (IV), (fn. 39)
and in 1305 the manor of The Hyde was settled on
William and his wife Eleanor. (fn. 40) William (IV) was
described as lord of Coppenhall in 1316 (fn. 41) but at some
date between 1308 and c. 1324 (when he died, leaving no issue), he conveyed this manor of The Hyde to
Ralph Lord Stafford. (fn. 42) Eleanor, by then wife of John
de Ferrers, lord of Chartley, conveyed her life interest
in the manor to the same Ralph de Stafford in 1326. (fn. 43)
In 1327 The Hyde was settled in fee tail on Ralph
de Stafford and his wife Katherine, to hold in chief. (fn. 44)
Meanwhile, William Bagot's heir seems to have been
Sir Ralph Bagot, (fn. 45) probably his brother, whose
daughter Joan, in 1359, conveyed all her rights in
the manor to Ralph, by then Earl of Stafford. (fn. 46) In
1378 Hugh Earl of Stafford conveyed The Hyde and
all his lands in Coppenhall to Richard and Nicholas
de Stafford and four others, (fn. 47) presumably by way
of a settlement since the manor of Hyde was held
by the barony in 1397. (fn. 48) In 1403, on the death of
Edmund Earl of Stafford, his heir being an infant,
the king granted to the queen two-thirds of a
carucate of demesne land in two-thirds of the manor,
with 4 acres meadowland, two stews, and two-thirds
of the park of Hyde (in Castle Church). (fn. 49) This grant
was confirmed in 1404. (fn. 50)
By 1397, and until at least July 1403, rents from
lands in The Hyde and Coppenhall were held of the
barony by a Humphrey de Stafford. (fn. 51) Some time
between 1443 and 1453 a manor of Hyde was settled
on Avice or Amice, daughter and heir of Sir Richard
Stafford son and heir of Sir Humphrey Stafford of
Hooke (Dors.). (fn. 52) Avice, who by 1438 was married to
James le Botiller or Ormond, later Earl of Wiltshire
(d. 1461), died childless in 1457. (fn. 53) Her heir was her
cousin, Humphrey Stafford (son of John), who died
seised of The Hyde in 1461 and was succeeded by
his cousin Sir Humphrey Stafford of Hooke and of
Southwick (in North Bradley, Wilts.), son of William
younger brother of Richard and John Stafford. (fn. 54) In
1469 he became Earl of Devon, and was beheaded. (fn. 55)
Another Sir Humphrey Stafford then entered what
were later described as lands and tenements in Hyde
and Coppenhall, claiming them by virtue of a conveyance to his father, Humphrey son of Ralph, by
Sir Humphrey Stafford of Hooke, grandfather of the
Earl of Devon, but was dispossessed in 1473 by the
heirs of Alice, aunt of the earl, namely Elizabeth and
her husband Sir John Coleshill, Anne and her
husband John Willoughby, and Thomas Strangeways, husband of the third daughter Eleanor. (fn. 56) In
1483 Sir Robert Willoughby, son of Anne, was
cleared of a charge of wrongfully dispossessing Humphrey of these lands (fn. 57) and, as Lord Willoughby
de Broke, in 1502 died seised of what was called
the manor of Hyde-Coppenhall, worth £7 7s. 4d. and
held of the Earl of Stafford by fealty. (fn. 58) His heir was
his son Robert, (fn. 59) who in 1516, with his second wife
Dorothy and son Edward, made a settlement of this
and other manors. (fn. 60) Hyde-Coppenhall then descended with Littywood in Bradley, (fn. 61) being conveyed
in 1542 by Sir Anthony Willoughby to Fulke Greville
and Elizabeth. (fn. 62) In 1552 they conveyed it, for her
life, to Anne Neville, a daughter of Ralph Earl of
Westmorland (d. 1549), and granddaughter of
Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham (d. 1521). (fn. 63)
In 1628 Margaret, wife of Sir Richard Verney of
Compton Verney (Warws.), succeeded her brother
to what was called the manor of Hyde or HydeCoppenhall. (fn. 64) On her death in 1631 the manor was
described as Hyde-Coppenhall otherwise Coppenhall, (fn. 65) and it probably then descended with the
barony of Willoughby de Broke (in abeyance from
1521 to 1694). By c. 1849 the 16th Lord Willoughby
de Broke (d. 1852) owned a farm of 297 acres in
Coppenhall, the tenant being Samuel Wright, and
a small holding of 6 acres, the tenant being a Mr.
