RAVENSTONE PARISH.                                                                  373

RAVENSTONE parish and well built village, pleasantly situated 4 miles S. E. from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, partly in West Goscote Hundred, Leicestershire, contains 1086A. 2R. 2P. of rich land, principally occupied as dairy farms, of which, about 580 are in Derby­shire, completely surrounded by Leicestershire, and in 1851 had 66 houses in Derbyshire, and 58 houses in Leicestershire, 396 inhabitants, of whom 186 were in Derbyshire, and 210 in Leicestershire; rateable value £1,866. Of the County rate, one part is paid to Derby and two parts to Leicester. Leonard Fosbrooke, Eaq., lord of the manor and principal owner; Robert Green Cresswell, Esq., also an owner. The Church, St. Michael’s, is a rectory, valued in the King’s book £5 1s. 1½d., now £300, in the patronage of the Crown, and incumbency of the Rev. James Thomas Alderson. It is an ancient structure, with nave, chancel, side aisle, tower and 3 bells, was thoroughly repaired in 1838, and an organ was put up in 1832. In the chancel are several marble tablets to the Fosbrooke family. The rectory, west of the church, is at present being greatly enlarged. The open fields were inclosed in 1770, when 165A. including ancient glebe land, were awarded in lieu of the tithe. The Methodist chapel, erected in 1838, a neat brick building, cost £150, is in Leicestershire. Here is a National school. The Hall, at the west end of the village, is a handsome mansion which has of late been much improved, the seat of Leonard Fosbrooke, Esq. John Wilkins, Esq., who was possessed of this estate before the year 1689, built a noble mansion, which after his death was sold with the manor to Roger Cave, Esq., after whose death it was purchased by an ancestor of Mr. Fosbrooke, who pulled down the large house and erected a smaller for his own residence. An hospital for 29 aged women was built and endowed by John Wilkins. Esq., and Rebecca his wife, in 1712, to have three able-bodied women as nurses; since which, 2 more houses have been provided for the nurses. The women are to be of the parishes of Ravenstone, Swanington, and Cole­-Orton, or, in default of proper objects, of other neighbouring parishes, to be 50 years of age at the least, unless blind or impotent, of good fame, and members of the church of England. Mrs. Wilkins, by her will, endowed it after the death of her husband with all her lands in Thorpe-Ernald, Higham, and Sutton Cheney in Leicestershire, and states that the foundation was in memory of her son, Francis Wollaston Wilkins, who died in 1711. The endowment consists of about 800 acres of land, producing an annual income of £940. Each of the inmates now receives 5s. per week, besides a liberal allowance of coal and clothing. There is a master or chaplain who has a salary of £60 per annum. The present chapel and house for the master were built in 1784, from the accumulated funds of the charity. It is in Derbyshire. Here was formerly a castle, a little north of the church, which was dis­mantled in the reign of Henry II.. of which no traces remain. The Ancient Druids have a lodge here, held at the Plough Inn.

Post Office, at Charles Joseph Derbyshire’s; letters arrive by mail cart from Ashby-­de-la-Zouch, at 7 45 a.m., and are despatched at 5 30 p.m.

