AUDLEY, a parish in the northern division of the
hundred of PIREHILL, county of STAFFORD, comprising
the chapelry of Talk o' th' Hill, the townships of Audley,
Bignall-End, Eardley-End, Knowl-End, and Park-
End, and the liberty of Halmer-End, and containing
2940 inhabitants, of which number, 583 are in the
township of Audley, 5 miles (N.W.) from Newcastle
under Line. The living is a discharged vicarage, with
the perpetual curacy of Talk o' th' Hill annexed, in the
archdeaconry of Stafford, and diocese of Lichfield and
Coventry, rated in the king's books at £6.13.4., and
in the patronage of G. Toilet, Esq. The church, dedicated
to St. James, is an ancient edifice having a tower
crowned with pinnacles. Near the village is a place of
worship for Wesleyan Methodists. This parish abounds
in mines of excellent coal and iron-stone: the Grand
Trunk canal crosses its eastern extremity, where it
passes under the Horncastle tunnel, one thousand eight
hundred and eighty-eight yards in extent. A free grammar
school, in which about fifty children are educated,
was founded in 1622 by Edward Vernon; it has an
annual endowment amounting to £125. 18. Another
school, for teaching writing and arithmetic, is endowed
with £2 per annum. On the summit of a steep rock,
near the western boundary of the parish, are the remains
of Heyley Castle, built by the barons of Audley;
and near the village are vestiges of an ancient intrenchment.
Audley gives the title of baron to the family
of Touchet.