64 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



picturesque prospect across the park to the Forest of Needwood, 

 In memory of the singular tenure by which the manor is held, a 

 piece of painted wood, in the form of a flitch of bacon, hangs over 

 the hall-chimney. But it appears that the married people are as 

 averse to the flitch itself as if they were allJews ; not a single indi- 

 vidual having carried off the prize from the first day of the insti- 

 tution to the present time. 



The church dedicated to St. Leonard, is a small gothic structure 

 of stone, situated on an eminence near the river Trent. Whichnor 

 parish is but small, and contains few inhabitants. At the contested 

 election for the county in 1747, Mr. John Offley was the only free- 

 holder belonging to it who voted on that occasion. 



King James the First, in the course of his tour through this part 

 of the kingdom, visited Whichnor on the 21st of August, 1621, and 

 held his Court at the Hall. On the 19th of August, 1624, the King 

 re-visited the Lord of the Manor at Whichnor, and dined with him. 



On the 3d of July, 1255, a very remarkable storm of hail fell 

 along the vale of Trent, from the bridge at Wychenofere down to 

 Reprindon, such as had not happened before in the memory of those 

 who saw it. This hail-storm was succeeded by a very great vorago, 

 which swallowed up the earth, together with trees, houses, and 

 corn, and carried them away. There was such an universal destruc- 

 tion of hay in the valley of Trent by the inundation, as had not 

 happened a long time before.* 



On Good Friday, March 25, 1596, the mills of Whichnor were 

 burned by a fire, which consumed a large quantity of corn, and 

 destroyed the mill-stones. 



A handsome stone bridge, of three large arches, has been erected 

 over the Trent at Whichnor ; and a corn-mill, situated between the 

 bridge and the church, is supplied with water by a branch of the 

 river. On the same stream, in the meadow below the bridge, a large 

 forge and slitting-mill has been established by a company at Lich- 

 field. The Justice's meetings for the northern division of the 

 Hundred of Offlow, are held at a large inn on the turnpike-road, 

 near the bridge. Opposite to the inn, and parallel with the road, 

 the Grand Trunk Canal passes, and communicates with the Trent 

 by a lock a little below Alrewas. 



ALREWAS is a considerable village, in a low situation on the 

 southern bank of the Trent. It is in the deanery of Tamworth, 

 seven miles from Burton, and five from Lichfield. The Grand 

 * Gales's Annals of Burton, p. 342. 



