Burntwood: Manors, local government and public services

MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES.

There was a manor of PIPE by 1135, the tenant having been enfeoffed with ¹/8 knight's fee by the bishop of Coventry. (fn. 1) It was also known as Great Pipe, as distinct from Little Pipe, a detached part of the parish of St. Chad, Lichfield. (fn. 2) Held as ¼ fee by the 1240s and assessed at 1 hide c. 1255, Pipe remained a member of the bishop's manor of Longdon, which in 1546 passed to the Paget family (successively Barons Paget, earls of Uxbridge, and marquesses of Anglesey). Pipe was still a member of Longdon manor in the 1850s. (fn. 3) It covered Edial and Woodhouses but did not include Burntwood, which grew up on part of the waste of Longdon manor. (fn. 4)

The bishop's tenant in 1167, and apparently in 1135, was Henry of Pipe, who witnessed a deed c. 1150. (fn. 5) William of Pipe may have held the manor in 1199. (fn. 6) Richard of Pipe held it in 1242–3 and he or another Richard in 1284–5. (fn. 7) Sir Robert, son of Richard of Pipe, held it in 1293 and died evidently in 1306; he was a royal commissioner and tax collector in Staffordshire and bailiff and steward of the bishop. (fn. 8) He was succeeded by his son Thomas Pipe (Sir Thomas by 1311), who was summoned to a council at Westminster in 1324 and was a royal commissioner in Staffordshire and Shropshire in 1327. He was dead by 1329. (fn. 9)

In 1332 Pipe was held by his widow Margaret. (fn. 10) Her son James Pipe granted the manor to her in 1334–5, and in 1337–8 she assigned it to Sir Richard Stafford, a son by her first husband, Edmund Stafford, Baron Stafford (d. 1308). (fn. 11) In the earlier 1340s James Pipe unsuccessfully sued Sir Richard for the manor, claiming that he had made the grant to his mother while under age. (fn. 12) Sir Richard was M.P. for the county in 1341, a soldier, and a diplomat. (fn. 13) He was succeeded in 1380 by his son Edmund, bishop of Exeter 1395–1419, keeper of the privy seal 1389–96, and lord chancellor 1396–9 and 1401–3. (fn. 14) On Edmund's death in 1419 a life interest in Pipe passed to his nephew Thomas Stafford (d. 1425). (fn. 15)

The manor then passed to Edmund's great-niece Maud, wife of Thomas Stanley of Elford. (fn. 16) On Thomas's death in 1463 their son Sir John succeeded. Several times sheriff and M.P. for Staffordshire, he was living at Pipe in 1458. In 1461 he settled the manor in trust for his third wife Elizabeth and their son Humphrey, then aged about six. (fn. 17) After Sir John's death in 1476 Humphrey's right was challenged by his half-brother John, and the dispute was settled in Humphrey's favour in 1490–1. (fn. 18) Knighted by Henry VII at the battle of Bosworth in 1485 and created a banneret at the battle of Stoke in 1487, Sir Humphrey, who lived at Pipe, was three times sheriff and several times M.P. for Staffordshire. He died in 1504 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. (fn. 19) His son and heir John, who also lived at Pipe, died in 1514, leaving two infant daughters and coheirs, Elizabeth and Isabel. (fn. 20)

By 1522 Elizabeth was the wife of Sir John Hercy of Grove (Notts.) and Isabel of Walter Moyle of Buckwell in Boughton Aluph (Kent). Each couple had a moiety of Pipe. Isabel died there, and her husband held the moiety until his death in 1558. Their daughter Mary married Erasmus Heveningham of Heveningham (Suff.). Erasmus died in 1559, evidently at Pipe Hall, and on Mary's death her son Christopher Heveningham succeeded to the moiety. In 1565 Sir John Hercy and Elizabeth conveyed the other moiety to Christopher and his wife Dorothy. Christopher Heveningham died at his manor of Aston, in Stone, in 1574 and was succeeded by his son Walter, a minor. (fn. 21) Walter, who was sheriff in 1609–10 and was knighted in 1619, died at Pipe Hall in 1636. (fn. 22) His heir was his grandson Walter Heveningham. (fn. 23) Pipe had been sequestrated by 1648 because of the younger Walter's Roman Catholicism, and Robert Pargiter of Greatworth (Northants.) then stated that he had bought the manor from Walter. (fn. 24) In 1658 Walter was described as of Pipe Hall. (fn. 25) He lived at both Pipe and Aston and died in 1691. (fn. 26)

Under a settlement of 1691 Pipe passed to his daughter Bridget and her husband Sir James Simeon, Bt., of Brightwell Baldwin (Oxon.). (fn. 27) The settlement replaced one of 1688 in favour of Walter's nephew Christopher Heveningham, who received instead an annuity of £50 and unsuccessfully challenged Sir James's right. (fn. 28) Bridget died in 1692 and Sir James in 1709. He was succeeded by his son Edward, who died unmarried in 1768. (fn. 29) Pipe passed to his greatnephew Edward Weld of Lulworth Castle (Dors.), who was succeeded by his brother Thomas in 1775. (fn. 30) In 1800 Thomas sold the manor to Samuel Pipe Wolferstan of Statfold, a distant relative who claimed descent from Sir Richard Stafford. (fn. 31) Samuel was succeeded in 1820 by his son Stanley, who sold Pipe Hall farm, 226 a. in 1844, to S. P. Shawe of Maple Hayes in 1859. (fn. 32) Stanley Pipe Wolferstan's son Francis, who succeeded in 1867, sold Pipe manor to Shawe's son and heir Henry in 1868. (fn. 33) In 1884 Henry sold much of the Maple Hayes estate, including Pipe manor and Pipe Hall farm, to A. O. Worthington, and on Worthington's death in 1918 the manor and farm passed to his son William, who died in 1949. The farm was still part of the Maple Hayes estate in 1986. (fn. 34)

The lord of the manor surnamed of Pipe in the mid 12th century presumably had a house there, and in 1299 Sir Robert Pipe dated a deed from Pipe. (fn. 35) In 1371 the bishop licensed the performance of a marriage in the chapel within the manor of Pipe, presumably a chapel in the manor house. (fn. 36) The hall of Pipe was mentioned in 1436. (fn. 37) Walter Heveningham was assessed for tax on 15 hearths there in 1666. (fn. 38) By the earlier 1690s Pipe Hall was occupied as a farmhouse by the Bates family, still the tenants in 1778 and probably in 1781. (fn. 39) It was rebuilt c. 1770, (fn. 40) and in the early 19th century there were minor extensions and some internal remodelling. Two rooms on the first floor appear to have been once connected by an open arcade of three arches, and they probably formed the Roman Catholic chapel in use until 1800. (fn. 41) North-west of the house are timber-framed farm buildings whose walls have been much undercut in brick; they include a 17th-century barn.

An estate at Pipe in 1167 was described as the land of three canons. (fn. 42) It may have been the land given to the canons and lay brothers of Farewell by Bishop Clinton c. 1140. Soon afterwards the bishop made a grant, probably of the same estate, to the nuns of Farewell at the request of three hermits and brothers. The grant included land at Pipe. Henry II, probably in 1155, confirmed the nuns in their possession of a carucate of land at Pipe assarted from Cannock forest. (fn. 43) That may be the origin of the ABNALLS estate which was within the nuns' manor of Farewell by the early 14th century. When the priory was suppressed in 1527, its estates included land at Ashmore Brook, Pipe, Abnalls, and Burntwood. Later in 1527 the Crown granted the priory's possessions to the dean and chapter of Lichfield, who in 1550 granted Farewell manor to William, Lord Paget. (fn. 44)

