 Burntwood
has always been associated with Woodhouses and Edial, or Edgehill
(Edial) as it was once known.
The name Burntwood or ‘Brendewoode’, derives from the
burning of a heath in Cannock Forest by the vill (township) of Hammerwich;
the forest proceedings in 1296 mentions the incident. This is the
first mention of Burntwood in history. The name Burntwood was in
use by 1298 when the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield had 300 acres
of common pasture in ‘Brendewoode’.
The next important change in the history of the area came with the
Reformation, when much of the surrounding land changed hands. The
land was taken from the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and sold
to Sir William Paget in 1546. The Pagets remained the major landowners
until this Century.
The manor of Pipe existed by 1135. This lies within the present
Burntwood Boundary. Pipe remained a member of the bishop’s
manor of Longdon, which in 1546 passed to the Paget family (successively
Barons Paget, Earls of Uxbridge, and Marquises of Anglesey). Pipe
was still a member of Longdon manor in the 1850’s. It covered
Edial and Woodhouses but did not include Burntwood, which was part
of the waste of Longdon manor.
Fulfen on Rugeley Road was an inhabited area by the 1530’s.
The Nags Head Inn at the junction of Rugeley Road and Nether Lane
existed by 1799 and probably by 1775.
Maple Hayes became an important house within the Burntwood Boundary.
Atkinson, sheriff of Staffordshire 1828-9, was living at Maple Hayes
by 1812, and built up a collection of paintings and other art there.
In 1884 the house and 455 acres was sold to Albert Octavius Worthington,
a partner in the Burton upon Trent brewing firm of Worthington &
Co. He was succeeded in 1918 by his son William Worthington, who
died in 1949, leaving 1,540 acres.
Woodhouses originated as a clearing in the woodland, and the place
name ‘Woodehousleye’ is found in the area in 1374. Woodhouse
Green was mentioned in 1433. A county lunatic asylum was opened
in 1864 on Hobstone Hill northwest of Woodhouses. A way at Hobbestone
was mentioned in 1392.
The hamlet of Edial developed along the stretch of the Lichfield
road east of Burntwood known by 1409 as Edial Lane. In 1666, 16
people in Edial were assessed for hearth tax; the population was
225 in 1841 and 222 in 1851.
Edial Hall, Edial is celebrated as the house in which that eminent
lexicographer, Samuel Johnson, LLD, opened an academy in 1736, but
not meeting sufficient encouragement he moved to London with David
Garrick.
Chasetown History
 Chasetown
and Chase Terrace developed much later with the coming of coalmining
in the area. The first pit was sunk by the Marquis of Anglesey in
1849.
The village of Chasetown at first known simply as Cannock Chase,
developed on either side of an existing road running north across
the heath; at first the road was called Rugeley Road, but by 1881
it had become High Street. Colliery Road, renamed Church Street
by 1881, gave access to the mine opened at its west end in 1852.
Three pairs of cottages were built on the north side of Colliery
Road circa 1854, and the adjoining Uxbridge Arms existed by 1856.
By 1867 the village was known as Chasetown. The credit for devising
the name is variously given to George Poole, vicar of Burntwood
and Elijah Wills, headmaster at Chasetown School.
The last mine in the area closed in 1959.
Chase Terrace History By the early 1860’s mining had spread
north with new mines on the south side of Cannock Road. A new mining
village known as Chase Terrace developed in the area. There was
a beer retailer at Biddulph’s Pool by 1864.
In 1884 the Chase Terrace area had a population of nearly 2,000.
The last mine in the area closed in 1959, but between 1961 and 1971
the population nearly doubled as Burntwood became an overspill area
for the people from Birmingham and the Black Country.
Sankeys Corner has become the administrative and commercial centre
with development of an industrial estate, the opening of the Burntwood
Town Shopping Centre and the market in 1970 and the completion of
the library in 1987.
Boney Hay became populated in the later 19th Century. It derives
its name from waste called ‘le Burnehew’ in 1361. The
area was known as Burnehey and Bornehay by the 16th Century and
in 1571 there was a house there.
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