Clifton Campville in 1817

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

CLIFTON CAMPVILLE.

Clifton Camville is a large village and manor, in a pleasant situation. It fills up the eastern angle of the county, and the hundred of Offlow, the point of which angle has been commonly supposed to meet the western point of Leicestershire, in the centre of a cross, dug in the turf of a small common called No-man's Heath. This manor takes part of its name from the situation on a bank with the Meese to the north-east; the latter part of its name is derived from the Camvilles, a family who were in possession of it from the year 1200 to 1315.

At the time of the general Survey, after the Conquest, it was in the King's own hands, and was then a place of almost as much importance as at present, having 46 families, with a church, and a mill. It afterwards belonged to Hugh Earl of Chester, and his descendants, till carried in marriage to William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby. This manor was held from the time of Henry II by Marmion, and afterwards by the Camvilles. It was for some time in the possession of General Severne, and from him it came by a female branch of the Pye family to the Rev. Richard Watkins, of Rock, Worcestershire.

Clifton and Haunton form a valuable manor of several thousand acres: the soil is similar to that of Elford; the valleys on the banks of the brooks are good meadow-land, and the uplands are a strong and mixed loam. Considerable dairies are kept in this parish, and much cheese made. The sheep are generally of the Leicestershire breed, the cows are of the long-horned kind, and give abundance of excellent milk.

Clifton Camville Church is dedicated to St. Andrew, and is adorned by one of the finest spires in the kingdom, and which may be seen at the distance of several miles. The interior of the edifice has two chancels, separated by a handsome screen. In the large gothic window of the north chancel is the representation of St. Mark. In the middle of the south chancel is a magnificent monument of alabaster, in honour of Sir John Vernon and his lady, both of whom died in the year 1545. The north chancel contains a large handsome mural monument, executed by that celebrated sculptor Rysbrach. It is of mixed marble, with two Ionic columns; the inscription between them is to the memory of Sir Charles Pye, Bart. and supports a pediment adorned with the arms of the family.

Harlaston is a considerable hamlet in this parish, about two miles west of the mother church. There is a mill here, on the river Meese, which is here the boundary between this county and Derbyshire. The chapel is a small ancient structure, with a low wooden spire.