IDIRECTORY.J CRO.X.TON. . 145 • ((M.TTON lis a. tolWili!!bip and small scattered village on Letters through Burton-upon-Trent arrive at 8 a.m. The rthe ::rreat, 6~ miles south from Burton-upon-Trent, and nearest money order office is at '\Valton-on-'frent &; 1 Ii ·s~west bom .Qroxall station, in the Burton-upon­ telegraph office at Walton. Letter bag called for at . Tre:nt nnion and panish (}f . Catton township bad 5-30 • a. chapel of its own, ser'Ved by the vicars of Croxall from •the time most prdbably ·of the Norman Conqnest, till OAKLEY is a township of the parish of Croxall. An , about 1750 a. d. when it was destroyed; portions of the iron bridge of three arches, on stone abutments, called ·fabric, a structure of La.ter Perpendicular date, are still Chetwynd Bridge, built in r824, crosses the river Tame. in existence in the Hall grounds, as well as a font, part on the high road from Alrewas, about a mile south-east • of a window &c. The ebapel, which stands near the Hall, of the and Burton road. Howard Francis Paget was built as a &~~ of ease to the parish church, and esq. J.P. of Elford, and Henry Anson-Horton esq. of replaces an ancient Norman structure. There are 120 Catton Hall, are the principal landowners. The soil is sittings. Catton Hall is a noble mansion of brick, plea- a rich loam; subsoil. various. The chief crops are wheat. . santly l'iitua.ted in a 'fine park of 92 acres. and is the seat oats, barley and turnips, with a large portion of rich of ":Henry Anson-Horton esq. J.P. lord of the manor and meadow land. rprincipal landowner. The. area is 1,099 acres; rateable Letters through Lichfield arrive at q a.m. The nearest --value, £r,533; the populatwn of 190r was 96. money order.& telegraph office is at Walton. Emery William, joiner Novell William .Tames, head gardener OROXALL. Wylie Andrew, farmer to Hy.Anson-Horton esq. Catton hall :·Ma_pplebech Edward, Croxall hall Stevenson Elizabeth (Mrs.), farmer, \Nol't8ll.Rev_ Wm. Thomas, Vicarage CATTON. Donkill pitts .Beech Frank, farmer, Broadfields (l~t- Anson-Horton Henry J.P. Catton hall ters should be addressed , COMMERCIAL. OAKLEY. Tamwol"'th) Norbury Alfred, fanner COMMERCIAL. ~Beech John, farmer Norbury J ames, farmer, Mansditch Hoo1ey Alfred, fatmer "CBOXDEN is a parish and pleasant village, in a narrow mentary on the Bible, and Richard de Schepeshead, r3tll 'Llut fertile valley, watered by a small rivulet, a tributary to abbot, compiled a curious diary now in the British

the river Dove, 2J miles west from Rocester station, 2 Museum: various members of the Verdon familv• lie .south from Alton station, both on the North StaffordshirE' here: the heart of King John is also said to have been ll'ailway, and 6 north-by-west from Uttoxeter, in the Leek interred here, his body in Worcester Cathedral, and his !division of the county, South Totmonslow hundred Ut­ bowels at Croxton in Leicestershire: a crucifix, found ~~ter union and petty sessional division, Cheadle county among the ruins, has been repaired by Mr. CarringtOJl : -.court district, rural deanery of Uttoxeter, archdeaconry a carved oak panel has also been found, and there is .of Stoke-on-fiEmt 1md diocese of Lichfield. A detached an ancient effigy of a knight cross-legged, possibly repre­ yportion of this parish, amounting w about 172 acres, was s6llting one of the De Verdons. Charities :-The poor have l>Bdded to.- Oaltan.in 118&6. The chureh of St. Giles, rebuilt £I yearly arising from land at Oalton green left by the :.in x885 near the site of the earlier church, at a cost of Rev. John .Ashton, a former vicar, Oct. 9th, 1722; the ~3,ooo,.entirely defrayed by the Ea.rl of Macclesfield, is a interest on £20 left by the Rev. William Higton, many ,plain edifice of red stone in the Early Deoorated style, con- years vicar here, and on £•rg 19s. left by Mrs. Higton, to b~ sisting of_chancel, nave, south vestry, south porch and a given in bread yearly on Christmas day, as well as the "Western tlll'ret .containing one bell: there is a handsome interest on £so left in 1886 by the late Rev. Edward "Teredos ana an oak lectern, the gift in r8go of the Whieldon M.A. to be distributed in coal on St. Thomas's parishioners, in memory of the Rev. Edward Whieldon day. The Earl of Macclesfield is lord of the manor and iM:.A. vicar 1863-&6: new lamps were