HINTS, a parish in the southern division of the
hundred of OFFLOW, county of STAFFORD, 4 miles
(W. by S.) from Tamworth, containing 250 inhabitants.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the peculiar jurisdiction
of the Prebendal court of Hansacre and Armitage,
endowed with £5 per annum and £ 100 private benefaction,
and £400 royal bounty, and in the patronage of
the Prebendary of Handsacre in the Cathedral Church
of Lichfield. The church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew,
is a handsome modern structure in the Grecian style of
architecture. There is a small school founded and supported
by the Floyer family. Camwell, a hamlet in this
parish, was formerly distinguished for a priory, founded
by Gever Riddell, in 1142, for Benedictine monks,
which was one of those assigned to Cardinal Wolsey,
towards the erection and endowment of his intended
colleges. On Hints common, in 1792, a pig of lead was
discovered, twenty-two inches and a half long, and
weighing one hundred and fifty pounds, on which was
inscribed, in has relief, " IMP. VESP. VII. T. IMP. V.
COS.:" it was in high preservation, and is supposed to
have been imbedded where it was found, in the year
seventy-six.