Fairfield-Head, or Fawfield-Head

FAIRFIELD-HEAD, or Fawfield-Head, a township, in the parish of Alstonfield, union of Leek, N. division of the hundred of Totmonslow and of the county of Stafford, 7½ miles (N. E. by E.) from Leek; containing 991 inhabitants. This is the largest township of the parish: it contains the hamlets of Fairfield-Head, Hulme-Head, Reaps-Moor, Newtown, and Wigginstall; and a number of scattered houses in the vales of the Dove and Manyfold. Beresford Hall, an ancient mansion now partly in ruins, stands on the west bank of the Dove, about two miles above Alstonfield, and is celebrated as the birthplace of Charles Cotton, the poet, the contemporary and friend of Isaak Walton. The Beresford Hall estate gives the title of Viscount to William Carr Beresford, general in the army, and Duke of Elvas, in Portugal, whose family has possessed this manor from the time of the Conquest.