Penkridge in 1872

PENKRIDGE, a small town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Staffordshire. The town stands on the river Penk, the Worcester and Stafford canal, and the Stour Valley railway, 2 miles N of Watling-street, and 6 S of Stafford; dates from ancient times; contains some respectable houses; is a seat of petty sessions and a polling-place; had formerly a weekly market; and has now a post-office  under Stafford, a railway station, a banking office, and fairs on 30 April, 2 Sept., and 10 Oct. The township includes the town. Pop. in 1851, 2,663; in 1861, 2,510. Houses, 539.

The parish contains also the townships of Coppenhall and Dunston, and the chapelry of Stretton. Acres, 19,605. Rated property, £20,080. Pop. in 1851, 3,316; in 1861, 3,146. Houses, 669. The property is not much divided. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £280. Patron, Lord Hatherton. The church is later English, in good condition; was made collegiate by King John, for 13 prebendaries; and was given to the Archbishop of Dublin. The perpetual curacies of Coppenhall, Dunston, and Stretton are separate benefices. There are chapels for Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Plymouth Brethren, an endowed school with £36 a year, and charities £16. The sub-district excludes Stretton chapelry, and includes Church-Eaton parish, Kinvaston, and Acton-Trussell-with-Bednell townships, and Teddesley-Hay extra-parochial tract. Acres, 27,434. Pop., 4,260. Houses, 905.

The district comprehends also the sub-district of Brewood, containing the parishes of Brewood and Lapley, the chapelry of Stretton, the township of Featherston, and part of the parish of Bushbury; and the sub-district of Cannock, containing the parishes of Cannock, Shareshill, Cheslyn-Hay, and Norton-under-Cannock, and the townships of Hilton, Hatherton, and Essington. Acres of the district, 70,799. Poor-rates in 1863, £6,286. Pop. in 1851, 16,850; in 1861, 18,662. Houses, 3,756. Marriages in 1863, 107; births, 681, of which 39 were illegitimate; deaths, 385, of which 148 were at ages under 5 years, and 6 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,113; births, 5,626; deaths, 3,543.

The places of worship, in 1851, were 19 of the Church of England, with 6,654 sittings; 6 of Independents, with 1,180 sittings; 7 of Wesleyans, with 899 sittings; 2 of New Connexion Methodists, with 343 sittings; 7 of Primitive Methodists, with 385 sittings; 1 of Brethren, with 40 sittings; 1 undefined, with 120 sittings; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 430 sittings. The schools were 15 public day-schools, with 1,071 scholars; 33 private day-schools, with 568 scholars; 32 Sunday schools, with 2,175 sittings; and 1 evening school for adults, with 20 sittings. The workhouse is in Brewood; and, at the census of 1861, had 86 inmates.

An 1872 Gazetteer description of the following places in Penkridge is to be found on a supplementary page.

• Bickford
• Cheslyn-Hay
• Drayton
• Levedale
• Longridge
• Lovedale
• Lynehill
• Mitton
• Otherton
• Pillaton
• Rodbaston
• Water-Easton
• Whiston
• Wolgarstone

[Description(s) from The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72) - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]