Mucklestone
Encyclopedia
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is about nine miles (14 km) northwest of Eccleshall
Eccleshall
Eccleshall is a town in Staffordshire, England. It is located seven miles north west of Stafford, and six miles west of Stone. Eccleshall is twinned with Sancerre in France.-History:...
, and four and a half miles northeast of Market Drayton
Market Drayton
Market Drayton is a small market town in north Shropshire, England. It is on the River Tern, between Shrewsbury and Stoke-on-Trent, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" and earlier simply as "Drayton" ....
in Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
.
It is notable for its associations with the Battle of Blore Heath
Battle of Blore Heath
The Battle of Blore Heath was the first major battle in the English Wars of the Roses. It was fought on 23 September 1459, at Blore Heath in Staffordshire, two miles east of the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire, England.- Background :...
. According to legend, Queen Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471; and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453...
is said to have watched the defeat of her forces from the church tower, before fleeing on horse-back. It is said that Margaret employed the local blacksmith, William Skelhorn
William Skelhorn
William Skelhorn was a blacksmith who reportedly lived in Mucklestone, Staffordshire, England in the 15th Century.Legend has it that he assisted in the escape of Queen Margaret of Anjou from the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459 by reversing the shoes of her horse...
, to reverse the shoes on her horse to disguise her getaway. An anvil said to have belonged to Skelhorn stands in the churchyard to commemorate the event.
The ancient parish of Mucklestone was about six miles (10 km) in length, and from one to two miles (3 km) in breadth, extending along the borders of the counties of Shropshire and Staffordshire. Five of traditional townships, Aston, Knighton, Mucklestone, Oakley and Winnington are in Staffordshire and the other four, Bearstone, Dorrington, Gravenhunger and Woore
Woore
Woore is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Shropshire. It had a population of 1,411 in the 2001 census. The name means "boundary" in ancient celtic and this fits nicely with the fact that it is on the boundary with both the counties of Cheshire and Staffordshire.The...
, are in Shropshire.
This parish originally comprised 8120 acres (33 km²), of which 4362 acres (18 km²) were in Staffordshire. Mucklestone township contains about 1100 acres (4 km²). Aston, a village and township, three and a half miles north-east of Mucklestone, and eight miles (13 km) south-west of Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town in Staffordshire, England, and is the principal town of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is part of The Potteries Urban Area and North Staffordshire. In the 2001 census the town had a population of 73,944...
, contains 912 acres (3.7 km²). Knighton is a small township, one mile (1.6 km) south-west of Aston, bounded on three sides by Shropshire. Oakley township at the south end of the parish, two miles (3 km) south-west of Mucklestone, contains Oakley Hall, in a beautiful park of 300 acres (1.2 km²), on the east bank of the River Tern, which locally divides Staffordhire from Shropshire. Winnington township, has a small village one mile (1.6 km) north of Mucklestone.
The church of Saint Mary at Mucklestone, which originally served the whole of the ancient parish, is in the decorated style. Except for the tower, it was rebuilt according to church records in 1789 and again in 1883 by Lynam and Rickman in keeping with the surviving medieval tower. It contains stained glass windows, designed by Charles Kempe
Charles Eamer Kempe
Charles Eamer Kempe was a well-known Victorian stained glass designer. After attending Twyford School, he studied for the priesthood at Pembroke College, Oxford, but it became clear that his severe stammer would be an impediment to preaching...
in the 19th century including commemorations of the Battle of Blore Heath.
Other local structures of merit include a Georgian Folly; an important house of earlier date known as Willoughbridge Lodge; warm springs (discovered in the 17th century) and known, together with the ruined bath house c1682, as Willoughbridge wells; and also Oakley Hall built about 1710.
In the hedgerow of the field beside the footpath along the western perimeter of the great park of Oakley Hall at Mucklestone is a neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
monument, possibly the remains of a burial-mound. It comprises two big stones, one round with a 20 inches (508 mm) hole in the middle and the other, at six foot, tall and slender. They are known locally as the "devil's ring and finger".
External links
The village school (linked to Church) in former orchard
http://www.st-marys-mucklestone.staffs.sch.uk/