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Tamworth in 1817

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

TAMWORTH.

Tamworth is situated at the confluence of the Anker and the Tame. The latter river, which is much the largest of the two, gives name to the town, and divides it nearly into two equal parts, one of which is in Warwickshire, and the other in Staffordshire.

The situation of Tamworth is pleasant; the south-side of the town is bordered with meadows, and on the north a fertile well-inclosed country, rising by a gradual ascent towards Wigginton. An ancient foss, called the King's Dyke, is visible on three sides of the town, being some hundred paces in length, and forty-five feet broad. This is supposed to have been the boundary of the castle.

This town, which is of undoubted antiquity, was almost totally destroyed by the Danes about the commencement of the tenth century; but Ethelfleda, the daughter of Alfred the Great, a princess who inherited her father's public virtues, rebuilt Tamworth, and added much to the strength and beauty of the town; for in 914, having been successful against the Danes, and driven them out of the country, she raised the circular mount, and built a castle on the top of it, which was a watch-tower and a place of defence. Her brother, Edward the Elder, convinced of her abilities for public affairs, appointed her governess of Mercia, in which situation she behaved with great prudence and vigilance.

Leland, in his Itinerary, mentions some curious particulars respecting Tamworth. "The towne of Tamworth," says he, "having a celebrate market, is of ancient memory, and after the Danes had razed and defaced it, Ethelthleda, lady of the Marches, and sister of King Edward sen. repayred it. The towne in respect of the bottom, where Tame and Ancre runne, is sett on the declive of a small hill, and the principall street and buildings of it lye by west and east. "The north part and side of the principal street is in Staffordshire, and on this side is the paroch-church of Tamworth. The south side, and part of this street, lying towards the right ripe of Anker, is in Warwickshire, and the castle also, which standeth at the very point of the confluence of Anker and Tame. I saw but three notable things, the paroch-church, the castle, and the bridge. '' The Castle of Tamworth standeth on a meetly high ground, on the southe part of the towne, hard upon the ripe of Anker at the mouth of it. The Marmions, Freviles, and Ferrers, have been lords of it since the Conquest."

When Ethelfleda rebuilt Tamworth, she erected a strong tower, called the Dungeon, upon an artificial mount. The present castle was built on the site of this ancient tower, but by whom is unusurpation of the crown by William the Conqueror, was granted by him, with the adjacent territory, to Robert Marmion, lord of Fontenoy, in Normandy. It continued in this family till the year 1291, when it passed by marriage to William Mortein, and from him to the Freviles. In little more than a century it was carried by marriage into the family of Ferrers, and afterwards to the Comptons. In 1751, Lady Charlotte Compton carried Tamworth Castle, and the estates belonging to it, to her husband, the Hon. George Townshend, afterwards Marquis Townshend.

"The architecture of the Castle now remaining seems to have been of various periods. The hall is large, but exceedingly rude and comfortless. This, and some other parts, appear of a very ancient date. The rooms and staircases are most of them irregular and uncouth. Yet, by Leland's account, it seems, the greater part was built since his time. 'The base-court,' says he, and the great ward of the castle, is clean decayed, and the wall fallen downe, and therein be now but houses of office of noe notable building. The Dnngeon-hill yet standeth, and a great round tower of stone, wherein Mr. Ferrers dwelleth, and now repaireth it." Such was its state in Henry the Eighth's time.

"There are two noble rooms, comparatively modern, fitted-up with oak wainscot, and round the cornice of the largest, the arms of the family, impaling every match to the earliest periods. From the windows of this room are pleasing and rich views over the river (which runs at the foot of the Castle mount,) to the meadows and woodlands, where formerly the park was. Lord Leicester, it is said, once had thoughts of making this castle his residence, and for that purpose had Wyatt down to survey it; but finding, from the antiquity of the greater part of the building, and the neglect of inhabitation here for nearly a century, the scheme not very practicable, he gave it up: it is still, however, kept in external repair. "From the Castle leads is a noble circular view of a rich woodland country in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and Derbyshire. Canwell, the elegant new mansion of Sir Robert Lawley, Bart. appears to great advantage from hence." Tamworth Castle has lately been fitted-up as a cotton factory.

