Rushton, Staffordshire

Historical Description

Rushton, two townships and an ecclesiastical parish in Leek parish, Staffordshire. The townships are Rushton James and Rushton Spencer. They adjoin each other, and the latter lies near the river Dane, 5 miles NNW of Leek, and has a station on the North Staffordshire railway and a post office under Macclesfield; money order and telegraph office, Leek. Acreage of Rushton James, 1390; population, 242; of Rushton Spencer, 1860; population, 339. Rnshton Spencer includes the hamlet of Rushton Marsh. The ecclesiastical parish includes also the township of Heaton. Population, 952. Rushton Spencer and Heaton have each a parish council of seven members. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; net value, £150. Patron, the Vicar of Leek. The church, which is situated at Rushton Spencer, is very old, and was formerly called " the chapel in the wilderness." It was built about the time of Henry III., almost entirely of wood, and is perched on the summit of a steep elevation near the village, and screened by noble old black firs and yew trees. The present church is a stone building, with inside pillars of oak. Over the piers oa the N side of the nave, and cut in oak, are six dog-teeth, which an antiquarian says are the oldest woodwork he has. ever seen. They can be seen all over England in stone. The church contains a massive stone font. There are Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan chapels.

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 Rushton from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Rushton 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)