Spernall is a remote village north of

Alcester Alcester () is a market town and civil parish of Roman origin at the junction of the River Alne and River Arrow in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England, approximately west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 7 miles south of Redditc ...

in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

Oldberrow Oldberrow is a village in the Stratford-on-Avon District of Warwickshire, England. The parish was part of Worcestershire until 1896, when it was transferred to Warwickshire, into which county it penetrated, between Morton Bagot and Ullenhall, as a ...

Morton Bagot Morton Bagot is a small village in the Stratford-on-Avon District of Warwickshire, England. It lies about east of the Birmingham-Alcester road, the modern A435 and Roman road Ryknild Street, north of Alcester, from Stratford-upon-Avon and 1 ...

, and Spernall, in the

Stratford-on-Avon District Stratford-on-Avon is a local government district in southern Warwickshire, England. The district is named "Stratford-on-Avon" unlike its main town of Stratford-upon-Avon where the district council is based. The district is mostly rural and co ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, 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.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 religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically o ...

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 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 co ...

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 also witn ...

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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

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

hide __NOTOC__ 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 stru ...

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 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use i ...

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, inclu ...

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 bee ...

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

ale Ale is a type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to bal ...

s. Also located in Spernall are Sherwoods a company specialising in sport optics, located at Greenhill Farm.

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 and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

, 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-typ ...

, south porch and a western

bell A bell 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 made by an inte ...

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

Ancient Monuments Society The Ancient Monuments Society (AMS) is a learned society and registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or ...

and tenanted. The survey of the clergy by the

puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

in 1586 described the

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

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 Mappleborough Green is a small village and civil parish in Warwickshire, in the non-metropolitan district of Stratford-on-Avon. The village has a population of 540 and the civil parish 857. Mappleborough Green lies on the extreme western edge ...

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 priso ...

Council and represented by

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

Justin Kerridge, of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. Nationally it is part of

Stratford-on-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just 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-w ...

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

, whose current MP following the 2010 election is

Nadhim Zahawi Nadhim Zahawi ( ar, ناظم الزهاوي, translit=Nāẓim az-Zahāwī; ku, نەدیم زەهاوی, translit=Nedîm Zehawî; born 2 June 1967) is an Iraqi-born British politician serving as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister ...

Conservative. Prior to

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAE ...

in 2020 it was part of the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Ro ...

electoral region of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the 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 adop ...

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Warwickshire