Ansell. (fn. 66) The 18th Lord Willoughby de Broke still
owned land here at the end of the century. (fn. 67)
The Cholmeley family seem to have occupied the
'farm of Coppenhall' as tenants since the early 15th
century. (fn. 68) In 1547 Thomas Cholmeley, Mary his
wife, and their sons Edward and Henry were granted
by Sir Fulke Greville the lease for their lives of a
capital messuage and land in Coppenhall at a rent
of 57s. 10½d. (fn. 69) Messuages and lands in Coppenhall
and Hyde were leased to Edward and Henry by Sir
Fulke and his wife in 1557, (fn. 70) and in 1565 messuages
and lands in Coppenhall, Hyde, and elsewhere were
settled on Edward for 40 years at a rent of £5 5s. 4d. (fn. 71)
Sir Fulke's son Sir Fulke in 1607 leased the capital
messuage and arable land, meadow, and pasture in
Coppenhall to a Henry Cholmeley for 21 years, (fn. 72)
and as Lord Brooke Fulke renewed the lease in
1627. (fn. 73) Henry died later in the same year. (fn. 74) Robert,
Matthew, and Edward Chomeley made a settlement
of lands in Coppenhall in 1660. (fn. 75) and land there was
settled on Edward in 1663. (fn. 76)
Coppenhall Hall was bought and occupied after
the First World War by Mr. James Holt, farmer. (fn. 77)
He still owned it in 1956, the tenant being Mr.
Sumner. (fn. 78) The building is described above. (fn. 79)
The prebend of Coppenhall in the collegiate
church of Penkridge occurs by 1261 (fn. 80) and was
valued at £10 in 1291. (fn. 81) In 1535 the prebend, valued
at £16, consisted of the site of the PREBENDAL
MANOR, worth 20s., chief rents of 30s., tithe of
grain averaging £6, other tithes and oblations
averaging £6 10s., and Easter offerings, averaging
10s. (fn. 82) Synodals of 6s. 8d. were due every three years
to the Dean of Penkridge. (fn. 83) A lease of the prebend
was granted in 1547 to Sir Edward Littleton who
the following year paid £20 rent for it to the royal
bailiff of the dissolved college. (fn. 84) The prebend
presumably descended with the rest of the collegiate
possessions, (fn. 85) and in 1585 it passed with view of
frankpledge and tithe in Coppenhall to Edward
Littleton, (fn. 86) grandson of the lessee of 1547 and holder
of a 21-year lease since 1577 or 1578. (fn. 87) The prebend
descended in his family with Pillaton (fn. 88) until at least
1709, (fn. 89) and the 30 acres in Coppenhall owned by the
3rd Lord Hatherton c. 1849 (fn. 90) may have been former
prebendal land.
Lesser Estates
One Elias de Coppenhall
(living c. 1160) made various grants of land in
Coppenhall to Stone Priory (Pirehill hundred), including 2 virgates held of him by Ranulf his brother. (fn. 91)
Part of this land was confirmed to the priory by a
Robert de Coppenhall after some dispute. (fn. 92) Robert
de Coppenhall, Dean of Penkridge c. 1180, granted
to the priory the messuage in Coppenhall where his
father and then he himself had lived, along with an
orchard, an alder grove, and ½ virgate in campo, (fn. 93)
while Robert son of Geoffrey de Coppenhall gave the
priory 2s. out of the farm of the lands of Butterhill
('Butterales'). (fn. 94) At some time after c. 1217 Hervey de
Stafford confirmed the canons in their possession of
land granted by Elias and of the 2s. rent from Butterhill. (fn. 95) Part of Elias's grant, the land between Hyde
and 'Holedene' with meadow, was given to William
Bagot (II), son of William Bagot of The Hyde, by
Prior Sylvester for homage and a rent of 40d. (fn. 96)
A Henry de 'Butterhall', lord of Butterhill, occurs
possibly early in the 14th century. (fn. 97) At some unknown date Margery, daughter of John le Rede of
Longdon, gave to John de Pykstoke and his heirs all
her rights in the whole lordship of the vill of Butterhill and Coppenhall. (fn. 98) In 1324 Philip de Pickstock
acquired 2 acres in Butterhill from Richard de
Wenlock, (fn. 99) and by 1403 Nicholas de Pickstock was
holding tenements here of Lord Stafford by rent of
six barbed arrows (worth 12d.). (fn. 100) His heirs were
holding as free tenants of the barony a messuage
called Butterhill (Butterhall) between at least 1452
and 1486. (fn. 101) In 1518 William Greene was paying a
rent to Lord Stafford for a messuage and a carucate
of land, formerly held by Nicholas Pickstock, (fn. 102) and
between at least 1627 and 1631 Ralph Greene paid
12d. for what was almost certainly this same tenement at Butterhill. (fn. 103)
An estate in Butterhill of some 111 acres including
Butterhill House was owned c. 1849 by Edward
Moore and occupied by Richard Wright. (fn. 104) By 1868
it seems to have been owned by William Marson,
who was living in Butterhill by 1872, (fn. 105) and James
Cramer Marson seems to have succeeded by 1876,
although he was then not resident there. (fn. 106) By 1880
the estate was owned and farmed by Mrs. Lydia
Busby, (fn. 107) who was still living there in 1900. (fn. 108) Mrs. A. J.
