Penkridge, Staffordshire

Description
Penkridge, a small town, a township, and a parish in Staffordshire. The town stands on the river Penk and the Worcestershire and Staffordshire Canal, 2 1/2 miles N of Watling Street and 6 S of Stafford; dates from ancient times ; is a seat of petty sessions; had formerly a weekly market; and has now a post, money order, and telegraph office under Stafford, a station on the L. & N.W.R., a bank, and a reading-room. Cattle sales are held on alternate Mondays, and fairs on 30 April, 2 Sept., and 10 Oct. The township includes the town. Acreage, 10,666 of land and 117 of water; population, 2383. The parish contains also the townships of Coppenhall, Dunston, and Stretton. Acreage, 14,753; population of the civil parish, 2973; of the ecclesiastical, 2084. Coppenhall, Dunston, and Stretton form separate ecclesiastical parishes. Pillaton Hall was for centuries the seat of the Littleton family, and has attached an ancient chapel, which was restored in 1888. There are stone quarries in the neighbourhood. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; gross value, £514 with residence. Patron, Lord Hatherton. The church is chiefly Perpendicular; was made collegiate by King John for thirteen prebendaries, and was given to the Archbishop of Dublin. It was restored in 1883 and 1888, and consists of a long clerestoried chancel with aisles, clerestoried nave, aisles, S porch with parvise, and an embattled tower. It has a decorated E window, and contains monuments of the Littleton family. There are Wesleyan and Plymouth Brethren chapels, and a parish council.