General Information

Population
Total Population	7,753 (2004 Estimate)
No. Over 60	27.1%
No. Under 18	20.6%
No. BME	Below 2.4%
Indices of Deprivation	TBC
Area KM2	12,489
Population Density KM2	1.61
Annual Budget
Annual Precept	£114,526.00 (2005/2006)
Grants Received
Spending per Resident
Average Council Tax Brand	£38.61

 

 

Brewood & Coven As It Is Now

 

Situated in the South West of Staffordshire and adjoining the Shropshire border, Brewood & Coven Parish is currently the largest in the area in South Staffordshire, covering some 12,500 acres. The Parish has a population of around 7,500 and comprises four distinctly separate villages and many small hamlets. The A5 forms its northern boundary, the M54 at Coven Heath the southern, with the western boundary taking in the village of Bishop's Wood and the eastern extending to part of Four Ashes.

 

Bishop's Wood

Bishop's Wood is at its highest point, just short of five hundred feet above sea level and boasts panoramic views taking in Belvide Reservoir and Cannock Chase. The village comprises of both old and modern developments, a Church, a first school, a village hall and a public house.

 

Brewood

Brewood is a Conservation Area with its half-timbered traditional black-and-white style old houses and cottages, lying alongside dignified houses of the Georgian and Queen Anne period. Described as one of the jewels in the Crown of South Staffordshire, the village provides a pleasing selection of shops, public houses, restaurants, tearooms and take-aways along with schools, churches and the Jubilee Hall.

 

Coven

The most modern of our four wards, is pleasantly located with the River Penk and South Staffordshire Union Canal providing opportunities for a leisurely stroll or boat trip. The village, who entered and won the Best Kept Village competition for the first time in 2006, has a modern school, churches, public houses, restaurants, village hall, allotments for rent and a small shopping parade.

 

Coven Heath

Coven heath straddles the A449, is a mixed development of old and new property including several mobile home parks. Keen gardeners are well catered for having a choice of well stocked nurseries in the vicinity and the opportunity to rent one of the allotments in Ball Lane.

 

 

Brief History Of Brewood & Coven

 

The boundary of Brewood Parish is of uncertain age but in the main it is certainly pre-Doomsday, and probably much older still. The use of Watling Street as the northern boundary suggests that the Roman road may have been the first significant feature in the development of the landscape. In the Domesday survey a tentative estimate of the population of the parish was 490, one of the highest in the country.

 

Bishop's Wood is steeped in history. In 1724 it was ''waste ground called Bishop's Wood'' within the Bishop's Manor of Brewood and was common pasture for tenants of the manor.Boscobel House and the famous King Charles Oak tree border the village and are, to this day, within easy walking distance. To reference ''A Corner of Old England'', James Penderel Brodhurst, May 12th 1883, ''Brewood consists of half a dozen streets and a market place. It enjoys the title of town by reason of the market that was granted to its men by Henry III six hundred and sixty-two years ago. The market has disappeared this hundred years, but the lazy, dreamy life of the old place goes on as always.''

 

Coven was held by Airlic before the conquest and by Robert de Stafford at Domesday, which contains the first recorded referenceto the name. The village hosts a number pointers to a past era: The Homage dating back to 1679; the sixteenth century timber framed Grange Farm and the imposing Georgian facade of the Beeches.

 

Coven Heath is depicted on William Yates' 1775 map of Staffordshire as heathland, much more extensive in those days than it is today. An indenture relating to the estate of James Horden, dated 1801, refers to a windmill being enclosed out of the common known as Coven Heath. 

 

Links

 

External Link: Brewood & Coven Parish Council

Contact Details for the Parish Chairmen & Clerk