A house and virgate at Abnalls were held of Farewell priory by Roger of Abnall (Abenhale) in 1318 or 1319, (fn. 45) probably in succession to Thomas of Abnall who was a tenant of the priory in the earlier 1290s. (fn. 46) Roger was still alive in 1327 but had probably been succeeded by Amy (or Amice) of Abnall by 1333. (fn. 47) In 1357 the estate, consisting of a messuage, a mill, a carucate, and other land in Abnalls, Pipe, Elmhurst, and Lichfield, was held by Nicholas Taverner, described as parson of Stretton. (fn. 48) Probably by 1378 a house and ½ virgate in Abnalls had passed from him to Aymer Taverner, a prominent citizen of Lichfield also known as Aymer Lichfield. (fn. 49) Aymer probably died in 1399. (fn. 50) The Abnalls estate was held in the early 15th century by William Newport, who made it his home. He was knighted in 1400 and was three times sheriff and three times M.P. for the county. (fn. 51) He evidently died in 1415 or 1416, and Abnalls passed to Sir William Lichfield, Aymer's heir and kinsman, who was living there in 1417. (fn. 52) In 1421 he made a settlement of what was called the manor of Abnalls. (fn. 53) The manor then descended with his share of Freeford, passing in 1537 to the Wingfield family. (fn. 54) The Wingfields conveyed the manor in 1566 to Sir Edward Littleton of Pillaton, in Penkridge, (fn. 55) who at his death in 1574 was holding it of Thomas, Lord Paget, as of the manor of Farewell. (fn. 56) The Wingfields retained some property in Abnalls which passed with their Freeford estate to Jane Kniveton c. 1600. (fn. 57) In 1609 Sir Edward Littleton's son Sir Edward conveyed a house and land in Great and Little Abnalls and elsewhere in the area to Thomas Sprott of Ashmore Brook, whose family had held another house and land at Abnalls at least since the earlier 16th century. (fn. 58)

Abnalls then descended with the Ashmore Brook estate until the earlier 19th century. It appears then to have been divided, part becoming the home farm of Maple Hayes (fn. 59) and part being sold to Thomas Smith of Lichfield, probably in the 1830s. In 1844 his devisees owned a 56–3. farm centring on Abnalls Cottage on the north side of Abnalls Lane. (fn. 60) That house was rebuilt in 1848. (fn. 61) It was the home of William Gresley, prebendary of Wolvey in Lichfield cathedral, in the earlier 1850s, (fn. 62) and in the mid 1850s R. C. Chawner moved there from Wall, remaining until his death in 1870. His widow and daughter lived there until about the mid 1880s, when they moved to Edial House. (fn. 63) By the later 1880s it was the home of H. C. Hodson, diocesan registrar from 1878, who became noted for his kennels of pure-bred bloodhounds there. He died in 1924; Mrs. E. M. R. Hodson lived there in the 1930s. (fn. 64) The house was divided into two in 1948. (fn. 65) The medieval house may have occupied the moated site on the south side of Abnalls Lane just inside the Lichfield city boundary. (fn. 66)

An estate in ASHMORE BROOK held by Thomas of Hamstead (d. by 1254) was probably that held of the bishop in 1298 by another Thomas of Hamstead as ¹/8 knight's fee. It was later held by Nicholas of Hamstead. (fn. 67) It eventually passed to Roger Fordiave, who was succeeded in 1420 or 1421 by his daughter Mar garet and her husband John Sprott; the inheritance included four messuages in the area which were held of Farewell priory. (fn. 68) In 1510 Ashmore Brook was the home of Thomas Sprott, who died in 1531 and was then serjeant of Lichfield cathedral. He held what was described as a capital messuage at Ashmore Brook of the bishop as ¹/8 knight's fee, along with three messuages in Abnalls, Burntwood, and Hammerwich and other property in the area. He was succeeded by his son Edward. (fn. 69) In 1571 Edward was living in the capital messuage, which had an estate of 85 a. attached to it; he had a second house at Ashmore Brook with 74 a. attached. Both were held of the former episcopal manor of Longdon, and he held two other houses in the area, one of them at Abnalls, as tenant of Farewell manor. (fn. 70) Edward died in 1591. (fn. 71) His heir was his son Roger, who was living at Ashmore Brook in 1598. (fn. 72) Thomas Sprott, probably Roger's son, had the estate in 1604, and he was succeeded by his nephew Thomas, evidently by 1611; Thomas had already acquired the nearby Bilston Brook farm in 1605. (fn. 73) He died in 1655, having made a settlement in 1654 at the time of the marriage of his grandson and heir Henry Sprott to Ann, daughter and heir of Thomas Lokier of the Marsh, in Barrow (Salop.). Ashmore Brook House, the capital messuage, was settled on Henry for life with remainder to Ann for life as jointure. The second house at Ashmore Brook was settled for life on Henry's mother Dorothy Saunders, who was the remarried widow of Thomas's son Edward, killed at the battle of Marston Moor in 1644. (fn. 74) Henry died in 1673 with a son Thomas as his heir; his widow Ann lived until 1721. Thomas was succeeded in 1710 by his son Henry, who lived at the Marsh and died in 1744 with his brother Samuel, a physician of Ludlow, as his heir. (fn. 75)

Samuel Sprott died in 1760, and the Ashmore Brook estate passed to Henry's three daughters, Ann the wife of James Moseley, Elizabeth the wife of William Toldervy, and Dorothy the wife of John Ashwood. Ann Moseley's heir was her son Walter, of Leaton in Bobbington, who also succeeded Elizabeth Toldervy under her will of 1794. Dorothy's share passed on her death in 1783 to her daughter Dorothy, who married Sir Henry Hawley of Leybourne Grange (Kent) and also died in 1783, leaving a son Henry; her husband continued to hold her share of Ashmore Brook by the courtesy. (fn. 76)

In 1812 Walter Moseley, Sir Henry Hawley, and Henry Hawley sold Ashmore Brook House, his other house at Ashmore Brook, and Abnall House (so named by 1654) to John Atkinson of Maple Hayes; the property was subject to payments to the lord of Longdon. (fn. 77) Atkinson sold Ashmore Brook House in 1838 to Richard Hinckley and Maryanne Woodhouse, both of Beacon House, Lichfield. Hinckley bought his share for the benefit of his wife Ellen, Maryanne's sister, to whom the other share passed on Maryanne's death in 1843. (fn. 78) In 1844 the farm attached to the house covered 159 a. (fn. 79) Hinckley died in 1865, and on Ellen's death in 1870 what was then known as Ashmore Brook farm passed to her granddaughter Ellen, the wife of the Revd. F. W. Vernon of Hilton. She died in 1899, and her trustees sold the farm to A. O. Worthington of Maple Hayes. (fn. 80) It was still part of the Maple Hayes estate in 1986. (fn. 81)

Ashmore Brook Farm consists of a late-medieval central range with a cross wing at either end. The central range was originally a two-bayed open hall. A chimney stack and an upper floor were inserted in the earlier 17th century. In 1666 Henry Sprott was assessed for tax on eight hearths in the house. (fn. 82) The service cross wing at the west end was reconstructed in the 18th century, a staircase being built into the angle between its southward projection and the hall range. The wing was extended northwards in the 19th century. The eastern cross wing, which includes another staircase, was rebuilt early in the 19th century and remodelled later in the century. Most of the external timber walling has been rebuilt in brick. The house originally stood within a moat fed by Ashmore brook, three sides of which survived in the 1840s. (fn. 83)

The second house, on the opposite side of the road, had a 216-a. farm attached in 1795. (fn. 84) The site of the house, which was moated, was a detached portion of Curborough and Elmhurst until 1879. (fn. 85) The farm was owned and occupied by Thomas Worthington in 1844 when it covered 48 a. (fn. 86) By 1861 it was occupied by William Taylor, who sold it c. 1890 to Thomas Bailye. In 1982 Bailye's grandson Kenneth Bailye sold the house to Ian Herman, who in turn sold it to J. W. L. Fielding in 1985. Mr. Bailye moved to the nearby Rowan Cottage, which then became the farmhouse for what had become known as Ashmore Brook Dairy farm. (fn. 87) The former farmhouse, known as Ashmore Brook House in 1987, is a brick house of three storeys, which was described in 1795 as just erected. (fn. 88) Its main front faces south, and there is a back service wing. The south arm of the moat, fed by Ashmore brook, survives.

