Description:Often described as a quintessentially English village, Rolleston stands on the Alder Brook in the Dove Valley. It was an Anglo-Saxon settlement and today there is a large Anglo-Saxon cross in the churchyard. Rolleston occurs in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Rolvestune, one of the manors of Henry de Ferrers. At that time 16 bordars or small holders of land and 18 unfree tenants, or villeins, were recorded. There was also a mill at the time of Domesday. A mediaeval deer park was enclosed out of the surrounding forest and was in existence by the middle of the 13th century. Rolleston passed from the Ferrers family into the Rollestons, who owned the manor until 1614. It was then sold to the Mosleys, who originated in Manchester. They were to remain in Rolleston until the 1920s.
The family is known for two particular Sir Oswald Mosleys. The first of these, Sir Oswald Mosley, the fourth baronet, 1848-1915, was the model for ‘John Bull’, the essential Englishman. The second, the sixth baronet. 1896-1980, was the well-known politician and founder of the New Party in 1931. He later founded the British Union of Fascists and was interned with his second wife, Diana, (formerly Diana Mitford) during World War II.
The Mosleys lived at Rolleston Hall. After substantial damage by fire in 1871, the hall was largely rebuilt in 1872-72 in the Victorian style. It was well-known for its very fine gardens and the parkland was over 300 acres in size. The hall was demolished in 1928 although some of the service buildings, now put to new uses, remain.
The parish church of St Mary has Norman features, which include the north doorway. Much of the building is, however, in the Decorated style and the tower is early 14th century. The church contains a monument to Bishop Sherburne of Chichester. He was the founder of the Free Grammar School in Rolleston in 1520 which he endowed with £10 per year. The grammar school was later housed in a building, provided by the Mosleys in 1640, by the church. Almshouses, endowed by the Rollestons in 1672, still stand in the village.
The village is sometimes referred to as Rolleston-on-Dove. This was the name given to the railway station by the North Staffordshire Railway Company to distinguish it from Rolleston in Nottinghamshire.
For more information about Rolleston, see the Victoria County History Staffordshire, Volume X pp 194-210.