Croxall is a hamlet and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in England that was historically in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, but since 1895 has been part of

Edingale Edingale is a village and civil parish in Lichfield District, Staffordshire, England.OS Explorer Map 245: The National Forest :(1:25 000) :

parish,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. The settlement today is mainly the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

of St John and Croxall Hall. Population details for the 2011 census can be found under the civil parish.

History

Domesday book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, Croxall is mentioned as an outlying farm of

Weston-on-Trent Weston-on-Trent is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,239. It is to the north of the River Trent and the Trent and Mersey Canal. Nearby places i ...

and listed among the lands given to Henry de Ferrers''Domesday Book: A Complete Translation''. London: Penguin, 2003. p. 745 by the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

. The land given to HenryHenry de Ferrers held a considerable number of manors including a massive number in Derbyshire given to him by the

. These included obviously Croxall and

Edingale Edingale is a village and civil parish in Lichfield District, Staffordshire, England.OS Explorer Map 245: The National Forest :(1:25 000) :

which are now in Staffordshire but also Stretton en le Field which is now in Leicestershire. included of pasture that was valued at £4. The lordship of the manor of Croxall was held for several centuries by underlords of the Ferrers, the

Curzon family Curzon may refer to: People Americans * Aria Curzon (born 1987), American actress * Walter de Curzon Poultney (1845–1929), one of Baltimore, Maryland's most colorful and flamboyant high-society members Britons * Christopher Curzon (born 1958), ...

, an early

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 *Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature *Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 1066 ...

family seated at Derbyshire since the 12th century. A Curzon heiress carried the manor and Croxall Hall to the Sackvilles,

Earls of Dorset Earl of Dorset is a title that has been created at least four times in the Peerage of England. Some of its holders have at various times also held the rank of marquess and, from 1720, duke. A possible first creation is not well documented. About ...

, who in turn conveyed the manor to the

Prinsep Prinsep may mean any of several notable members of the British Prinsep family. The family descended from John Prinsep, an 18th-century merchant who was the son of Rev. John Prinsep, rector of Saundby, Nottinghamshire, and Bicester, Oxfordshire. Jo ...

family, heirs of John Prinsep, an early Anglo-Indian merchant and later

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. On the death in 1849 of Thomas Prinsep, High Sheriff of Derbyshire, the manor of Croxall was inherited by his nephew Thomas Levett-Prinsep. St John's parish church contains memorials to all four families, as well as the Horton family of nearby Catton Hall, a member of whom (Anne Wilmot-Horton) prompted

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

to write his famous poem beginning with the lines: "She walks in beauty, like the night....".Guide to Staffordshire and the Black Country, The Potteries and the Peak, Michael Raven, 2004

References

{{authority control Villages in Staffordshire Lichfield Former civil parishes in Derbyshire

History

See also

References