Some history on Rushall in the County of Staffordshire

Rushall Pubs

More information on Rushall to follow. I probably created the page as I had a link to Rushall from another page. When building the site it is easier to place links as they crop up rather than go back later on. I realise this is frustrating if you were specifically looking for information on Rushall. There is information on Staffordshire dotted around the website - click here for a suitable starting place.

Rushall in 1932 Kelly's Directory

Rushall is a parish and village on the Lichfield Road, 115 miles by rail and 119 by road from London, and 1½ north-north-east from Walsall, and is the head of a petty sessional division, in the Lichfield division of the county, hundred of South Offlow, partly in the parliamentary and municipal borough of Walsall, rural district, county court district and rural deanery of Walsall, archdeaconry of Stafford and diocese of Lichfield. The South Staffordshire Water Works Company supply the inhabitants with water. The Walsall and Wolverhampton extension of the Midland section of the London, Midland and Scottish railway passes through the parish, the nearest station being at Aldridge, about 2 miles distant. The church of St. Michael is an edifice of stone in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, transepts, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles and spire containing 5 bells: the church was rebuilt in the year 1856 and the tower rebuilt and the nave extended 30 feet in 1867, at the sole cost of the Right Hon. Sir George Mellish P.C.: here was buried Edward Leigh M.A. of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, a layman of the 17th century, and M.P. for Stafford in the Long Parliament, as well as a colonel in the Parliamentary army; he died at Rushall, June 2, 1671: there are 440 sittings, of which 270 are free. The register of baptisms dates from the year 1686; marriages, 1734; burials, 1771. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £422, including 40 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the trustees of the Mellish family, and held since 1909 by the Rev. Arthur Thomas Surman Talbot M.A. of Pembroke College, Cambridge. The living was endowed by John Harper esq. and the church was rebuilt in 1438. There is a small iron mission church in the village seating about 120, a Congregational chapel with Sunday school at Rushall, and a Wesleyan chapel and Sunday school at Heath End; also a Wesleyan chapel and Sunday school at Daw End. Two almshouses were erected here in 1886, and endowed in 1907 by Miss Chavasse, in memory of her father and mother, the Rev. Horace Chavasse M.A. formerly vicar of this parish and Margaret [Colquhoun] his wife. There are ruins of Rushall Hall, an ancient mansion, which, during the wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, was strongly fortified, and in the Civil War was defended by a numerous garrison; the Castle or Court was erected by one of the Harpers, an old family resident here in the time of Edward III.; the arms of the founder Le Harpeur: "argent, a lion rampant within a bordure engrailed sable," appear on an ornamental escutcheon over the key-stone of the arched gateway near to the church; the walls are of rough limestone and of immense strength, The Harpers, descended from a family which had held Rushall since the Saxon period, were the ancestors of the Leighs, who transmitted the estate by marriage to the Mellish family, and these to the families of Buchanan and Mellish, who now hold it: the Hall, with the ruins, forms a picturesque object from the adjoining highway, and a portion of the ancient moat may be clearly traced: two cannon balls, relics of the Civil War, are preserved, and others have been found on Ryecroft Hill, about three-quarters of a mile hence. The inhabitants are engaged in mining and husbandry. The Mellish Trustees are lords of the manor and the principal landowners. The soil is principally clay; subsoil, coal and limestone. The chief crops are wheat, oats and beans. The area is 1,230 acres, inclusive. of 16 of water; the population of the civil parish in 1921 was 3,256 and of the ecclesiastical parish, St. Michael, 9,557. DAW END is a hamlet, three-quarters of a mile south-east. There are extensive lime works of the East Anglian Cement Co., Limited. HEATH END, three-quarters of a mile north, is mostly in Pelsall parish, and Ryecroft, which is given under Walsall, half a mile east.

Frank Thomas Taylor was the licensee of The Stores when this photograph was taken in 1960. The shop, which sold a combination of wines, spirits, beer and groceries. However, it would seem that a condition of the lease was that only the products of Atkinson's Brewery Ltd. would occupy the window display area. The casual passer-by would be hard pressed to recognise a former off-licence today but the property at No.183 Daw End Lane still stands in the 21st century and is now a private house. On the other side of the gap is the Rushall Takeaway for Chinese Food. The licence for this off-licence was granted in September 1898. Despite opposition from the licensees of the Miners' Arms and George and Dragon, the magistrates granted the licence to Emmanuel Meeke. His solicitor had argued that "the house was situated in a lane which in wet weather was very wet and muddy. There were a number of houses near the shop, and families requiring drink for their meals had to send out a considerable distance for it." He added that "even supposing the locality were properly provided with indoor licences, an off-licence was required to supply the daily wants of the people at home."