HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 



WHITMORE is a parish in the hundred of Pirehill North. It 

 was anciently called Witemore; and in the Conqueror's Survey 

 the following description occurs : 



" Isd' R. (Ricardus Forestarius) ten' Witemore. (de rege) et 

 1 de eo. Vlfac tenuit et lib 5 ho fuit. Ibi e dimid' hida. T'ra 

 c in. car'. In d'nio. e una,etm. uilTi et n. bord' cu' I. car. Ibi. 

 I. ac' p'ti. Silua. i. leuu' 1'g. et dim' lat. Valet x. solid'." 



" The same R, (Richard Forester) holds Witemore (of the king) 

 and Nigel of him. Ulfac held it and was a free man. It contains 

 half a hide. The arable land is three carucates, one is in demesne, 

 and three villains, and two bordars hold one carucate. There is 

 one acre of meadow. A wood a mile in length and half-a-mile in 

 breadth. The whole is worth 10 shillings." 



The village of Whitmore is situate on the public road from New- 

 castle to Market-Drayton, about four miles from the former place. 



The population in 1811 was 43 families, containing in all 291 

 persons, whereof 156 were males, and 135 females ; 35 families 

 were employed in agriculture, six in trade, and two were of neither 

 description. The number of houses was 44. 



The Church* is situate in the village, and was, we apprehend, 

 rebuilt in 1632, as that date appears on a stone over the west door. 

 It is a small stone building of an oblong form, with a half-timber 

 turret on the west end, containing three bells, and is capable of 

 holding about 150 persons. The turret probably exhibits a speci- 

 men of the kind of walls erected in the ancient churches prior to 

 the use of stone. 



A few monuments are in the Church to the memory of some of 

 the respectable family of Mainwaring, which has been seated at 

 Whitmore for several generations. On the north side of the Church 

 appears a neat walk flanked with rows of trees, forming a beautiful 

 avenue, which is terminated by Whitmore-hall, the seat of Edward 

 Maiuwaring, Esq. and which, judging from a date over the front 

 door, was built or rebuilt in 1676. 



The Living till of late was a chapel of ease to Stoke-upon-Trent. 

 It is now a rectory endowed with all the great and small tithes in 

 the parish, surplice-fees, and between 30 and 40 acres of glebe ; 

 part of which lies near Burslem, and part near Newcastle; but the 

 bulk is situated in and near Whitmore. The reputed value is about 



It is not known to ^hat Saint the Church is dedicated, as no Wake has 

 been kept for a number of years at Whitmtre ; nor do the bells determine the 

 point one of them is in scribed jo La tin, " St. John," and another ' All Saint v" 



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