Rugeley, Staffordshire

Historical Description

Rugeley, a market-town, the head of a petty sessional division and county court district, and a parish in Staffordshire. The town stands on the river Trent, on the Trent and Mersey Canal, near Cannock Chase, 7 miles NW of Lichfield, 9½ SE by E of Stafford, and 124 by railway from London. It has a head post office and a station on the Trent Valley section, and another (Rugeley Town) on the Walsall, Cannock, and Stafford section of the L. & N.W.R. The town is governed by an urban district council of fifteen members, and is well supplied with water. The Public Buildings, erected in 1879, comprise a large assembly-room, offices for the council, petty sessions, and county courts, a market-hall, a police station, and a fire-engine station. The church was erected in 1822, and consists of clerestoried nave, aisles, and an embattled tower. The chancel and tower of the ancient church are still standing, and the former, which has been partially restored, is used for divine service. There are Roman Catholic, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels and a cemetery. Rugeley has a library and reading and recreation rooms, an hospital, a provident dispensary, a convalescent home, almshouses, and two banks. Two weekly newspapers are published. A market is held on Thursday and Saturday; markets for fat stock on alternate-Tuesdays; and fairs on 15 April, 1-6 June, 21 Oct., and the second Tuesday of Dec. Hat-making was formerly carried on, but has entirely declined, and there are iron-foundries, corn-mills, and a tanyard. Much business is done also in connection with neighbouring collieries. A celebratedi horse fair is held every year at the beginning of June. The parish includes the hamlets of Slitting Mill and Etching Hill, and comprises 8449 acres; population of the civil parish, 6942; of the ecclesiastical, 3893. It likewise includes the ecclesiastical parish of Brereton and part of that of Hednesford. The manor was held by the Rudgeleys and the Bishops of Lichfield, went in the time of Henry VIII. to the Pagets, and belongs now to the Marquis of Anglesey. Hagley Hall, the property of the Marquis of Anglesey, is a fine old mansion standing in a park. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; net value, £51. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield.

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 Rugeley

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 Rugeley from the following:

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

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Rugeley 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