Place:Allstonefield, Staffordshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

NOTE: the two alternate spellings used by FamilySearch. Alstonfield, Allstonfield, Alstonefield and Allstonefield will all redirect here. The principal way of spelling the parish has not been determined.

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

"ALLSTONEFIELD, or Allstonfield, a village, a township, and a parish on the NE border of Staffordshire, contiguous to Derbyshire. The village stands on the river Dove, 8 miles NNW of Ashborne [railway] station; and has a post office under Ashborne. The township contains also the hamlet of Stanshope and a workhouse; and is in the [registration] district of Ashborne. Acres: 2,700. Real property: £4,488. Population: 651. Houses: 140.

"The parish contains also the townships of Heathylee, Quarnford, Hollinsclough, Longnor, Fairfieldhead, Warslow, and Elkstone, in the [registration] district of Leek. Acres: 21,860. Real property: £19,824. Population: 4,117. Houses: 917. The property is divided among a few. Coal, lead ore, and copper are worked. Isaac Walton indulged his angling propensities here, with his friend Cotton of Beresford Hall. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield. Value: £300. Patron: Sir John Crewe, Bart. The church is a beautiful structure in early English style, with a pinnacled tower. The [perpetual] curacies of Quarnford, Longnor, Warslow, and Elkstone are separate benefices. Charities, £54.

From 1894 until 1934 Allstonefield was in the Mayfield Rural District and from 1934 until 1974 in the Leek Rural District. It is now part of Staffordshire Moorlands municipal district.

As stated by Wilson's Gazetteer Allstonefield was an ancient parish and as such included the townships of Heathylee, Quarnford, Hollinsclough, Longnor, and Fawfieldhead (change of spelling since 1870). These townships became civil parishes in 1866--this was the intial year for civil parishes all over the country. Warslow and Elkstone were separate townships within Allstonefield, but joined as the one civil parish of Warslow and Elkstones in 1866.

Research Tips

• Article on the ancient parish of Allstonefield and Article on the village of Allstonefield from The Victoria County History of Staffordshire as provided by the website British History Online. The article covers the manor (a great deal on the early generations), economic history (agriculture, mill, trade and industry), local government, churches including non-conformists, education and charities for the poor. There is much more here than in Wilson's Gazetteer.