Balsall, Warwickshire

Historical Description

Balsall, or Temple-Balsall, a hamlet and an ecclesiastical parish in the parish of Hampton-in-Arden, Warwickshire, 3 miles E of Knowie station on the G.W.R., 3 W of Berkswell station on the L. & N.W.R., and 5 NW of Kenil-worth. There are post offices at Balsall Common nnder Coventry, and at Fen End and Chadwick End under Birmingham. Acreage, 5095, population, 1064. The manor was given, in the reign of Stephen, to the Knights Templars; belonged afterwards to the Knights Hospitallers; was given by Queen Elizabeth to the Earl of Leicester, whose granddaughter, Lady Katherine Leveson, bequeathed it in 1670 for the erection and endowment of an hospital for poor women and boys. Eemains of the ancient hall or refectory of the Templars still exist. The hospital of Lady Katherine Leveson was enlarged under an Act of Queen Anne, and is now an extensive and substantial suite of buildings, occupying three sides of a square, on the border of a large green. It maintains thirty-five almswomen, and there is also an endowed school for boys and girls in connection with the charity. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester; value, £50. Patrons, the Governors of Balsall Hospital. There is also £200 a year stipend for the mastership of the hospital under the same patronage. The church was built by the Templars, about the middle of the 12th century; is 104 feet long, 39 feet wide, and 57 feet high, and has lofty, pointed, finely-traceried windows, timber roof, and stone stalls, a piscina, and an ambry. It was restored in 1849.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Balsall from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Balsall)

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Warwickshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Balsall are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Warwickshire papers online:

• Leamington Spa Courier

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Warwickshire 1619 is available on the Heraldry page.