Busby was one of the chief landowners in Coppenhall in 1912 and 1916, (fn. 109) but between at least 1924
and 1932 Butterhill House was owned and occupied
by T. P. Darlington. (fn. 110) Miss Darlington was living
there in 1940. (fn. 111) The house subsequently passed to
the present Mr. Darlington, and he sold it in 1955
to Mr. A. N. Hillier, who had converted it by 1956
into flats. (fn. 112) The present house is a mid-19th-century brick building with gabled dormers, ornamental barge-boards, and stone bay windows. (fn. 113) There
is a large walled garden to the north.
An estate in Butterhill of some 30 acres including
the present Butterhill Farm and the windmill (see
below) was owned c. 1849 by Lord Hatherton and
occupied by William Handy. (fn. 114) It seems to have been
united by 1868 to the Butterhill House estate (fn. 115) with
which it then descended until 1955 (fn. 116) and in 1956
was still owned by Mr. Darlington. (fn. 117) The farmhouse
and many of the outbuildings date from the early
19th century.
Mills
Henry Cholmeley and his wife Francis
conveyed a windmill and ½ acre of land in Coppenhall to John Giffard (or Halfepenye) in 1616. (fn. 118) This
may have stood in the Windmill Field 'adjoining
Hyde Lea' mentioned in 1661, (fn. 119) but by the mid-19th
century the field-name alone survived. (fn. 120)
A second windmill standing on high ground some
150 yds. west of Butterhill Farm and locally said to
have been the only six-sail mill in the county was in
use by 1820. (fn. 121) About 1849 it was part of Lord Hatherton's estate in Coppenhall occupied by William
Handy. (fn. 122) It seems to have gone out of use between
1872 and 1876, (fn. 123) but the tackle was not removed
until 1912. (fn. 124) The derelict brick tower probably dates
from c. 1800.
Church
There was a church at Coppenhall by
1200. (fn. 125) It may have been of independent foundation
and subsequently appropriated to Penkridge College (fn. 126) of which it was a dependency by 1261. (fn. 127) A
vicarage had been ordained by 1291. (fn. 128) By the
Reformation 'all manner of sacraments and sacramentals, as well in christening of children as others',
were administered in the church (fn. 129) which was
described in 1563 as a chapel of ease to Penkridge
with cure. (fn. 130) The churchyard, however, was not
consecrated for burials until 1870. (fn. 131) The benefice
became a perpetual curacy after the Reformation, (fn. 132)
and since 1892 it has been united with that of
Dunston. (fn. 133)
The right of presentation to the vicarage was
claimed without success against the Dean of Penkridge by Richard Bagot in 1310. (fn. 134) The Crown presented in 1342, when the chapel was said to be
annexed to the prebend of Bold in Penkridge
College, (fn. 135) but by the time of the Dissolution the
right of presentation was held by the Prebendary of
Coppenhall. (fn. 136) It then passed to the Crown (fn. 137) and
presumably descended with the advowson of Penkridge church (fn. 138) with which it was granted in 1585 to
Edward Littleton. (fn. 139) It descended in his family until
c. 1897, its recent history being the same as that of
Dunston. (fn. 140)
The vicarage was valued at 13s. 4d. in 1291. (fn. 141) In
1548 the vicar had a house and lands in Coppenhall,
all tithes in Coppenhall and Butterhill and tithe of
corn in the hamlet of Hyde, the total being valued
at £4. (fn. 142) In the same year the vicar was ordered to
continue to serve the chapel at his old salary. (fn. 143) In
1550 the glebe and vicarial tithe were granted by the
Crown to John Bellowe and William Fuller (fn. 144) but
by 1554 were held by John Leveson and his wife
Joyce who then granted them to Edward Cholmeley. (fn. 145) About 1558 the inhabitants of Coppenhall
were accusing Edward of having made no provision
for a vicar so that there was then no one to serve the
cure. (fn. 146) The vicarial tithes were held by the Cholmeley family until at least 1703. (fn. 147) The curate's
stipend was £4 in 1604 (fn. 148) and the same in 1651 when
it was stated to be paid out of the fee farm of Penkridge College. (fn. 149)
A service is held in the church each Sunday under
the terms of Helen Perry's gift of 1902. (fn. 150)
The church of ST. LAWRENCE is a small stone
building consisting of a nave and chancel with a
timber bell turret at the west end. It dates from
c. 1200 and is of special interest as a comparatively
unaltered example of a small church of this period. (fn. 151)
The walls are of stone ashlar and are of exceptional
thickness, the east and west walls being further
thickened at the base.
