Boninghall, or Boningale,

is a small parish and village, in the Shiffnal Division of the Brimstree Hundred, five miles S.E. by S. from Shiffnal, and seven miles S.W. by S. from Wolverhampton, which in 1841 contained 184 inhabitants; and at the census in 1851 had 36 houses and 195 souls; of whom 99 were males and 96 females. The turnpike road from Shiffnal to Wolverhampton intersects the parish, which contains 986a. 0r. 18p. of land. The soil is a mixture of loam and gravel, and produces good wheat, turnips, and barley. There is also some fine grazing land. Rateable value, £1,948. 14s. George Taylor, Esq., is lord of the manor, and the most considerable landowner. The Executors of the late William Wood, Mr. John Oatley, Mr. Richard Wood, Mr. James William Weaver, Mr. James Riddle, and the Incumbent of King Swinford, are also proprietors. The village is situated in a salubrious district, commanding pleasing and diversified views of the surrounding country. The Kennels for the fox-hounds of the celebrated Albrighton hunt are at the Summer House in this parish. The Church, a plain antique structure, in a sequestered situation, is built of free-stone, and, as an ornamental appendage, has a tower of wood, in which are three bells. It contains a small gallery, and the sittings are of oak. The ceiling is supported by a framework of wood, and empanelled with dark oak, varnished. There is a tablet in memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Robinson, and another to William Tindal, who died in 1830. The living is a perpetual curacy annexed to the rectory of Stockton. The Rev. Charles Blaney Cavendish Whitmore, M.A., is the incumbent. The tithes have been commuted, and £236 apportioned to the incumbent; the minister has also 11a. 0r. 29p. of glebe land. There is no parsonage house in this parish. Boninghall Park, the seat and property of George Taylor, Esq., is a spacious erection, pleasantly situated in the midst of park-like grounds, well-timbered, and commanding some five views of the distant country. The pleasure-grounds are planted with choice shrubs and beautiful flowers.

Charities.—John Littleford, by his will, dated the 27th of February, 1712, gave the sum of £4, to be laid out for the use of the poor of Boningale, “with £10, which Mr. Green had promised should be paid.” It is probable that both these sums were duly received, and that they compose a sum of £14, which the parish has long enjoyed, and which was designated as the gift of an unknown benefactor for the use of the poor of the parish. An additional benefaction of £16 was subsequently received from Miss Jane Skeinton. These sums appear to have remained at interest in the hands of the parish officers, upon their personal security, until the year 1812, when they were laid out in the purchase of a messuage and a garden, which it was thought advisable to purchase for the use of the parish. The premises were accordingly charged with the repayment of the sum of £30, so borrowed, to the churchwardens and overseers of the said parish for the time being, with interest for the same at five per cent. per annum, such interest to be paid on the 25th of March yearly, and to be distributed annually on Easter Sunday, by the minister, churchwardens, overseers, and the inhabitant freeholders of the parish for the time being, among poor industrious parishioners.

A rent charge of 6s. 8d., derived from the bequest of John Chapman, is usually allowed to remain for two years, and 13s. 4d. is then distributed among the poor of the parish with the above charity.

Directory.—George Bayley, butcher, Lea Hall; Benjamin Cox, shopkeeper; Joseph Darley, farmer, Woodhouses; Joseph Lowe, victualler, Summer House and Commercial Inn; Edmund Nicklin, shopkeeper; John Oatley, farmer, Woodhouses; Benjamin Southall, farmer, Boningale Farm; Mr. William Staples, huntsman, Summer House; George Taylor, Esq., Boningale Park; Thos. Taylor, farmer; James Thomas, victualler, The Horns Inn; Richard Wood, farmer, Whiston.