In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Brewood like this:
BREWOOD, a small town, a parish, and a subdistrict, in Penkridge district, Stafford. The town stands near Watling-street, the river Penk, and the Birmingham and Liverpool canal, 2 miles WNW of Four Ashes r. station, and 4½ SW by S of Penkridge; and has a post office‡ under Stafford. ...
It formerly had a weekly market; and still has fairs on the third Thursday of March, May, and Nov., and on 19 Sept. Some trade is carried on in malting and lock-making. The parish includes also the liberties of Chillington, Somerford, Engleton, Horsebrook, Coven, Kiddermore-Green, and Huttons and Gunston. Acres, 11,839. Real property, £21,634. Pop., 3,399. Houses, 723. The property is divided among a few. Chillington Hall, a fine mansion, is the seat of the Cliffords. Two nunneries, Cistertian and Benedictine, were founded in the parish, the former in the reign of Richard I., or of John; and came to be known as the White Ladies and the Black Ladies; and they figure under these names in the narrative of Charles II. 's concealment in the neighbouring locality of Boscobel, after the battle of Worcester. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £670.* Patron, the Bishop of Lichfield. The church is later English, with a handsome spire; and was renovated in 1833. The vicarages of Bishopswood and Coven are separate benefices. There are chapels for Independents, Methodists, and Roman Catholics. A grammar school, founded by Dr. Knightley in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and at which Bishop Hurd and Sir E. Littleton were educated, has £412 a year from endowment; and other charities have £47.-The subdistrict contains two parishes and parts of three others. Acres, 20,782. Pop., 5,629. Houses, 1,177.
Brewood through time
Brewood is now part of South Staffordshire district. Click here for graphs and data of how South Staffordshire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Brewood itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Brewood in South Staffordshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/7911
Date accessed: 23rd April 2024
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