He was the second son of Andrew Giffard of Chillington, in the parish of Brewood, Staffordshire, by Catherine, daughter of Sir Walter Leveson, was born at Wolverhampton in 1642.
Catholic recusancy was strong in the surrounding countryside, under the leadership of the Giffard family of Brewood, who succeeded in building a Catholic chapel in the guise of a private house, just to the west of St. Peter's.
Brewood |
In 1535, just before the Dissolution of the Monasteries the priory drew an income from lands and rents in Chillington and Horsebrook, both in Brewood parish, and in Bradley, Broom, Kidderminster, Albrighton, Dawley, and Tong: these were worth £11 1s.