Wigginton is a village in the district of

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

, in Staffordshire, England. The population was included in the 2011 census with that of Tamworth, about to the north.

History

The name ''Wigginton'' is believed to come 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 ...

, and to mean ''Wicga's farm''. The name was also sometimes written as ''Wiggington''. The village lies on a medieval trade route, the Portway, possibly used for transporting salt from the

River Mease The River Mease is a lowland clay river in the Midlands area of England. It flows through the counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire and forms the administrative border between these counties for parts of its length. The riv ...

at Edingale to Tamworth. Ecclesiastically, Wigginton had been a chapelry attached to the parish of St Editha in Tamworth. For civil government it had been a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

– the township was more than just the village, and included the hamlets of Comberford and Coton, the latter now part of the borough of Tamworth. In 1866 the township became a

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 ...

, and in 1894 part of

Tamworth Rural District Tamworth was a rural district in the English Midlands from 1894 to 1965. It was created under the Local Government Act 1894 from Tamworth rural sanitary district, and was one of a handful of rural districts to cross county boundaries, with pa ...

. In 1934 the civil parish was extended to become Wigginton and Hopwas, and became part of

Lichfield Rural District Lichfield was a rural district in the county of Staffordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It was enlarged in 1934 by gaining part of Staffordshire that had been administered since 1894 as part of Tamworth Rural District, which was otherwise in Wa ...

. In 1861 the population of Wigginton township was 670, on . This figure included inmates of the Tamworth

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

, which at that time lay within the township. The population of the chapelry alone was 466.

Landmarks

Grade II listed buildings in Wigginton village include two or three houses and the former Anglican chapel, now a church. Dedicated to St Leonard, it was rebuilt in 1777, extended in 1830, and altered again in 1861 to a design by Nicholas Joyce. Situated within the modern village is a shrunken medieval village, visible as a series of pronounced earthworks to the northern end of the village, and medieval ridge and furrow still to be seen in surrounding fields. To the south-west of the village is the former site, now ploughed out, of a likely

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

barrow formerly known as "Robin Hood's Butt". Several finds of archaeological interest have been made in the area around the village. To the north-west is a flat area formerly called the "Money Lands", where human bones and ancient coins, thought to be Roman, were recovered in a find made in the 18th century.

Amenities

The village contains a pub, the Old Crown, and a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

primary school, St Leonards. The pub called ''The Wigginton'' is over the border in Tamworth, as is ''Wigginton Park'', the home of Tamworth RUFC.

Notable people

* Samuel Parkes (c. 1815–1864), a Wigginton-born private in the 4th Light Dragoons won the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

in the Charge of the Light Brigade for saving the life of Trumpeter Hugh Crawford. *

Gene Kemp Gene Kemp née Rushton (27 December 1926 – 4 January 2015) was an English author known for children's books. Her first, ''The Pride of Tamworth Pig'', appeared in 1972. She won the British Carnegie Medal for her school novel '' The Turbulent ...

(1926–2015), children's author, was born in Wigginton.

References

External links