Colwich, Staffordshire

Colwich
Area  28.62 km2 (11.05 sq mi) [1]
Population 4,528 [1] (2011 census)
   – density  158/km2 (410/sq mi)
DistrictStafford
Shire countyStaffordshire
RegionWest Midlands
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Stafford
Postcode district ST17
Police Staffordshire
Fire Staffordshire
Ambulance West Midlands
EU Parliament West Midlands
UK ParliamentStafford
List of places
UK
England
Staffordshire

Colwich is a civil parish and village in Staffordshire, England. It is situated off the A51 road, about 3 miles (5 km) north west of Rugeley, and 7 miles (11 km) south east of Stafford. It lies principally on the north east bank of the River Trent near Wolseley Bridge, just north of Cannock Chase. The parish comprises about 2,862 hectares (28.62 km2) of land[1] in the villages and hamlets of Colwich, Great Haywood, Little Haywood, Moreton, Bishton, and Wolseley Bridge.

Etymology

The name Colwich comes from the Old English for 'Charcoal specialised-farm', or perhaps 'Cola's specialised farm'.[2]

Landmarks

Shugborough Hall

Shugborough Hall was the ancestral home of the Ansons, earls of Lichfield, four miles (6 km) NW by W of Rugeley. The estate was purchased by William Anson in the early 17th century and is now in the care of the National Trust.

Wolseley Hall

Wolseley Hall was, until recently, the home of the Wolseley baronets for at least eight centuries.

St Michael and All Angels

St. Michael and All Angels, Colwich

St Michael and All Angels serves as the parish church of Colwich and belongs to the Diocese of Lichfield. It is a grade II* listed building and the centre of the old parish of Colwich, which was reduced in size twice when the parish of Hixon was established in 1848 and again when the parish of Great Haywood was formed in 1854. The exact date when the church was first built is unknown, but from the style of the architecture it may have been sometime in the late 14th century. A major renovation was carried out by the Victorians between 1852 and 1857. The church has a fine set of choir stalls[3] and reredoes of angels by local sculptor Samuel Peploe Wood.

Inside the church are many tombs, wall tablets and other memorials connected with the landed gentry in the parish, including the Wolseley Baronets and the Ansons of Shugborough Hall, earls of Lichfield, many of whom are buried in the church. A tablet commemorates Field Marshal Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, KP, GCB, OM, GCMG, VD, PC (1833–1913), buried in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, London. The Anson family vault is located underneath the organ loft, formerly the private gallery of the owners of Shugborough Hall. It is accessed through an upright door that is normally concealed behind the panelling of the choir stalls, and neither visible nor accessible to the public. The vault itself is a small, almost square room. Inside there are three niches for coffins opposite the access door, and twelve openings for coffins in each side wall. 15 bodies are currently interred here, including the 1st Earl of Lichfield, Admiral Lord Anson, and his wife. After 1854, when the parish of Great Haywood was formed, the Earls of Lichfield and other Ansons of Shugborough Hall were buried there at St Stephen's Church[4] until the 5th Earl decided to return to the vault at St Michael and All Angels and whose lead-lined coffin was placed there after his death in 2005.[3][5] In the churchyard is the grave of Adelbert Anson, first Bishop of Qu’Appelle, and also a large and elaborate memorial cross carved in 1866 by Samuel Peploe Wood to his brother, painter Thomas Peploe Wood and other members of his family.[6]

Colwich Abbey

The village is noted for Saint Mary's Abbey, a community of Roman Catholic nuns of the English Benedictine Congregation founded in 1623 at Cambrai in the Spanish Netherlands. In 1836 the community, having been expelled from France during the French Revolution, finally settled at The Mount, Colwich, where they established the present house, raised to the rank of an abbey in 1928.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Colwich (Parish) 2011 Census: Quick Statistics". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  2. ↑ English Place Name Society Database at Nottingham University
  3. 1 2 Bristow, Wendy, A guide to the Church of Saint Michael and All Angels Colwich, Colwich 2011
  4. ↑ Memorial Inscriptions of Great Haywood, Staffordshire: St Stephen's Churchyard, accessed 1 October 2012
  5. ↑ "Lichfield funeral date announced". BBC News. 2005-11-18.
  6. ↑ Monument to the Wood family at Colwich Church, on Staffordshire Past Track Staffordshire Archives & Heritage. Retrieved 12 June 2014.

Media related to Colwich, Staffordshire at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 52°47′15″N 1°58′50″W / 52.787526°N 1.980608°W / 52.787526; -1.980608

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