Whittington, Shropshire Family History Guide

Whittington is an Ancient Parish in the county of Shropshire. Halston, formerly extra parochial, is situated 3 ½ miles north-east of Oswestry, and is about 700 acres in extent. It now lies in the parish of Whittington

Other places in the parish include: Burghill, Daywall, Daywell, Ebnall, Fernhill, Welsh Frankton, Halston, Hengoed, Henlle, Hindford, Old Marton, and Frankton.

Parish church: St. John the Baptist

Parish registers begin: 1591; Separate registers exist for Halston: 1686

Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

Whittington

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

WHITTINGTON (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the hundred of Oswestry, N. division of Salop, 3 miles (E. N. E.) from Oswestry; containing 1919 inhabitants. Lloyd, in his Archæologia, imagines this place to have been celebrated, under the name Drêv Wen, or the White Town, by Llywarch Hen, a noble British bard, who flourished about the close of the 6th century. He also describes it as the spot where Condolanus, a British chieftain, was slain, in an attempt to expel some Irish invaders. According to the bards, it was subsequently the chief residence of Tudor Trevor. After the Conquest it was given to Roger, Earl of Shrewsbury; and on the defection of his son Earl Robert, and the confiscation of that nobleman’s immense estates, in the reign of Henry I., the castle and barony were granted to the Peverells, from whom they passed to the illustrious race of Fitz-warine, who were lords of the place for nearly 400 years. The castle was a border fortress, and the neighbourhood the frequent scene of battle between the lords retainers and the Welsh; the remains consist of one tower, with traces of four others, and the exterior gateway, which is inhabited by a farmer.

The parish comprises by measurement 8158 acres. The soil is various, in some districts a strong clay, in others a loose gravel, and in parts sand and peat-moss. The village is pleasantly situated near the Ellesmere canal, on the road from Shrewsbury to Holyhead; and is watered by a brook which, rising in a neighbouring mountain, and flowing underground for about a mile, re-appears near the castle, and runs through the village into the river Perry, which falls into the Severn near Shrewsbury. The grant of a weekly market and an annual fair, was obtained by Fulk Fitz-warine, lord of the manor in the reign of Henry II.; both have been long discontinued. A court leet and baron is annually held in a modern portion of the castle, built a few years ago by William Lloyd, Esq., lord of the manor. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £25. 4. 2., and in the gift of the Lloyd family: certain impropriate tithes have been commuted for £285, and the incumbent’s for £1041. 8.; the glebe comprises 58 acres. The church was originally built in the reign of Henry II., by Fulk Fitz-warine; the tower was rebuilt in 1740, the chancel in 1785, and the nave and other parts in 1806: the structure is of red brick. There is a chapel at Frankton, about three miles from the village; and the Brownists and Bryanites have places of worship. Sir Richard Whittington, mayor of London, is by some supposed to have been a native of the parish.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Daywell

Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales Circa 1870

Daywell, a township in Whittington parish, Salop; 2 miles NE of Oswestry. Pop., 328.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Gregory Shropshire Gazetteer 1824

Daywell. A township in the parish of Whittington, and in the upper division of the hundred of Oswestry. 3 miles north of Oswestry.