Colton House Bed & Breakfast

Colton

Colton is a rural small village of 800 inhabitants and 350 homes situated in Staffordshire on the edge of Cannock Chase on the B5013 Uttoxeter road. It is a very vibrant and active village involving both young and old. It has a village hall, parish church, primary school and two public houses.

The Staffordshire Way passes through the main street of Colton and many tourists walk this route every year.

The earliest evidence of habitation in the area is that of a skull found on Etchinghill, about two miles away dated to between 9,000 - 4,500 BC. While in Colton itself burnt mounds that date back to the Iron Age, which is about 1500 - 43 BC have been found. It is thought that they were made by one of the tribes who built a huge fortification at Castle Ring on Cannock Chase some three miles away. The skeletons of woolly rhino, wolves and reindeer were also found about five miles away.

In 43 BC - 407AD the Roman center at Wall (Letocetum), a fortified outpost, near Lichfield, on the London outwards superhighway was established. Wall, was a major junction at that time, roads crossing at that point to go to Gloucester, Birmingham, Derby, Canterbury, York and London, on to the Wrekin and into Wales. At Rocester near Uttoxeter a military base was built and at least three defensive forts were in operation in order to maintain the peace, Colton is situated on the road between these two establishments.

From 400 - 1066 AD the Anglo Saxons used the River Trent as a means of transport and gradually settled and then established themselves in the Staffordshire area. Our village is a model for this type of settlement being linear in appearance, with dwellings alongside the one main road. It was in about 650 AD that Staffordshire, or as it was called then Mercia converted to Christianity.

The earliest written recording of Colton is in the Domesday Book of 1086. Colton is recorded as having been held prior to the Norman invasion by four Saxon Thanes, Almund, Almaer, Oda and Wulfric. It is also one of only a small number of Staffordshire villages recorded as having a Priest, which suggests that in Saxon times it was of significance. There was also a water mill on the Trent producing flour at that time.

After the Norman conquest the lands of Colton as well as most of Staffordshire were given to two knights as a reward for their services to William in the invasion. Roger of Montgomery and Robert of Stafford, they then rented out their lands, which consisted of 1086 acres of which 300 acres were cultivated, 35 of meadow, two woods each approx 1 ˝ miles x ž m and one mill on the Trent. There were 29 families and a priest working on the land and 9 plough teams, the whole village was worth 90 shillings.

Colton in the pre and post Conquest period must have been one of the largest settlements in the area because it received a Market Charter in 1246 some three years before neighbouring Rugeley. Throughout the Middle ages it boasted a church, a market, burgage plots, three mills and a glassworks, evidence of all but the market can still be seen. The remains of the glasswork kilns within the Parish have been found in recent years and have been linked with the local glass working industry known to have been operating around Rugeley and Bagots Park in the middle ages. This local industry is known to have provided glass for such prestigious buildings as York Minster.

In the early 17th Century the then Lord of the Manor, Walter Aston acted as Ambassador to Spain for James I and was created Baron Forfar for his services to the country. He occupied a substantial timber manor house in Colton of which now unfortunately there is no surface evidence but the boundaries of his ancient deer park can still be seen.

The mid 17th Century saw a local Colton heiress, Constance Boughey; marry Thomas Whitgreave of Moseley Old Hall. He was one of the Catholics who helped Charles II escape from the Battle of Worcester. By this marriage he became a significant landowner in Colton and the Whitgreave family remained so until the 20th Century.

At the end of the 17th Century Herbert Aston achieved notoriety by being implicated along with Lord Stafford in the Popish Plot. It was reputed to have been partly plotted at his Manor house in Colton, Bellamour Hall. The Plot although later to be proved fictitious, caused a huge outrage in England and both men along with other suspected plotters were imprisoned in the Tower. Lord Stafford was beheaded but the hoax was revealed before Herbert Aston lost his head and he was released.

The 18th Century saw the building of the canal through Colton and in the 19th Century the building of the railway greatly encouraged by the then Lord of the Manor in Colton, Mr. Horsfall who was MP for Liverpool.

There are still a number of buildings in Colton today that are of historic value and make a walk through the village of interest. The parish church dates back to the 13th Century parts of which can still be seen alongside the Victorian restoration that was carried out under the guidance of G. E. Street, a significant architect of the Victorian period. Some of his major work can be seen at the 7˝ acre site that is The Royal Courts of Justice in London. Little Hay, the smallest of the manors recorded in Colton in the Domesday Book still has evidence of its Elizabethan predecessor in its grounds. It was owned and occupied by members of a significant Staffordshire family, the Bagot's of neighbouring Blithfield Hall. The Bagots were a great influence in Colton alongside the Astons for a long period.

Other houses of interest are Malt House Farm dating from the 16th Century; the remains of 17th Century Bellamour Hall as you enter the village; the original early 19th Century free school and also Boughey Hall Farm that can trace its history back to the 13th Century.

Colton House

Previous to the erection of the present building the site is reputed to have originally been occupied by a roughly built timber house, in which resided a Saxon Lord, a man of considerable consequence, and lord of at least four different manors, including that of Colton. At that time the property is said to have been unenclosed and to have consisted chiefly of swamps, marshes and bogs. The lord's house was protected by a ditch and wooden palisade, the residence being of very primitive design and naturally devoid of anything like comfort. It is described in ancient records as standing in a field not far from the church, and the site of the same is considered to have been most probably that upon which the present erection now stands. This then was the property that was rented out by Roger of Montgomery to Azeline.

