HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 163 



Little Aston, situated about a mile south of Footherley, and 

 two miles from Shenstone Church, is so called to distinguish it from 

 Aston, near Birmingham. The mansion, which was built by William 

 Tenant, Esq. lord of the manor of Shenstone, is very elegant, and 

 the domain much improved. An extensive lawn surrounds the 

 house, shaded with trees, and adorned with a noble lake, over which 

 a handsome bridge has been built, opposite to which a conservatory 

 of hewn stone adds to the general beauty of the scene. 



Upper Stonall is a hamlet, between three and four miles west of 

 Shenstone Church. Near the hamlet, on a small hill, are vestiges 

 of an ancient fortification, called the Castles, or Old-Fort. 

 There were formerly two large inns in this hamlet, called the Swan 

 and the Welch Harp, the great road from London to Chester and 

 Holyhead then passing through it. But the road being now through 

 Birmingham and Wolverhampton, the inns and the population of 

 the place have declined. 



Lynne is an estate extending nearly two miles from Upper Stonall 

 to Shenstone. It contains about twelve houses, of which the most 

 ancient is Lynne-Hall, now a farm-house. The estate is now occu- 

 pied by the Owens, a branch of the Owens of Albrighton. 



Chesterfield, on the Watling-street-way near Wall, consists of 

 farms and tenements, and was formerly part of the Roman station. 



WEEFORD is a village situated to the east of Shenstone, and the 

 south of Watling-street, in a pleasant valley on the banks of Black- 

 brook. It takes its name from the London-road formerly passing 

 through a ford of Black-brook here, and hence called Wayford. 

 There is a beautiful tract of narrow but rich meadows, on the banks 

 of the brook in the vicinity of this village, bounded by low and 

 fertile eminences. The parish is distinguished, as containing the 

 low called Offlow, which gives name to the hundred. Dr. Plott 

 says that the etymology is probably Saxon, though not the sepul- 

 chre of Offa, who was buried at Bedford; but it certainly contains 

 the bones of some chieftain who fell in battle near this place. 

 Weeford has been the scene of civil warfare. A Purefoy was slain 

 here by Sir Henry Willoughby, in the cause of Edward IV. and 

 Sir Henry was desperately wounded by Lord Lisle. 



The Church of Weeford is a small ancient building : the living 

 is a prebend in Lichfield Cathedral. 



Thickbroom is a small hamlet and manor on the banks of Black- 

 brook, which takes its name from the broom, with which it formerly 

 abounded. 



