SOMERSALL HERBERT, or CHURCH SOMERSALL, is a small parish,
3½ miles north-west from Sudbury station on the North Staffordshire
railway, 9 north-west from Burton-upon-Trent and 3½ north-east
from Uttoxeter, in the Western division of the county, hundred of
Appletree and petty sessional division of Sudbury, union and county
court district of Uttoxeter, rural deanery of Longford, archdeaconry
of Derby and diocese of Southwell. This place was formerly a chapelry
of Sudbury, but early in the 15th century was formed into a rectory.
The Somersall Brook flows through the parish. The church of St.
Peter is an Early English building of stone, consisting of chancel,
nave, south porch and a western turret containing one bell, cast
in 1874, in which year the church was restored : in a recess under
a window on the north side of the chancel is the upper part of the
recumbent effigy of a priest in eucharistic vestments : with his
head on a cushion, the hands folded, and below them a chalice, and
supposed to represent Robert by-the-Broke, the earliest known rector
of Somersall, date 1428 : in the chancel is & mural monument
to John Fitz-Herbert and his wife Mary (1691), and there is a small
memorial window to Thomas and Elizabeth Robotham, erected in 1873
by their only daughter: the font, of Norman date, is a circular
block of gritstone, carved with an encircling arcade of semicircular
interlaced arches and a boldly defined border above, and has been
designed by the Rev. J. C, Cox LL.D., F.S.A. rector of Barton-le-Street,
to the third quarter of the 12th century : near the church is a
fairly preserved specimen of an Early English churchyard cross,
with steps and shaft complete, the cross being mutilated : there
are 80 sittings. The register dates from the year 1538. The living
is a rectory, average tithe rent-charge £157, with 21 acres
of glebe, net yearly value £185, with residence, in the gift
of Major W. H. Fitz Herbert, and held since 1885 by the Rev. Reginald
Henry Castle Fitz-Herbert B.A, of St. John's College, Cambridge.
Somersall Hall, the seat of Major Fitz-Herbert, is an ancient picturesque
half-timbered mansion with ornamental gables and modern additions,
and belongs to the Fitz-Herbert family, in whose possession it has
remained since early in the 13th century : in the entrance hall
are two wooden slabs, with the following quaint inscription :-
ANNO
1.5.6.4
FYTS
BERT
ELEN
WYFE
|
|
DNI
IHON
HER
AND
HYS
IHS |
Lord Vernon is lord of the manor and principal landowner. The soil
is a rich marl, with gravel and sand: subsoil, clay. The chief crops
are wheat, beans, barley and oats and some laud in pasture. The
acreage is 715: rateable value, £1,173; the population in
1881 was 107.
Verger, Mrs. Sarah Allen.
POST OFFICE.-Thomas Pakeman, receiver, Letters through Darby arrive
at 8 a.m. ; dispatched at 5.30 p.m. The nearest money order &
telegraph office is at Sudbury. The children of this place attend
Sudbury school
Fitz-Herbert Major Walter Hepburn, Somersall hall
Fitz-Herbert Rev. Reginald Henry Castle B.A. [rector], The Rectory
Allen George, shoe maker
Bowden George Frederick, cattle exprtr
Clamp Charles, farmer
Goodall Francis, cowkeeper
Pakeman Thomas, farmer, Post office
Poyser John, farmer
Thawley John, wheelwright & cowkpr
[End of transcript. Spelling, case and punctuation
are as they appear in the Directory.]
An Ann Andrews historical directory transcript
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