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Baswich in 1817

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Description from A Topographical History of Staffordshire by William Pitt (1817)

BASWICH.

Baswich is an extensive parish of Cuttlestone hundred, containing the townships of Acton-Trussel, Bednal, Brockton, and Walton and Milford. According to the population returns in 1811, the number of houses was 224, inhabited by 246 families, consisting of 553 males, and 558 females: total 1,111 persons. About three-fifths of the inhabitants were employed in agriculture.

The Church of Baswich is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The body of this edifice has been re-built with brick, but its ancient steeple of stone remains. It is situated in a solitary spot at the extremity of the parish, near the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. The present curate is the Rev. Joseph Ellerton, master of the Free Grammar-school at Stafford.

Walton and Milford is an hamlet of Baswich. At Milford there is a capital mansion belonging to the Rev. Richard Levett; and a good mansion and premises occupied by John Collins, Esq. of Stafford.

Weeping-cross is a small hamlet in this parish, with a good inn, situated on the road to Cannock. The arable land here is a good rich mild loam, with meadows on the banks of the Penk.

Radford is another small hamlet or village, with an excellent stone bridge over the Penk, and a wharf on the canal, where much business is done in the coal and lime trades, and other branches of commerce.

Brockton is a village belonging to the township of that name, and situated in the east of this parish. Brockton Hall is an ancient mansion, the residence of Sir George Chetwynd, Bart. It is situated to the north of the road to Cannock, about four miles from Stafford. The village is in a pleasant rural situation, and contains several farm-houses and tenements. Brockton Lodge is an elegant and modern mansion, the residence of George Chetwynd, Esq. Chairman of the General Quarter Sessions for this county, and son and heir to Sir George Chetwynd. A large stone quarry is now worked on the Brockton estate: it produces good free-stone for building and other uses, and excellent bricks are made of the stratum of clay above the stone.

The parish of Baswich contains a considerable tract of Cannock-heath, which extends to Milford, within three miles of Stafford. As the Church is at the northern end of the parish, there are two chapels of ease belonging to it in the southern part, one in Acton-Trussel township, and the other at Bednal.