Hide

MAXSTOKE - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

hide
Hide

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"MAXSTOKE, (or Maxstock), a parish in the Atherstone division of the hundred of Hemlingford, county Warwick, 2½ miles E. of Coleshill, its post town, and 4 S.E. of the Whitacre railway station. The village, which is small, is situated on the river Blythe, and is wholly agricultural. Maxstoke is mentioned in Domesday Survey as Machitone, and formerly had an Austin priory, founded by Sir William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon, in 1335. Maxstoke Castle, which was built about the same time, has successively belonged to the Staffords, Compton, Egerton, and, finally, to the Dilke family, in whose possession it now remains.

The site of the priory is now occupied by a farmhouse, but the remains of the castle are still in good preservation and worthy of inspection, presenting an almost perfect specimen of the early baronial fortress. The soil consists of a reddish loam, with a subsoil of clay and gravel. The surface is generally level, except in the east, where it rises into a considerable elevation. The living is a vicarage in the diocese* of Worcester, value £70. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a small neat edifice, containing two bells. The parochial charities produce about £5 per annum. There is a National school for both sexes. Lord Leigh is lord of the manor.

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]