Edingale

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Date:1086 - 2015 (c.)

Description:The small village of Edingale is situated in the Mease Valley, north of Tamworth and on the border with Derbyshire. It has a tiny green at its heart which Dr Robert Plot suggested might be a Roman burial mound. Closely linked with Croxall in its history, it is, however, a distinct village. The place name is thought to mean “the hall of Eada” or “the corner of the land of the people of Eadwine”.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, Edingale appears as Ednungalle and is recorded twice under the Derbyshire section of the survey, possibly reflecting a division of the settlement between east and west. It first appears in the entry for the lands of Henry de Ferrers, one of the most important tenants-in-chief of the Crown, who held land in several counties. Second it appears that part of Edingale belonged to one of a group of smaller landholders, collectively called the King’s thegns, the last remnants of a formerly powerful class before the Conquest.

There was considerable land under cultivation at that time, as nine ploughs are recorded. There were four acres of meadow and there was a substantial amount of underwood. The recorded population was 16 villeins (tenants who held land in return for labour services). In total it was worth 40 shillings annually.

Edingale was part of the large manor of Alrewas. As such it descended through the ownership of the Somervilles, Barons Wychnor, and various smaller landowners until it was acquired by the Anson family, Earls of Lichfield in 1752, who retained it until they sold the lordship of the manor in the 1980s.

By 1666, 22 households were recorded in the Hearth Tax Returns as paying tax, although there would also have been some who were considered too poor to pay. The largest house was that of Christopher Smyth with five hearths.

The parish church at Edingale stands on elevated ground and is dedicated to Holy Trinity. The present church, built in 1881 by Charles Lynam, the North Staffordshire architect, replaces earlier church buildings on the site. The earliest reference to the church is in 1191 but there was evidence of Anglo- Saxon features when the Georgian church was demolished in 1880. The churchyard is notable for the fact that the county boundary ran through it until 1888. Nearby Church Farm House is dated 1664.

A National School was opened in the adjacent parish of Croxall in 1820, which served both Croxall and Edingale. This school was replaced in 1915 by a new building built adjoining the playground of the old school and named the Mary Howard School after the wife of the Hon Fulke Greville Howard who owned the Elford Estate. Although the family lived mainly away from Staffordshire, Mary Howard was a noted benefactor to education.

Most of the inhabitants in the 19th and early 20th centuries were employed in farming or agriculturally related trades but there is evidence of other trades and occupations. A major claim to fame for the village was the breeding of world-famous shire horses by Mr EJ Holland of Edingale House Farm for a long period in the 20th century from 1909 until 1986.

For much more information about Edingale and its history, see Edingale, A Parish in Perspective by Carmel and Anthony Mason (2002) available at the William Salt Library, Stafford.