Description:The village of Longnor is situated on a high ridge, 956 feet above sea level, in the Staffordshire Moorlands with the river Dove as its western boundary. Some parts of the parish rise to 1,182 feet. The name means ‘long slope’ from the Old English, ‘langen ofer’.
An important centre for trade until the 19th century, the village still gives very much the impression of a small market town. In the Middle Ages the market, which in 1293 was claimed by the lords of the manor of Alstonefield, was held in Longnor, close to the church. Regular fairs, up to four per year, were held here from the later Middle Ages. A Tuesday market was granted to John Harpur at Longnor in 1595. The curate of Longnor received 1d for every covered booth and a halfpenny for every uncovered booth at each of the four fairs. By 1817 there was a market house, although it is not clear when it was built originally, and this was rebuilt at the expense of Sir John Hapur Crewe in 1873. A hiring fair for servants, one of the few left in Staffordshire, was held in Longnor right up into the 20th century.
Longnor was a chapelry of Alstonefield parish and became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1902. The first mention of a church was in 1448 but the present church building dates from 1780. The site of the previous church was to the south of the present one. The building is of a rectangular shape with rounded Georgian windows to provide light originally for two galleries. The font is Norman and was for some time placed in the churchyard. The church itself is dedicated to St Bartholomew.
There was a Quaker meeting house registered in Longnor in 1723. In 1772 John Wesley held a private prayer meeting in the village and eventually a Methodist chapel was built in 1777. The chapel was subsequently replaced and closed down in 1993.
Records, including the census enumerators’ books, show there was always a variety of trades and crafts represented in the village, ranging from umbrella makers and clothes peg makers to drapers, grocers and quarry workers.
Education has a long tradition in Longnor with a schoolmaster being paid in corn as early as 1597. A school was in existence in the mid-18th century and in 1799 was located in the former Methodist chapel. Education was endowed under various charities in the parish. A National School, later to become the present Church of England primary school, was established in 1853.
For more information about Longnor, see the Victoria County History Staffordshire, Volume VII, pp 41-49.