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Farewell (Fairwell) in 1817

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

FAIRWELL.

This small village is situated on the side of a woody vale, on the north-east border of Cannock Forest.

In 1140, the church dedicated to St. Mary was given to a Priory of Benedictine nuns by Roger Clinton, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, who endowed it with the mill, and all the lands lying between the brooks called Chistals and Blackesiche; likewise six husbandmen, with their tenures, horses, and services. King Henry II. confirmed this grant, to which he superadded forty acres of land cleared from wood in the forest of Cannock. Upon the suppression of the lesser religious houses, in 1527, this priory-church was given to Lichfield cathedral to maintain the choristers.

This manor now belongs to the Marquis of Anglesea: the soil is principally gravel, clay, and sand.

In 1747, the old nunnery chapel was taken down, when three rows of coarse earthen vessels of different dimensions were found in the south wall, six feet from the ground. These vessels were laid on their sides, and their mouths, which were covered with a thin coat of plaster, were placed towards the chapel.

Fairwell Church is a picturesque object, situated on the side of a hill; the body of the edifice, and the tower are of modern brick, but the chancel, with its large gothic window, is a fine piece of antiquity. It is a vicarage in the patronage of the Marquis of Anglesea.

Chorley, a hamlet in the western part of this parish, is situated on the verge of Cannock Forest. It consists of a few houses, and an ancient hall.