| Whittington | |
Whittington from the north showing St.Giles Church on the left and the heath in the distance on the right |
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Whittington
Whittington shown within Staffordshire |
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| OS grid reference | SK162085 |
|---|---|
| Parish | Whittington |
| District | Lichfield |
| Shire county | Staffordshire |
| Region | West Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LICHFIELD |
| Postcode district | WS14 |
| Dialling code | 01543 |
| Police | Staffordshire |
| Fire | Staffordshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Lichfield[1] |
| List of places: UK • England • Staffordshire | |
Whittington is a village and civil parish[2] which lies approximately 3 miles south east of Lichfield in the Lichfield district of Staffordshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,591. The parish council is a joint one with Fisherwick.[3] The Coventry Canal borders the village to the north and east.
Most famous for the military barracks there known locally as Whittington Barracks.
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The name Whittington is believed to come from Old English, and to mean farm associated with Hwita.[4]
The village has long had a church dedicated to St. Giles. However, the 13th century building was destroyed by fire in 1760, and was rebuilt in Georgian style using sandstone quarried from Hopwas Hayes wood. The church contains memorial panelling for Samuel Lipscomb Seckham (1827–1900), architect and High Sheriff of Staffordshire, who lived at Whittington Old Hall, a 16th century mansion.[5]
One family produced three vicars of Whittington: the Levett family. Rev. Richard Levett served as vicar from 1743 to 1751. His son, also Rev. Richard Levett, served as vicar of Whittington from 1795 to 1796. And Rev. Thomas Levett served for forty years, from 1796 to 1836.[6] There are memorials to the Levetts in St. Giles Church.[7] Large landowners, the family also established charitable gifts towards the Whittington Free School.[8][9][10] A subsequent rector of Whittington was Hon. Rev. George Barrington Legge, son of William Legge, 4th Earl of Dartmouth, who was married to the daughter of John Levett of Wychnor Park.
The co-founder of Marks & Spencer plc, Thomas Spencer d. 1905, is buried in St. Giles Church, Whittington.
The military barracks were known as the Lichfield Army Training Regiment. Construction of the Barracks for the Depots of the two Regiments and for a Militia Battalion (of which there were four in the county) started in 1877. During the Second World War, Whittington Barracks was essentially handed over to the US Army to serve as their 10th Replacement Depot.
To the west and south of the village lies Whittington Heath. The heath was the originally the site of the Lichfield races which had moved from Fradley in 1702. During the 18th century they were one of the largest and well attended meeting in the Midlands – in 1773 a grandstand was erected near the Lichfield-Tamworth Road. However during the course of the 19th century the popularity of the races dwindled, and military use of the heath grew. In 1875, the Marquess of Anglesey was approached by the War Department and asked if he would sell Whittington Heath for the building of a barracks, to which he agreed. October 29, 1880 was the date recorded as the formal handing over of the newly built barrack to the military. In 1895 the last race meeting was held when the war office declared it was "undesirable to hold a race meeting at the gate of the barracks.". The Lichfield races are still remembered the name of a local pub in Freeford called the Horse & Jockey. In Lichfield, there is another pub called "The Scales" was where the race jockeys were "weighed in".
The old grandstand originally became a soldiers home, although it is now the base of the Whittington Heath Golf Course. Golf had been played in the area as the Whittington Barracks Golf Course since 1910 but the land was not brought out from the area until 1994.
The barracks has been a training centre for the Army since 1881 was home to Army Training Regiment Litchfield, which trained new recruits on their Phase 1 Common Military Training (ie. becoming soldiers) from The Royal Signals and The Royal Engineers, from 2002 until 2008 when Major General Andrew Farquhar CBE, General Officer Commanding the Army's 5th Division, inspected the recruits and took the salute before the Army Training Regiment's flag was lowered for the very last time. Training for The Royal Engineers moved to the Army Training Regiment in Bassingbourn, while The Royal Signals moved to the Army Training Regiment in Pirbright.
The Army Development and Training Centre, the new Regional Rehabilitation Unit (West Midlands) and the Lichfield Support Unit remain at Whittington Barracks.
The site is also home to The Staffordshire Regiment Museum. As of 2007 Whittington Barracks became the home for Regimental Headquarters of the newly formed Mercian Regiment.
In 2008 the Labour Government set in motion the centralisation of all planning and training of the Defence Medical Services at Whittington Barracks. The relocation of the Headquarters of the Surgeon-General (HQSG) and major components of the Joint Medical Command (JMC) is proceeding to plan in accordance with approvals given in July 2008.
The new HQ, named Coltman House, has been built and is now fully occupied. Alongside the HQSG, the elements of the JMC now at Whittington comprise the defence medical group and the JMC HQ previously at Fort Blockhouse, Gosport, Hampshire, the Director of Healthcare previously based in Whitehall, the Defence Dental Service previously located at RAF Halton, Buckinghamshire, and the Defence Postgraduate Medical Dean, previously located in Birmingham at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Selly Oak Hospital. The single service medical heads, the Army Medical Services, Royal Navy Medical Branch and Royal Air Force Medical Branch.
A second phase at the barracks – now renamed Defence Medical Services Whittington – is also anticipated to begin in the summer of 2010. This will include new training facilities, a new learning centre, a new lecture theatre, new messes for officers, warrant officers and NCOs – and a new junior ranks dining and leisure facility.
All these moves from other parts of the country will clearly make Whittington and Lichfield the national centre for military medical training and planning in the United Kingdom.
This, combined with the nearby Armed Forces Memorial, is helping to put Lichfield on the military map of Britain and has is good news for the local economy.
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