Spernall is a remote village north of

Alcester Alcester ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. It is west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 7 miles south of Redditch. The town dates back to the times of Roman ...

in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Oldberrow, Morton Bagot, and Spernall, in the

Stratford-on-Avon District Stratford-on-Avon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Warwickshire, England. The district is named after its largest town of Stratford-upon-Avon, but with a change of preposition; the town uses "upon" and the district ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, England. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 153. It is situated on the banks of the small River Arrow, the name meaning Spera's border. Early forms of the name are Spernore.Domesday Book for Warwickshire, Phillimore edited by John Morris and Spernoure in the 1327

Subsidy Roll Subsidy rolls are records of taxation in England made between the 12th and 17th centuries. They are often valuable sources of historical information. The lists are arranged by county, and the description of each document indicates the area covere ...

.Warwickshire People and Places, John Burman, 1936 The village consists only of the church and

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

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 Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

; the priest at Spernall, Nicholas atte Yate, died in 1349 and there was another institution in 1351. 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 A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on wealth. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area and is con ...

returns (1662–74) show the high average of about 2.5 hearths per house. By 1696, there were only two

yeomen Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century witnessed ...

with an estate of £10 a year or more.

History

The

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 records it as being part of the Land of William Bonvallett, stating Hugh holds 2

hide Hide or hides may refer to: Common uses * Hide (skin), the cured skin of an animal * Bird hide, a structure for observing birds and other wildlife without causing disturbance * Gamekeeper's hide or hunting hide or hunting blind, a structure to hi ...

s 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, ; woodland 3

furlong A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to any of 660 foot (unit), feet, 220 yards, 40 rod (unit), rods, 10 chain (unit), chains, or a ...

s long and 1 wide.

Economy

Whilst mostly agricultural Spernall also contains a large

water treatment works Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, inc ...

on the River Arrow. The Purity Brewing Co are located at The

Brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

, Upper Spernall Farm, manufacturing their Pure Gold, Pure UBU and Mad Goose

ale Ale is a style of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale ...

Notable buildings

The Church of St Leonard is small stone building consisting of a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, rebuilt in 1844 when the church was restored,

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, south porch and a western

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

turret containing one bell. The church has been closed since 1972, and is now owned by the

Friends of Friendless Churches Friends of Friendless Churches (FoFC) is a registered charity formed in 1957, active in England and Wales, which campaigns for and rescues redundant historic places of worship threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. As ...

and tenanted. The survey of the clergy by the

puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

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".

Governance

Spernall is part of the Studley with Mappleborough Green

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

Council and represented by

Councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

Justin Kerridge, of the Conservative Party. Nationally it is part of

Stratford-on-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-west of ...

parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

, whose current MP following the 2010 election is

Nadhim Zahawi Nadhim Zahawi (; ; born 2 June 1967) is an Iraqi-born British former politician who served in various ministerial positions under prime ministers Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak from 2018 to 2023. He most recently served ...

Conservative. Prior to

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

in 2020 it was part of the West Midlands electoral region of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Warwickshire