Tixall

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Tixall
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Tixall
Location within Staffordshire
Population239 (2011)
Civil parish
  • Tixall
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town STAFFORD
Postcode district ST18
List of places
UK
England
Staffordshire
Coordinates: 52°48′10″N2°02′03″W / 52.80275°N 2.03407°W / 52.80275; -2.03407

Tixall is a small village and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the English county of Staffordshire lying on the western side of the Trent valley between Rugeley and Stone, Staffordshire and roughly 4 miles east of Stafford. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 239. [1]

Contents

The place-name 'Tixall' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Ticheshale. [2] Deriving from Old English, the name means 'the hollow of the goats'. [3]

It is a fairly elongated village lying to the west of Great Haywood and just north of the sprawling Shugborough estate, the River Sow forming the natural boundary between the two, which joins the Trent on the Shugborough 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 and Ingestre Hall to the north, homes of the Earl of Lichfield, the Earl of Harrowby and the Earl of Shrewsbury respectively. Also passing nearby to the east and through the Trent valley is the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, which expands into a body of water called Tixall Wide near to Tixall Gatehouse.

Tixall Hall was the home of the Aston family, who held the title Lord Aston of Forfar. They were staunch Roman Catholics and Tixall was the centre of the local Catholic community. During the Popish Plot 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. [4]

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. [5]

Notable buildings

Church of St John the Baptist
The church of St John the Baptist, Tixall, May 2008 Tixall church.JPG
The church of St John the Baptist, Tixall, May 2008
Obelisk at Tixall, May 2008 Tixall obelisk.JPG
Obelisk at Tixall, May 2008

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 Staffordshire 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, 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 Stafford meets the road from Milford. 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

See also

Related Research Articles

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Walter Aston, 1st Lord Aston of Forfar

Walter Aston, 1st Lord Aston of Forfar was an English courtier and diplomat.

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Walter Aston, 3rd Lord Aston of Forfar was the eldest son of Walter Aston, 2nd Lord Aston of Forfar, and his wife Lady Mary Weston, daughter of Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland. He is best remembered today as a fortunate survivor of the Popish Plot.

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Haywood Junction

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Ingestre Hall

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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, Queen of Scots for two weeks in 1586.

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Ingestre Human settlement in England

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Tixall is a civil parish in the Borough of Stafford, Staffordshire, England. It contains 15 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The parish includes the village of Tixall and the surrounding area. The listed buildings include a gatehouse and stabling associated with a country house that has been demolished, a building moved from Ingestre, a farmhouse and farm buildings, an obelisk, two bridges, a lodge, a house, a church, two memorial benches, and a telephone kiosk.

Shugborough Tunnel

The Shugborough Tunnel is a 777-yard (710 m) railway tunnel on the Trent Valley line running under part of the Shugborough Estate in Colwich, Staffordshire, England. It was constructed in 1846 by the Trent Valley Railway and is located between Stafford station and Colwich Junction. Both portals, which were designed by John Livock, are grade II listed.

References

  1. "Civil Parish population 2011" . Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  2. Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p.475.
  3. Roman Britain website Archived 2009-06-08 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Kenyon, J.P. The Popish Plot 2nd Edition Phoenix Press 2000 pp.157-161
  5. "Home". Ingestre with Tixall Parish Council. Retrieved 4 June 2018.