The first recorded mention of the present day Colton House was in 1777 when Mr. William Pigott, a gentleman of good family is noted as keeping harriers there. He also kept his family here as there are records of 6 children being born and baptized. Mr. Pigott was the chief payer of the long drain to be put in, this turned the lower end of the village, and more importantly the road outside his house, from being little better than a watercourse into something more easily passable. On 5th September 1781 Mr. Pigott took out insurance with the Royal Exchange for cover against fire, this covered his brick built and tile dwelling house worth Ł1,000, his furniture worth Ł400, stable and coach house worth Ł200, a total of Ł1,600. For this he paid Ł2 5shillings 6d, and he received a firemark number 81603, which is still attached to the front of the house. He stayed in the house for about 20 years.

It is known that Robert Hodgson, John Gomm, David Moilson and George Chambers owned the house prior to that but no modern day records can be found as to when that was, so far that is!

In 1792 John Heyliger Burt move to Colton House, he was one of the trustees involved in an Act of Parliament to enclose the waste land so that it could then be sold or rented out, the money raised went towards the relief of the poor. John married Judith the daughter of the vicar of nearby Hill Ridware, she had been married before to one of the Okeover family, they could trace their family history back to 1095, they held the manors of Osmaston, and others in the Derbyshire area, they were also related to the Anson, Cavendish and Curzon families. Judith's great grand daughter was a maid of honour at Queen Victoria's wedding.

Johns fathers family were very rich and held great influence in many of the Caribbean islands. His father was a Council Member of Nevis, had property in Nevis, Saint Kitts, Barbuda and Antigua, he also lived for many years in Saint Croix and Saint Eustatius, he had five wives and at least 11 children. John's grandfather was Chief Justice of Saint Kitts, his great grandfather was President of Nevis and his great great grandfather was Deputy Governor of Nevis. His uncle was Governor of the Leeward Islands; retiring from there he became the MP for Great Marlow and had a country estate in Maiden Earley, Berkshire. Other notable people on his father's side held posts as Speaker of the House of Assembly in Saint Kitts, Attorney General of Saint Kitts and Chief Justice of Western Australia.
His mother was one of the Heyliger family, again of great wealth and influence in many of the Caribbean islands, her father was Governor of Saint Eustatius 1743 - 52 and the family were connected to two USA presidential families, that of John Adams and the Roosevelts. John was born on Saint Croix in September 1764, now part of the United States Virgin Islands, his mother died when he was 6, and his father when he was 24, he inherited from his father a plantation on Saint Croix on which sugar was grown and processed, this involved the use of slaves, all the families at that time had connections in the slave trade.

John and Judith lived here and raised their four children, he became the High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1805, he also took out an additional insurance policy with the Sun number 762239 as cover for his pictures valued at Ł1,000 he paid Ł1 15shillings as a premium. This firemark is still to be seen on the front of the house. In 1817 John was on his way home from visiting his estates in Saint Croix when his ship was lost at sea.

By 1841 the house was turned into a boarding school, and, in 1851 was called Colton Hall Academy Boarding and Day School. It was being run by Richard Mills, his wife and son, they had 11 boys as boarders and also two of their younger children as pupils, they also had a general and a house servant.

In 1881 Mr. Charles Albert and Mrs. Hannah Salkeld with their family of 5 and two servants were in residence. Mr. Salkeld had been a miller in Cumberland, he leased Colton Mill from the Earl of Lichfield; the mill was on land between the present day railway bridge and the river, and is currently being demolished. The mill in Domesday times had been used for grinding flour from corn, this changed about 1876 to grinding flint and other materials to make plaster of Paris and cement, it later went on to make colours for paints, asbestos, roofing tiles etc.

By 1891 Mr. Frederick Bonney had moved in, he was a Justice of the Peace, and a County Magistrate. The Bonney family was well known locally; from about 1750 they had held positions of influence in Rugeley and the surrounding areas. Charles Bonney was an explorer and politician in Australia becoming a member of the Legislative Council and Commissioner of Crown Lands for South Australia in 1857; he also became a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society. Professor Thomas George Bonney, Frederick's brother, was probably the most widely known and academically distinguished member of the family he specialised in Geology but was also well qualified in the theology field; he was ordained and held many high ranking offices in the Church and the Societies of the day. Between 1900 and 1921 he was described as being the chief landowner in the Colton Parish.

Frederick Bonney was in Australia between 1837 to about 1883 with his brother Edward working on a sheep station, he made notes on the local aboriginal people in the River Darling area, this was supported by a collection of photographs and is now in a Sydney museum, for this work he was made a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute. He traveled the world bringing back many new trees, plants and pictures to this country. On his return he came to live at Colton House, at that time being a keen gardener and naturalist he restored the large gardens and with his camera recorded many local events, his surviving photographs still stimulate much interest. He was a bird enthusiast and breed fine fan tailed pigeons. In 1895 was appointed the first chairman of Colton Parish Council. He moved to a smaller house in Rugeley in about 1902.