In 1680 EDIAL HALL was the home of Thomas Hammond, who was junior bailiff of Lichfield in 1679–80, senior bailiff in 1685–6, and mayor in 1686–7. In 1702 he had a small estate adjoining the hall and property elsewhere, including Lichfield. He was succeeded that year by his son Thomas. (fn. 89) In 1716 the younger Thomas sold the hall to William Fettiplace Nott, husband of his sister Sarah and steward of Lichfield from 1699 until his death in 1726. (fn. 90) His heir was his son Fettiplace, senior bailiff of Lichfield in 1752–3 and 1759–60 and steward 1762–9; he died in 1775. (fn. 91) The hall was occupied as a school by Samuel Johnson c. 1736 and was advertised for letting in 1750; it was occupied by Thomas Ashmole in 1773. (fn. 92) In his will Fettiplace directed that the hall should be sold with other property to meet his legacies and the debts of his son, another Fettiplace. (fn. 93) In 1776 or 1777 the hall and the adjoining farm were bought by Benjamin Robinson, who sold them in 1779 to John Fern, a Lichfield wine merchant. (fn. 94) In 1801 Fern was succeeded in the Edial property and in the wine business by his son Robert. (fn. 95) By 1806 Robert was bankrupt, and his assignees that year conveyed the hall and farmhouse to Richard Greenhough, a Lichfield maltster. (fn. 96) The hall was the home of the Revd. E. P. Waters by 1805, and he was running a school there in 1807. (fn. 97) The hall was demolished in 1809. (fn. 98)

In 1811 Greenhough sold the property to two brothers, Henry and Francis Styche. (fn. 99) It was probably the same Henry Styche who in 1834 was living at what was called Edial Hall and was farming there in 1841. (fn. 100) By 1851 he had been succeeded by his son Henry; the farm was 29 a. in extent in 1844. (fn. 101) The younger Henry, who was unmarried, was succeeded c. 1870 by John Styche, who farmed at Edial Hall until c. 1880. (fn. 102) In 1896 the farm, then of 22 a., was bought by Daniel Hulme. (fn. 103) John Mayer was farming there in 1916 and 1933, but the farm was owned by George Mayer of the Chetwynd Arms at Brocton, in Baswich. Under the terms of his will it was put up for sale in 1933. (fn. 104) In 1978 it was bought by Harry Wharmby and his wife, who also owned the Angel Croft hotel in Lichfield. (fn. 105)

The building demolished in 1809 was a double-pile brick house surmounted by a cupola; it dated from c. 1700. (fn. 106) The present Edial Hall, formerly Edial Hall Farm, is a brick house of the earlier 18th century with two bays of a 17th-century roof at its western end. It was presumably the farmhouse described in 1779 as 'adjoining and being heretofore part of Edial Hall. (fn. 107) There was still a tradition in the Styche family in the earlier 20th century that when the family bought the property in 1811 the living quarters of the hall had recently been demolished and that what then stood had been used mainly as servants' quarters and harness rooms. (fn. 108) Two ranges of timber-framed farm buildings survive; they date probably from the 17th century, though they were underbuilt and extended in brick in the 19th century.

The house known as EDIAL HOUSE FARM by 1896 (fn. 109) dates from the early 19th century, but an estate centring on an earlier house existed by the 17th century and probably by the 16th: in 1571 Fabian Orme of Overton Grange in Hammerwich held a house and land in Edial called Stokehay, a name preserved in Stockhay Lane south-west of Edial House farm. The estate descended with Overton Grange until 1628 when George Orme sold it to Simon Jasson of Lichfield. (fn. 110) Simon was living at Edial when he died in 1653. (fn. 111) His heir was his son Simon, who in 1656 bought a second house and more land at Edial from Humphrey Anson; that was the only house mentioned in his will of 1667. (fn. 112) He was assessed for tax on six hearths at Edial in 1666. (fn. 113) Simon died in 1667 or 1668 with a son Sebastian, a minor, as his heir. (fn. 114) Sebastian had moved from Edial to Walcot, in Charlbury (Oxon.), by 1704. (fn. 115) He died in 1710 or 1711, leaving two houses and land in Edial to his nephew Sebastian Jasson, then a minor but of age by 1716. (fn. 116) The younger Sebastian, who was living at Hill Top in Pipehill by 1718, sold the two houses and the land attached in 1721 to Theophilus Levett, town clerk of Lichfield from 1721 until his death in 1746. (fn. 117)

Levett's heir was his son John, who died unmarried in 1799. His Edial property evidently passed to his brother, the Revd. Richard Levett, and on Richard's death in 1802 to the next brother, Thomas, of Packington Hall in Weeford. (fn. 118) In that year Thomas owned a 107–a. farm in Edial. (fn. 119) He died in 1820 with a son Theophilus as his heir. Theophilus was succeeded in 1839 by his son John, who owned the house and 157 a. in 1841. (fn. 120) John was succeeded in 1853 by his son Theophilus and he in 1899 by his son Basil, whose brother Berkeley succeeded in 1929. (fn. 121) In 1937 Berkeley sold the farm to J. E. Hammersley. (fn. 122) F. Hammersley was farming there in 1962. (fn. 123) In 1987 the farm was owned by Mr. E. Howdle.

Thomas Bird of Lichfield and his wife Isabel probably held a house at FULFEN in the early 16th century: besides a house their holding in Longdon manor consisted of 48 a. in Burntwood called 'Fulfennes' and a plot recently taken from the waste between Fulfen and the heath. Isabel was the daughter and heir of a branch of the Bird family living at Ashmore Brook. The house had formerly been held by Henry Bytheway and later by John Verror, while Fulfennes had been held by David Bird and later by Agnes Bird. (fn. 124)

A house, a cottage, and land at Fulfen were conveyed in 1537 by John Leeke to Humphrey Cotton and his wife Anne. (fn. 125) A Humphrey Cotton held a house and pasture in Fulfen and Childerhay in 1571 and was still alive in 1577. (fn. 126) William Cotton had succeeded by 1597 and was living at Fulfen in 1602. (fn. 127) A Thomas Cotton was living in Burntwood in 1609. (fn. 128) Another William Cotton was occupying a house called Fulfen in 1664 and was assessed for tax on three hearths in Burntwood in 1666. (fn. 129) He died in 1669 or 1670 with an infant son William as his heir. (fn. 130)

The estate later passed to George Ball, whose son Richard succeeded in 1717 or 1718 to what was then called Fulfin House. (fn. 131) In 1765 the house and estate were held by Elizabeth Ball of Castle Bromwich (Warws.). She died unmarried in 1769 with her cousin James Birch as her heir. He was succeeded by his son George, and he by his son Thomas, who added Reynardson to his surname on the death of his father-in-law in 1812. As Maj.-Gen. Thomas Birch Reynardson he held the Fulfen estate in 1821. (fn. 132) In 1844 it was a 103–a. farm. (fn. 133)

Reynardson died in 1847, and in 1848 his widow Etheldred Anne sold Fulfin House to John Mann of Cleat Hill in Longdon. (fn. 134) By 1851 it was occupied by John Tudor, who had moved there from a farm in Church Road and farmed at Fulfen until his death c. 1872; his son Charles was farming 179 a. there in 1881. (fn. 135) The property was later owned by J. T. Kent, who was farming there by the 1920s and from whom it was compulsorily purchased in 1946 for St. Matthew's hospital. The land was farmed by the hospital authorities, but the house was left unoccupied. In 1951 the Ministry of Health sold the house and 17 a. to J. R. Fletcher, a Burntwood butcher, whose widow Mrs. M. Fletcher sold the house in 1984 to Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Hogan. (fn. 136)

The main block of the house known as Fulfin is of two bays and probably dates from the 16th century. It was originally timber framed and jettied on all four sides; there are also remains of two first-floor oriel windows. It seems too small to have been the house occupied by the Cotton family in the 16th and 17th centuries. Positioned on a hill on the edge of Cannock Chase, it may have been built as a hunting lodge or a standing from which spectators could watch the hunting. In the 17th century a chimney stack was built around the central truss, and in the 18th century a short brick wing was added on the north side. A little later the main block was cased in brick and much of the timber walling was removed. The wing was extended along the whole of the north side in the 19th century.

