[8] Reference is made in a document from 1587 which records annual rent that was due from the Chapel of Saint Peter.

The long gone chapel was located just west of the village outskirts north of Hopton Lane in a field still known as Church Hill grid reference SJ 957265 The Battle of Hopton Heath was a fought between Parliamentarian forces led by Sir John Gell and Sir William Brereton and a Royalist force under Spencer Compton, 2nd Earl of Northampton.

The events leading to this battle centered on the concerns of King Charles I over the royalist influence in Staffordshire.

The King had ordered the Earl of Northampton to lead a force north from Banbury to secure the town of Stafford.

[10] Having secured Stafford, the Earl led his 1,200 troops, mostly cavalry, out to confront a Parliamentarian army of 1,500.

The battle took place on Hopton Heath which at the time was a landscape of heathland with birch scrub but with enclosed grazing land around the present-day Heathyards.

Although the Earl of Northampton was killed in the battle, the Royalists had the better of the encounter and had captured eight Parliamentary guns and claimed victory.