it before 1594. Coston Hackett passed down the Hacket family the late 13th century, when it passed by marriage to Robert Leicester. In 1409 it is recorded that Ralph Ardern granted land at a Crofton Hackett to a John Richards. Coston Hackett belonged to John Walsingham's descendants until after the death of William Leicester in 1525, who left it to his nephew John More. The manor was then divided among his daughters. A major share was settled in 1573 on James Dineley, whose daughter Mary married John Child. They sold the manor in 1594 to Edward Skinner of Ledbury, clothier, on whose death in 1633 it passed to his son-in-law Thomas Joliffe, a favourite of Charles I, who accompanied him to the scaffold. His descendant another Thomas Joliffe died childless in 1758, leaving his estate to his niece Rebecca Lowe for life and then to Michael Biddulph, who inherited it in 1791. His grandson sold it in 1812 to Other Windsor, 6th Earl of Plymouth. The oldest buildings in the village are the church and the late 14th century Cofton Hall. King Charles I spent the night of 14 May 1645 at Cofton Hall as guest of his devoted supporter Thomas Jolliffe. The following day, before marching to Chester on 15 May, the Royalist soldiers set the Hall ablaze to prevent it falling into the hands of the Parliamentarian Army. St Michael and All Angels' Church, Cofton Hackett is located on Cofton Church Lane. A church may have existed on the site in the 12th century, as a "chapel" at Cofton is mentioned in a Papal Bull of 1182. The present building certainly dates back to the 14th century and was probably built in 1330 by Robert de Leycester as a chapel for the Manor House. It was a chapel annexed to Northfield until 1866. 20th-century development Between 1917 and the early 1960s Cofton Hackett was the location of the Austin Aero Company's aircraft factory that produced military aircraft during both World Wars and civilian aircraft during the inter-war years. Cofton Hackett's largest structure was the now demolished aircraft factory, known as the Longbridge East Works, that produced both aero engines and complete military aircraft during both the First World War and Second World War. To allow the aircraft to be flown out of Cofton after production, an airfield was built in 1917 and used in both world wars. It