Needwood Forest

Peter Thomson, of Needwood Forest, or, Industry Rewarded, A Cottager's Tale'
by Anon
Published 1824, by F Houlston & Son, Wellington, Salop

"Though at its enclosure, the forest land was all assigned to pay parochial rates to the townships of the five surrounding parishes, it still forms a separate ecclesiastical juristiction, and for the use of its inhabitants a handsome church, dedicated to Christ, was erected in 1805. The church stands in the Tutbury ward and in Rolleston parish, and for baptisms and burials, double fees are paid, of which one half is claimed by the incumbent of that parish from which they respectively arise.
The perpetual curacy is in the patronage of the Queen, and incumbency of the Rev Humphrey Price, who has held the living since 1819."

[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851

Church of England Registers
The register of Christ Church, Needwood Forest, commences in 1809. The original registers for the period 1809-1995 (Bapts) & 1810-1995 (Bur) are deposited at Staffordshire Record Office.
Bishops Transcripts, 1813-1849 (with gaps 1830, 1839, & 1845-47) are deposited at Lichfield Record Office.

A transcription of the section on Needwood Forest from A Topographical History of Staffordshire by William Pitt (1817)

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The transcription of the section for Needwood Forest from the Topographical Dictionary of England (1859)

The transcription of the section for Needwood Forest from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

The transcription of the section for Needwood Forest from the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)

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Needwood Forest was an ancient hunting forest or chase, a member of the Duchy of Lancaster until the accession of Henry IV, when it became a possession of the Crown. The enclosure act of 1803 empowered the commissioners to disafforest it, and divide the land between various claiments, but this was not completed until 1811.
The officers of the forest were a lieutenant and chief ranger, assisted by a deputy, four lieutenants, four keepers and an axe bearer. A court was held annually, by the King's Steward of the Honour of Tutbury, when a jury of 24 residents dealt with cases of encroaching on the forest and poaching of venison.
There were anciently eight parks within the forest, Agardsley, Stockley, Barton, Heylyns, Sherholt, Castle Hay, Hanbury, and Rolleston.
Before enclosure, the only dwellings within the forest were the lodges of Byrkeley, Ealand, Yoxall, and Sherholt, but subsequently, many villas and farmhouses were built.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK179243 (Lat/Lon: 52.815947, -1.735853), Needwood Forest which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.