Rugeley in 1817

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

RUGELEY.

The population of the town and parish of Rugeley in 1811, was 2,213, of which number 1,089 were males, and 1,124 females. The number of inhabited houses was 453, and of families 478. Fourteen houses were then building, a proof of the thriving state of the place.

Rugeley is built in a low situation, in a pleasant healthy country near the Trent. The Grand Trunk Canal, which unites the navigation of the Trent and the Mersey, runs past the north side of the town, between it and the river Trent. It is six miles N.E. of Cannock, seven from Lichfield, and nine and a half from Stafford; the turnpike-road to these towns passes through it, and it consequently is a considerable thorough-fare. The facilities of an inland navigation have contributed to the prosperity of this town. It has a neat cleanly appearance; the houses are in general well-built, and some of them elegant, Rugeley is governed by two constables, who are chosen annually by the inhabitants. The principal manufacture is hats. The market-day is Thursday. Two annual fairs are held in this town, one June 6, for colts and horses, and the other Oct. 21, for horses, sheep, and cattle.

The manor was the property of Simon de Rugeley, of Rugeley. In the reign of Edward III he was appointed sheriff of the county by that prince, and at the same period another of the family was knight of the shire. The Marquis of Anglesea is the present lord of the manor.

The Church is an ancient structure of stone, with a tower, which contains six bells, cast in 1706. The roof is covered with shingles. The interior consists of two low aisles. It is dedicated to St. Augustine, and is a vicarage in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield. The present vicar, the Rev. Charles Inge, resides in the vicarage-house, a neat mansion which stands near the church, and is surrounded with a shrubbery. The church contains monuments of the families of Weston, Chetwynd, Lander, and Sneyd.

Dr. Wilkes traces the etymology of Rugeley, from Ridgley, a ridge of hills above the town. Cannock-heath approaches within a mile of Rugeley on the south; and Stile Cop, one of its eminences, covered with trees, is seen at the distance of many miles. From the summit there is a prospect of a great part of Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Worcestershire, and a part of Shropshire.

The Free Grammar-school of Rugeley was established by Queen Elizabeth, who endowed the institution with lands in and about the town, which had formerly been appropriated for the instruction of boys in a chantry, dissolved by Henry VIII.

John Bamford Cowper also founded a charity-school, and left four hundred pounds in trusts, the interest of which was to be paid to a schoolmaster, for instructing sixteen boys of the poorest families in Rugeley, in reading, writing, and arithmetic, to qualify them to go apprentices to trades. They were also instructed in the Church catechism, and the principles of the Christian religion.

Among the memorable events recorded in the parish register of Rugeley, there is an account of a fire on Trinity Sunday, May 20, 1646, which destroyed 29 dwelling-houses. The sufferers afterwards received £335. 7s. lOd. On Saturday, Feb. 19, 1708, a fire broke out in the west end of Rugeley, at nine o'clock in the morning, and consumed ten habitations, nine barns and offices, and goods to the value of £808. 3s. 2d. which was paid to the sufferers severally by Benjamin Adie.

Hagley, the magnificent seat of Viscount Curzon, is in the vicinity of this town, enveloped in lofty and luxuriant groves and plantations, enclosed by a park-wall and paling. Above Rugeley, the vale of Trent displays several gentlemen's seats, with surrounding and picturesque sylvan scenery. Among others the modern mansion of Bellamore, belonging to the Blount family, is a beautiful object. The demesne is well cultivated, and variegated with groves and plantations. At a greater distance to the west, the elegant mansion of John Sparrow, Esq. rises near the Trent, and on the opposite bank of the river is Wolseley Hall, the ancient seat of Sir William Wolseley. The park is a most romantic succession of small hills, covered with plantations, and some very ancient oaks, and is a most agreeable contrast to the fertile meadows in the vale of Trent below. At this place is the ancient inn of Wolseley Bridge, where the Rugeley road divides; one branching off for Shugborough, Haywood, and Stone, and the other for Radford and Stafford.

At Brindley's-bank, above Rugeley, the Grand Trunk Canal crosses the Trent upon an aqueduct of five arches. This place takes its name from the eminent engineer who planned the canal, and here carried it over the river; and so perfect has been the workmanship of this aqueduct, that it has withstood the floods of the Trent for nearly half a century.

At Brereton, near Rugeley, considerable quantities of coal are raised from the mines, and sold in the neighbourhood, or sent by railways to the Trent and Mersey canal.