Hints, Staffordshire

Hints
View of a plain church, with a bell-tower above the crossing
St Bartholomew's Church
Hints is located in Staffordshire
Hints
Hints
Location within Staffordshire
Population355 (2011)[1]
OS grid referenceSK1503
Civil parish
  • Hints
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townTAMWORTH
Postcode districtB78
Dialling code01543/0121
PoliceStaffordshire
FireStaffordshire
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Staffordshire
52°37′24″N 1°46′00″W / 52.623333°N 1.766667°W / 52.623333; -1.766667

Hints is a small village and civil parish[3] between Lichfield and Tamworth in southeastern Staffordshire, within Lichfield local government district. The village is on the line of Watling Street, which was formerly the A5, but the A5 now runs in a cutting north of the village. The name of the parish council is Hints with Canwell.[4] The parish church is dedicated to St Bartholomew.[5]

The name Hints appears to derive from the Welsh word hynt, meaning 'a road' (referring to Watling Street). This suggests that the area was occupied by Welsh speakers until at least the late 6th century, when most of the Midlands had been occupied by the English.[6] The centre of Hints is situated 200 metres north of Bourne Brook (aka Black Brook), a western tributary of the River Tame, and nearby villages include Hopwas, Weeford and Drayton Bassett

Nearby Twycross Zoo was founded in 1963 by pet shop owners Molly Badham and Natalie Evans, after the pair's increasing zoological collection outgrew their three-quarter-acre site in Hints, Staffordshire

Physician and author Sir John Floyer (1649–1734) was born in Hints.

References

  1. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  2. ^ "United Kingdom Parliament". Retrieved 18 September 2009.
  3. ^ "Names and codes for Administrative Geography". Office for National Statistics. 31 December 2008. Archived from the original on 3 April 2010. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  4. ^ "Parish clerk contact details". Lichfield District Council. 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2009. Retrieved 16 September 2009.
  5. ^ "Hints S. Bartholomew". The Church of England. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
  6. ^ Gelling, M. (1978) Signposts to the Past  ISBN 1-86077-376-1 p.101