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REPTON, is a large pleasant well built village and parish, consisting principally of one long street, and many scattered farm houses. It is 4½ miles N.E. from Burton-upon-­Trent, and 7½ miles S.S.W. from Derby, contains 4797A. 1R. 6P. of strong clay land, which was enclosed in 1766., 398 houses, and 1863 inhabitants, of whom 930 were males, and 933 females; rateable value £8,091 8s. Sir Robert Burdett and Sir John Harpur Crewe, Barts., are joint lords of the manor and principal owners. Mr. Francis Holbrook, Rev. J. T. Smith, William Prince, Esq., Mr. James Marples, Mrs. Eliza Somers, Mr. James Smith, and Mr. John Marbrow, are also considerable owners. 3A. 2R. 10P, of land, let for £10 10s., belongs to, and is let for the reparation of the Church, dedicated to St. Wyston, which is a perpetual curacy, certified at £123, and has been endowed with £200 Queen Anne’s bounty. Sir John Harpur Crewe, Bart., is patron, and Rev. Joseph Jones, M.A., incumbent. The Church is a large ancient edifice, with nave, chancel, side aisles and tower, surmounted by a handsome spire 210 feet high. It was repewed in 1795, and galleries on the south side and west end were erected in 1842, and an organ added in 1844, at a cost of £320. The crypt beneath the chancel is perhaps the most perfect specimen existing in the Anglo-Saxon style. It is supported by four pillars of singular character, with a spiral band or moulding round each, and was entered from the church by means of two winding passages. It doubtless formed a part of the conventual church, destroyed by the Danes. The church contains many ancient monuments to the masters of Etwall hospital and Repton grammar school. The school is a large stone building covered with flat tiles. The scholars on the foundation are reduced to 8 poor scholars, who are appointed by the governors in rotation; 4 of which receive £40 per annum for their board and education, and the other 4 have £45 each for the same purpose. The head master’s salary is £360; first usher, £180; second usher, £150 per annum. There are two exhibitions of £50 per annum to either university. The man­sion in which the head master resides belongs to Sir R. Burdett, Bart. (For particulars of this charity see Sir John Port’s charity, Etwall.) The church school-rooms erected in 1833, for which Sir George Crewe, Bart., gave the land, were defrayed by subscription; they were enlarged in 1844, and form a neat ornamental building. Each room will accommodate 100, average attendance 50 boys and 90 girls. The Independent chapel was built in 1836, at a cost of £460, and enlarged in 1839, at a cost of £177, and will seat 400 persons. A house and garden for the minister cost £476; and in 1845 a school-room was added at a cost of £200, in which a day and Sunday school are kept; about 60 children attend. The Wesleyan Methodists have a neat brick chapel, erected in 1815, to seat about 200 persons. In the village is an ancient stone cross, approached by eight steps; it has a plain round shaft with a ball on the top, and formerly had a market, long disused, but fairs are held for cattle on the third Monday in April, and the third Monday in November, and a statute for hiring servants on Tuesday before Old Michaelmas Day. A troop of Yeomanry cavalry was raised here in 1833, under the command of C. R. Colville, Esq., M.P. The Freemasons and Odd Fellows have lodges here, besides several societies. The Mechanics’ Institute, Reading Room and Lilrary, were established in March, 1853. The library contains about 370 volumes; Mr. Thomas Kirk, is the secretary, and Mr. Robert Drewe, librarian. Here is also a Saving’s bank, a branch of the Burton-upon-Trent bank, open every Saturday night, from 6 to 8 o’clock. Repton Park is a large ancient mansion, one mile S.E., the property of Sir J. H. Crewe, Bart., and seat of Edmund Lewis Crewe, Esq. Norbury Hays is another ancient mansion, 1¼ miles S.E. by S., the property of Sir J. H. Crewe, Bart., and seat of Charles H. Crewe, Esq.

DANIEL HAY, a large farm in the Southwood division, 6 miles S.E. from Repton, con­tains about 260 acres of land, the property of Sir J. H. Crewe, Bart., and is occupied by Mr. John Newbold. In 1839, a good stone bridge of five arches, was erected across the Trent to Willington, on which there is a toll-house, It was built by subscription, at a cost of £9,000, and the approaches to it about £3,000 more, for which the public are much in­debted to Mr. Stephen Glover, of Derby.

MILTON, a hamlet and small village, 1 mile S.E. from Repton, contains 1,330A. of

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land. In 1821, an exchange was made between Sir Francis Burdett and Sir George Crewe; Sir George giving his portion of the hamlet in exchange for Sir Francis’s portion of Southwood hamlet and the Hays of 65A. 3R. 9P. in Repton.

SKADOWS, a district of 4 cottages, belongs to Sir J. H. Crewe, Bart.

