Blore-with-Swinscoe in 1817

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

BLORE-WITH-SWINSCOE.

Blore is a small parish, including Swinescote township, situated about a mile and a half to the NW of Okeover, on the west side of the Dove. The village is situated on high ground, and in a fertile tract, within a mile of Ilam, which may be termed the boundary of the comparatively barren Moorlands. This parish contains 39 houses, 39 families; 83 males, 81 females: total inhabitants, 164.

The village of Blore is chiefly remarkable for having formerly been the residence of the ancient family of Bassett, whose mansion stood here. Not a single vestige of which now remains; and the antiquary, in his researches for some fragment of this ancient scene of baronial splendour, may exclaim, "Sic transit gloria mundi." The few houses now in the village are inhabited by farmers and people employed in agriculture.

The Church is an ancient Gothic edifice, with a large tower; the roof is covered with lead, and there are two small windows in the east end.

The only monument worthy of observation is one to the memory of a young woman, with the following inscription:

"Here lieth the body of Mary Hall, who departed this life, Dec. 12, 1764, aged 23 years:
Though short my days, my wit and beauty bright,
I was my parents' joy and hearts' delight;
In me alone they comfort thought to find,
God called me hence - it was his blessed mind."

The church is dedicated to St. Bartholomew, and is a rectory. The Rev. William Bailey is the present curate. It contains several monuments of the Bassett family, now mouldering in ruins.