Curborough and Elmhurst explained

Curborough and Elmhurst
Settlement Type:Civil parish
Coordinates:52.7083°N -1.825°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:England
Subdivision Name1:Lichfield
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Staffordshire
Subdivision Type3:Region
Subdivision Name3:West Midlands
Seat Type:Status
Seat:Parish
Government Type:Parish Council, with Farewell and Chorley
Leader Name:Lichfield
Parts Style:para
P1:Curborough, Elmhurst
Unit Pref:Metric
Population Total:203
Population As Of:2011[1]
Population Density Km2:auto

Curborough and Elmhurst is a civil parish[2] in Lichfield District, Staffordshire, England. The hamlets of Curborough and Elmhurst, that make up the parish, lie just north of the City of Lichfield, and are separated from each other by the West Coast Main Line. The parish council is a joint one with Farewell and Chorley.[3] Curborough's name derives from Old English. The words for mill stream in Old English were 'cweorn burna,' and likely referred to Curborough brook.

Geography

The northern, eastern and southern boundaries of Curborough and Elmhurst run along Full, Curborough and Circuit Brooks, the western boundary runs partly along Bilson Brook, and partly along the A51. The eastern part of Curborough, on the east side of Curborough Brook, is in Fradley and Streethay civil parishes, on the boundary of those parishes after they split on 1 April 2023.[4]

The subsoil is Keuper Marl (Mercia Mudstone) with a band of Keuper Sandstone (Bromsgrove Sandstone) along the western boundary. There are stretches of Alluvium along Full, Curborough and Bilson Brooks. The land lies at its highest in the south where Binns Farm stands at 387 ft (118m). It falls away steeply on the north to Bilson Brook. On the east it slopes down more gently to 246 ft (75m) on the northern boundary near New Farm and to 231 ft (70m) on the eastern boundary at Curborough Farm.

History

An early resident of Curborough was Dr. Zachary Babington, prebendary of Curborough in 1584[5] and later precentor of Lichfield Cathedral and diocesan chancellor. Babington built an estate called Curborough Hall, where he died in 1613. His son William,[6] a lawyer married to Ellen (Littleton) Babington,[7] succeeded him to Curborough Hall estate and farm, and was in turn succeeded by a son Zachary, a lawyer with a practice at Lichfield. The Curborough Hall estate later fell to three heiresses of the Babington family, one of whom married Theophilus Levett,[8] town clerk of Lichfield, whose son John Levett, briefly an MP inherited the home. By 1925, the last of the Levett heirs, Theophilus Basil Percy Levett, sold the farm out of the family.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Civil Parish population 2011. 7 December 2015.
  2. Web site: Names and codes for Administrative Geography . 31 December 2008 . Office for National Statistics . 15 September 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110520160918/http://www.ons.gov.uk/about-statistics/geography/products/geog-products-area/names-codes/administrative/index.html . 20 May 2011 .
  3. Web site: Parish clerk contact details. 2009. Lichfield District Council. 16 September 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090416120359/http://www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=540. 16 April 2009. dead.
  4. https://www.fradleyparishcouncil.gov.uk/_UserFiles/Files/Re-Organisation%20Order%20signed%20and%20sealed.pdf Lichfield District Council (Reorganisation of Community Governance) Order 2023
  5. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=34748 Prebendaries of Curborough, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857, Volume 10, Joyce M. Horn, 2003, British History Online
  6. Web site: Zachary Babington, Whittington District History Society, Whittington, Staffordshire . 2009-09-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071014023423/http://www.wdhs.org.uk/zachary_babbington.htm . 2007-10-14 . dead .
  7. https://books.google.com/books?id=l2QUAAAAYAAJ&dq=babington+curborough&pg=PA68 The English Baronetage, Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets Now Existing, Arthur Collins, Printed for Thomas Wotton, London, 1741
  8. https://books.google.com/books?id=KrUHAAAAQAAJ&dq=babington+curborough&pg=PA322 A Survey of Staffordshire Containing the Antiquities of That County, Sampson Erdeswicke, Thomas Harwood, Printed for John Nichols and Son, Westminster, 1820
  9. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42359 A History of the County of Stafford, Vol. 14, M.W. Greenslade (ed.), 1990, British History Online