Place:Seighford, Staffordshire, England

Watchers
NameSeighford
TypeParish (ancient), Village, Civil parish
Coordinates52.8167°N 2.1833°W
Located inStaffordshire, England
See alsoSouth Pirehill Hundred, Staffordshire, Englandhundred of which the parish was a part
Stafford Rural, Staffordshire, Englandrural district of which it was part 1894-1974
Stafford (district), Staffordshire, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Family History Library Catalog


the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Seighford is a civil parish with a small village of the same name about 3 miles (5 km) west of Stafford in Staffordshire, England. The ford across a small stream is the origin of the village's toponym. The village has a red brick Church of England parish church named St Chad's and a 16th-century half-timbered (or black-and-white) Tudor mansion.

William White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire (1851) described the village:

"Seighford is a scattered village above a small brook which flows east from Latford pool to the River Sow. Its parish contains the hamlets of Aston, Doxey, and Derrington, from one to one and a half miles east, Coton Clanford, one mile south, and Great and Little Bridgeford, three and a half miles north-east of Stafford. It forms a highly cultivated district, containing 803 inhabitants, and 3,830 acre of land. Francis Eld, Esq, is lord of the manor, and owner of most of the soil. He resides at Seighford Hall, an ancient house with modern wings, on the west side of the village…the Parish Church, St Chad, was partly rebuilt of brick about 100 years ago, and contains many neat mural monuments. It has a brick tower, five bells and a clock ... there is a small Wesleyan Chapel at Little Bridgeford, built in 1850."

RAF Seighford was a Royal Air Force airfield that was opened in 1943 and closed in 1947. Remains of the control tower and some outbuildings survive. Part of the site is still used by small aircraft, particularly gliders, along with a small runway close to the village of Seighford.

St Chad's

The parish church of St Chad, was partly rebuilt of brick in about 1750. The parish register commences in 1561. The original registers for the period 1561-1879 (baptisms), 1561-1945 (marriages) and 1561-1925 (burials), together with banns for the period 1754-1812, are deposited at Staffordshire Record Office. Bishop's Transcripts for the period 1661-1850 are deposited at Lichfield Record Office. A transcript of the registers for the period 1561-1812 was published by Staffordshire Parish Register Society in 1978, and has been reprinted by the Birmingham and Midland SGH [Society for Genealogy and Heraldry).

end of Wikipedia contribution

The italicised hamlets have been redirected here. Inspection of a map leads to the comment that Great and Little Bridgeford are northwest of Stafford and directly north of the village of Seighford. Aston has been renamed Aston (Seighford) in order to differentiate from other places of the same name in Staffordshire. Coton Clanford is covered separately in WeRelate.

From 1894 until 1974 Seighford was a parish in the Stafford Rural District. Since 1974 it has been part of the Stafford District, or Borough of Stafford.

Details of the two registry offices are given in Research Tips below.

Staffordshire Research Tips

Reminder: Staffordshire today covers a much smaller area than formerly. The West Midlands now governs the southeastern corner of pre-1974 Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, although ceremonially still part of Staffordshire, is a unitary authority covering a large well-populated part of the north of the county.

  • The William Salt Library is the reference library in Stafford and is adjacent to the county archive offices. They have an online catalogue of their holdings.
  • GENUKI lists other large libraries in Staffordshire for Wolverhampton, Burton-upon-Trent, Dudley, Walsall, and Sandwell. The last three of these places are now in the West Midlands and may hold items of local interest which are no longer housed in Staffordshire libraries and archives. For example, The Walsall Archives Centre keeps local census records and local church records.
  • The Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry includes Staffordshire in its remit. It has branches in Stoke-on-Trent, Burton-on-Trent and Wolverhampton. Publications are available through the BMSGH shop. Payments accepted by debit and credit card and by Paypal. Other family history and local history societies situated around Staffordshire are listed by GENUKI.
  • The Midlands Historical Data project produces searchable facsimile copies of old local history books and directories of interest to genealogists. It specialises in the three counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire, working closely with libraries, archives and family history societies in the area. Digital images are made freely available to participating organisations to improve public access. Free search index on its web-site to all its books. In many cases payment will be required to see the extract.
  • GENUKI makes a great many suggestions as to other websites with worthwhile information about Staffordshire as well as leading to a collection of 19th century descriptions of each of the ecclesiastical parishes.
  • The FamilySearch Wiki provides a similar information service to GENUKI which may be more up-to-date. An index of parishes leads to notes and references for each parish. The auxiliary website English Jurisdictions can also be helpful.
  • A Vision of Britain through Time has
  1. organization charts of the hierarchies of parishes within hundreds, registration districts (1837 onwards) and the rural and urban districts of the 20th century. They have just announced (August 2015) a future expansion to their data including 2011 census population data and links to post-1974 county organization.
  2. excerpts from a gazetteer of circa 1870 outlining individual towns and parishes
  3. reviews of population through the time period 1800-1960
  • Brett Langston's list of Staffordshire Registration Districts and parishes within each registration district from 1837 to the present can indicate where to find details of civil registration entries since the process began in England.
  • More local sources can often be found by referring to "What Links Here" in the column on the left.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Seighford. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.