The chancel was probably built shortly before
1200. In the east wall are three widely spaced lancets,
the most southerly having a semicircular head
externally, the others being slightly pointed. In each
instance the heads are cut from a single stone.
externally the jambs and heads are chamfered and
there are deep internal splays. The south wall has
two similar windows. The pointed chancel arch is of
two orders, springing from semicircular responds
with hollowed bell capitals and square-edged abaci.
The plinths are square and the base mouldings consist of two rolls, the lower one flattened. The nave
probably dates from soon after 1200. In the west wall
are three graded lancets with pointed heads. Externally they appear as independent lights but internally
they are contained under a single arch with splayed
jambs, exhibiting an early form of three-light window. Below the window the west doorway has an
undercut dripstone terminating in much-decayed
carved stops. The arch is pointed and carries a
filletted roll-moulding which is continued down
the jambs. In both north and south walls of the nave
are three pointed lancets, those on the south being
largely modern. Traces of a south doorway, which
was already blocked before the mid-19th century, (fn. 152)
are still visible between the two more westerly
lancets. The buttresses abutting on the chancel arch
and those at the west end of the nave are probably
original; the buttresses at the east end of the chancel
are later additions. At some period, possibly in the
16th century, a small wooden bell turret with a
pyramidal roof was added at the west end of the
nave, and in the 18th century two windows were
inserted in the south nave wall. (fn. 153) The former lancets were blocked, but parts of their stonework may
have survived. A thorough restoration of the church
took place c. 1866 at a cost of £500. (fn. 154) Previously the
interior had contained box-pews, a Georgian pulpit,
turned altar rails, and a plaster ceiling. (fn. 155) At the
restoration the church was reroofed, lancets were
reinstated in the south nave wall, the gable-ends
were rebuilt, and a circular window was inserted in
the east gable. A new bell turret with a taller spire
was added. Internally the Georgian fittings were
removed and a stone pulpit and a circular font
installed. The church contains memorial tablets to
the Revd. Evan Price (d. 1875) and his wife; also
to Lillie (d. 1911), wife of Charles H. Wright.
Plan of St. Lawrence's Church
A memorial pulpit and lectern were given in
memory of Charles Mort by his widow Helen who
by will proved 1917 bequeathed an annual interest
of £5 for their maintenance. (fn. 156) In 1932 £20 accumulated income was used towards the cost of the heating
apparatus, (fn. 157) and in 1957 the income was accumulating for use, as necessary, in the maintenance of the
church. (fn. 158) The east lancets were restored in 1930, and
stained glass was inserted in memory of the Revd.
Charles E. Cope. (fn. 159) The oak lych-gate to the churchyard was erected in 1932 as a memorial to Charles
H. and Lillie Wright. (fn. 160) The church still benefits
from the gift of £100 made by Henry Woodhouse of
Llandudno (Caernarvonshire) to provide an income
for the upkeep of the fabric. (fn. 161)
In 1553 the plate included a silver chalice and
paten and a brass censer. (fn. 162) In 1955 it included an
Elizabethan silver chalice, a silver flagon, a pewter
alms dish, an electro-plated alms dish, and an electroplated paten, 1897. (fn. 163) In 1548 there were two bells,
identified in 1553 as one bell and a sanctus bell. (fn. 164)
The present silver bell was cast by Clibury of Wellington in 1670. (fn. 165)
There is a register of baptisms from January
1678/9 to 1812, with nine marriages, 1684–1783,
1831, 1837. (fn. 166) The entries down to 1776 are copied
mainly from the Bradley register with some from
the Haughton register, but not consistently so. There
is also a register of marriages from 1847 and of
burials from 1871. (fn. 167)
Charities for the Poor
John Webb of
Coppenhall, by will proved 1759, left to the poor of
Coppenhall a rent of 20s. charged on land here. (fn. 168) In
1928 £2 accumulated income was paid to the church
cleaner, (fn. 169) but by 1955 the charity had not been
distributed for some years because no one had
qualified to receive it. (fn. 170)
In about 1848 the poor of Coppenhall were stated
to own Stitch Meadow here, (fn. 171) but no payment seems
to have been made subsequently for lack of any
record of the charity. (fn. 172)