Croxall


Croxall is a parish that was historically in Derbyshire, but from 1895, in Staffordshire, England. Croxall is still very near to the border with Derbyshire. The settlement today is mainly the Church of England parish church of St John and Croxall Hall.Population details for the 2011 census can be found under the civil parish.

History

Croxall is in the Domesday book where it is mentioned as an outlying farm of Weston-on-Trent and listed amongst the lands given to Henry de Ferrers by the King. The land given to Henry included of pasture that was valued at four pounds.
The lordship of the manor of Croxall was held for several centuries by underlords of the Ferrers, the Curzon family, an early Anglo-Norman family seated at Derbyshire since the 12th century. A Curzon heiress carried the manor and Croxall Hall to the Sackvilles, Earls of Dorset, who in turn conveyed the manor to the Prinsep family, heirs of John Prinsep, an early Anglo-Indian merchant and later Member of Parliament.
On the death in 1849 of Thomas Prinsep, High Sheriff of Derbyshire, the manor of Croxall was inherited by his nephew Thomas Levett-Prinsep. The St John's parish church contains memorials to all four families, as well as the Horton family of nearby Catton Hall, a member of whom prompted the poet Lord Byron to write his famous poem beginning with the lines: "She walks in beauty, like the night...."