Description:Hints is situated on the slope between Watling Street and the Black or Bourne Brook, a tributary of the River Tame. The name, Hints, is derived from ‘hynt’, a Celtic word meaning a road. Robert Plot in his natural history of Staffordhire, 1686, refers to a tumulus near hints as possibly being of Roman origin. At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, Hints was one of a number of manors belonging to the Bishop of Chester. The bishop’s estate, including Hints, formed a very compact block, situated between the river valleys of the Trent and the Tame. In the Domesday survey, Hints is recorded as having enough arable land for seven ploughs.
In the Middle Ages the manor was acquired by the Meynell family and eventually passed to the Bassetts of Drayton. By the 17th century Hints was owned by the Floyers, who lived at Hints Hall. In 1666, 42 households were listed at Hints in the Hearth Tax. Hints Hall, was recorded as having 14 hearths, clearly a sizeable house even at that time. The hall was rebuilt in the 18th century as a large two- storey Georgian house, said to be ‘handsome’. In the late 19th century, it became the residence of James Chadwick, a cotton manufacturer. It had a large well-wooded park. The house was pulled down after the Second World War.
There was a church at Hints in the 14th century but the present church of St Bartholomew was built in 1882-3 and paid for by James Chadwick at a cost of £5,000. It was designed by Oldrid Scott. Chadwick also built the vicarage, which adjoined the church. The school was built in 1859.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries the chief occupation was agriculture, with wheat, barley and turnips as the main crops.