presented in 18gr by sole landowner. The soil is clay; subsoil, rock and clay. Mr. Thomas W()od: and in r885· a. stained window was The land is chiefly in pasture for dairy produce. The area inserted on the south side by the Oarrington family: the is 2,427a. tr. r6p. of land and 7 of water; rateable value, -rchurch will seat So persons. The register dates from the £2,567; the population in 1901 was r87. :year 1648. The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value Great Gate (or Greet Yate) is a hamlet half a mile north­ £92, irrelnding 18 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Earl west from the church at Croxden, and consists of a few of Maccles£eld, and held since 1888 by the Rev. Edward farms, some cottages and a blacksmith's shop. I.Ph.ili,ps M.A. of St. John's College, Oxford, who is also W ottons, on the Rocester road, I mile south-east from rector oi Checkley-with-Hollington, & rural dean of Croxden, comprises two farm houses and a labourer's ~Uttoxeter, and resides at the latter place. Here are the -venerable and extensive ruins of the Oluniac .Abbey of cottage. 'St. Mary, founded by Bertram de Verdon in ro88: it Letters fol' Croxden & '\Vottons, through Stoke, arrive :was translated from Ohotes, or Chotene, in n76, and about 9 a. m. & 6 p.m. & dispatched about the same time .colonised from L'Aulnay: at its dissolution there were 15 Letters received through Stoke via Tean for Great Gate •monks: the remains, which date from the 13th century, arrive at about 9 a.m. Alton is the nearest money :include the -west front, now about 40 feet in height, with order & telegraph office, 2 miles distant -the remains of a, magnificent Gothic arch and the walls of Letter Box, Great Gate, cleared at 4.50 p.m. week days ,the south aisle and south transept : on the east side of the only .garth are the cloister aumbry, the sacristy, portions of Public Elementary School, Great Gate (mixed), built, •.the chapter house, the slype or passage to the infirmary, with residence for mistress attached, in r853 and en· -the common house and gong; on the north-east a portion larged in 1894, for go children; average attendance, 42; of the abbot's lodge, on the south the refectory, and the school has an endowment of £5 yearly, bequeathed •" Billesden," the guest house of the qth century, west ot by Lord Pierrepoint, & £6 yearly, being the interest on ·the garth: the infirmary, dating from 1268-74• formed a £zoo left in 1886 by the late Rev. Edward Whieldon -detached building on the south-east: the church measured M. A ~.2oo ft. by 57 ft.: Thomas, the first abbot, wrote a corn- Sexton, Thomas .Arnold. Green Joseph, farmer, Common Wilson William, farmer, Nothills farm ~OXDEN. *Hall John William, farmer,Pointhorne Yentlley William, farmer, Brook ·{Marked thus * receive their letter~ Mace Isaac. fanner, '\Vinnoth dale through Rocester S.O.) Melior Herbert, farmer, Winnoth dale GREAT GATE. Morley Edward, cowkeeper, Muddale Arnold Thomas, farmer COMMERCIAL. Prince James (Mrs.), Green Man P.H. Arnold William, farmer & woodman t() .Alien .Arthur, farmer, Light oab Brown bank the Earl of 1\o'l:acclesfield '*Bourne John Fowler, farmer lliley Eli>1ha, farmer Bottomer ·~villiam, farmer "*Critchelow George, farmer, Wooton Shuffiebotham John, farmer Cotton Robert, farmer "*Croxden Dairy Association (Jn.Gould, Swetnam James, farmer, Common Gent Prances (Mrs.),farmer,Wood fm manager); milk &; cheese supplied Webberley Geo. farmer, Winnoth dale Gent Francis, farmer to all parts *Wood Thos. farmer & miller (water), Oaks John, farmer '"Ea ton Elizh. (Mrs.), farmer,Brown bnk Croxden abbey W alters Brothers, blacksmiths

~ROXTON is a large township, which gives its name to sessional division of Eccleshall, Stone union and county ·<>ne of the parishes formed under Lord Blandford's Act court district, rural deanery of Eccleshall, archdeaconry (1856), 4 miles north-west from Eccleshall and 4 south­ of Stoke-on-Trent and diocese of Lichfield. The parish ·west from Standon Bridge station on the Stafford and comprehends what was formerly called the Woodland Crewe section of the London and North Western railway; Quarter of the large parish of Eccleshall, which derived ~t is in the ~orth Western division of the county, petty its name from the Bishop's Woods, otherwise known as STAFF'~. 10