Armitage, Staffordshire
Historical Description
Armitage, a parish and a village in Staffordshire, on the Trent Valley branch of the L. & N.W.R., and the Grand Trunk Canal, 5½ miles NW of Lichfield. The parish has a station on the railway, and a post office under Rugeley, which is the telegraph office. It includes the hamlet of Hansacre. Acreage, 1948; population, 1290. Hawkesyard is a fine mansion. Armitage Lodge and The Tower are other principal residences. The Grand Trunk Canal, in its course within the parish, passes through a large tunnel. The Armitage Sanitary Earthenware Works are situated here, and there is also a large brick and drain-pipe manufactory. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Lichfield; net value, £262. Patron, the Bishop of Lichfield. The church stands on a rocky eminence, has a Norman doorway, and an interior handsome arch; it was rebuilt, with the exception of the tower, in 1884. There are chapels for Congregationalists and Wesleyans.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Staffordshire | |
| 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 1673.
Churches
Church of England
St. John the Baptist (parish church)
The church of St. John the Baptist, situated on a rocky eminence overlooking the valley of the Trent, and commanding a distant view of a portion of the forest of Charnwood, is a reproduction in stone of the old Norman church, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower, restored in 1903, and containing 3 bells: most of the windows are stained and include a memorial window to the Rev. J. W. Kewley M.A. rector 1872-1903, presented in 1908 by parishioners and friends: the church was rebuilt, with the exception of the tower, in 1844: there are sittings for 387 persons, 70 being free.
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 Armitage from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Armitage St. John, with Handsacre)
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Staffordshire is online.
Maps
Online maps of Armitage 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: