HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 231 



DILHORNE is a parish of Totmanslow North : it is of considerable 

 extent and population. This parish, including Fosbrook township, 

 contains 242 houses, 249 families ; 581 males, 603 females : total 

 of inhabitants, 1,184. Some of the lands in this parish were 

 greatly improved by the judicious management of the late John 

 Holiday, Esq. of Dilhorne Hall. In 1792, the gold medal given by 

 the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures was 

 adjudged to him, for having planted at Dilhorne 113,000 mixed 

 timber trees. Previously to this, his extensive and romantic wind- 

 ing vales and fertilized hills, were adorned with hedge-row elms, 

 oaks, and other trees. There are also excellent coal-mines in this 

 estate. But the most valuable coal-mines hitherto discovered in 

 this parish, are those on the estate of Samuel Bamford, Esq. who 

 has a handsome mansion near the village of Dilhorne, with exten- 

 sive pleasure-grounds. 



The village of Dilhorne is but small. There is a free grammar- 

 school here, endowed by the Huntingdon family, who formerly 

 held property in this parish, which came to them by marriage 

 with one of the ico-heiresses of Sir John Port, the founder of a 

 noble institution for the instruction of youth, at Repton, in Derby- 

 shire. The present master of the grammar-school at Dilhorne, is 

 the Rev. John Smith, M. A. who resides in the vicarage-house. 



Another free-school is established at Blithemarsh, in this parish, 

 for the township of Fosbrook ; Mr. James Dunn is the present 

 schoolmaster. A school for girls has also been established, by the 

 beneficence of Lady Buller, Mrs. Holiday, widow of John Holiday, 

 Esq. and Mrs. Willatt, who are all residents at Dilhorne Hall. In 

 this school eighteen girls are maintained, clothed, furnished with 

 books, and instructed gratuitously. 



Dilhorne Church is an ancient structure of stone, with a very 

 curious octagonal tower, which contains five musical bells. The 

 interior is neat, the pews are of oak, and the roof is supported by 

 eight Gothic arches. The timber of the roof is oak, adorned with 

 curious carved work, and the outside is covered with lead. There 

 are several monuments in the chancel, but none of the inscriptions 

 are remarkable. The parish registers are entire for about two cen- 

 turies and a half, and the most curious circumstance recorded in 

 them is, that, during the Protectorate, the banns of marriage be- 

 tween a man and a woman of Dilhorne were published at the market- 

 cross of Cheadle by the town crier, and the parties were after- 

 wards married by a Justice of Peace. The church is a vicarage, 