The beauty of the situation of Tamworth is seen from the Castle to great advantage, varied with rich meadows, two bridges over the Tame and the Anker, and the rivers wandering picturesquely along the country. Michael Drayton, born on the banks of the Anker, thus celebrates that river and his mistress:

"Clear Anker, on whose silver-sanded shore
My soul-shrin'd saint; my fair idea lies:
A blessed brook, whose milk-while swans adore
Thy crystal stream, refined by her eyes;
Where sweet myrrh-breathing zephyr in the spring
Gently distils his nectar-dropping showers;
Where nightingales in Arden sit and sing
Amongst the dainty dew-impearled flowers.
Fair Arden! thou my Tempo art alone;
And thou, sweet Anker, art my Helicon."

Tamworth is now a handsome well-built town; even in the reign of Henry VIII. Leland describes it as "all well builded of tymber." Lichfield-street is particularly elegant, and the gardens on the bank of the river large and pleasant. The borough of Tamworth belonged to the Crown till the reign of Henry III, when it was declared a free Corporation; but the inhabitants afterwards forfeited their charter, which was restored by Edward II.

The market was held weekly on Saturday, by prescription, from the time that the Kings of Mercia resided here. But the town fell into decay, and lost the name of a borough, till the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who granted it a charter, according to which it is governed by a high-steward, two bailiffs, a recorder, a town clerk, and twenty-four principal burgesses, and sends two members to parliament.

In the year 1796 the Most Noble George Marquis Townshend was chosen high-steward for Tamworth. The parliamentary interest was till lately divided between the Marquis Townshend, proprietor of Tamworth Castle, and the late Marquis of Bath, by the influence of his neighbouring seat and estate at Drayton-Basset; but Sir Robert Peel having purchased the latter seat, was consequently elected one of the representatives of the borough in Parliament.

There are five annual fairs held in Tamworth. The first, the Monday before January 25th; second, St. George's-day (old style,) May 4th; third, St. Swithin, 26th July; fourth, the first Monday in September; and fifth, on the feast of Edward the Confessor, the 24th of October, and the four following days.

Tamworth is a town of considerable population, and a variety of manufactures are successfully carried on in it; particularly a manufactory of superfine narrow woollen cloth, the printing of calicoes, a linen manufactory, and several tanneries and ale-breweries. In 1801 the population of this town, in the Staffordshire division, was 1123 persons, of whom 642 were employed in handicraft trades and manufactures. According to the return made to parliament in 1811, the population of Tamworth amounted to: males 1258; females 1581; total 2839: but whether this return was made for the Staffordshire division, or the whole town, is not expressed.

The Church, dedicated to St. Editha, is very spacious, and has undergone material alterations and repairs at different periods. It is adorned by a tower, the staircase of which is mentioned by the wonder-loving Plott as a great curiosity in architecture. The image of St. Editha was destroyed at the commencement of the Reformation. After the Dissolution, this Church, which had been collegiate, came to the possession of Edward VI and the right of patronage descended to Queen Elizabeth, who, in the 23d year of her reign, by her letters-patent, granted the right of patronage to Edward Downing and Peter Aysheton, and their heirs for ever. This right being transferable, has gone through different hands into the family of Repington. There are also several meeting-houses for Dissenters in Tamworth.

In the year 1588, Queen Elizabeth restored to the town the free grammar-school, and granted an annuity for the salary of the schoolmaster. This excellent seminary is now in a flourishing condition. In 1678, Thomas Guy, citizen and stationer, of London, erected and endowed an alms-house in this town, for six men and six women.

The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Weymouth settled upon two schools in Tamworth a yearly sum of five pounds each; one to teach poor children on the Staffordshire side, and the other poor children on the Warwickshire side of the town, to read English. Thomas Guy, the celebrated bookseller and stationer, who built the noble hospital in Southwark, which bears his name, was a great benefactor to Tamworth; for, besides the alms-house already mentioned, he, in the year 1701, rebuilt the town-hall, which stands in Warwickshire.

The moat-house is a curious mansion, situated on the north bank of the river Tame, in the county of Stafford, at the extremity of Lichfield-street. It was built in 1572, by the Comberfords, as a town-residence or secondary seat to the principal family mansion, about two miles distant.

