Lilleshall

"LILLESHALL, a parish in the Newport division of the hundred of South Bradford, county Salop, 3 miles S.W. of Newport, its pest town, and 1 mile from Donington railway station. It is situated on the Donington Wood branch of the Shrewsbury canal, and a little to the S.E. of the Newport and Wellington turnpike road. The parish contains the townships of Donington and Muxton, and the ecclesiastical district of Donington Wood. A portion of the inhabitants are engaged in the coal mines. The soil consists principally of a strong clay on a subsoil of red sandstone. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Lichfield, value £313. The parish church, dedicated to St. Michael, is an ancient stone structure with a tower containing a clock and six bells. In the interior of the church are several tombs, including two full-length effigies of Sir Richard and Lady Katherine Leveson, ancestors of the Duke of Sutherland, bearing the dates 1661 and 1674. The charities produce about £60 per annum. There are National schools for both sexes. Lilleshall House, the seat of the Duke of Sutherland, is a white freestone mansion situated on rising ground, and commanding a very extensive view of the surrounding country. About a mile distant from the church, in a secluded spot, are the ruins of Lilleshall Abbey, including a portion of the church 228 feet in length, with a Norman doorway. The Duke of Sutherland is lord of the manor and chief landowner."[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2015]