SOUTHWOOD, in Repton, a hamlet of scattered farms and cottages, 5¾ miles SE. from Repton.

SICKNALL, in Repton, adjoins the lower extremity of Ticknall. Here are some exten­sive lime works, and a brick yard.

REPTON, anciently called Repington, is supposed to have been the Roman station Repandunum. Under the Saxon dominion it was called Repandum, and was the Capital of the kingdom of Mercia. Before the year 660, here was a nunnery, in which Ethelbald and others, of the Mercian kings, were interred. A priory of black canons removed hither in 1172 from Calke.

CHARITIES.—Repton Free School.—Sir John Port, Knight, in 1556, devised certain lands to Sir Thomas Gifford, Knight, and four others, his executors, for the foundation of almhouse at Etwall, and a grammar school at Etwall or Repton. (See Etwall.)

Thomas Whitehead, second master of the free school at Repton, in 1654 devised the Ferry Acres to his Executors, and directed them to permit the head master of Repton school for the time being, to hold and take the rents and profits of the said meadow, under the yearly rent of 30s., payable at Michaelmas and Lady-day, to be distributed to 30 poor people of Repton. The land, consisting of 4 acres on the Trent, is held by the head master, and the rent 30s. is regularly distributed by him to 30 poor persons.

Ralph Hough, citizen of London, by will, gave £100 to the inhabitants of Repton, for raising a rent-charge of £5 for the poor of the said place. In 1657, two closes, containing 2A., called the Further Hough Woods, on Nun Irons, situated in Oslaston, in the parish of Sutton-on-the-Hill, were conveyed on trust, and £5 yearly is paid by the tenant, which is given to the poor.

William Gilbert, in 1706, gave lands at Repton, upon trust, yearly, at Christmas and Easter, to distribute the profits to the poor of Repton who should be at church, not exceed­ing 12. In lieu of the land devised, the commissioners for the Repton inclosure, by their award, dated 11th May, 1796. allotted a parcel of land in the “Good Field,” containing 2A. 0R. 8P., to Thomas Gilbert, as trustee for the parish of Repton. The land forms a part of a close called the Upper Newton Brook Close, which in August, 1826, was in the occupation of George Gilbert, who, in respect thereof, paid 12s. on Christmas day, and 12s. on Trinity Sunday, which he distributed to 12 poor widows. It appears the whole rents were given to the poor. We apprehend that there is no doubt that a fair rent ought to be paid by the occupier for their benefit. Since our enquiry took place, Mr. Gilbert has agreed to take the land at £5 per annum. It is to be observed he is bound to make a fence between his own property and the land belonging to the charity, when required to do so.

William Hunt, in 1736, bequeathed to the vicar and churchwardens of Repton the sum of £20, the interest to be distributed by them to eight of the poorest parishioners. The above sum is in the hands of Richard Somers; originally placed in his father’s hands at 4½ per cent. The yearly sum of 18s. is paid to the vicar, and distributed to the poor.

Richard Comings, of Cambridge, deposited £70 with Robert Wedd, to be by him invested in the purchase of £100 three per cent. consols, upon trust. By indenture dated 22nd July, 1801, the sum of £60, part of the said &70, was invested in the purchase of £100 three per cent. consols, in the name of the vicar of Repton and churchwardens, on trust, to expend the dividends annually in bread, and distribute it on the day before Christmas day. The dividends are distributed and laid out according to the donor’s intention.

Mary and Dorothy Burdett’s Charities —(See Foremark.)

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Church Lands.—By the award of the commissioners for inclosing the open fields in Repton, 3A. 1R. 21P. on Repton Marsh was set out to the churchwardens, and is now let for £12 per annum, and expended in the repairs of the church.

Post Office, at Mr. John Marshall’s Bull’s Head Inn, letters arrive from Burton-on-­Trent, by foot post at 8-30 a.m., and are despatched at 5-0 p.m.

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MILTON HAMLET.

