Alrewas, Staffordshire
Historical Description
Alrewas, a village and a parish in Staffordshire. the village stands on the Grand Trunk Canal, near the rivers Trent and Tame, 5 miles NE of Lichfield. It lias a station on the L. & N.W.R., ¾ of a mile distant, and a post office under Burton-upon-Trent. The parish includes also the townships of Orgreave and Fradley, and the hamlet of Overley. Acreage, 6115; population, 1512. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; net value, £250. The church was founded in 820, and has been partially restored from time to time; the pinnacled western tower was restored in 1887. It has a Norman doorway, and contains an ancient font, very ancient oak carving, and some traces of mural painting of the 15th century. There are chapels for Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists. Basket-making is carried on.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Staffordshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Alrewas All Saints | |
| Hundred | Offlow | |
| Poor Law union | Lichfield |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1547.
Findmypast, in association with the Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent Archive Service have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Alrewas
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The church of All Saints, founded A.D. 820, is an ancient building of stone, chiefly in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles containing a clock and 6 bells: there is some ancient oak carving, a Norman doorway and a good Perpendicular font: the chancel retains sedilia and piscina: there are also traces of a mural painting of the 15th century, representing a bishop accompanied by an acolyte: the fine stone reredos, designed by Mr. Basil Champneys, architect, was the gift of Col. W. G. Webb, of Lyncroft Hall: there are memorial windows to the late Mrs. Bond of this parish and to the Rev. W. J. Webb M.A.: the church was partially restored in 1854 and 1877: an organ was erected in 1882 at a cost of £400: the tower was restored in 1887, at a cost of £900, a new clock with three dials and Cambridge chimes being then added at a cost of £150: in 1891 a north aisle was erected from funds amounting to £1,325 left by the Rev. William James Webb, vicar 1881-90: a lych gate has been erected at the main entrance to the church as a memorial to the late William Bond, esq.: the chancel screen is, in part, of ancient date: there is also a finely carved screen dividing the tower from the nave: there are 350 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Alrewas from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Alrewas (All Saints))
- Staffordshire and Warwickshire, Past and Present, 1884
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Staffordshire is online.
Maps
Online maps of Alrewas 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 Staffordshire newspapers online:
- Staffordshire Advertiser
- Tamworth Herald
- Lichfield Mercury
- Staffordshire Sentinel
- Wolverhampton Chronicle and Staffordshire Advertiser
Villages, Hamlets, &c
FradleyOrgreave