Middleton (St. John the Baptist)
MIDDLETON (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Tamworth, Tamworth division of the county of Warwick, 4½ miles (S. S. W.) from Tamworth; containing 505 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on the north by a portion of the county of Stafford, and comprises by measurement 3901 acres, the whole of which, with the exception of about 100 acres belonging to the Moxhall estate, is the property of Lord Middleton. The surface is undulated, and the scenery pleasingly varied, and embellished with wood; the soil is light and gravelly, and the greater portion of it arable. Middleton Hall, a seat of Lord Middleton's, is an ancient moated mansion, finely situated, and surrounded by an extensive park. The Birmingham and Fazeley canal passes in the vicinity. The living is a donative; net income, £100; patron and impropriator, Lord Middleton. The church is partly Norman, and partly in the early English style, with a square tower; and contains monuments to Willoughby, the naturalist, and Ridgway, Earl of Londonderry, and also two ancient brasses. The parish gives the title of Baron to the Willoughbys, of Wollaton Hall, near Nottingham.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.