ROSLISTON, a township, parish, and pleasant village, 5 miles S. by W. from Burton-­upon-Trent, and 4 miles N.W. from Oakley station, contains 1189A. 3R. 37P. of fertile land, and in 1851 had 86 houses, and 379 inhabitants, of whom 189 were males, and 190 females; rateable value, £1903 17s. 7d. The principal owners are, John Hamp, Esq., Trustees of the late C. Arkwright, Esq., Miss Evans, John W. Daniel, Esq., Mr. Daniel Moor, and Mrs. E. Cox. The Church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a perpetual curacy annexed to the rectory of Walton-upon-Trent. Rev. Thos. Perrott, incumbent. It was re-built, with the exception of the steeple, in 1819, by subscription, aided by a grant of £50 from the Incorporated society, and 200 sittings are unappropriated. Here are 58A. of glebe, and the tithe was commuted in 1840 for £100. There were 307A. tithe-free, and 517A. were covered by a modus. A New school was built in 1849 by subscription, the site for which was given by John Hamp, Esq.; the average attendance is about 50. The

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Feast is on the first Sunday after September 12th. Coton Park, two miles S.W., a compact farm of 300A. of land, with a good house, the property and residence of John Wilks Daniel, Esq.

Post Office, at Henry Hollis’s letters arrive from Burton-on-Trent at 7.20 A.M. and are despatched at 5.30 P.M.

SMISBY OR SMITHSBY, 1½ miles N.N.E. from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, is a pic­turesque, pleasant₅ and well-built village and parish, contains besides the village, three small hamlets; viz.:—The Forty, consisting of 6 cottages, 1¼ mile N.E. The Fifty, con­taining 2 cottages, 1 mile N.W.; and the Wicked Nook, which has 6 cottages, 1¼ mile N.E. The parish contains 972A. 1R. 17P. of fine corn land, with a good proportion of excellent dairy land, and had in 1851 73 houses and 293 inhabitants, of whom 149 were males, and 144 females; rateable value, £1351 14s. 0d. Sir John Harpur Crewe, Bart., is the principal owner and lord of the manor, which is subject to a chief rent of 27s. to the Crown. Here are also several small freeholders. The Marquis of Hastings is lay impropriator and patron of the Church, St. James’s, which is a perpetual curacy, value £58, has been augmented with £400 Queen Anne’s bounty, and was appropriated to Darley Abbey. The Rev. Marmaduke Vavasour, M.A., is the incumbent. At the old enclosure, 140 acres of land were appropriated to the Marquis of Hastings, in lieu of tithes. The Church is a neat edifice, situated on an eminence, was repaired in 1838, at a cost of £450. It is endowed with 20A. of land, producing £42 per annum, for its re­paration and maintenance of high and bye roads, or any other object that the trustees may think proper to benefit the parish. In the church is an incised alabaster monument to Wm. Kendall, Esq., of the date of 1500. About quarter-mile S. of the village, a tournament is said to have taken place, which is recorded in Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. The Wesleyan Methodists have a small chapel here, erected in 1845, and a National, and Infant school in the same year. The Town-well is situated in the centre of the village, and is an excellent spring of pure water. Smisby House, a little W. of the church, is a large ancient stone mansion, enclosed by a thick heavy wall; it is supposed to have been strongly fortified, and was built by Sir John Kendall, in the year 1300, it was unoccupied for 50 years, when the present occupier, Mr. J, E. Hassall, came to it in 1848, it is the property of Sir John Harpur Crewe, Bart. Pistern Hills, ½ mile N. of the village, is a neat residence, the seat and property of Wm. Wilder, Esq.

This manor, at the Domesday survey, was the property of Nigel de Stafford. It afterwards belonged to the family of Coming, whose heiress married Shepey. In 1330, John Shepey, in answer to a quo warranto, stated that his ancestors had from time immemorial had a park within their manor there. The heiress of Shepey married Kendall, of whose family it was purchased by an ancestor of the present proprietor. In the parliamentary returns of 1786, it is stated, that some person unknown had

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given to 7 poor widows land then vested in John Tims, and producing 7s. a year. A house and garden and an acre of land near Smisby church, is now held by Miss Eliz. Tims, daughter of the late John Tims, who in respect thereof ought to dis­tribute 7s. a year to the poor widows of Smisby, but it has not been distributed for many years.

