Colwich, 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 The 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.

Colwich
Area28.62 km2 (11.05 sq mi) [1]
Population4,528 [1] (2011 census)
• Density158/km2 (410/sq mi)
District
  • Stafford
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townStafford
Postcode districtST17
PoliceStaffordshire
FireStaffordshire
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament

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.

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 a reredos 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.

Wolseley Centre

The Wolseley Centre, south-east of the village, is the headquarters of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. There is a visitor centre, and a nature reserve of 26 acres (11 ha).[7] The site of the nature reserve was formerly the grounds of Wolseley Hall, demolished in 1966. The estate was the home of the Wolseley family from the 11th century.[8]

Bishton Hall

Bishton Hall is an 18th century Grade II* listed manor house on Bellamour Lane. [9] Formerly used as a school, it is now an auction house. [10]

Notable people

apart from the members of the aristocracy referred to above

  • George Hodson (1788–1855) Archdeacon of Stafford 1829-1855 and vicar of St Michael & All Angels, Colwich 1828–51
  • Samuel Peploe Wood (1827 in Gt Haywood – 1873 in Colwich) an English sculptor and painter
  • Thomas Peploe Wood (1817-1845) an English painter
  • Edward Pereira (1866 in Colwich – 1939) an English priest and schoolmaster, and a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Warwickshire and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)
  • Dennis Izon (1907 in Colwich – 1967) an English footballer who played professionally for Port Vale between 1928–1932

Twin towns
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in the United Kingdom

For over 30 years, Colwich and the Haywoods have been twinned with:

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gollark: Yep!

See also

References
  1. "Colwich (Parish) 2011 Census: Quick Statistics". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  2. English Place Name Society Database at Nottingham University
  3. 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. 18 November 2005.
  6. Monument to the Wood family at Colwich Church, on Staffordshire Past Track Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine Staffordshire Archives & Heritage. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  7. "The Wolseley Centre" Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  8. "Wolseley Hall" Parks & Gardens. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  9. "Bishton Hall". British Listed Buildings.
  10. "Georgian mansion Bishton Hall bought by auctioneers". Express and Star.
  11. Colwich Parish Council website retrieved 8 January 2019

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