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Cannock in 1817

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

CANNOCK.

This extensive parish, which includes the townships of Huntington and Great Wyrley, is in the eastern part of the hundred, and near the middle of the county. Different antiquaries have given different etymologies of this place, some tracing the derivation up to the Cangi, and others to Canute, the first Danish king who reigned in England. The last syllable of the name is conjectured to be derived from the Saxon ock, being the same as oak, and denoting a wood or country full of oaks; and it was undoubtedly a forest during the reign of the Mercian kings, and was their favourite chace.

The town of Cannock is not mentioned in Domesday-book, though in the time of king John there was a town here, with a church belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield. The manor and tithes now belong to the Marquis of Anglesea. Cannock is situated four miles east south-east of Penkridge, eight miles from Walsall, and nine from Stafford, the turnpike-road to these towns passing through it.

The town stands on a gravelly soil, in consequence of which water was frequently scarce in summer, so that it has been facetiously asserted that it contained more ale than water. A constant supply, however, was realized by the liberality of Dr. Hough, Bishop of Worcester, who out of regard to the inhabitants, and particularly to the Birches, of Leacroft, his relations, caused water to be brought in leaden pipes from a spring a mile distant, and built a handsome conduit of freestone at the corner of the bowling-green in the middle of the town. This public bowling-green was encompassed with a brick wall in 1753, when the south side of the church was re-built.

Cannock is a pleasant little town, and contains several well-built houses and a good inn. According to the population returns in 1811, it contained 224 inhabited houses, 240 families; 532 males, 611 females: total 1,143 persons. This town formerly had a market on Tuesday, which is now discontinued. It was formerly a place of great resort, on account of the salubrity of Reaumore-hill well, which was a fashionable watering-place in its day.

Dugdale asserts, that Henry I. resided here in summer, and there are records of a castle having existed here, though no vestiges of it now remain. It was more probably what the antiquaries term a castellated mansion, built in that form to distinguish it as the royal residence. There is some variation in the accounts respecting the supply of water to the town, for it is stated that a Mr. Biddulph originally laid pipes from Leacroft more than a mile distant, which conveyed excellent water from the fountain, and that he bequeathed lands for the purpose of keeping the pipes in repair. Perhaps this had been neglected, and the Bishop of Worcester was only at the expence of repairing the pipes, and re-building the conduit.

The parish of Cannock is of considerable extent, containing 25,000 acres; a considerable part of the enclosed land round the town consists of a good light soil, adapted to corn, turnips, and pasture.

Hedgford, an enclosed hamlet on Cannock-heath, contains a good inn, and stabling for blood horses, which are trained and exercised on the excellent turf of Hedgford-hills. The ground being open and elevated, and the soil being a sound gravel, seldom breaks into mire. Hedgford-pool is a lake in a valley of Cannock-heath, the Water from which issues north to the Trent, near Rugeley, and south to the Walk mill, and afterwards west to the Penk, near Standeford and Coven.

Leacroft and Reaumore Hills are enclosed hamlets of Cannock, situated to the east and south of the town. At the Walk Mill. Mr. Gilpin has established a very considerable iron manufactory of edge-tools, augers, and various similar articles, near the Watling-street-way, besides which he has built a good house, and raises coal for his manufactory and for sale. By this public-spirited industry, he has much increased the population, and the prosperity and comfort of the inhabitants of his neighbourhood.

Great Wyrley, formerly called Wyrley Bank, and then extra-parochial, is now a populous hamlet of Cannock. This township, according to the population returns in 1811, contained 82 houses, inhabited by 82 families, of whom 51 were employed in agriculture, and 31 in trade, manufactures, or handicraft arts. The number of persons was 361, of whom 187 were males, and 174 females. The village contains a few well-built farm-houses and tenements, with a number of cottages in every variety of rude architecture, from the clay-built shed to the convenient dwelling.

It was formerly the reputed home of beggars, who, when asked where they came from, replied Wyrley-bank. It was then a nursery for illegitimate children, and became a nuisance, to correct which, it was annexed to Cannock as a township, and to Chesland Hay respecting the provision for its poor.

Chesland Hay had formerly a large common, which is now enclosed. The Lanes, of King's Bromley, have an estate here, on which an eminence, planted with firs, is conspicuous for several miles to travellers and the inhabitants of the circumjacent country.

Huntington is another township belonging to Cannock parish. It contains 23 houses, and 135 inhabitants. This township chiefly belongs to the Littleton family; the waste lands of Huntington and Teddesley, are now under enclosure, being in a distinct manor from the general part of Cannock-heath.

Hatherton, including the Four Crosses, and the open part of Calf-heath common, is in the parish of Wolverhampton, but the inhabitants attend divine worship in Cannock Church, and bury their dead in the church-yard. This township contains 55 houses, 56 families, and 299 inhabitants, whose only employment is agriculture.

The demesne of Hatherton-hall is an ancient residence of the Walhouse family, and now inhabited by Moreton Walhouse, Esq. father to Edward John Littleton, Esq. MP. This mansion, which is in the Gothic style, is now re-building. The material is stone, and, when finished, it will be a commodious place of residence. The estate consists of several contiguous farms of good sound gravelly loam, well wooded, and of hedge-rows of thriving trees. The hamlet at the Four Crosses, on Watling-street, consists of several farm-houses and smaller tenements, and a capital inn.

Cannock Church is a stone edifice, dedicated to St. Luke; the living is a perpetual curacy, of which the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield are patrons. The present curate is the Rev. Thomas Bradburne.

Cannock-heath, which was a celebrated forest during the reign of the Mercian kings, is now a bleak and dreary waste. At Radmore, within its boundaries, the Cistercian monks founded an abbey, in the reign of King Stephen; but in the year 1154, the monks removed to Stoneley, in Warwickshire.