STANTON-BY-BRIDGE is a pleasant village and parish, situated on an eminence overlooking the vale of the Trent and surrounding country, 6 miles S.S.E. from Derby, contains 1,273A. 0R. 34P. of rich land, 35 houses and 215 inhabitants, of whom 100 were males and 115 females; rateable value £1,811. Sir Robt. Burdett, Bart., Sir John Harpur Crewe, Bart., and the Rev. Thomas Wright Whitaker, are the principal owners; the two former are joint lords of the manor. The living is a rectory, valued in the King’s book at £6 12s. 8d., now £345. Sir John Harpur Crewe, Bart., patron, and the Rev. Thomas Wright Whitaker, M.A., incumbent. The Church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a small ancient structure covered with ivy, and has nave, chancel, north aisle, and wooden turret with two bells. It was rebuilt by Augustine Jackson, rector, in 1683. Here is an ancient monument, with male and female figures of William Sacheverel, Esq., and Mary, his wife; also one to Katharine, wife of William Francis, Esq., who died in 1530. The rectory is a neat mansion, with 180A. 1R. 13P. of glebe and common allotment. Near the Church are the remains of a chimney, said to have belonged to a large mansion, of which this is the only part left. The late Sir George Crewe, Bart., gave land near the Church for a school, and with the rector, defrayed the expense of its erection. The children pay 2d. per week. A moiety of the manor, which had belonged to Burton Abbey, was in the Francis family in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, now of their descendants the Burdetts. The other moiety probably descended from the Finderns. In the parish very good building stone is got, with which the greater part of the stone work on the Derby canal was constructed. Feast, the day after Michaelmas day.

CHARITIES.—Richard Shepperd, by will, in 1727, left all his lands and tenements subject to the payment of 20s. a year to the poor of Stanton, 12s. thereof having been left by the will of his late father. The annual sum of 20s. is now paid in respect of some land in Chellaston, and laid out in sixpenny loaves, which are distributed at the Church on Christmas-day.

Rev. John Clarke, in 1716, granted all the great and small tithes in Shuttington, in the county of Warwick, to trustees after the death of his wife, to employ the profits for the maintenance of a minister at the Church of Shuttington, provided he was appointed by the consent of his trustees for the time being; but if placed there without their consent, the profits during such time should be disposed of for the putting to apprentice poor children whose parents should not be reputed worth £10 a piece, resident in Stanton-by-Bridge, and

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Shuttington. In lieu of the tithes and glebe conveyed to the trustees two farms were allotted about the year 1806, under the Edingale inclosure act, which together contain 144A. 3R. 25P. of land, let for £232 3s. From the year 1745 to 1792, two successive ministers were appointed without such consent, and in consequence only small payments were made to them, and of the residue premiums were paid for apprenticing poor children but which did not exhaust the income; and the trustees are possessed (1827) of £1,525 3 cent. consols, and £314 16s. 3 per cent, reduced annuities, producing together £54 5s. 10d., which is applied in placing out apprentices. The trustees meet annually at Wichnor Bridge, on the third Wednesday in June, when all children who apply are placed out with premiums varying from £9 to £15 15s.

STAPENHILL parish contains the township of Stapenhill, the township and chapelry of Caldwell, and the joint township and chapelry of Stanton and Newhall, which together contain 4388A. 1R. 38P, of land, and in 1851, had 565 houses and 2,604 inhabitants, of whom 1,327 were males and 1,277 females; rateable value £10,685 5s.

