Hamstall Ridware in 1817

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

HAMSTALL RIDWARE.

Hamstall Ridware. This manor is situated on the northern bank of the Trent; it is in the deanery of Tamworth, about a mile north- west of Bromley Regis, and two miles west of Yoxall. The river Blythe runs through the middle of the parish and falls into the Trent.

The etymology of Hamstall is derived from the Saxon word homestall, which signified a fixed habitation. According to a record in Doomsday-book, Ridware was held in Edward the Confessor's time by Edmund, a Saxon freeman, under the Earl of Mercia; but within twenty years of the Norman Conquest, it had passed into the hands of Walter, a vassal of the Earl of Shrewsbury.

In the reign of Henry I. William de Ridware was lord of this manor, where he resided; it passed during successive ages to several possessors, and about the commencement of the seventeenth century it became the property of the Leigh family, and on the demise of Edward Lord Leigh, his sister, the Hon. Mary Leigh, be, came lady of this manor and of Yoxall.

The parish of Hamstall Ridware contains 2,521a. 2r. 16p. of tenantable land, and 36a. 2r. 32p. of waste-land and waters.

The ancient manor-house is an extensive building, and was formerly fitted-up in a style of neat magnificence. Near it stands a watch tower, about fifty feet high, open at the top, from which there is a richly-varied prospect of the surrounding country.

Among other curiosities, the head of a stone hammer is shown to visitors, by the present resident of the mansion. The remains of a coat of mail and other accoutrements, provided for Charles I in the time of the Rebellion, and a bridle for a scold, are also preserved here. The bridle is made of narrow thin plates of iron, with vacancies for the nose and eyes. When fixed on the offender, a flat piece of iron projects into the mouth and presses on the tongue. There is a ring in the centre, through which a cord was put to lead the offender into the church-yard, where she was obliged to remain till she gave signs of reformation, which, tradition says, this forcible deprivation of speech soon produced. Dr. Plot mentions two other similar bridles in his time, which were considered great curiosities; one at Newcastle, and the other at Walsall. There is another exhibited at Mr. Green's Museum, at Lichfield.

The church is a rectory, dedicated to St. Michael. It is a small structure of stone with a spire; has some painted glass in the windows, and contains several handsome monuments, and among others one to the memory of Thomas Allestree, MA who was a minister of the Church of England 54 years. He composed 500 sermons, and preached above 5000 times. He died the 30th of June, 1715, in the 78th year of his age.