Our History

The Parish Church Of Coven, dedicated to St Paul, dates from the year 1857, before which time Coven was in the spiritual care of the parish of Brewood. The name of the manor of Coven appears to date back to Alan de Coven who held a Knight’s Fee under Robert of Stafford in 1166.

The manor was held, either by inheritance or purchase by various people including de Pendeford, Burnel, Purcell, de Shareshill, Harcourt, Leveson, Littleton, Lane, Wrottesley and Barbor. From Barbor it was purchased along with several other local properties, by the Hon. F. Monckton, M.P. for Stafford from 1780 to 1807. This was a significant event for Coven, because a successor of the family gave the land on which the church was built.

Until 1857 the Brewood clergy looked after the spiritual needs of Coven. The half-timbered house dated 1679 in the village is said to have been for a member of the Brewood clergy, and the field on which the Methodist Chapel now stands was once known as Parson’s Croft.

On December 24th 1855 Mr. George Monckton signed a document formally giving a piece of land about two acres in extent, part of a seven acre field known as “Upper Cow Pasture”, for the building of a church and a parsonage, and the provision of glebe land for the use of the Minister. The building of the church had already begun. Mr. G. Monckton gave £1000 towards the cost, and Mr. Thomas Giffard, who was Lord of the Manor of Brewood, gave the stones from which the church is built.

A stone quarry had recently been opened in Somerford Lane, at the corner of the Brewood and Coven road, and from this and another nearby quarry came the stone known as New Red Sandstone, which was also used for Bishop’s Wood Church in 1851 and for Coven.