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 authority ...

in the

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

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 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 ...

lying on the western side of the

Trent Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...

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 and roughly 4 miles east of

. 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 manusc ...

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 settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

, the name means 'the hollow of the goats'. It is a fairly elongated village lying to the west of

Great Haywood Great Haywood is a village in central Staffordshire, England, just off the A51 and about northwest of Rugeley and southeast of the county town of Stafford. Population details taken at the 2011 census can be found under Colwich. Haywood ...

and just north of the sprawling

Shugborough Shugborough Hall is a stately home near Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England. The hall is situated on the edge of Cannock Chase, about east of Stafford and from Rugeley. The estate was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield until the dissolu ...

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

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 Sandon Hall is a 19th-century country mansion, the seat of the Earl of Harrowby, at Sandon, Staffordshire, northeast of Stafford. It is a Grade II* listed building set in of parkland. Early manorial history Before the Norman Conquest, Sandon w ...

and

Ingestre Hall Ingestre Hall is a Grade II* 17th-century Jacobean mansion situated at Ingestre, near Stafford, Staffordshire, England. Formerly the seat of the Earls Talbot and then the Earls of Shrewsbury, the hall is now owned by Sandwell Metropolitan Bor ...

to the north, homes of the Earl of Lichfield, the

Earl of Harrowby Earl of Harrowby, in the County of Lincoln, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1809 for the prominent politician and former Foreign Secretary, Dudley Ryder, 2nd Baron Harrowby. He was made Viscount Sandon, of S ...

and the Earl of Shrewsbury respectively. Also passing nearby to the east and through the

valley is the

Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is long, linking the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywoo ...

, which expands into a body of water called

Tixall Wide Tixall Wide, also known as Tixall Broad or The Broad Water, is a body of water that forms part of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near Tixall in Staffordshire, England, to the south of the former Tixall Hall. The lake was probably ...

near to

Tixall Gatehouse Tixall Gatehouse is a 16th-century gatehouse situated at Tixall, near Stafford, Staffordshire and is all that remains of Tixall Hall which was demolished in 1927. The gatehouse is a Grade I listed building. Tixall was used as a prison for Mary, ...

. 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 1611. ...

. They were staunch Roman Catholics and Tixall was the centre of the local Catholic community. During the

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate C ...

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 were questioned intensively as to their actions while at Tixall.

Local governance

The village, and civil parish, of Ingestre 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 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

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 building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then makes them available for holiday rental. The Trust's headqua ...

, 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

meets the road from

Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...

. 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 Henry Redwood (24 January 1823 – 9 November 1907) was a New Zealand farmer, politician and racehorse breeder. Biography He was born in Tixall, Staffordshire, England in 1823. He was a brother of Francis Redwood, a brother in law of Joseph War ...

(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 kno ...

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

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

Local governance

Notable buildings

Notable people

See also

References

External links