Rushton Spencer

No individual entry for Rushton Spencer found in the Domesday survey. Illustrated in a 1844 drawing by John Buckler, now in the William Salt Library [ref.: SV-VIII.122b (45/9445)]. Noted in the Victoria County History (Stafford, vol. 7, 1996): "There was a church at Rushton Spencer in 1368, when the bishop licensed the inhabitants to have services in their chapel. [...] The chapel was dependent on the parish church at Leek until the 19th century, despite having developed claims to parochial status by the late 17th century. [...] The church of ST. LAWRENCE, which is built of sandstone but retains medieval timber framing, has a chancel with a north chapel, a nave of three bays, undivided from the chancel, with a north aisle and a west gallery, a south porch, and a west vestry surmounted by a timber bell turret. The low nave has a partly renewed late-medieval crown-post roof, and the principal posts survive on its north side. The original walls may have been plank-filled. The frame of the south doorway is of timber and has a flat ogee head. (fn. 29) The church was rebuilt in stone in the 17th century, and extended on the north side. The east wall of the chancel is dated 1690. [...] The large stone font at the west end of the nave dates probably from the 13th century" [the VCH footnotes the source: "T.B.A.S. lxviii. 17."]