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Rushton Spencer in 1817

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

RUSHTON SPENCER.

Rushton-Spencer is a township and parish about five miles to the north-west of Leek. The village of Rushton-Spencer is situated on a hill to the west of the turnpike-road between Leek and Macclesfield, and near the river Dane, which is the boundary between the counties of Stafford and Chester. The whole township contains 59 houses, 59 families; 193 males, 169 females: total of inhabitants, 362. There is a small manufactory in this parish, where some cotton twist is spun for the Manchester manufacturers.

The Church, which is a chapel of ease to Leek, stands on a hill, at a distance from the village. The church-yard is surrounded by fir-trees; and the church has the appearance of a barn when viewed from the road, to which there is a communication by a path-way across the fields. It is a small fabric of stone, in a very neglected and even ruinous state: the small wooden belfry contains one bell. There is a sun-dial, two remarkably fine full-grown yew trees, and a young flourishing tree of the same kind in the church-yard. The family vault and chapel of the Michalls family, of Swithamley-hall, is at the east end of the church, near the communion-table.

The following are the most remarkable instances of longevity, recorded in the church-yard: "James Stoddart, aged 90; Daniel Dale, died the 15th of May, 1794, in the 89th year of his age; and Ann Rigby, died Nov. 15, 1738, in the ?9th year of her age."

There is a singular tomb in this church-yard, of a young man who is said to have been murdered by his villainous master, for the sake of some money which he received from him as a loan. The report is, that a strong opiate was given to the unfortunate victim of avarice, and during the time of its operation he was placed in a coffin and buried. Some suspicion of foul play arising, the coffin was raised, and on opening it, there were evident proofs that the young man had awoke in the grave, and partly turned in the coffin, where he died for want of air! The body was then replaced in the coffin, and buried in Rushton-Spencer church-yard with the head towards the east, and the following inscription on a tomb-stone: "Memento Mori. Thomas, the son of Thomas and Mary Meaykin, interred July 16, 1781 As a man falleth before wicked men, so fell I."

The Church is dedicated to St. Lawrence: it is in the patronage of the Vicar of Leek, and the Rev. James Turner, of Meerbrook, is the present minister.'