Penkridge, Staffordshire

Historical Description

Penkridge, a small town, a township, and a parish in Staffordshire. The town stands on the river Penk and the Worcestershire and Staffordshire Canal, 2½ miles N of Watling Street and 6 S of Stafford; dates from ancient times; is a seat of petty sessions; had formerly a weekly market; and has now a post, money order, and telegraph office under Stafford, a station on the L. & N.W.R., a bank, and a reading-room. Cattle sales are held on alternate Mondays, and fairs on 30 April, 2 Sept., and 10 Oct. The township includes the town. Acreage, 10,666 of land and 117 of water; population, 2383. The parish contains also the townships of Coppenhall, Dunston, and Stretton. Acreage, 14,753; population of the civil parish, 2973; of the ecclesiastical, 2084. Coppenhall, Dunston, and Stretton form separate ecclesiastical parishes. Pillaton Hall was for centuries the seat of the Littleton family, and has attached an ancient chapel, which was restored in 1888. There are stone quarries in the neighbourhood. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; gross value, £514 with residence. Patron, Lord Hatherton. The church is chiefly Perpendicular; was made collegiate by King John for thirteen prebendaries, and was given to the Archbishop of Dublin. It was restored in 1883 and 1888, and consists of a long clerestoried chancel with aisles, clerestoried nave, aisles, S porch with parvise, and an embattled tower. It has a decorated E window, and contains monuments of the Littleton family. There are Wesleyan and Plymouth Brethren chapels, and a parish council.

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.

Church Records

Findmypast, in association with the Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent Archive Service have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Penkridge

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 Penkridge from the following:

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

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Staffordshire is online.

Maps

Online maps of Penkridge 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