The house known as HILL HOUSE or HILL FARM by the later 18th century was owned in 1742 with an attached farm by John Dyott of Lichfield. By 1769 it had passed to his nephew Simon Dyott of Birmingham. (fn. 137) Simon was still alive in 1771, but by 1778 he had been succeeded by his son Joseph, a London factor. (fn. 138) Joseph sold the farm in 1784 to John Barker, a Birmingham brassfounder. (fn. 139) Barker sold it in 1800 to Thomas Ashmall of Farewell Hall. (fn. 140) On Ashmall's death in 1802 the farm passed to his son John, who died in 1839. In his will John directed that Hill farm should be sold, and in 1841 it was bought by James Palmer, who added to it his adjoining farm at Little Pipe. (fn. 141) Palmer died in 1850, having directed that his property was to be sold for the benefit of his son and two daughters. The original part of Hill farm was sold in 1854 to S. P. Shawe of Maple Hayes, who bought the Little Pipe portion also in 1855. (fn. 142) In 1890 his son Henry sold the 212-a. Hill farm to A. O. Worthington of Maple Hayes, and in 1986 the farm was still part of the Maple Hayes estate. (fn. 143)

The house dates from the 18th century and originally consisted of a three-bayed block facing south and a low rear wing. In the earlier 19th century the wing was enlarged and heightened to three storeys and another wing was added on the east. The entrance was moved to the east front of the east wing.

MAPLE HAYES

MAPLE HAYES takes its name from land called 'Mabbley hays' which by 1498 was divided into four crofts, one of them in Pipe park. (fn. 144) By 1728 a farm called Pipe or Maple Hayes farm was owned by William Jesson of Lichfield. (fn. 145) A Mr. Jasson had been assessed for poor rate on 'Mapel Hey' in 1674, (fn. 146) but it is not clear whether that was a farm or simply a piece of land. There appears to have been a farm by the early 18th century: a Robert Watson was living at Maple Hayes in 1704 and a Robert Beardmore in 1724. (fn. 147)

William Jesson died in 1732, (fn. 148) and his property was divided between his two sisters, Elizabeth, the wife of Fowke Hussey of Little Wyrley in Norton Canes, and Anna Maria, the wife of Thomas Mason of Newcastle under Lyme. In 1735 Elizabeth settled the reversion of her share on her daughter Sybilla, who in 1783, with her husband Thomas Ware Cooper, sold it to her nephew, Phineas Hussey. (fn. 149) The other half was held in 1750 by Thomas Mason, Anna Maria having died; the reversion lay with their son Jesson, who had succeeded by 1772. (fn. 150) In 1785 Phineas Hussey and Jesson Mason made an exchange whereby Mason secured the whole of Maple Hayes farm. (fn. 151) He sold it in 1786 to George Addams, a Lichfield wine merchant. (fn. 152) Addams had rebuilt the house by 1796, but he sold the estate in 1804 to John Atkinson of Bank House, Manchester. (fn. 153)

Atkinson was living at Maple Hayes by 1812, and he built up a collection of paintings and other works of art there. (fn. 154) He was sheriff of Staffordshire in 1828–9. (fn. 155) He let the house in 1834, and in 1838 he was living in Boulogne. (fn. 156) In 1839 he sold the freehold portion of the estate, including the house, to Sir Thomas Fremantle, Bt., of Swanbourne (Bucks.), later Baron Cottesloe; the leasehold portion was bought by Sir James Fitzgerald, Bt., of Wolseley Hall in Colwich, husband of Sir Thomas Fremantle's sister Augusta. (fn. 157) Sir James died later in 1839, and Maple Hayes became Augusta's home until the later 1840s. (fn. 158) In 1851 she and her brother sold the house and 180 a. to Samuel Pole Shawe of Hints Hall, who moved to Maple Hayes and considerably enlarged the estate. (fn. 159) He died in 1862, leaving the estate to his third wife Mary for life with reversion to his son by his second marriage, Henry Cunliffe Shawe. Mary continued to live at Maple Hayes until her death in 1882. (fn. 160)

In 1884 Henry, then of Weddington Hall (Warws.), sold the house and 455 a. of the 1,010-a. estate to Albert Octavius Worthington, a partner in the Burton upon Trent brewing firm of Worthington & Co. (fn. 161) He continued to buy property in the area, including more of the Maple Hayes estate in 1885 and 1890. (fn. 162) He was succeeded in 1918 by his son William Worthington Worthington, who died in 1949 with a grandson and minor, Charles Worthington, as his heir. (fn. 163) Most of the estate, c. 1,540 a., was sold in 1950 to a trust, which still owned c. 1,400 a. in 1986. (fn. 164) The house was bought with 24 a. by Staffordshire county council in 1951 and opened as a boarding annexe for Lichfield grammar school in 1953. (fn. 165) In 1981 the house and land were bought by Dr. E. N. Brown, who opened a school for dyslexic children there in 1982. (fn. 166) The home farm in Abnalls Lane, which included the site of Darwin's botanic garden, was sold in 1951 to Capt. T. W. Matthews and bought from him in 1978 by Mr. E. J. Foster. (fn. 167)

The house originally consisted of a three-storeyed central block of five bays facing east and flanked by recessed single-storeyed wings of three bays. In 1802 it had a hall, dining parlour, drawing room, breakfast parlour, kitchen, and butler's pantry on the ground floor, five chambers on the first floor, and six attics. (fn. 168) It was enlarged by A. O. Worthington. In 1884–5 each wing was raised to two storeys and given a canted bay window on the east front. (fn. 169) In 1895 a new block was added at the south-west corner to house a library and a billiard room. (fn. 170) The long two- and three-storeyed service range on the north side is also late 19th-century. (fn. 171) After W. W. Worthington's succession in 1918 (fn. 172) the principal rooms on the east front were fitted with panelling in an early 18th-century style; the room on the north-west corner was given rich 18th-century-style plasterwork. Parkland survives to the south and east with a boundary belt and the southern part of a string of ornamental pools. (fn. 173)

The great tithes were commuted in 1844 for the following rent charges: to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners £343 in respect of the prebend of Weeford in Lichfield cathedral, £19 0s. 7d. in respect of the prebend of Pipa Minor, £13 8s. 11½ d. in respect of the prebends of Hansacre and Freeford, and £2 16s. in respect of the prebend of Gaia Minor; to the dean and chapter £4 9s. 8d. in respect of the prebend of Stotfold appropriated to them in 1803; to the Revd. J. A. Cotton £1 7s. in respect of the 5-a. Hobstone Piece; and to Stanley Pipe Wolferstan of Statfold £3 in respect of 20 a. owned by himself. The small tithes were held by the vicar of St. Mary's, Lichfield, to whom they had been granted by Bishop Lloyd in 1694; they were commuted for a rent charge of £132 15s. Parts of the area were partially or completely exempt from tithe, in some cases in return for a prescriptive payment. (fn. 174)

In 1311 John de la Bourne, a chaplain, and Reynold le Bedel of Lichfield received royal licence to grant St. John's hospital in Lichfield 10½ a. and £10 rent in Lichfield and Pipe. Adam Eton and John Wilmot, chaplains, granted it property in Pipe in 1349. (fn. 175) In 1844 the hospital owned 82 a. in Burntwood, including a 14-a. farm at Hilltop. (fn. 176) In 1921 what was called Hilltop farm, covering 21 a., was sold to W. W. Worthington (fn. 177) and became part of the Maple Hayes estate. The farmhouse, which was derelict in 1986, dates from the early 17th century. It is timber framed, but the walls have been infilled or replaced with brick and stone. It has a three-roomed plan, with an internal stack which has an ovolo-moulded fireplace surround. The roof was renewed in the 19th century.

The vicars choral of Lichfield cathedral owned land in Edial and Woodhouses in 1535. (fn. 178) In 1844 they owned a scattered estate of 42 a. in the area. (fn. 179) They transferred all their property outside the Close to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1872. (fn. 180)

The property of St. Radegund's chantry, founded in the cathedral in 1242, formed a manor which by 1338 included a capital messuage in Pipe called Mossland. Half the messuage was then held by Richard Fordiave, but by 1357 the whole was held by Adam Eyton, chaplain, who had conveyed it to Richard Arley by 1359. (fn. 181) William Kynchall held a plot of land in Pipe of the chantry in 1357. (fn. 182) In 1461 the chantry's property included three messuages and land in Edial; it had a messuage and land in Edial and a messuage and land in Woodhouses in 1482. (fn. 183) By the 1530s the estate in the area seems to have consisted only of land in Moss field in Edial. (fn. 184) The chantry's property sold by the Crown to two London speculators in 1549 included rents totalling 4s. 5d. from six holdings in Edial. (fn. 185) They were sold to William, Lord Paget, in 1550. (fn. 186) In 1571 six tenants held of Thomas, Lord Paget, 18 a. in Moss field which had formerly belonged to the chantry. (fn. 187)

In the early 16th century St. Catherine's chantry in the cathedral owned 1 a. in Kynchall moor in the Edial area. (fn. 188)

The endowments of the Holy Trinity chantry in Longdon church, founded in 1528, included rent from lands in Edial and Woodhouses. It was sold by the Crown to speculators in 1571. (fn. 189)

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

Agricultutre.

Several open fields lay around Woodhouses and Edial. Pipe field on the east, mentioned in 1358, adjoined Edial Lane (the Lichfield road) and extended into Pipehill. It was still an open field in 1705. (fn. 190) Woodhouses field was bounded by Woodhouses Road and Grange Lane. Mentioned in 1519, it had evidently been divided by 1578 when Woodhouses Great field was recorded; Little field, an open field adjoining it and also bounded by Grange Lane, was recorded between 1608 and 1663. (fn. 191) Great field contained closes by the mid 18th century and was finally inclosed in 1777. (fn. 192) Moss field at Edial adjoined Woodhouses Great field. Mentioned in 1462, it was still an open field in 1608 but had been inclosed by the 1690s. (fn. 193)

Ashmore Brook had its own open fields. 'Le Rudyng' there, evidently an assart, contained selions in 1342. (fn. 194) In 1426 John Sprott took possession of a headland in Ashmore Brook field; its bounds included John's furlong called Twentylands. (fn. 195) In the later 16th century the Sprotts' Ashmore Brook estate included 2 a. in Twentylands field and 2 a. in Middle field. (fn. 196) Earlier in the century the family claimed right of way across the two fields when going between Ashmore Brook and Longdon. About 1540 Edward Sprott complained that Thomas Bilston of Longdon Way had inclosed one of the fields, thus forcing him to make a long detour. Bilston complained that Sprott had broken down his hedges and driven an ox cart across his land. (fn. 197) Thomas Sprott's estate at Ashmore Brook in 1654 included land called the Great Twentylands. (fn. 198)

A survey of 1298 recorded 300 a. of common pasture in Burntwood. (fn. 199) One of 1597 recorded a heath of 800 a. in Burntwood and Hammerwich where the freeholders and copyholders of Longdon, Burntwood, Hammerwich, Ashmore Brook, Farewell, Childerhay, Edial, and Woodhouses had grazing rights. (fn. 200) Piecemeal inclosure of the waste was in progress by the mid 12th century when assarted land in Pipe formed part of Farewell priory's estate. (fn. 201) There was assarting at Ashmore Brook in the mid 13th century. (fn. 202) In 1298 two plots of 'new land' in the wood of 'Pipemore' (one of 4 a. and one of 10 a.) were held of the bishop, with four more in 'Kinghalemore' (one of ½ a., two of 1½ a., and one of 2¼ a. (fn. 203) In the later 16th century there was extensive inclosure of parcels of waste for arable and for building cottages. (fn. 204) None the less a large area of heath survived in the western part of the township until the later 19th century. In 1861 the remaining 1,840 a. of common were inclosed under an Act of 1857. (fn. 205)

Of the bishop's nine free tenants at Pipe in 1298, only the prior of St. John's hospital in Lichfield owed labour services, which consisted of carriage of mill stones and could be commuted for a payment of 6d. Four neifs and a cottar held land in Pipe; the neifs owed the same services as those of Streethay and Morughale, and the cottar owed carriage of mill stones. (fn. 206) In the earlier 17th century Sir Walter Heveningham exacted labour services as lord of Pipe. In leases between 1625 and 1635 he specified from one to twelve days' work a year, including ploughing, carting, and harvesting, to be done within a given distance of Pipe or Edial at two days' notice. (fn. 207)

Barley, oats, and rye were being grown on a farm at Woodhouses in 1605, and barley, French wheat and barley, peas, and oats on a farm in Norton Lane in 1653. (fn. 208) Corn, barley, peas, oats, and beans were recorded on farms in Burntwood in the later 1670s. (fn. 209) A turnip field in Woodhouses was mentioned in 1777. (fn. 210) The main crops in the township in the late 1860s were turnips, barley, and wheat. (fn. 211) The machinery at Hill farm north of Woodhouses in 1871 included a turnip slicer and a turnip pulper, while in 1874 the 240-a. Bridge Cross farm south-east of Chase Terrace was growing turnips and barley. (fn. 212) Potatoes too were grown: potato setting in the spring and picking in the autumn caused extensive absenteeism among the boys at the Colliery school in Chasetown from its early days in the 1860s. (fn. 213) In 1984 the main crops in Burntwood parish were barley (161. 8 ha. officially recorded), wheat (66.1 ha.), and potatoes (28.4 ha.). (fn. 214)

There was a market gardener living at Woodhouses in 1851. (fn. 215) James Hastilow of Castle farm was listed as a market gardener in the 1860s. (fn. 216) Four market gardeners were recorded in Burntwood in 1870, one of them also the landlord of the Nag's Head at Fulfen, and there was another at Chasetown. (fn. 217) Horticulture accounted for 3.2 ha. in Burntwood parish in 1984. Most of it was concerned with fruit: 2 ha. were devoted to strawberries and 1 ha. to raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, and other small fruit. Vegetables were grown on the remaining 0.2 ha. (fn. 218)

Sheep, mentioned in the Pipe area in 1503, (fn. 219) were evidently important by then. In 1537 the holder of the Fulfen estate had common of pasture for 300 sheep as well as 200 cattle on Cannock Chase and in 'Luffule' wood and Pipe. (fn. 220) On a farm at Woodhouses in 1605 there were 80 wethers and hogs and 16 ewes and lambs, valued at £20, besides 7 cows and 3 calves valued at £12. (fn. 221) On a farm in Burntwood in 1677 4 cows, 3 heifers, and a yearling calf were valued at £8 16s. 8d.; 20 sheep, a fat hog, and two stalls of bees were together worth £6. (fn. 222) Bees were mentioned at Woodhouses in 1671 and at Burntwood in 1678. (fn. 223)

Sheep farming remained important in Burntwood, with farmers grazing their flocks on the heath until its inclosure in 1861. (fn. 224) Animals offered for sale at Maple Hayes in 1803 included 51 fat sheep, 104 ewes, 126 hoggets, and 3 rams; there were also 15 cows in calf, 3 barren cows, 10 heifers, 10 stirks, 11 yearling cows, and a bull. (fn. 225) In 1809 the warrener at the lodge north-west of Boney Hay kept a farm where there were 78 ewes, wethers, and lambs, 6 cows and heifers in calf, 2 stirks, and 3 calves. (fn. 226) The stock offered for sale at Pipe Hall farm in 1821 included some 100 Leicester ewes and theaves in lamb, some 100 ewe and wether hogs, and 120 fat sheep besides an unspecified number of Longhorn cattle. (fn. 227) Sheep for sale at Maple Hayes in 1829 consisted of 103 Leicester ewes in lamb, 71 ewe and wether hogs, and 2 Leicester rams; the other animals were 6 cows, 3 horses, and 20 pigs. (fn. 228) At Hill farm in 1871 there were 100 sheep, 11 cattle, 4 horses, and upwards of 21 pigs, and stock offered for sale at Edial in 1893 included 201 Shropshire sheep and 21 head of cattle. (fn. 229) In 1984 the livestock officially recorded in Burntwood parish consisted of 629 cattle and calves, 1,410 pigs, 3,636 sheep and lambs, and 93 hens and pullets with 3 cocks and cockerels for breeding. (fn. 230)

Park, warrens, and fisheries.

