Tittesworth

Tittesworth is a civil parish in the Staffordshire Moorlands, in Staffordshire, England. It extends from the edge of the town of Leek in the south-west to Blackshaw Moor in the north-east. In the east is the village of Thorncliffe. To the west is the civil parish of Leekfrith, where the boundary is the River Churnet.To the east is the civil parish of Onecote. Tittesworth Brook runs westwards through the area from Thorncliffe, and flows into the Churnet.

The name Tittesworth is Old English: a personal name thought to be Tet, and the word for an enclosed settlement.

Tittesworth Reservoir lies partly in Tittesworth and partly in Leekfrith. It was created in 1858 by the Staffordshire Potteries Water Works Co., by damming the River Churnet. The area was originally 51 acres (21 ha). Work to increase the area to 189 acres (76 ha) was begun in 1959; the extended reservoir was inaugurated by Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon in 1962.

The reservoir is now part of Severn Trent Water. It pumps on average 28 million litres of water per day to households and businesses.

The south-west part of Tittesworth included what was originally the monastic grange of Fowker (later Fowlchurch) and estates at Ball Haye and Haregate. These estates, owned by Dieulacres Abbey, were granted by the Crown, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, to Sir Ralph Bagnall in 1552. This area near Leek was rural until the 19th century, when, with the development of Ball Haye Green in the 1830s, it began to be a suburb of Leek.

In 1565 Sir Ralph Bagnall, lord of Leek Manor, granted Ball Haye to Henry Davenport. It remained in the Davenport family, and in 1786 it was inherited by James Hulme, nephew of John Davenport. He rebuilt the house; in 1819 he mortgaged the estate. After his death in 1848 the house was sold, and let to various tenants. In 1931 the house was sold to the trustees of the Leek Memorial Cottage Hospital; there were plans for a hospital in the grounds of the hall, which were suspended on the outbreak of the Second World War. From 1946 the hall was used as a Polish club, and later it was converted into flats. It became derelict and was demolished in 1972.

...
Wikipedia