Egginton (St. Wilfrid)

EGGINTON (St. Wilfrid), a parish, in the union of Burton-upon-Trent, hundred of Morleston and Litchurch, S. division of the county of Derby, 4¼ miles (N. N. E.) from Burton; containing 374 inhabitants. This place, called Eghintune in Domesday survey, is there described as having a church, a priest, a mill, and six farmers. William Fitz Ralph, founder of Dale Abbey, gave the manor to his nephew, William de Glendon, in exchange for Stanley, and from him it passed by marriage to Sir John Chandos, whose descendants brought it to the De la Poles and de Staffords, respectively, in moieties. The manor afterwards vested in the family of Lathbury, of whom a coheiress brought a moiety to the Leighs; and on the death of Sir Henry Leigh in the reign of James I., the estate passed to his daughter Anne, married to Simon Every, Esq., of Chard, in Somersetshire, who was created a baronet in 1641. The manor of Hargate, formerly called Heath House, became the property of the Leighs by purchase. During the parliamentary war, a battle occurred on the heath here between a party of the royalist forces and some troops under Sir John Gell, the former of whom were defeated. The parish comprises 2291 acres, of which 1554 are meadow and pasture, and 737 arable; the surface is generally flat, and the soil a light gravel. The river Dove passes through, and is crossed by a stone bridge, called Monk's bridge, on the Derby and Burton road, soon after which, at the south extremity of the parish, it has its confluence with the Trent. The Trent and Mersey canal crosses the Dove by an aqueduct of twelve arches, near Monk's bridge, about half a mile east from which the Birmingham railway also crosses the river by a bridge constructed of wood. The Hall was destroyed by fire in 1736, but was soon afterwards rebuilt, and is a good brick mansion pleasantly situated in a park of about fifty acres. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £8. 2. 8½.; net income, £453; patrons, Sir H. Every, Bart., and S. Pole and James Heath Leigh, Esqrs., the two former having each two presentations, and the last one: the tithes were commuted for land in 1791. The church, an ancient structure with a nave, chancel, aisles, and a neat low tower, contains several monuments to the Every family, and has some remains of stained glass. A school is endowed with a house and garden, and with £5 per annum. William Newton, in 1820, left £2000 three per cent. bank annuities, in trust for the benefit of the poor; and there are other charities.