Description:The village of Shenstone is situated on a small plateau about three miles south of the city of Lichfield. The parish also includes the village of Stonnall. In the Domesday Book the name is recorded as ‘Seneste’, meaning shining or beautiful stone. A number of reasons have been suggested for the origin of the name, for example the red sandstone on which the village is built. In 1794 it was noted that “the air of Shenstone is reckoned to be pure and wholesome to the natives and healthy persons, exceedingly agreeable, owing to the situation and an open country”. (Antiquities of Shenstone, Rev Henry Sanders, 1794),
In the Domesday Book of 1086, the manor of Shenstone is recorded as belonging to Roger, Earl of Shrewsbury, who held considerable property in Staffordshire. The manor was quite sizeable and worth 100s annually. Land was under cultivation and there was also approximately 4,500 acres of woodland. The recorded population was one serf, 21 villeins (tenants who held land in return for labour services) and 4 bordars (smallholders who had brought land into cultivation on the edges of the village). A mill was also recorded.
The 14th century poll taxes record a population in the range of 36 to 41. By the time of the Hearth Tax assessment of 1666, a total of 122 households were assessed as liable for the payment of the tax in the constablewick of Shenstone, which included Shenstone, Stonnall, Chesterfield, Lynn, Footherly, Swinfen and Aston, with a further 81 households listed as being too poor to pay the tax. The largest dwelling was Shenstone Hall with 14 hearths, occupied by John Brandreth. In 1851 the census recorded 2,043 inhabitants.
The parish church is dedicated to St John. The present church building was designed by John Gibson, architect of London and built in 1852-53. The remains of the former mediaeval church building are to the north west of the present church. In 1740 the former church building was extended by the building of a south transept to accommodate the people of Stonnall when their chapel was pulled down. St Peter’s Church at Stonnall was rebuilt in 1823. There was also a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Littlehay.
Provision was made for the schooling of four poor children in Shenstone in the will of Robert Greisbrook who left 30s to be paid yearly to a schoolmaster. His name is commemorated in the name of Shenstone’s primary school. In the 19th century education was provided by a national school at Shenstone, built in 1831 by public subscription, and by a national school at Stonnall.
There was a parish workhouse at Chesterfield which was in use before 1834. A more unusual public service in the village in the 19th century was the Shenstone Savings Bank. Employment in the village was largely in farming and agriculturally related trades. There was however a forge at Little Aston from the late 16th until the late 18th century, when it was converted to a corn mill.
There were several large houses in Shenstone and the surrounding area. Shenstone Park is a moated site. The house was believed to have been built in the 11th century and it had an ancient and substantial park. The estate passed down through a variety of ownerships. In 1717 it was purchased by Richard Hill of Hawkstone Park in Shropshire and remained in this family until 1797. The Hills carried out some extensive landscaping in the park. The house was demolished in the mid 19th century, although the stable block survives. Shenstone Court, a former manor house, was another property which passed through a number of ownerships before being pulled down before the Second World War. Shenstone Hall replaced an earlier timber framed house, Shenstone Old Hall, on the site of the stables and was built in the early 17th century. It has a Jacobean frontage but was completely remodelled in the Gothic style. It is now a care home. Footherley Hall was occupied in the later 16th century by Francis Floyer. By the 19th century the house and estate were owned by the Coopers of Shenstone Court. As in the case of Shenstone Hall, it is now a care home.
Little Aston Hall was owned by the Fowke family in the 16th century. A new hall was built about 1730 by the then owner, Richard Scott of Birmingham. In the late 18th century there was major landscaping to the gardens and park. The house was remodeled by James Wyatt about 1790. As with the other large houses in Shenstone, the house has passed through various ownerships and tenancies. In the 20th century it served as a regional headquarters for Esso. It has now been developed as residential apartments
In the past Shenstone’s inhabitants were noted for their longevity. Henry Lea died in 1660 aged 107 and Susanna Southwell survived until the age of 112. the date of her death is unspecified.
For more information about Shenstone’s history, see A Landscape Survey of the the Parish of Shenstone edited by Richard Totty (Lichfield, 2009).