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"Alrewas is an extensive village, pleasantly situated on the south bank of the Trent, opposite to Wichnor, one mile W of the mouth of the River Tame and five and a half miles NE of Lichfield. It is crossed by the Trent and Mersey Canal, and on its eastern side is a commodious station on the South Staffordshire Railway, where there is much traffic in lime, coal, etc, as well as at the wharfs. The parish is a fine champaign district, comprising the three townships of Alrewas, Fradley & Orgreave, and contains about 4500 acres of rich land, mostly in pasturage and meadows, and 1658 inhabitants. The Earl of Lichfield is lord of the manor and owner of nearly all of the land.[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851]
Fradley, one mile south of Alrewas, is a small village, comprising within its township about 1300 acres of land. Fradley Heath formed part of the extensive waste of Alrewas Hay, but was enclosed about 1805. On the canal, half a mile S of Fradley, is Dunstall wharf and hamlet.
Orgreave is a small village and township, on the south bank of the Trent, half a mile W of Alrewas. and includes Overley hamlet. The Hall, now a farmhouse with a fine avenue of lime trees, was formerly the seat of the Adams family, the paternal ancestors of the Earl of Lichfield.
Alrewas Hay, four miles N by E of Lichfield, is an extra-parochial liberty of 132 souls and 1680 acres, belonging to the Earl of Lichfield, and containing the small village of Fradley Junction, so called from the Fazeley and Trent and Mersey Canals, which here unite. This district was formerly an open forest or chase and was not wholly enclosed until 1826."
Monumental Inscriptions for Alrewas, All Saints, and Fradley, St Stephen, have been transcribed and published by the Birmingham & Midland SGH.
The population of Alrewas parish (excluding Alrewas Hay ep district) in 1831 was 1607; in 1841 it was 1658 divided as follows: Alrewas, 1173; Fradley, 362; Orgreave, 96; Overley, 27. The population of the extra-parochial district of Alrewas Hay in 1841 was 92. The district was added to Alrewas parish by Local Government Board Order in 1885.
A full transcript of the 1851 census for Alrewas parish is included in the Lichfield, Part 2, Volume II, census transcript published by the Birmingham & Midland SGH.
"The Parish Church, dedicated to All Saints, is a fine specimen of Saxon architecture, but it has, at various periods, undergone many repairs, and over the door is the date 1627. The vicarage is in the patronage of the Prebendary of Alrewas, and incumbency of the Rev John Moore, MA.
Here is a Wesleyan Chapel, built in 1805 and enlarged in 1846, and a Primitive Methodist Chapel, built in 1828."
[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851]
The chapel of St Stephen, Fradley was erected in 1861, built of brick in the Early English style, within the cure of the vicar of Alrewas.
Church of England Registers
The parish register of the parish church of All Saints commences in 1547. The original registers for the period 1547-1978 (Bapts), 1547-1920 (Mar), & 1547-1956 (Bur), and Banns for the period 1823-1941 are deposited at Staffordshire Record Office.
Bishops Transcripts, 1664-1852 (with gaps 1672-75, 1677-78, 1702-04, & 1735-38) are deposited at Lichfield Record Office.
An indexed transcript of the All Saints registers for the period 1547-1670 (Bapts, Mar & Bur) was published in 2003 by the Staffordshire Parish Register Society.
The parish became part of Lichfield Union following the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.
[Last updated: 28th October 2004, Mike Harbach. ©1998 - 2004]