Tixall is a small village and
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 authorit ...
in the
Stafford district, in the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
county of
Staffordshire lying on the western side of the
Trent valley between
Rugeley
Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...
and
Stone, Staffordshire
Stone is a canal town and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, north of Stafford, south of Stoke-on-Trent and north of Rugeley. It was an urban district council and a rural district council before becoming part of the Borough of Staffor ...
and roughly 4 miles east of
Stafford. The population of the civil parish taken at the
2011 census was 239.
The place-name 'Tixall' is first attested in the
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 manus ...
of 1086, where it appears as ''Ticheshale''. Deriving from
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
, the name means 'the hollow of the goats'.
It is a fairly elongated village lying to the west of
Great Haywood and just north of the sprawling
Shugborough estate, the
River Sow
The River Sow is a tributary of the River Trent in Staffordshire, England, and is the river that flows through Stafford.
Course
The river rises to the south of Loggerheads, near Broughton and flows south-east beside the villages of Fairoak ...
forming the natural boundary between the two, which joins the Trent on the
Shugborough estate a mile or so east of Tixall. The village has benefited substantially from its close proximity to such affluent estates as Shugborough to the south and
Sandon Hall and
Ingestre Hall to the north, homes of the
Earl of Lichfield
Earl of Lichfield is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England (1645 and 1674) and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (1831). The third creation is extant and is held by a member of the Anson family.
Hi ...
, the
Earl of Harrowby and the
Earl of Shrewsbury
Earl of Shrewsbury () is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland ...
respectively. Also passing nearby to the east and through the
Trent valley is the
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, which expands into a body of water called
Tixall Wide near to
Tixall Gatehouse.
Tixall Hall was the home of the Aston family, who held the title
Lord Aston of Forfar
Lord Aston of Forfar was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The barony was created on 28 November 1627 for Sir Walter Aston, Bt, who had been previously created Baronet of Tixall Hall, Staffordshire (in the Baronetage of England) on 22 May 1 ...
. They were staunch Roman Catholics and Tixall was the centre of the local Catholic community. During the
Popish Plot Tixall briefly became notorious as the centre of the alleged conspiracy to kill King
Charles II, and many victims of the plot such as
William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford
William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford, FRS (30 November 1614 – 29 December 1680) was the youngest son of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, and his wife, the former Alethea Talbot. A Fellow of the Royal Society from 1665, he was a Royalist ...
were questioned intensively as to their actions while at Tixall.
Local governance
The village, and civil parish, of
Ingestre
Ingestre is a village and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 194. It is four miles to the north-east of the county town of Stafford.
Ing ...
is nearby. The civil parishes of Tixall and Ingestre have shared a single parish council of Ingestre with Tixall since 1979.
Notable buildings
;Church of
St John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
A free chapel has existed in Tixall since the 12th Century but the present church was built in 1848 by the Hon. John Chetwynd Talbot, son of
the 2nd Earl Talbot of Ingestre. It is built of local sandstone with a roof of
Staffordshire blue tiles. The floor tiles are by
Minton. The oldest grave in the churchyard is reputed to date from 1627.
;Tixall Gatehouse
The 16th century 3-storey gatehouse of the now-demolished Tixall Hall, built by the Aston family, is in the care of the
Landmark Trust
The Landmark Trust is a British architectural conservation, building conservation charitable organization, charity, founded in 1965 by John Smith (Conservative politician), Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or ...
, which offers it as a holiday let.
;Obelisk
There is a sandstone obelisk in Tixall dated 1776 sat in a triangle where the road from
Stafford meets the road from
Milford. It is said to have been placed there by Thomas Clifford, who owned the estate at the time.
Notable people
other than members of the aristocracy referred to above
*
Henry Redwood (1823 in Tixall – 1907) a New Zealand farmer, politician and racehorse breeder.
*
Francis Webb (1836 Tixall Rectory – 1906) an English railway engineer, responsible for the design and manufacture of locomotives for the London and North Western Railway (LNWR)
*
Francis Redwood
Francis William Mary Redwood SM (6 April 1839 – 3 January 1935), was the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wellington, Metropolitan of New Zealand.
Life
Redwood was born on 8 April 1839 on the Tixall estate, Staffordshire, England, a k ...
SM (1839 in Tixall – 1935) the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wellington, New Zealand.
*
Rupert Rogers (1902 in Tixall – 1976) an English cricketer who played a single first-class match for Worcestershire
See also
*
Listed buildings in Tixall
References
External links
GENUKI(tm) page*
National Register of Archives, holdings relating to Tixall
{{authority control
Villages in Staffordshire
Civil parishes in Staffordshire
Borough of Stafford