Description:The small village of High Offley is situated about four miles to the south west of Eccleshall near to Woodseaves in the west of Staffordshire. It is in an elevated position and its church provides a well known landmark. Roman coins and pottery were found near the churchyard, leading to Dr Robert Plot’s conjecture in 1686 that the village was the site of the Roman settlement of Mediolanum.
The landscape surrounding the village is interesting, the scattered dwellings and little lanes suggesting early clearance from the mediaeval forest. There are a number of areas of water, created by damming the River Sow. Copmere is the largest of these, being about four acres in area.
The place name, High Offley, derives from the personal Anglo-Saxon name of Offa and ‘lea’ meaning a wood and so means ‘Offa’s wood’. Its situation is elevated, hence the descriptor ‘High’. Nearby are a number of other ‘Offleys’, for example, Offley Brook, Offley Marsh and Bishop’s Offley.
In the Domesday Book of 1086 the manor of Offelie was part of the lands of Robert de Stafford and his tenant was Urfer. The manor was large enough to support four ploughs, two of which were ploughs belonging to the lord of the manor. In terms of population there were four villeins (an unfree tenant who held his land by performing agricultural services), four bordars (a small holder of land who farmed on the edge of the settlement) and one serf. There were eight acres of meadow land. The value of the manor was recorded at 40 shillings per annum.