The place-name 'Tixall' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Ticheshale.[2] Deriving from Old English, the name means 'the hollow of the goats'.[3]
Tixall Hall was the home of the Aston family, who held the title Lord Aston of Forfar. They were staunch Roman Catholics and Tixall was the centre of the local Catholic community. During the Popish Plot Tixall briefly became notorious as the centre of the alleged conspiracy to kill King Charles II, and many victims of the plot such as William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford were questioned intensively as to their actions while at Tixall.[4]
Tixall is served hourly by Chaserider bus service 828, Monday to Saturday. This was formerly Arriva service 825.
The village, and civil parish, of Ingestre is nearby. The civil parishes of Tixall and Ingestre have shared a single parish council of Ingestre with Tixall since 1979.[5]
The church of St John the Baptist, Tixall, May 2008Obelisk at Tixall, May 2008
A free chapel has existed in Tixall since the 12th Century but the present church was built in 1848 by the Hon. John Chetwynd Talbot, son of the 2nd Earl Talbot of Ingestre. It is built of local sandstone with a roof of Staffordshire blue tiles. The floor tiles are by Minton. The oldest grave in the churchyard is reputed to date from 1627.
The 16th century 3-storey gatehouse of the now-demolished Tixall Hall, built by the Aston family, is in the care of the Landmark Trust, which offers it as a holiday let.
Obelisk
There is a sandstone obelisk in Tixall dated 1776 sat in a triangle where the road from Stafford meets the road from Milford. It is said to have been placed there by Thomas Clifford, who owned the estate at the time.
other than members of the aristocracy referred to above
Henry Redwood (1823 in Tixall – 1907) a New Zealand farmer, politician and racehorse breeder.
Francis Webb (1836 Tixall Rectory – 1906) an English railway engineer, responsible for the design and manufacture of locomotives for the London and North Western Railway (LNWR)
Francis Redwood SM (1839 in Tixall – 1935) the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wellington, New Zealand.
Rupert Rogers (1902 in Tixall – 1976) an English cricketer who played a single first-class match for Worcestershire
