Place:Hopton and Coton, Staffordshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Hopton and Coton from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"HOPTON AND COTON, a township in St. Mary and St. Chad parish, Staffordshire; 2½ miles NE of Stafford. Real property: £5,086. Population in 1851: 468, in 1861: 1,174. Houses, 93. The increase of population arose from the enlargement of the county lunatic asylum, and the erection of the Coton Hill lunatic asylum; and, at the census of 1861, these institutions had respectively 540 and 162 inmates. Hopton Heath here, now enclosed, was the scene of a severe action, in 1643, between the royalists, under the Earl of Northampton, and the parliamentarians, under Sir John Gell and Sir William Brereton."

Stafford St. Mary and Stafford St. Chad were by 1871 one united parish covering the whole of the town of Stafford. Stafford St. Mary stretched further out into the countryside and included a number of chapelries and townships to the north and northeast of the town itself. Officially Hopton and Coton became a separate civil parish in 1866.

Wikipedia has an article on the village of Hopton which refers to the whole parish of Hopton and Coton.

Hopton is on the northeastern outskirts of the county town of Stafford and is just 3.2 miles (5.1 km) from the town centre. The village is 18.1 miles (29.1 km) south of Stoke-on-Trent. Coton was not found on any modern map--even Google Earth, but Coton-hill Farm was on a 19th century map (Ordnance Survey First Series) in A Vision of Britain through Time. It is to the southwest of Hopton on the edge of Stafford.

The nearest railway station is 3.3 miles (5.3 km) in Stafford. The village is situated a short distance east of the B5066 road. The nearest main road is the A513 which passes the village 1.1 miles (1.8 km) to the west.

The 2011 census recorded a population for the parish of Hopton and Coton of 1,615 in 301 households. The parish comes under the Stafford Non-Metropolitan District or Borough. Between 1894 and 1974 it was part of Stafford Rural District.

Wikipedia has a longer description of the Battle of Hopton Heath.

NOTE: There are two other hamlets named Coton to the west of Stafford. One is in Gnosall parish, several miles to the west of Stafford, and has been redirected to Gnosall. The other is named Coton Clanford and is in Seighford parish.

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.

• Ordnance Survey Maps of England and Wales: Staffordshire 1931 illustrates the parish boundaries of Staffordshire when rural districts were still in existence and before the West Midlands came into being. The map blows up to show all the parishes and many of the small villages and hamlets. Maps in this series are now downloadable for personal use. Between 1894 and 1934 a number of administrative changes to boundaries occurred and therefore The Staffordshire Ordnance Survey Map of 1900 is also useful.
• British History Online has a collection of local maps from the Ordnance Survey 1883-1893. Rural areas are included, but these may be especially useful for investigation the suburbs of large towns.
• The Victoria County History of Staffordshire has six volumes available through British History Online. Some Notes on British Medieval Genealogy is a website listing all the volumes of the Victoria County History of Staffordshire including those not yet online, together with the contents of each including the places covered.
• Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service announced in August 2015 that nearly all their parish registers are now online with Findmypast. Staffordshire Archives has three branches:

• Staffordshire Record Office, Eastgate Street, Stafford ST16 2LZ (phone and email contact details, opening hours, etc.)
• Stoke on Trent City Archives, City Central Library, Bethesda Street, Hanley, Stoke on Trent ST1 3RS (phone and email contact details, opening hours, etc.)
• Lichfield Record Office, The Friary, Lichfield WS13 6QG (phone and email contact details, opening hours, etc.)

• 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.