STAPENHILL, a well built, pleasant village, and township, 1 mile E. by S. from Burton-upon-Trent, on the east bank of that river, contains 1,647A. 2R. 30P. of land, soil various, and in 1851 had 153 houses and 635 inhabitants, of whom 319 were males and 316 females; rateable value £3,749 1s. The Marquis of Anglesey, the Earl of Chesterfield, and Henry Clay, Esq., are the principal owners, the former is also lord of the manor, impropriator, and patron of the Church, (St. Peter) a neat stone edifice in the early English style of architecture, with a square tower. It is situated on an eminence, and was erected in 1838, on the site of a dilapidated edifice at the sole expense of the vicar. The old chancel still remains; an organ was placed in the church in 1854, at a cost of about £150, raised by subscription. The living is a vicarage, valued in the King’s books at £5 6s. 0½d, now £373, in the incumbency of the Rev. John Clay, M.A., for whom the Rev. Charles Hind, B.A., officiates. The vicarage, a good residence near the Church, was rebuilt at the same time as the Church, by the vicar who resides in a large handsome mansion at the north end of the village. The tithes were commuted in 1841 for £147, to the impropriator and the small to the vicar, who has also 85A. 2R. 17P. of glebe, situate at Stanton. The parish of Burton, which extends to the east side of the Trent, is much intermixed with this parish and village, about one-fourth part of the township being in Burton parish, with part of the village. The Church was appropriated to the monastery of Burton, to which it had been given by Abbot Briteric, along with the manor. Henry VIII gave these to the collegiate Church he had founded on the site of the dissolved monastery, which being soon afterwards dissolved, the manors of Stapenhill and Caldwell were granted in 1545 to Sir Wm. Paget. The Rev. John Hieron, an eminent nonconformist divine and critic, who made collections towards a history of Derbyshire, was born at Stapenhill, in 1608. The Wesleyans and Reformers have each places of worship here. In 1833 the vicar erected a small, neat National school for boys and girls, which will hold about 200, about 60 boys and 40 girls attend. In 1837 an infant school was built, about 400 yards from the National school, it will hold about 60, and 30 attend. Brizlincote Hall, now a farm house, 1 mile E. from the Church, is an ancient mansion, in a commanding situation with a fine avenue of trees, over the front door is inscribed “Non Ignara Mali Miseris succurrere disco, A.D. 1714,”

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and over the back door is “ Homo. Homini. Lupus.” It contains 281A. 2R. 12P. of land, the property of the Earl of Chesterfield. About half a mile N.W. from the village, on the banks of the Trent, are the gardens and pleasure grounds of Mr. Edw. Cliff, where parties usually resort during the summer season; they are tastefully laid out, and reflect much credit on the proprietor, for their general arrangement and the good taste displayed. Heath Cottage half a mile W. from the Church, is a handsome mansion, the seat and property of Thomas Myatt, Esq. Here is a ferry across the river Trent to Burton.

CALDWELL is a small neat retired village, township, and chapelry, 4 miles S. b. E. from Burton-upon-Trent, contains 1,040 acres of land, 30 houses and 157 inhabitants, of whom 83 were males and 74 females; rateable value £1,783. Miss R. Evans is lady of the manor and considerable owner. Lady Sophia des Voeux, Mr. Edward Pratt, with the Etwall and Repton corporation, Misses Hamp, Mr. Henry Clay, and Mr. John Hopkins, are owners. The Chapel of Ease is a small structure, with a tower and two bells, and was completely renovated in 1843, with funds partly given by the vicar, and partly by sub­scription. The tithes have been commuted for £140, paid to the vicar. The Baptists have a small chapel here. The manor of Caldwell was sold by William Lord Paget, in 1565, to Peter Collingwood, Esq., from whose family it passed by successive marriages to those of Sanders and Mortimer. Hans Winthorpe Mortimer, son of Dr. Cromwell Mortimer, secretary to the Royal Society, sold it to Henry Evans, Esq., of Burton-upon-Trent. The Hall is a large ancient brick mansion, the seat mmd property of Miss Rebecca Evans.

