Another hamlet called Meeson, south of the River Meese, was formerly a separate township of Great Bolas parish.

[2] The placename is attested in medieval documents since c.1200 as Boulewas, Bouldwas, Boulwas and similar forms.

[3] It is believed to derive from a compound whose second element was the Old English word wæsse (Middle English was), possibly meaning 'a riverside place that is prone to quick flooding'; this element is thought to appear also in the names Alrewas, Broadwas, Buildwas, Hopwas, Rotherwas and Sugwas.

[5] Of an earlier church in the same location, dating back to the 13th century, nothing remains except for two stones in the east window.

There is a brass plaque to men of the parish who served in the First World War (paid for by public subscription) another to those who died in service (paid for by their parents), and a third plaque to a man who was killed flying in the Royal Air Force over France in the Second World War.

Henry Cecil found refuge in Thomas Hoggins’s household in June 1789 after fleeing from debt he fell into after his first wife eloped with another man.

As Henry Cecil, he was still married, so from the Consistory Court he got a divorce, as well as an Act of Parliament pronouncing him able to remarry.

At the St Mildred, Bread Street church in London on 3 October 1791, Sarah Hoggins married Henry Cecil again, under his true name.

The name John Jones was still used after the second marriage, as it appears in rate books as well as in Great Bolas Registers at the time.

Manufacturing was the sector with the highest proportion of employees, with 20% of the Great Bolas population working within it.