CANNOCK, a parish in the eastern division of the
hundred of CUTTLESTONE, county of STAFFORD, comprising
the townships of Cannock, Cannock-Wood,
Cheslyn-Hay, Hednesford with Leacroft, Huntington,
and Great Wyrley, and containing 2780 inhabitants, of
which number, 766 are in the township of Cannock,
4 miles (S.'E. by E.) from Penkridge. The living,
which is remarkable for having been the first preferment
of the famous Dr. SachevereB, is a perpetual-, curacy,
in the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage of the Dean
and Chapter of Lichfield, endowed with £ 15 per annum
and £ 200 private benefaction, £200 royal bounty; and-
£1300 parliamentary grant. The church is dedicatedto
St. Luke. There are places of worship for _Inde-:
pendents and Wesleyan Methodists. The village is
supplied with water by means of a conduit and leadenpipes
from Leacroft, about a mile distant, constructed
by Bishop Hough. There are manufactories.for edgedtools
at Church-bridge and Wedges Mill, which afford
employment to about two hundred persons; the coal
used is supplied from the immediate neighbourhood,,
as well as the iron-ore called Cannock-storie, or Cark,
A court 'leet and a court baron are held annually, at
which the constable and headborough, and.the respec-;
tive constables of the several townships, are .chosen by
juries j and special courts are called, when., required,
for the transfer of copyholds. Fairs are held on May 8th,.
August 24th, and October 6th, principally for cattle and
sheep. A school, founded by John Wood, for the free,
education of children was, in 1727* eiifeoffed with
land by Thomas Wood, the income-of which is £8 per
annum; and John Biddulph, Esq. gave a meadow and
garden for the use of the schoolmaster; there are thirty
scholars, but none are taught free at present.; In 1725,
Mrs. M. Chapman bequeathed a small sum for the education
of three or four children. A National school has
also been recently erected at the expense of Mrs'. Wai-,
house. This place in ancient times was a forest or chase
belonging to the Mercian kings. Castle Ring, situated
on the summit of Castle Hill, and supposed to have been
a British encampment, is nearly a circular area of eight
or ten acres, surrounded by a double trench occupying
three or four acres more, exhibiting traces at its northern
and southern entrances of various advanced works.
Near it are the remains of a moat, enclosing an oblong
square of about three acres, named the Old Nunnery,
where a Cistercian jabbey was founded in the reign of
Stephen, which was shortly after removed to Stoneleigh
in Warwickshire: a similar enclosure at a small distance
is called the Moat Bank.