Okeover, Staffordshire

Description
Okeover, a village and a parish in Staffordshire. The village stands on the river Dove at the boundary with Derbyshire, 2 1/2 miles NW of Ashborne. Post town, Ashborne. Acreage of parish, 863; population, 81. Okeover Hall is the seat of the Okeover family; was built on the site of a former mansion; contains Raphael's " Holy Family," which was hidden under a floor during the Civil Wars of Charles I.; and contains also paintings by Titian, Carlo Doici, Rubens, and Vandervelde. The property is said to have been in the possession of the Okeover family since Saxon times. The parish contains Hallsteds barrow and Arbour Close Roman camp. The living is a donative in the diocese of Lichfield; value, £40. The church is old and ivy-clad, and contains a triple-canopied brass of an Okeover of 1520, and other monuments to members of the family. It was restored by Sir Gilbert Scott, There are two almsbouses for clergymen's widows.