Harlaston is a 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 Staffordshire, England. It lies on 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 ...

, about north of Tamworth. There is an Early English church, dedicated to ''St Matthew'', and a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

, the ''White Lion''. Harlaston is a conservation area, and has won the Staffordshire Best Kept Small Village award 5 times.

History

The name Harlaston comes 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 means either ''Heoruwulfs farm'' or ''Heorulafs farm''. It has been suggested that the church goes back to the 11th century and is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Certainly, a corn mill is mentioned 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 ...

. Until 1845 Harlaston was a chapelry of the parish of

Clifton Campville Clifton Campville is a village, former manor and civil parish in Staffordshire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : It lies on the River Mease, about east of the City of Lichfield, west of Measham and north of T ...

, after which date it became an independent

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

. In 1851 the population was 221, on about 1400 acres of land. There were 2 lords of the manor, Captain Theophilus Levett and W Chettle, though much of the land belonged to other people.

Governance

The

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 ...

of Harlaston became part of

Tamworth Poor Law Union Tamworth may refer to: Places England * Tamworth, Staffordshire * Tamworth (UK Parliament constituency) Australia * Tamworth, New South Wales ** Tamworth Airport * Tamworth Regional Council * Electoral district of Tamworth United States and Cana ...

1836 Events January–March * January 1 – Queen Maria II of Portugal marries Prince Ferdinand Augustus Francis Anthony of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. * January 5 – Davy Crockett arrives in Texas. * January 12 ** , with Charles Darwin on board, re ...

. In 1866 it also became a

in its own right, becoming 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 1894. During the boundary changes of 1934, the parish was extended to incorporate Haselour, becoming 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 1974 it became part of the new

non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shi ...

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 ...

. Electorally the parish is part of ''Mease and Tame'' ward of Lichfield District, and lies within the parliamentary constituency of Tamworth.

Landmarks

Harlaston includes a number of historic buildings. Listed

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

is the parish church of St Matthew; grade II listings include the Manor House, as well as several other houses, mileposts, and a telephone box. The Church is mainly built of red brick in Norman and Early English styles. There is a tower with three bells and a clock. The upper part of the tower is half-timbered – this is said to be unusual for Staffordshire. A small spire was added in the 19th century. The Old Rectory alongside the church dates from 1842. The Manor House dates back to 1540. It is of traditional timber construction. The Homestead dates back to 1773. It was built by William Mercer, a harness maker. It may have once also been the village pub, the ''Whip and Saddle''.

Other Settlements

Haselour is an ancient manor and hamlet about a mile west of Harlaston. The name ''Haselour'' comes from

and means ''hazel ridge''. In 1851 it was described as having a population of 29 people in 5 houses, and covered . The area was

extra-parochial In England and Wales, an extra-parochial area, extra-parochial place or extra-parochial district was a geographically defined area considered to be outside any ecclesiastical or civil parish. Anomalies in the parochial system meant they had no ch ...

and the people were served by the chapel at Harlaston. For local government purposes Haselour was extra-parochial until 1858, when it became a civil parish within Lichfield Poor Law Union. In 1894 it became part of

; in 1934 the civil parish was incorporated into Harlaston. Listed

are Haselour Hall and its associated chapel. The manor house of Haselour Hall, with its traditional half-timbered Tudor appearance, dates back to the 16th century. The chapel dates from the 14th century, and was restored in the 1880s, but is now in poor condition and is on the

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

''at risk'' register. As of 2020, the Hall and chapel are on sale for £2.9 million. The now-closed Elford railway station was originally named ''Haselour''.

References

External links