By 1498 the lord of Pipe had a park south-east of Pipe Hall. (fn. 231) A piece of land south of the hall called the Park was measured at 26 a. in 1689. (fn. 232) By 1690 the park had evidently been divided into three, the great park, the little park, and 'the park next the house or conygrey'. (fn. 233) In 1844 three fields south and south-east of the hall were known as Little, Middle, and Great Park. (fn. 234)

The prioress of Farewell had a warren at Ashmore Brook in 1418; land there was known as the Conigree in the mid 17th century. (fn. 235) At Edial in 1608 there were closes called the Cunnyngryes, a name which survived as the Connigrees in 1704. (fn. 236) A warren with a lodge north-west of Boney Hay was destroyed in the attack on the Cannock Chase warrens by local inhabitants in the winter of 1753–4, but it was subsequently restocked. (fn. 237) The Mr. Derry whose farming stock was advertised for sale in 1809 after his death was succeeded as warrener there by James Derry. James was living at the lodge in 1822 and was still warrener in 1851 when he was also farming 8 a. attached to the lodge. (fn. 238) The warren evidently survived until the inclosure of 1861. (fn. 239) The lodge survives as Coney Lodge Farm and contains a roof truss, perhaps of the 17th century, which was once part of a small timber-framed building. By the later 18th century the house was of brick and two bays long, and it was extended in the 19th century. (fn. 240)

Sir Humphrey Stanley had a fishery at Pipe in 1490, when he accused Thomas Godsale of Lichfield of stealing pike, tench, roach, and perch from it. (fn. 241) In 1734 John Biddulph leased 3 a. of boggy ground along Big Crane brook on the north-west boundary of Burntwood to make two pools, one of them for fish. A pool called Biddulph's Pool survives there; in the early 19th century it was also known as Lichfield heath pool. (fn. 242)

Mills.

A mill at Ashmore Brook belonging to the lord of Pipe in 1286 and evidently still in use in 1330 (fn. 243) may have been Abnalls mill, which was in decay in 1420. (fn. 244) A millward was living at Abnalls in 1340, (fn. 245) and a mill formed part of the estate centring on Abnalls which was held by Nicholas Taverner in 1357. (fn. 246) There may have been a mill on Leamonsley brook on or near the site of the late 18th-century fulling mill on the Burntwood-Lichfield boundary: in 1427 there was a Mill Lane in the area. (fn. 247)

There was a mill in Burntwood in 1690 called New Pool mill; it probably stood on Redmoor brook north of Boney Hay where there was a new pool in 1597. (fn. 248) Coney mill stood on Redmoor brook in that area in 1775. It was still in use in 1824 but had ceased to work by the mid 1830s. A house survived there, and the site of the pool became arable. (fn. 249)

There was a mill at Edial in 1666. (fn. 250)

Markets.

By 1869 an open-air market was held on Fridays behind the Uxbridge Arms in Church Street, Chasetown. It was still an outdoor market in 1900, but a market hall existed there in 1915. (fn. 251) In the 1920s an open-air market was held in the yard of the Victoria public house in Ironstone Road, Chase Terrace. (fn. 252) In 1970 the Graysin Group started a Saturday market on the car park behind the new shopping centre on the north side of Cannock Road at Sankey's Corner. It was held on Fridays also by 1986. That year permission was given on a trial basis for 16 stalls two days a week in front of the centre, and in 1988 the market was made permanent. (fn. 253) An open-air market by Burntwood recreation centre was held on Thursday evenings during the summer in 1982 and 1983. Local traders protested, and permission was withheld in 1984. (fn. 254)

Coalmining.

Coal pits, probably west of Hobstone Hill, were mentioned in the early 1650s, (fn. 255) and c. 1700 an inhabitant of Edial was dealing in coals. (fn. 256) Thomas Fairley, who went to live in the Burntwood area in 1768, was described as a collier in 1770. (fn. 257)

In the early 1840s the 1st marquess of Anglesey was investigating the possibility of largescale mining along the Eastern Boundary Fault of the Cannock Chase Coalfield in the vicinity of Norton Pool. Boring had been carried out by 1847 near the eastern dam of the pool on the Hammerwich side of the boundary. (fn. 258) That year conditions for leasing the minerals in the area were drawn up, but potential investors were deterred by the lack of transport. (fn. 259) In 1849 the marquess sank a pit (known as the Marquess) near the dam, and the first coal was drawn in December. (fn. 260) The Anglesey Branch Canal, incorporating a feeder from Norton Pool, was cut in 1850 to link the pit with the Wyrley and Essington Canal in Ogley Hay. (fn. 261) In May 1852 the Shallow Coal was reached in a second pit, the Uxbridge, nearby on the Burntwood side of the boundary; also called the Cathedral, it became known as the Fly from the speed of winding. (fn. 262) By October some 200 tons of coal a day were being sold from the colliery, and Lord Anglesey's agent wrote of 'the quantity of boats always waiting at Hammerwich for loading'. (fn. 263) In the same year a railway was built from the colliery to the South Staffordshire Railway (fn. 264) and offices were built near the Uxbridge pit. (fn. 265) A new pit was opened evidently in the earlier part of 1854; later known as no. 4, it lay north-east of the Uxbridge (no. 2). (fn. 266)

Lord Anglesey advertised the colliery for letting in 1853. (fn. 267) In 1854 he made an agreement with Richard Croft Chawner of Wall, chairman of the South Staffordshire Railway Co. and of the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co., and John Robinson McClean, engineer and lessee of the railway and engineer of the waterworks. They were to have a lease of the colliery and of mineral rights under 2,000 a. on Cannock Chase for 31 years. Lord Anglesey died before the lease was signed, but Chawner and McClean had already been given possession. A retrospective lease from 1854 was made by the 2nd marquess in 1858. (fn. 268) Meanwhile the original Hammerwich pit ceased working in 1856. (fn. 269) To raise additional capital and extend operations the two lessees formed the Cannock Chase Colliery Co. in 1859. They held most of the ordinary shares, and McClean, the principal shareholder, was appointed managing director. (fn. 270) On his death in 1873 his son Frank was appointed in his place; he resigned in 1877 after a disagreement with the board of directors over policy. (fn. 271)

A new pit (no. 3, also known as the Preference and as the Plant) was being sunk in 1859 south of the Cannock road near the parish boundary. It evidently began production in 1861. (fn. 272) No. 5, north-east of no. 3, was being sunk in 1861, and the Deep Coal was evidently reached early in 1863. (fn. 273) The company's four pits were employing nearly 2,000 men and boys in 1865 and produced 12,000 tons a week during the winter; each had its branch railway. (fn. 274) In 1867 the main railway was extended as the Cannock Chase & Wolverhampton Railway to join lines in Cannock and Norton Canes; the colliery, already connected with the South Staffordshire Railway was thus given a connexion with the London & North Western Railway at Rugeley. (fn. 275) In the same year Lord Anglesey granted a new lease. (fn. 276) By then the company was extending its operations into Cannock. (fn. 277)

In 1883 Arthur Sopwith, engineer and general manager of the company from 1873, introduced electricity at no. 2 pit. A claim that it was the first in the world to be so lit has been refuted in favour of a pit at Hamilton (Lanarks.), lit in 1882. The supply had been extended to no. 3 by 1907. A power station was opened at no. 5 in 1908, and by 1912 all the company's pits except one in Cannock were supplied. (fn. 278) Sopwith was succeeded by his son Shelford in 1918. (fn. 279)

No. 4 pit was disused by 1883. (fn. 280) In 1907 no. 2 was employing 251 men underground and 95 above, and nos. 3 and 5 together had 684 underground and 322 above. (fn. 281) Work stopped at no. 5 some time c. 1919. (fn. 282) No. 2 ceased to be a drawing pit in 1923; instead an inclined ropeway known as the Drift took the coal up to the canal. Production there stopped in 1940. (fn. 283) No. 3 was reconstructed as the centre of the colliery in the 1920s and continued in operation until 1959. (fn. 284) With its closure mining in Burntwood came to an end. Workshops opened there in 1924 and reorganized in 1957 have continued as the National Coal Board's area workshops. (fn. 285)

Other industries.

