A SHORT HISTORY OF TETTENHALL

In 1602 the parish registers start. In 1604 the customs of the Manor of Tettenhall Regis were written down. The custom of the manor provided a kind of local law which would be applied in the manorial court. It is rare for complete custumals to survive but those for Tettenhall Regis do.

From 1601 the new Poor Law was duly applied in Tettenhall and in 1630, perhaps to reduce the burden on local taxpayers, Walter Wrotteseley and a number of other local landowners bought land in Albrighton, the income from which was to be used for the relief of the poor of Tettenhall.

During the Civil War Tettenhall lay uncomfortably between the Royalists at Dudley and the Parliamentarians at Stafford. The Wrottesleys, facing competing demands, claimed neutrality but were nevertheless heavily fined when Cromwell won the war. The village seems to have been divided over religious issues, reflected in a great agitation about who should be the vicar, the Puritan faction eventually getting their man installed.

A view of the old Wrottesley Hall, dating from 1653. It seems to be brick built, early Tudor, with a pallisaded moat around it.

With the restoration nearly everything went in to reverse, with an orthodox vicar being appointed and one of the many Walter Wrottesleys reviving the family fortunes by marrying a rich heiress. This enabled him to pull down Wrotteseley Hall and build anew.

A late nineteenth century view of Wrottesley Hall, probably almost unaltered, externally, from Walter's time.

Despite local tradition that the architect was Christopher Wren, it is more likely that it was Smith of Warwick. A village nucleus that lay near the hall was pulled own.


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