Forton in 1859

FORTON {All Saints), a parish, in the union of Newport, W. division of the hundred of Cuttlestone, S. division of the county of Stafford, l mile (N.E. by N.) from Newport; containing 762 inhabitants. It is divided into the four hamlets of Forton, Meer, Sutton, and Warton; and comprises 3656a.3r.19p., whereof the meadow-land is peaty, and the arable partly clay, and partly light and sandy. The road from Newport to Eccleshall intersects the parish, the scenery of which is beautifully picturesque.

Aqualate Hall is a magnificent mansion, on the south side of a fine lake more than a mile in length, and half a mile in breadth, called Aqualate Meer; the house is surrounded by a spacious park and pleasure-grounds, adorned with plantations and some of the finest oak-trees in the county. This is the seat of Sir Thomas Fletcher Fenton Boughey, Bart., who is lord of the manor, and owner of nearly the whole parish.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £20.19.2.; patron, the Baronet: the tithes have been commuted for £450, and the glebe comprises 46 acres, valued at £68 per annum. The church is an ancient stone edifice, with a nave, north aisle, and a square tower; it was repaired and modernised about 1700, and re-roofed in 1842.

A school, built in 1843, has a small endowment. Anc's Hill, in the parish, an eminence planted with firs, is supposed to have had its name from the Romans. 

An 1859 Gazetteer description of the following place in Forton is to be found on a supplementary page.

• Meer

[Description(s) from The Topographical Dictionary of England (1859) by Samuel Lewis - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]