Spernall

Spernall is a remote village 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Alcester in the Parish of Oldberrow, Morton Bagot, and Spernall, in the Stratford on Avon District of Warwickshire, England. In 2001 it had a population of 153. It is situated on the banks of the small River Arrow, the name meaning Spera's border (of his property).[1] Early forms of the name are Spernore.[2] and Spernoure in the 1327 Subsidy Roll.[3] The village consists only of the church and rectory and a few scattered farms and cottages. At some time between 1195 and 1361 the parish was largely depopulated by pestilence, so that many of the villein tenements, which had hitherto accounted for almost the whole population, came into the hands of freemen. This may well refer to the Black Death; the priest at Spernall, Nicholas atte Yate, died in 1349 and there was another institution in 1351.[4]

Spernall

St Leonard's Church
Spernall
Location within Warwickshire
Population153 (2001 Census)
OS grid referenceSP086621
• London113 miles
Civil parish
  • Spernall
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townSTUDLEY
Postcode districtB80
Dialling code01527
PoliceWarwickshire
FireWarwickshire
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament
  • Stratford-on-Avon

In the 17th century the population seems to have mainly consisted of substantial farmers, for in 1625 it is described as a place with 'few or no poor at all in it and many wealthy inhabitants', and the Hearth Tax returns (1662–74) show the high average of about 2.5 hearths per house.[5] By 1696, there were only two yeomen with an estate of £10 a year or more.[6] It is now part of the parish of Morton Bagot, Oldberrow and Spernall which in 2001 had a population of 153.

History

The Domesday Book of 1086 records it as being part of the Land of William Bonvallett, stating Hugh holds 2 hides at Spernall from William. Land for 4 ploughs. In lordship 1; 4 villagers and 7 smallholders with 3 ploughs. A mill at 4s and 7 sticks of eels; meadow, 8 acres (32,000 m2); woodland 3 furlongs long and 1 wide.[2]

Economy

Whilst mostly agricultural Spernall also contains a large water treatment works on the River Arrow. The Purity Brewing Co are located at The Brewery, Upper Spernall Farm, Off Spernal Lane, Great Alne, Warwickshire B49 6JF manufacturing their Pure Gold, Pure UBU and Mad Goose ales.[7] Also located in Spernall are Sherwoods a company specialising in sport optics, located at Greenhill Farm.[8]

Notable buildings

The Church of St Leonard is small stone building consisting of a chancel, rebuilt in 1844 when the church was restored, nave, south porch and a western bell turret containing one bell.[3] The church has been closed since 1972, and is now owned by the Ancient Monuments Society[9] and tenanted.

The survey of the clergy by the puritans in 1586 described the Rector Humphrey Style thus; "Humfrie Stile 'parson dumbe and unlearned a common alehousehaunter and of suspected life : Value xx markes by the yeare".[10]

Governance

Spernall is part of the Studley with Mappleborough Green ward of Stratford on Avon District Council and represented by Councillor Justin Kerridge, Conservative.[11] Nationally it is part of Stratford-on-Avon constituency, whose current Member of Parliament following the 2015 election is Nadhim Zahawi of the Conservative Party. Prior to Brexit in 2020 it was part of the West Midlands electoral region of the European Parliament.

References
  1. Warwickshire place names, W.H.Duignan 1912
  2. Domesday Book for Warwickshire, Phillimore edited by John Morris ISBN 0-85033-141-2
  3. Warwickshire People and Places, John Burman, 1936
  4. The Antiquities of Warwickshire, William Dugdale, 1656
  5. A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 3: Barlichway hundred (1945)
  6. Jurors' Lists, ref: QS76, Warwickshire County Record Office
  7. Purity Brewing Co web site Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  8. sherwoods Web site
  9. "Spernall". Friends of Friendless Churches. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  10. Survei of the Ministrie in Warwickshier, 1586

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