MIDDLETON, a parish in the Tamworth division
of the hundred of HEMLINGFORD, county of WARWICK,
4 miles (S.S.W.) from Tamworth, containing 623 inhabitants.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry
of Coventry, and diocese of Lichfield and Coventry,
and in the patronage of Lord Middleton. The
church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, has portions
in the Norman and early English styles, and a tower of
later architecture. The Birmingham and Fazeley canal
passes through the parish. The several sums arising
from bequests by Robert Gorton, in 1640; Francis Willoughby,
in 1672; and the Dowager Lady Middleton, in
1782, are applied in teaching poor children, and providing
them with bibles. Middleton gives the title of
baron to the family of Willoughby.