Elford

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Elford is a village in Staffordshire, east of Lichfield and north of Tamworth. It is situated on the east bank of the River Tame.

The village is said to have derived its name from the great number of eels with which the river here formerly abounded. Before the Norman conquest this manor belonged to Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia. In the reign of Henry III, it was held by William de Arderne, whose descendants continued to enjoy it till the marriage of Maud, sole heiress of Sir John Arderne, with Thomas, second son of Sir John Stanley, of Latham, carried it into that family. Elford Hall is a handsome mansion, erected about 1758.

Elford Lowe, on the summit of a hill, about one mile east of the village, is distinguished by a large oak tree and opposite it, at the distance of a mile, is a smaller lowe. These lowes have been known as 'Robin Hood's Shooting Butts', from a belief, that he sometimes practised here, and was able to shoot an arrow between them.

Robert Bage (1730-1801) owned a paper mill next to Mill House. He wrote six novels including Man as he is (1792) and Hermsprong or Man as he is not (1796) which were much admired by Sir Walter Scott.