The study started as a House History on Stores House, the former village shop and bakehouse. While tracking previous owners and tenants, I amassed a wealth of information about the surrounding area and the families who lived there and realized that it was becoming a place study. I am working towards building a picture over time, of the way of life in this small hamlet, with statistical data on population, occupations and migration and detailed family trees of the main families in the study area.
The study started as a House History on Stores House, the former village shop and bakehouse. While tracking previous owners and tenants, I amassed a wealth of information about the surrounding area and the families who lived there and realized that it was becoming a place study. I am working towards building a picture over time, of the way of life in this small hamlet, with statistical data on population, occupations and migration and detailed family trees of the main families in the study area.
To follow.
Archaeological investigations around Walk Mill farm in 1974 identified two surface finds of worked prehistoric flint. Further excavation in 1995 recovered a Roman ditch, Romano-British pottery and some charcoal and it is thought that this was the site of a kiln. Medieval ridge and furrow provides evidence for early agricultural activity in the area.
At the time of the Domesday survey, two mills were recorded; the site of Walk Mill and its position on the River Sow is likely to be one those. The present mill building was used to grind corn and produce malt and is thought to have replaced the original fulling mill in the late 18th century. The first mention of Walk Mill appears in 1298; documents describe how tenants were obliged to send their corn to be ground at the ‘Lord’s Mill’; the lord being the Bishop of Lichfield.
The place name Offley, or Offeleia, derives from the Anglo-Saxon name, Offa and ‘Lea’ or ‘Ley’ meaning wood, and so ‘Offa’s wood’. In medieval times, the term Offleie covered a large tract of land which included Bishop’s Offley, High Offley, Offley Marsh, Offley Brook and Offey Hay. It all belonged to the Bishop of Lichfield; whose summer residence was at Eccleshall castle. Most of the Offley woodland was open for common grazing, and cattle could be watered at the edge of the lake Copmere, until 1841 when the Enclosure Act was enforced in the district. But by 1775, maps show Offley Hay as a definite area in its own right. The main feature of Offley Hay in the past was the heath or common, but this is indistinguishable now as it is farmland like the rest of the surrounding area. Horse races used to be held on the Hay, and the May games were a great event years ago.
Archaeological investigations around Walk Mill farm in 1974 identified two surface finds of worked prehistoric flint. Further excavation in 1995 recovered a Roman ditch, Romano-British pottery and some charcoal and it is thought that this was the site of a kiln. Medieval ridge and furrow provides evidence for early agricultural activity in the area.
At the time of the Domesday survey, two mills were recorded; the site of Walk Mill and its position on the River Sow is likely to be one those. The present mill building was used to grind corn and produce malt and is thought to have replaced the original fulling mill in the late 18th century. The first mention of Walk Mill appears in 1298; documents describe how tenants were obliged to send their corn to be ground at the ‘Lord’s Mill’; the lord being the Bishop of Lichfield.
The place name Offley, or Offeleia, derives from the Anglo-Saxon name, Offa and ‘Lea’ or ‘Ley’ meaning wood, and so ‘Offa’s wood’. In medieval times, the term Offleie covered a large tract of land which included Bishop’s Offley, High Offley, Offley Marsh, Offley Brook and Offey Hay. It all belonged to the Bishop of Lichfield; whose summer residence was at Eccleshall castle. Most of the Offley woodland was open for common grazing, and cattle could be watered at the edge of the lake Copmere, until 1841 when the Enclosure Act was enforced in the district. But by 1775, maps show Offley Hay as a definite area in its own right. The main feature of Offley Hay in the past was the heath or common, but this is indistinguishable now as it is farmland like the rest of the surrounding area. Horse races used to be held on the Hay, and the May games were a great event years ago.
There are four key buildings in my study: Walk Mill, the Star Inn, Offley Hay Farm and Stores House.