STANTON AND NEWHALL form a joint township and chapelry, which together contain 1,700A. 3R. 8P. of land, and in 1851 had 382 houses and 1,812 inhabitants, of whom 925 were males and 887 females; rateable value £5,153 4s. Stanton, a small hamlet forming the western side of the township, in which the Earl of Chesterfield and Wm. Blake, Esq. are the principal owners. Newhall, a large and populous village, 3 miles S. by E. from Burton-upon-Trent, Earl of Chesterfield, Wm. Blake, Esq., and Jph. and Nathaniel Nadin, Esqrs., are joint lords of the manors and owners. Here are also several smaller owners. The Church, dedicated to St. John, is a handsome Gothic structure, with pinnacled tower, built of brick. It was erected at the sole expense of the Rev. John Clay, the vicar of Stapenhill, at a cost of £7,000, including a neat parsonage house, and commodious National schools, for boys, girls, and infants, which will hold about 400, and 150 attend. The Church was opened for Divine service 9th July, 1832, and will seat 600 persons. The living is a perpetual curacy, valued at £100, and is endowed with £2,000, in the patronage of trustees, and incumbency of the Rev. Roger Taylor Burton, M.A. The Wesleyans and Wesleyan Reformers have each chapels here, the former built in 1816, and enlarged in 1844, and the latter in 1855. A Literary Institute was established here in 1854, for the surrounding neighbourhood. It is held in a large club room adjoining the George Inn, lent by Mr. Wm. Brunt. The library contains 350 vols. and the news room is furnished with several daily and weekly papers; the Rev. R. T. Burton, treasurer and honorary secretary, Wm. Brunt, president, and Hy. Staley, librarian. An Horticultural society in connection with the above was also established the same year, and the exhibition is held about the middle of July. Here is a bed of coal of superior quality, extending over 2,000 acres, and 24 feet thick, which generally fetches the highest price in the market. Messrs. Joseph and Nathaniel Nadin work the collieries. A superior clay is found in the coal mines, from which a neat straw or cane-coloured earthenware is manufactured, of which great quantities are exported to America and other parts. The manors of Newhall, Stanton-Ward, and Heathcote Ward, belonged, in the reign of Edward I., to the family of Ward, from whom they passed to the Meynells, Dethicks, Dareys, Phillips, and others, by marriage. The Earl of Chesterfield purchased two shares, and the remainder having passed into the Stanhope family, Earl Stanhope and his son sold their portion in parcels. There was formerly a chapel at Newhall, which was given by William the Conqueror to Burton Abbey.

CHARITIES.—Daniel Robinson, by will, gave to the poor of this parish land in 1786, vested in Mrs. Henshaw, producing £1 per annum. Mrs. Ayre, lately deceased, daughter

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of Mrs. Henshaw, paid the £1 to the parish officers, but now it is paid by Mr. Clay to the churchwardens, by whom it is distributed at Easter.

—     Cox, by will, gave to the poor, land in 1786, vested in Thomas Sellick Brome, producing £1 10s. per annum. Lady Horton is now the owner of lands sold with this charge; and the yearly sum of 30s. is paid half-yearly by her tenant to the parish officers, and distributed at Easter and Christmas.

Francis Jackson, by will, gave to the poor, land and a house, in 1786, vested to Jph. Watson and J. Wakelin, and producing the annual sum of £1 5s. The annual sum of £1 1s. 8d. is now paid by Thomas Wright; and Joseph Warren pays 3s. 4d. to the overseers, which is, with others, distributed at Easter and Christmas.

Elizabeth Rhodes, as stated on a tablet in the Church, gave £15 to the poor, the interest to be distributed yearly. This sum is now in the hands of the freeholders, and 12s. is paid annually by the overseers for the time being, and distributed at Easter with several others.

Joyce Cox, sister of the said Elizabeth Rhodes, it is stated on a tablet in the Church, also gave £15 to the poor. We could obtain no further information as to this charity.

STAPENHILL TOWNSHIP.

Post Office, at Mr. Wm. Brown’s. Letters arrive from Burton, at 7 a.m.; and are despatched at 6 p.m.