There was a locksmith at Edial in 1624 (fn. 286) and a pinmaker at Woodhouses in 1663. (fn. 287) A buckle maker settled at either Edial or Woodhouses in 1772. (fn. 288) Nailing was the most important metal industry. A nailer named John Tymnis or Tymons was living at Burntwood in 1651 and 1664, (fn. 289) and another named Richard Biddulph died there in 1670. (fn. 290) There were several references to nailers at Burntwood in the 18th century. (fn. 291) There was a nailshop at Woodhouses in 1819, and the seven in Burntwood in the earlier 1820s stood mainly west of the green and around Rake Hill. (fn. 292) By 1841 there was an extensive domestic industry, employing women and children as well as men. It was concentrated around Burntwood itself, and in 1851 the main areas were the green, the Cannock road, Ball Lane, Commonside, and Ranter's Row. (fn. 293) Nailing was still important in 1861, although numbers were declining and in some families sons were becoming miners instead. (fn. 294) By 1881 there were only four nailers in Burntwood, with a fifth at Woodhouses. (fn. 295) Former nailers' cottages still stand in Farewell Lane and Rake Hill. (fn. 296)

A presentment of brickmaking on the waste at Burntwood was made at the Longdon manor court in 1713. (fn. 297) A band of red marl south of Boney Hay in the area of the present Slade Avenue has been used for brickmaking. A map of the earlier 1820s shows Brick kiln slade, Brick kiln pits, and Brick kiln bank on the heath there. In 1860 it was the site of a disused brickworks which may have been the brickworks in Burntwood belonging to Lord Anglesey in 1854. (fn. 298) A brickmaker named Samuel Cheetham was living at Spade Green in 1806 and was described as a brickmaker of Woodhouses in 1813. (fn. 299) Another brickmaker named William Robinson was living at Woodhouses in the earlier 1830s. (fn. 300) In 1841 Elias Gilbert had a brickworks west of Lincroft Cottage, his house on Stafford Road on the boundary with Lichfield. He was still running it with a farm in 1861, and in 1871 both were in the hands of his widow Mary. (fn. 301) John Tudor of Fulfin House worked as a brickmaker as well as a farmer in the 1860s. (fn. 302) There was a brickyard on the north side of Springlestyche Lane in 1882. (fn. 303) Bricks are said to have been made at some time before 1918 from a band of marl south of Queen Street in Chasetown. (fn. 304)

Walter Heveningham had a quarry near Pipe Hall in the 1680s: under an agreement of 1685 'sound, hard quarrell stone' from it was to be used for making a sough at the conduit head nearby. (fn. 305) Fines were imposed at the Pipe manor court in 1777 for quarrying stone at Edial and in Pinfold (later Woodhouse) Lane in Woodhouses. (fn. 306) Stone was quarried on the waste at Hobstone in the mid 1780s, and a quarry south of Camsey Lane in the same area was being worked at the beginning of the 20th century. (fn. 307) There was a gravel pit straddling the boundary with Hammerwich by Norton Pool in the earlier 1840s (fn. 308) and another on the Slade Avenue site in the early 1880s. (fn. 309) The inclosure award of 1861 assigned just under 3 a. at Ball's Mount west of Burntwood to the highway surveyors as a quarry for stone and gravel for road repair. A gravel pit there was being worked in 1921, and at some earlier date building sand was dug to the west at Spring Hill. (fn. 310)

Industrial estates were established from the 1960s on the site of no. 5 pit south of Cannock Road at Chase Terrace, off Queen's Drive on the south side of Chasetown, and off New Road in Burntwood. (fn. 311)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Manorial government.

Manorially Edial and most of Woodhouses were within Pipe manor, but Burntwood, a later settlement which grew up on the waste of Longdon manor, was never part of Pipe manor. (fn. 312) By 1293 Pipe attended Longdon manor's view of frankpledge, held at Lichfield. (fn. 313) It presented with Wall by 1297, and by 1327 the tithing of Pipe and Wall was represented by four frankpledges; there were three from 1452. (fn. 314) From 1494 the tithing was styled Pipe (evidently Pipehill), Wall, Edial, and Woodhouse (Woodhousen or Woodhouses from the later 16th century). (fn. 315) Burntwood had been added to the name by 1570. (fn. 316) Between 1559 and 1563 the tithing was sometimes called Pipe cum membris, also the name of the constablewick, and that style was used regularly from 1576. (fn. 317) In the late 1630s the tithing broke into three separate tithings, each with one frankpledge. One tithing covered Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses, another Wall, and the third Pipehill. (fn. 318) There was still a headborough for Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses in the 1830s; although an officer of Longdon manor, he was nominated by the Burntwood vestry. (fn. 319) The township of Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses was still summoned to the Longdon leet in 1857. (fn. 320)

The constablewick of Pipe cum membris, in existence by the 14th century, covered the same area as the tithing, with the constable elected at the Longdon great court. (fn. 321) Even after the division of the tithing in the 1630s, Wall and Pipehill remained part of the constablewick. The constable was still an officer of Longdon manor in the 1830s, but by the later 1820s he too was nominated by the Burntwood vestry. (fn. 322)

The lord of Pipe had a three-weekly court in 1299. (fn. 323) He still held a court baron in 1838 and apparently in 1857. Its meeting place was recorded as Pipe Hall from 1767. (fn. 324)

There was a pinfold in the tithing of Pipe and Wall in 1466. (fn. 325) By the late 16th century there was a pinfold at Woodhouses, where the present Woodhouse Lane was known as Pinfold Lane in the late 18th and early 19th century. (fn. 326) In 1838 it was stated at the Pipe court that the ancient pinfold in Pipe manor was in decay and that Woodhouses was the most convenient place for a new one. (fn. 327)

Part of Ashmore Brook, presumably the Abnalls area in Farewell manor, was making presentments at the Farewell view by 1290. At first it formed a tithing with Bourne, evidently in Longdon parish, but by 1341 Ashmore Brook and Bourne presented separately. In the early 1340s Ashmore Brook was represented by two frankpledges and in 1367 by one. (fn. 328) It was still a tithing with one frankpledge in 1636. (fn. 329)

The estate at Edial and Woodhouses belonging to St. Radegund's chantry in Lichfield cathedral was evidently the main possession of the chantry manor. (fn. 330) That manor was within the superior jurisdiction of Longdon manor, (fn. 331) but it had its own court baron, records of which survive from 1305. (fn. 332) The court met in the Close at Lichfield in 1341 and in the chapel of St. Radegund in the cathedral in the 15th and 16th centuries. (fn. 333) In 1577 the court was held at Longdon, the Pagets having acquired both manors. (fn. 334) The property of the former chantry still formed a distinct accounting unit in the earlier 1620s. (fn. 335)

Parish government.

As part of the parish of St. Michael, Lichfield, the township of Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses had no wardens of its own until the 19th century. With the opening of Christ Church, Burntwood, in 1820 two chapel wardens were appointed; after the creation of a separate parish in 1845 two churchwardens were appointed. (fn. 336) There was a sidesman for each of the hamlets of Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses by 1637. From 1733 Edial shared a sidesman with Pipehill, but by 1792 it had its own again. The sidesmen ceased to be appointed after 1865. (fn. 337)

Each of the hamlets had its own overseer of the poor by 1674. (fn. 338) Three separate overseers continued to be appointed until 1700 when the inhabitants agreed that there should be a single overseer, chosen in rotation from Woodhouses, Edial, and Burntwood in that order. (fn. 339) By 1813 there were two overseers. (fn. 340) A paid assistant was appointed in 1835. (fn. 341) By 1824 there was a select vestry, elected for the last time in 1834. (fn. 342)

From the late 18th century the overseers owned three cottages at Woodhouses which they used as poorhouses. A meeting of ratepayers of the township in 1838 authorized the guardians of Lichfield poor law union to sell them. (fn. 343) Between 1819 and 1829 the overseers paid £4 4s. rent in respect of the workhouse at Norton Canes, presumably in return for being allowed to send paupers there. (fn. 344)

Under the Burntwood inclosure award of 1861 the churchwardens and overseers were assigned 4 a. at Ball's Mount for the benefit of the labouring poor, subject to a rent charge of £2. The land was settled on trustees in 1864 and divided into 16 holdings, which were let at a rent of 5s. each. The surplus income was used in aid of the poor rates. (fn. 345)

By 1637 a surveyor of the highways was elected for each of the three hamlets. (fn. 346) All three surveyors were salaried by the late 19th century. (fn. 347)

The township was included in Lichfield poor law union, formed in 1836. (fn. 348) It was recognized as a civil parish in the later 19th century, (fn. 349) and its name was changed from Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses to Burntwood in 1929. (fn. 350) In 1969 the meetings of the parish council were transferred from Chase Terrace comprehensive school to the committee room at the newly opened baths. (fn. 351)

Having been part of Lichfield rural district, Burntwood became an urban parish in the new Lichfield district in 1974, with its council styled a town council. (fn. 352) The council offices were moved in 1983 from the recreation centre to temporary accommodation in Bridge Cross Road at Sankey's Corner and in 1986 into a building there which also contains shops, other offices, and a snooker hall. The building was named Lambourne House in 1987 in memory of Ernie Lambourne, a member of the council 1976–84. (fn. 353)

PUBLIC SERVICES.

