ABOUT

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OVERVIEW

The study started as a House History on Stores House, the former village shop and bakehouse. While tracking previous owners and tenants, I amassed a wealth of information about the surrounding area and the families who lived there and realized that it was becoming a place study. I am working towards building a picture over time, of the way of life in this small hamlet, with statistical data on population, occupations and migration: and detailed family trees of the main families in the study area.

GEOGRAPHY

The study area is located about 3 km west of Eccleshall, close to the Shropshire border. The nearest towns are Stone 12 km to the north-east, Stafford 14 km to the south-east and Newport in Shropshire 10 km to the south-west, Situated along the main road from Eccleshall to Bishop’s Offley, the area is centred on the settlement of Walk Mill, a linear, picturesque hamlet which takes its name from its landmark old water mill. It is a predominantly rural area which is now included in Offley Hay. Today, with new roads and housing, Offley Hay is hard to define, merging as it does with Copmere End and Walk Mill. The land is either agricultural or woodland, the older houses made of sandstone blocks or red Staffordshire bricks.

 I have defined my study area as being centred on Walk Mill Lane (now Dorley Road) from Offley Rock eastwards to Copmere End. It will also include Offley Hay Village Hall, Mere Rise, Sandy Lane and Sugnall Road up to Walk Mill House. This area is set in the shallow valley of the River Sow, a tributary of the Trent and consists of scattered farms and cottages infilled with more modern houses. It is surrounded by open countryside.

HISTORY

Archaeological investigations around Walk Mill farm in 1974 identified two surface finds of worked prehistoric flint. Further excavation in 1995 recovered a Roman ditch, Romano-British pottery and some charcoal and it is thought that this was the site of a kiln. The two adjacent interlocking episcopal manors of Eccleshall and Sugnall probably originally formed a large estate, which it has been suggested may even date back to Romano-British times.  By at least the 11th century the estate belonged to the Bishops of Lichfield, although their involvement in the manor may have originated as early as the 7th century.  The ancient parish was one of the largest in Staffordshire. The Bishops of Lichfield were lords of Eccleshall into the 19th century.  Eccleshall Castle, became for a period their principal seat, but it was eventually sold in 1867.  This coincides with the sale, by the Diocese, of many of the houses in Offley Hay.

At the time of the Domesday survey, two mills were recorded; the site of Walk Mill and its position on the River Sow is likely to be one those. The present mill building was used to grind corn and produce malt and is thought to have replaced the original fulling mill in the late 18th century. The first mention of Walk Mill appears in 1298; documents describe how tenants were obliged to send their corn to be ground at the ‘Lord’s Mill’; the lord being the Bishop of Lichfield.

There is a separate entry for the adjacent manor of Sugnall which is held from the Bishop by Fran and Fragrin. This manor of Sugnall and its estates are interleaved with the manors and estates of Eccleshall and form part of the parish of Eccleshall. The Sugnall Estate owned Walk Mill when the mill and farm complex were purchased by Charles Lowe of Sugnall Hall in 1911.

Medieval ridge and furrow provides evidence for early agricultural activity in the area.

The place name Offley, or Offeleia, derives from the Anglo-Saxon name, Offa and ‘Lea’ or ‘Ley’ meaning wood, and so ‘Offa’s wood’. In medieval times, the term Offleie covered a large tract of land which included Bishop's Offley, High Offley, Offley Marsh, Offley Brook and Offey Hay. It all belonged to the Bishop of Lichfield; whose summer residence was at Eccleshall Castle. Most of the Offley woodland was open for common grazing, and cattle could be watered at the edge of the  Copmere, until 1841 when the Enclosure Act was enforced in the district. But by 1775, maps show Offley Hay as a definite area in its own right. The main feature of Offley Hay in the past was the heath or common, but this is indistinguishable now as it is farmland like the rest of the surrounding area. Horse races used to be held on the Hay, and the May games were a great event years ago.

ECONOMY

Around 1851 is a particularly hard period for the village. Many inhabitants are listed as paupers or as servants out of a place. Most people were dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Ag lab is the most common occupation in the early census returns for Walk mill.

In 1861 there were many more trades listed in the census for Offley Hay: tailor, sawyer, gardener, draper, joiner, carpenter, cordwainer, shoemaker, brickmaker.

By 1901, more new trades are starting to appear, engine driver, railway worker, clerks, nurse and coal miner.

Today some people commute to the larger towns of the area to work. There is some tourism employment with several Bed and Breakfast establishments in the village, and there are some small home-based businesses including a heritage structural engineering consultancy. Of course agriculture continues to form the bedrock of the local economy.

INSTITUTIONS

There are four key buildings in my study: Walk Mill, the Star Inn, Offley Hay Farm and Stores House.

I have investigated the history of each and the families associated with them.

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