St John the Baptist, the parish
church
Middleton
lies a little to the west of the road from Coleshill to Tamworth.
It was mentioned in the Domesday Survey when Hugh de Gretemaisnil
and his wife Adeliz shared ownership with four hides each.
The first
reference to the manor of Middleton is in May 1259 when Philip Marmion
leased it to the prior and convent of Studley for two years. Philip
died in 1285 and his property, including two watermills, was assigned
in dower to his wife Mary.
In the
mid 16th century a fishery stretched from Kingsbury, through Middleton,
to Drayton Bassett along the River Tame, and by the end of the century
ironworks were established in the parish.
There
has been a church in Middleton since Anglo Saxon times, but the present
building only dates from the mid 12th century. The chancel and nave,
now much rebuilt, formed the early church and the north aisle was
added at the end of the 13th century. The tower and clerestories above
the chancel and nave were built in the latter part of the 15th century.
The south porch in 18th century red-brick shelters the 12th century
doorway, a good example of Decorated Norman architecture with its
dogtooth design.
The church
is rich in memorials. The oldest, dated 1407, are small brasses on
the north wall of the chancel to Dorothy, daughter of Henry Willoughby
and the wife of Anthony Fitzherbert. A brass in the chancel floor
is to Sir Richard Bingham, the judge, who died in 1476, and his wife
Margaret.
A colourful
memorial depicting a knight at prayer commemorates Edward Ridgeway,
second son of Thomas, Earl of Londonderry, who died in 1638; another
ornate structure recounts the fame of Francis Willoughby, the naturalist,
son of Sir Francis and Cassandra (nee Ridgeway) who died in 1665.
The sanctuary
is paved with gravestones of the Willoughby family, and others commemorated
within the church include Heriolte de Hemel, Benjamin White (d. 1685
aged 11), Samuel White (d. 1688 aged 20), Ann Budd (d. 1778), John
Young (d. 1865), Esther Peel (d. 1887, widow of John), and Henry and
Robert Vere Hodge, a father and son, who were vicars of the parish
from 1835 to 1936.