Walk Mill
A demand for a cloth or ‘fulling’ mill arose in the area from an increase in the supply of wool. The clearance of Eccleshall forest in the 12th century led to areas of common land which were used as sheep runs. The wool provided the raw material for cloth and gave the commoners a cottage industry in spinning and weaving. All walk mills have been cloth or fulling mills at some period in their history (Dulgnan, 1902). The earliest recorded occupier of the mill site is John Pershall in 1606. Subsequent tenants of a ‘cornmill and adjacent fulling mill’ are noted throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Further 17th century records detail the property as consisting of a fulling mill, a corn mill and a meadow known as Copmere Suck. At this time, the mill and mill pool lay within the township of Sugnall Magna within the parish of Eccleshall. The cloth produced at Walk Mill supplied local tailors, contributing to the growth of the cloth industry in the area; this industry became part of an important trade and economy in Eccleshall parish which lasted for some 500 years.
The local fulling trade had declined during the 18th century and there was an increase in the corn trade. In 1795, Walk Mill was auctioned for sale by its occupant at the time, John Jones. The sale particulars for the building mention the corn mill as ‘lofty and newly erected’ and it is thought that this is the building on the site today. The mill was purchased by a Robert Deakin and was to remain in the Deakin family throughout the 19th century.
In 1911 the Walk Mill, Walk Mill House, Walk Mill Farm and the Millers House were auctioned for sale by the Deakin estate as one lot. The mill and farm complex were purchased by Charles Lowe of Sugnall Hall. Milling continued at Walk Mill well into the 20th century. In 1975 the mill building was severely damaged by a tree which fell during a storm and milling operations ceased
The Star Inn
The earliest record I have mentioning a pub is from the 1828 trade directory which lists John Woodhouse as publican of the Rising Sun at Copmere End. This is the old name of the Star Inn.
In the 1841 census William Matthews 23, is the publican, then by 1851 Thomas Wilcox is the publican at the Star Inn and runs the shop next door. In 1861 the publican changed to George Webb, 34, and Thomas Wilcox is listed as a brewer’s agent. In 1871 two publicans are listed, Thomas Wilcox at the Star Inn and William Vernon at the Alehouse. I think that Thomas Wilcox was the owner, while William Vernon 30 is the publican of the Star Inn and Martha Key who lives next door is a retailer of tea and coffee. In 1881 George Barnett is running the Star Inn and this changes to Thomas Bradbury Wakefield in 1891. By 1896 Charles Case Blakeman is listed in the Trade Directory as running the Star Inn. In 1900, Charles Blakeman 45 was still the publican and in fact remains there until at least 1928. In 1939, Ellen Silvester is running the Star Inn and her son George is a grocery shop assistant. I think he probably worked next door where Ellen Jackson had a grocery store and sub post office.
Offley Hay Farm
On the map of 1820, a cluster of buildings is shown along the lane around the site of Offley Hay Farm. So, this was built sometime in the first 20 years of the 19th century. William Gardener is the first owner I can identify from the 1828 Trade Directory. His father John also farmed at Walk Mill Farm.
The Tithe maps of 1837, show the field names of Offley Hay farm and their usage. The farm is a typical self sufficient mixed farm of the time. William Gardener at the farm had a brother John who was a baker in Eccleshall and his son Thomas, William’s nephew, is also described as a baker. Thomas inherits the farm from William and lives there from the 1850’s, so perhaps the Gardeners built a bakehouse around this time.
Thomas never married, like his uncle William, so when he died in 1887, and his sister Martha’s husband Thomas Woolfe died at almost the same time, Martha and her son Thomas Henry came to Offley Hay farm. Thomas Henry took over the farm in 1897 when his mother Martha died. Thomas and his wife Harriet had no children and they are still at the farm in 1911. However when Thomas dies in 1926 he leaves Wiley Farm Gnosall to Harriet, so at some point they left Offley Hay
In the 1921 Trade Directory, Edward Buckless is shown as farming in Offley Hay. He is the only person who is not in directories or censuses for the area at the same time as either Thomas Henry Woolfe or Albert E Young, so I think that he was the owner of Offley Hay Farm from at least 1921 to before 1939.
In 1939 the farm was occupied by Albert Young and his family. Albert’s wife, Margaret Ellen Hill, was the daughter of William Hill, a dairy farmer in Croxton. Albert’s father George farmed at Greatwood Farm Croxton.
Stores House
To follow.
I have many family trees for individuals who have lived in the area in the past. Please contact me.
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