In 1870 a meeting of ratepayers of the township of Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses, concerned at the state of drainage in Chasetown, agreed to lay a sewer along Queen Street, discharging into a field. (fn. 354) An inspector of nuisances was appointed for the township in 1872. (fn. 355) In 1877 an inspecting committee of ratepayers found the sanitary condition of Chasetown 'not very bad': the streets were kept clean, and there was surface sewering. In Chase Terrace and Boney Hay, on the other hand, they found some streets 'a foot deep in mud, ashes, and sewage', and the ratepayers decided to introduce sewering. (fn. 356) In 1880 a meeting agreed to undertake the sewerage of those parts of Chasetown not yet served. (fn. 357) The drainage of the southern part of Ironstone Road in Chase Terrace was agreed in 1891, from Eastgate Street to Cannock Road. (fn. 358)

In the rural part of the township in 1892 the medical officer of health of the district found the sanitary state of Woodhouses 'as bad as it can be'. A particular problem was the scarcity of pure water. The supply came mainly from three roadside wells. The best was only three feet deep, but it was bricked round and covered with wood; the other two were 'mere open holes by the side of the road ... fouled by the wet and all sorts of rubbish being thrown into them'. (fn. 359)

In 1898 Chasetown's sewerage was remodelled and a sewage works was opened south of Queen Street on the Hammerwich side of the boundary; it remained in use until the late 1960s. (fn. 360) Another works was opened east of Rugeley Road at Chase Terrace in 1906. (fn. 361) A sewerage scheme for Burntwood was begun in 1914 and completed in 1919. (fn. 362) Water closets were the norm in Chasetown and Chase Terrace by 1920 and in Burntwood by 1925. Water was supplied by the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co. which had built a pumping station in Chorley Road in 1913. (fn. 363) Public collection of refuse was started in the parish in 1920. (fn. 364) A sewage works was opened in Peter's Lane at Edial in 1930, replacing the works at Chase Terrace. (fn. 365)

By 1935 there were 110 council houses in the parish, and slum clearance was in progress. There were 202 council houses by 1938, 50 of them built that year in the Boney Hay part of Chorley Road. (fn. 366) Building was resumed after the Second World War, the first new house being opened in Rugeley Road, Chase Terrace, in 1946. The Oakdene estate at Chasetown, begun soon afterwards, was by 1958 the largest council estate in Lichfield rural district. (fn. 367)

The area is served by Hammerwich Cottage Hospital, opened in 1882. (fn. 368) The Annie Ker Gettings Memorial Home in Bridge Cross Road at Sankey's Corner was opened in 1923 as a district nurses' home. It was named in memory of Annie Ker (d. 1920), who was matron of the cottage hospital for several years until her marriage to J. S. Gettings, a surgeon who worked at the hospital from its opening until shortly before his death in 1928. During the First World War she was commandant of a military ward at the hospital. Much of the cost of building the home was met with money raised to support the military ward and with the Burntwood and Hammerwich Parishes War Fund established in 1919 by Mrs. Gettings' efforts. The home was closed apparently in 1951, and in 1987 the building was used as a wine bar and night club. (fn. 369) The Oakdene day centre in Sycamore Road for the elderly and the handicapped was opened in 1988. (fn. 370)

A county asylum for pauper lunatics was opened on an estate of over 94 a. on Hobstone Hill north-west of Woodhouses in 1864. It was designed by W. L. Moffatt of Edinburgh. The part then completed consisted of the central block, including a chapel, and the west wing containing the male wards, with a portion partitioned off for female patients. (fn. 371) The east wing containing the female wards was completed in 1868. (fn. 372) A burial ground was consecrated in 1867 and extended in 1904. It remained in use until the 1920s, and its chapel was demolished in the 1960s. (fn. 373) In 1871 there were 491 patients and a staff of 4 officers, 41 attendants and nurses, and 5 artisans. (fn. 374) There have been many extensions, notably in the later 1890s and the mid 1930s. A detached chapel was opened in 1900, and a nurses' home was built in 1914. (fn. 375) The name St. Matthew's was adopted in 1947. (fn. 376) From 1940 to 1947 there was an emergency hospital on the site for both military and civilian patients; part of the asylum was taken over, and new wards were built in the grounds. The first patients were 242 sick and wounded rescued from the Dunkirk beaches. (fn. 377)

Policing was undertaken by the township authorities in the earlier 19th century. Stocks were set up near the Nag's Head inn at Fulfen in 1809. (fn. 378) A lock and key for handcuffs were bought in 1823 and a constable's staff in 1832. (fn. 379) In December 1829 the select vestry ordered the headborough to 'attend the village of Woodhouses on Sunday evening for the purpose of detecting disorderly people that frequent that quarter'. (fn. 380) The constable's activities in 1831–2 included 'routing gypsies at the over end of Burntwood' and 'going round the public houses'; his expenses were paid by the township. (fn. 381) In 1871 there was a police constable lodging in Chasetown and another living in Edial. (fn. 382) A police station consisting of two houses was built in High Street, Chasetown, about the end of 1873; two constables were living there in 1881. About 1927 the two houses were converted into one, which was occupied by the officer in charge and included office accommodation. A new station was opened in 1963 on a site behind the old building, which was demolished; houses were built there for the sergeant in charge and two other officers. (fn. 383) Burntwood had a station in Cannock Road by 1896, and there was another at Chase Terrace by 1912. (fn. 384) The Chasetown station is the headquarters of a section covering all three areas. (fn. 385)

A fire station was opened in Rugeley Road, Chase Terrace, in 1969. (fn. 386)

A gasworks was built south of Queen Street, Chasetown, in 1870 by the Chasetown Gas Co. Ltd. It remained in use until c. 1952. (fn. 387) When electricity was introduced at the Cannock Chase Colliery Co.'s no. 2 pit in Chasetown in 1883, the supply was extended to the church, the nearby school, and the manager's house. When the Chasetown Institute was opened in 1888, it too was lit by electricity. In 1922 the colliery company erected street lamps in Chasetown, Chase Terrace, and Boney Hay and supplied them with electricity generated at the power station built at no. 5 pit in 1908; it also built substations at Chasetown and Chase Terrace. Whereas the streets of Chasetown had been lit by gas, Chase Terrace and Boney Hay had depended mainly on oil lamps. The electricity was sold to private customers. (fn. 388) Lichfield corporation's supply was extended to the eastern part of Burntwood parish in 1927. (fn. 389) In 1929 the colliery company transferred its electricity operations to the Chasetown and District Electricity Co. Ltd. which was later taken over by the West Midlands Joint Electricity Authority. The power station at no. 5 pit ceased generating in 1942–3. (fn. 390)

The master of Burntwood school was also acting as post master by 1850; letters were carried on foot to and from Lichfield. (fn. 391) The master was still keeping the post office in 1854, but in the 1860s Thomas Hodson, a nailer of Norton Lane, kept it. (fn. 392) There was a post office at Chasetown by 1868 and one at Chase Terrace by 1884. (fn. 393)

In the early 20th century horse-drawn buses ran between Chasetown and Chase Terrace and between the White Swan, Burntwood, and Chasetown. Both services continued until 1924. There were also buses on Fridays from the White Swan to Lichfield. The first motor bus was introduced in 1913 by the London & North Western Railway to run between Brownhills station and Chasetown. (fn. 394)

Eizabeth Ball's charitable bequests by will proved 1770 included £100 for building a hearse house on the waste at Fulfen or Burntwood and for buying a hearse for use by the township and by Hammerwich. (fn. 395) It is not known whether those intentions were carried out.