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Population of
Mavesyn Ridware
Census returns show that for 1801 there was
a population of 486 in the Parish of Mavesyn
Ridware; in 1831 there were 576 people; and
this had fallen to 523 in 1841. Forty years
after Stebbings Shaw’s survey, White’s
(trade) Directory of Staffordshire (1834)
lists the occupations of the following
inhabitants:
‘Farmers: George Booth,
Walter Cope, Edward Matthews, William
Saunders, Job Saunders, Christopher Sanders,
and Jas Webb at Hill Ridware; Isaac Bevons,
Thomas Bolton, W Goodwin, Thomas Rowley,
Edward Strongitharm and Elizabeth Moxon in
Blithbury; Bartholomew Gough at Cawarden
Springs; John Handy, Thomas Jackson and
William Taylor at Mavesyn Ridware.’
In Hill Ridware, Hugo Malvesyin Esq lived at
the Upper House and the following tradesmen
are listed:
‘Thomas Beck, shoemaker; Job
Benton, joiner; Ann Brindley, shopkeeper;
Richard Brindley, blacksmith; Thomas
Bromsgrove, butcher and victualler at the
Talbot, Upper House; Thomas Chamberlain,
wheelwright; Edward Cope, victualler and
shopkeeper at the Royal Oak; James Felkin,
tailor; William Handy, blacksmith and beer
house proprietor; Edward Longhurst, school
master; Rev Marmaduke Matthews; Edward
Newman, shopkeeper; Thomas Ordish,
shoemaker; Richard Peters, rope and net
maker; and Thomas Smith, maltster.’
From the tithe map plots of the same time,
we know that Job Benton lived in what is now
Briar Cottage and that Thomas Smith was his
neighbour in what is now The Maltings in
Rake End. Samuel Robinson is listed as a
wheelwright living at Cawarden Springs.
Sampson Robinson is listed as plumber,
glazier and victualler at the Swan in
Blithbury and John Haywood as the victualler
at the Bull’s Head.
White’s Directory of 1851 states:
‘The old manor house, with a
large estate and fishery of the Trent, have
belonged to the Chadwick family since the
year 1615, and are now possessed by H M
Chadwick Esq who formerly resided at Hill
Ridware, in a modern brick mansion, called
the Upper House, seated on an eminence one
mile north of the church and now occupied by
Captain Pearson. Hill Ridware Cottage is the
pleasant seat of W Harwood Esq.’
The evidence in these directories indicate
that the Royal Oak in Hill Ridware seems to
have been in continuous use from 1818, the
earliest trade directory available. The
earliest landlord listed was T Chapman but
it later came into the possession of the
Cope family.
The Talbot is recorded in both 1818 and 1834
under the name of Thomas Bromsgrove, but
there is no mention in later directories.
The Chadwick Arms first appears in the Trade
Directory of 1854 under the landlordship of
S. Miles. The mystery is: why isn’t it
listed before 1854, as the building dates
from 1686? A beer house is recorded in the
Directory of 1834 under the name of William
Handy. Could the Chadwick Arms have been the
Talbot, re-named in honour of the local
land-owning family? The hunting dog is a
prominent feature of its sign. Or, is it the
successor to William Handy’s beer house?
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