Description:Gentleshaw village is situated in an elevated position on Cannock Chase, a little way south of Cannock Wood. Its name derives from ‘shaw’ meaning a grove and possibly from the surname ‘Gentyl’ which occurs in the area in the 14th century, so ‘Gentyl’s grove’. Robert Plot in his ‘Natural History of Staffordshire’, written in 1686, referred to the coppices which crowned the summits of hills such as Gentle-Shaw. No doubt its elevated position accounts for the fact that there were once windmills in Gentleshaw.
Castle Hill is about 800 feet above sea level and on it stands Castle Ring, a notable large Iron Age hill fort, covering 8.5 acres in area. From the top of Castle Hill it is possible to see nine counties.
Originally part of the ancient parish of Longdon, Gentleshaw became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1840. The brick church of Christ Church was built about 1839, restored in 1875 and extended in 1903. In the first half of the 20th century, most of the inhabitants were employed in farming or farming – related activities .
Beaudesert, the seat of the Paget family, Earls of Uxbridge, Marquesses of Anglesey, stood nearby. It was a very fine Elizabethan mansion, which was built to replace the mediaeval manor house of the Bishops of Lichfield after the Pagets acquired the bishops’ estates, following the surrender to the Crown of ecclesiastical property in the reign of Henry VIII. The house was considerably altered internally over the centuries but the exterior remained little changed. In particular the house was noted for its fine panelling and the Waterloo staircase, which was installed to commemorate the part played by Henry William Paget, Earl of Uxbridge, at the Battle of Waterloo. The Pagets were created Marquesses of Anglesey following the battle. Beaudesert was demolished in 1935 after attempts to sell it failed. Many of the internal fittings were taken to Australia and installed in a newly built house called Carrick Hill near Adelaide.