Woodcote

is a township and chapelry in the parish of Sheriff Hales, three miles south-east by south from Newport, which in 1801 contained 130 inhabitants; 1831, 195; and in 1841 there were 29 houses and a population of 140 souls. The township contains upwards of 1,000 acres of land; rateable value, £1,003. 10s. Woodcote Hall is a spacious and handsome mansion, of free stone, delightfully situated on a gentle acclivity, and surrounded with park-like grounds finely timbered and richly diversified with sylvan beauty. A little west from the hall are extensive gardens. The Hall is the seat of John Cotes, Esq., who is owner of the whole township. The Chapel, situated near to the hall, is a plain structure of free-stone of considerable antiquity. On the south side is a door which exhibits the Saxon style of architecture. It contains several neat tablets in memory of the Cotes family, the last of which is in memory of John Cotes, Esq., M.P. for the county of Shropshire, who died in 1821, aged 72 years, leaving two sons and six daughters. A large marble slab, reared up against the pews near the altar rails, appears to have been the top of an altar tomb. It is curiously ornamented with two full length figures, and has a mutilated inscription round the edge. We did not observe any date upon it, but it is very ancient and worthy of inspection. A little west from the hall is an eminence called Heath Hill, which commands an extended view over this and the adjacent county of Stafford, and also of the towering heights of the Welsh mountains. On the eastern side of the township a small stream called Moreton Brook divides this county from that of Staffordshire; on the banks of which is a dilapidated corn-mill. The rest of the parish of Sheriff Hales, except Lilleshall House and a few scattered farms, are within the bounds of the county of Stafford, and may at a future period be included in a similar volume for that county. The village of Sheriff Hales is pleasantly situated three miles north from Shiffnal and five miles south from Newport. The parish contains 5,317a. 2a. 37p. of land, and at the census of 1841 there were 32 houses and 191 inhabitants returned as in the county of Shropshire, the names of the principal residents of which have been given in the Lilleshall directory.

The following are the principal residents in Woodcote township, viz.:—John Cotes, Esq., Woodcote Hall; George Alsop, farmer, Lynn; John Bedford, farm bailiff; John Downes, gamekeeper; James Lockley, farmer, Pave lane; Richard Lascombe, butler, The Hall; John Morris, farmer, Lynn; Cornelius Whitehouse, gardener, The Hall.