England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Farewell St Bartholomew

The Parish

The parish of Farewell lies in southeastern Staffordshire roughly 2 miles northwest of the city of Lichfield. Whilst it is the village of Farewell which donates its name to the parish and holds the church the largest settlement in the parish is the larger village of Chorley. Farewell sits a little over a half mile west of the A51 road, which links Lichfield with Rugeley & Stone, whilst Chorley is a further half mile to Farewell's southwest. Farewell is a tiny place with the church & hall and a handful of properties clustered around a three-way meeting of lanes, Chorley is built around a triangle of lanes with each leg running for slightly under a quarter mile, both small settlements lie on the southeastern fringes of Cannock Chase, a former Royal hunting forest. Farming would have been the mainstay of the parish's economy with early gazetteers estimating it equally spread between pastoral & arable forms. Farewell is drained northeastwards by the headwaters of the Bourne Brook which soon meets the River Trent to the northwest of Alrewas, the Trent has a long journey to the North Sea arriving through the Humber Estuary. Farewell is sited at around 120 metres above the sea with Chorley some 20 metres higher, around both villages the landscape is gentle but westwards into the Chase land rises to the local high spot of Castle Ring, topped with its hill-fort, at 239 metres. Farewell parish was one of Staffordshire's smaller parishes, covering just 1,300 acres it would have supported a population of around 200 parishioners. Neither Farewell nor Chorley is mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Bartholomew's church sits together with the 17th century brick mansion of Farewell Hall within the hamlet of Farewell on its southeastern side. A religious site was founded here as early as c1140 by Benedictines led by the Bishop of Lichfield but there is no visible trace of that site today. St Bartholomew is a church of two distinct ages, the chancel being the only remaining medieval piece following an almost complete rebuild in 1745. The chancel is tentatively dated to c1300, on the cusp between Early English Gothic & Decorated styles and probably best assigned to the short Transitional era that sits between the two, its early stonework contrasts mightily with the largely brick-built remainder of the church. The brick portion is simply nave & short western tower and was clearly of little architectural interest for Pevsner as his account is a mere 3 lines of text. Access is from the lane linking Farewell with Chorley and is prominently marked as a "Private Road with access to the church", the first 50 metres is surfaced, thereafter a more roughly surfaced track leads to a small parking area outside the churchyard. The church sits abutting the southern edge of the churchyard removing the favoured aspects from the photographer's portfolio but all other angles are available but making for a challenge on a sunny day.