Blymhill

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Date:1086 - 2015 (c.)

Description:The small village of Blymhill is situated just north of the A5 near Weston-under- Lizard and close to the border with Shropshire. Part of Blymhill still forms part of the estate of the Earls of Bradford of nearby Weston Park. The centre of the village includes the church, the former rectory and the old village school.

The name Blymhill has more than one possible derivation. It may come from the Old English, ‘plyme’, meaning wild plum tree and ‘hyll’ meaning hill. Alternatively it may be associated with the word ‘bloma’, meaning a bloom or metal ingot. This could suggest either a hill in the shape of an iron bloom or the site of a bloomery hearth, although no evidence has been found of ironstone or smelting in the area.

At the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086 Blymhill was called ‘Brumhelle’ and was one of the manors of Robert de Stafford. His tenant was Warin. There was a population of 12 and the value of the manor was assessed at 20 shillings. Brineton or ‘Brunitone’ is recorded separately with a population of five.

In 1532-1533 only five families were recorded in Blymhill and six in nearby Brineton, with the rector, William Swinerton and a chaplain, John Mylnes, noted separately. By the time of the Hearth Tax assessment of 1666, 52 households were listed in Blymhill and Brineton together. The largest house was High Hall or its predecessor on the site, with seven hearths followed by the rectory with three.

Blymhill’s parish church is dedicated to St Mary and the earliest parts of the building date from the 12th century. There were additions in the 13th century and major alterations in the 14th. Most of the church was rebuilt in 1719 and the church was later extensively restored by GE Street between 1856 and 1859.

In 1671 the Revd John Taylor made provision in his will to maintain the school described in his will as the ‘new schoolhouse’. By 1818 there were six free pupils at the school and also 14 fee-paying ones. Between 1834 and 1851 up to 50 fee- paying pupils were recorded. In 1856 the school became a national school and GE Street rebuilt the schoolhouse in 1856. Eventually the school was to become Blymhill Parochial Voluntary Aided School. It is now closed.

Until well into the 20th century the village was a typical rural village with most of its population either engaged in employment on the Bradford Estate or in farming and related trades. Buildings of interest in the area include Wrestlers Farm which was originally an inn called Wrestlers Inn. Wrestling matches and cock fights are said to have taken place here. Brockhurst Farm is thought to have been a mediaeval defensive site. There are traces of moats nearby.

The Revd Samuel Dickenson (1753-1823), who was rector here for 46 years, was a botanist. He produced a catalogue of Staffordshire’s native plants which Stebbing Shaw published in volume 1 of his History of Staffordshire in 1798 There are many references in this extensive list to the locations of plants in Blymhill in the list as well as to other places in the county; for example: purple flowered moneywort “in the mill-pool meadow, Blymhill”.