Weston was a forest clearing on the western boundary of the Chartley Estate. The original settlement was fertile, well drained land with a good water supply well above the flood plain of the River Trent. The modern estate roads of Outwoods Close and Wellyards Close are on this land. One of the great fields is still recognisable [this written many years ago], "The Wadden" where wood was grown.
Through this small settlement went the London - Lichfield - Chester and Shrewsbury - Stafford - Derby roads [now the A51 and A518], joining for a short distance on the present Old Road, with the "Woolpack Inn" at one end. The Stafford road originally forded the Trent. After a flood washed away a bridge in the late 18th Century, it was replaced by an excellent example of a single arch stone bridge in the 19th century.
Weston is an ancient parish, formerly of greater area than it is today. Except for a small area owned by the Spencer family and the church lands of Saint Thomas Priory, Baswich and its lay successors it was part of the great Ferrers Estate of Chartley until its sale in 1904. The Shirleys, Earls Ferrers, are remembered by the naming of Ferrers Road and the hamlet of Shirleywich, the Spencers by Spencer Close and the Priory of St. Thomas in "Abbeylands."
The Parish Church of St. Andrews was much restored by Scott in the 1860s and by Butterfield in the 1870s, when Norman work was found. The Tower of the early 13th Century is one of the finest examples in the county. It only holds two bells, "Ave Maria" of 1402 and "Ann Shaw" of 1962. "Katerina" of 1500 lies cracked upon the floor. There is a silver communion paten of the early 15th Century. The Parish registers date from 1581 [all but the current one in the Staffordshire Record Office].
Some of the old buildings remain: The present thatched "Manor House" dates from the 16th Century in origin and has been a farm building. It was in use from the mid 19th Century as the national School and school keeper's cottage, then as a Wesleyan Methodist meeting house until the present Methodist Church was built at the start of the 20th Century.
The Old Vicarage opposite the Church dates from the 16th Century and was the first of four vicarages all in a row on the "new" Stafford Road.
A typical 1870 school building [on Stafford Road] was converted into a house. [The school is commemorated in the name of Old School Close.] In Old Road, is "The Wellyards" with its Victorian boat chandler's front but with a 16th Century cottage behind. It was the home of Ann Shaw, a village benefactress. Adjacent is the Bull Ring and "The Cedars" of 17th Century origin as are some cottages on The Green, Green Road and Stafford Road. These were the houses and workplaces of village tradespeople.
All that are left of Brindley's Trent and Mersey Canal of 1777 are a hump back bridge in Boat lane, Weston Lock and the canal itself. The wharves and warehouses for the Saltworks at Shirleywich and at Salt Works lane, the Glue works and the stone mason's yard are all gone. The site of Weston Saltworks is now a light industrial estate. [The branch of the canal can still be seen.]
The former "Ferrers Arms" and toll house at Shirleywich is now a private house between the London Chester road and the canal.
Near the new Stafford Road [the present A518] crossing of the canal were the "Nag's Head" whose stables remain, the "Boat Inn" which is now a house and the "Saracen's Head," still an inn. The latter commemorates the grant of the crest of a "Saracen's Head" to Richard Lionheart during the Third Crusade. In the 1980s, the inn sign was worth a second look - the face of the Crusader was that of the then Landlord!
In 1849 the "Old Knotty" [North Staffordshire Railway] came through Weston en route from Colwich to Stone and onto Stoke. Of the old station, signal box and level crossing nothing now remains: the old goods yard is now a haulage depot and caravan park, [and the old goods shed was burnt to the ground in a spectacular fire in the 1970s].
The "Clog and Knocker" [Stafford and Uttoxeter, later Great Northern Railway] of 1867 has disappeared with very little trace. Its sandstone embankment was taken to widen the A51 road bridge over the London - Manchester line [on the site of the old level crossing]. The only memory of the once notorious "Black Bridge" [over the A51] is Bridge House. Weston's modern Village hall occupies the site of the former "C & K" station, house and yard. [It is remarkable that for many years Weston had two stations, one called Ingestre and Weston, and the other Weston & Ingestre.]
[On the site the Glebelands development was until the 1990s a dairy served by the railway: in its later use as a factory, it still had the platform, but no tracks. There was a bridge over the canal that until Meadowbank Avenue was built, served to keep cattle driven from Outwoods farm to the fields beside the Trent off the Green and the roads. The cattle are also no more.]
The Village Green was waste of the Manor and was given to the Parish Council by the Earl Ferrers, who was a Government whip in the House of Lords. Since it was acquired, the Parish Council has added land enough to provide a football pitch for Weston United Football Club. It has been drained, levelled and planted with a variety of trees.
Weston is proud to have been one of Staffordshire's Best Kept Villages over many years [see the certificates in the Village Hall]. It won the first competition in 1956 and has won a dozen times or more since.
Appropriately, the modern buildings of St. Andrew's School are in Ferrers Road. The Earl of 1870 gave the land for the school in that year.
Every Christmas since 1968 the schoolchildren have performed the Guizer's play learned from old scholars.
Today Weston shares its Priest-in-Charge with three other parishes, Gayton, Fradswell and Milwich. Its school children come from Sandon, Burston, Salt, Enson, Hopton Coton and Gayton: its Parish Council one of the first in 1894, is now that of Weston-with Gayton-with Fradswell.
[Weston has seen the changes:
one railway has come and gone:
Forest clearing to housing estates:
Old Knotty to Inner City (passing through non stop)
Carts to juggernauts
Working barges to pleasure boats
Salt Works to scaffolding factory to housing
Vicars to Priests in charge]
Weston Village, ever old, ever new,
We look to the future in you.
This is intended to be an introduction to more detailed information
later.
If you would like to contribute, comment or correct, please
E-mail Donald Massey
© John Burke 1975
© Donald Massey 2002