In the parish register are the following memoranda: "In 1563, and in 1626, the plague in Tamworth. -1597. Dyvers died of the blouddie flixe, at which tyme the darthe of corne somewhat abated by reason of deathe.
"1598. mem. that the 30th day of this Aprill, Robert earl of Essex went from Drayton-Basset toward Ireland with an hoste of men to make warre against the earl of Tyroone, an Irishman."

The bailiffs and burgesses of Tamworth are lords of the manor; the rest of the parish is divided into several lordships, and belongs to different persons, viz. Sierscote, Wigginton, Comberford, Coton, Hopwas, Bonehill, and Biterscote, in the county of Stafford; there are also several hamlets belonging to the borough of Tamworth in Warwickshire.

Sierscote, an ancient manor in the parish of Tamworth, is situated a mile north-east of the Church. It is bounded on the south-east by the turnpike-road and Amington, in Warwickshire; on the east by Statfold; and on the north by Wigginton. This manor and estate now belongs to Joseph Grundy, gent. It is a capital farm; the soil is a strong loam, productive of good crops of grass and corn.

Wigginton is a hamlet in the parish of Tamworth, situated about two miles north-east of the Church. It is thus recorded in Domesday: "The King holds Wigetone, consisting of two hides. The arable land is six carucates. There are eight villans, and one servant, and one bordar, and eight burgesses in Tamworde. In all they have six carucates. Here is also a meadow, six furlongs in length and two in breadth. In the time of Edward the Confessor, it was valued at thirty shillings, but at the time of this survey £4"

South-west of Wigginton, near a piece of land called the Low Flat, is a remarkable eminence, which is called Robin Hood's Butt. On the north-west of the hamlet, is a flat space called the Money Lands, where many ancient coins, and several human bones, have been ploughed up.

Dr. Plott, in his History of the Antiquities of Staffordshire, mentions a remarkable instance of abstinence: "Mary Vaughton, of Wigginton, in this county, from her cradle to this day has lived with so small a quantity both of meats and drinks, that all people admire how nature is sustained without any sensible exhaustion, the not eating in a day a piece above the size of half-a-crown in bread and butter ; or if meat, not above the size of a pigeon's leg at most. She drinks neither wine, ale, or beer, but only water or milk, or both mixed; and of either of these scarce a spoonful in a day. And yet she is a maiden of a fresh complexion, and healthy enough, very piously disposed, and of the Church of England, and therefore the less likely to put a trick upon the world; besides, it is very well known to many worthy persons with whom she has lived, that any great quantities, or different liquors, have always made her sick."

When hearth-money was collected, in the year 1660, Wigginton paid for 114 hearths, £11. 0s. 8d. In 1811, the population returns, for Wall, Weeford, and Wigginton, were: 438 males, 507 females; total 945. The Chapel is a small structure of brick, where divine service is performed once a fortnight.

Comberford, the ancient seat and manor of the Comberfords, is in a low situation on the east bank of the river Tame, and on the left hand of the turnpike-road, midway between Tamworth and Elford. The manor and estate were lately the property of the Marquis of Donegal.

Coton, a small hamlet in Tamworth parish, is situated near to Hopwas-bridge.

Hopwas is situated on the west bank of the river Tame. In Domesday-book it is thus recorded: "The King holds Opewas; there are three hides; the arable land is six carucates. In demesne there is a mill of thirteen shillings and four-pence rent; and eleven villans and two borders employ five ploughs. Here are thirty acres of meadow, a wood six furlongs in length and three in breadth. The whole was valued aforetime and then at 40s."

Hopwas is a small hamlet situated at the bottom of a hill, the most remarkable object on which is a house on the summit, environed by a wood called Hopwas Hayes.

The turnpike-road from Lichfield to Tamworth passes through Hopwas; and in an opposite direction, the Birmingham and Fazeley canal passes through it, to join the Grand Trunk at Fradley-heath. The old stone-bridge, of sixteen arches, over the Tame at Hopwas, was washed down by the memorable flood in February, 1795, and was again repaired at considerable expense by the county.