{{Short description|Village in Staffordshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Use British English|date=May 2025}} {{infobox UK place | official_name = Blithbury | country = England | region = West Midlands | static_image_name = The Bull and Spectacles, Blithbury.jpg | static_image_caption = The Bull and Spectacles | static_image_alt = View of the front of a white-washed single-storey building with dormer windows | os_grid_reference = SK083201 | coordinates = {{coord|52.777778|-1.877778|display=inline,title}} | post_town = RUGELEY | postcode_district = WS15 | postcode_area = WS | dial_code= 01889 | constituency_westminster= [[Lichfield (UK Parliament constituency)|Lichfield]] | civil_parish = [[Mavesyn Ridware]] | shire_district = [[Lichfield (district)|Lichfield]] | shire_county = [[Staffordshire]] }} '''Blithbury''' is a small village in [[Lichfield (district)|Lichfield District]], [[Staffordshire]], England. Part of the [[civil parish]] of [[Mavesyn Ridware]], it lies near the [[River Blithe]], about {{convert|3|mi|0}} north of [[Handsacre]], 3 miles north-east of [[Rugeley]], and 3 miles south of [[Abbots Bromley]].

There used to be a [[public house]] on the corner of Blithbury Road and Uttoxeter Road which was called ''The Bull and Spectacles'', but it has now closed.<ref name="pub"/> In the 19th century, the pub had the more common name of ''Bull{{'}}s Head''.<ref name="rhs"/>

In the first half of the 12th century, religious houses for monks and nuns were founded at Blithbury. Within a few decades, only the nuns are mentioned. The order was associated with the nuns of [[Black Ladies Priory]], [[Brewood]].<ref name="rhs"/><ref name="bho"/> It was eventually absorbed by them, so there is no mention of the nuns of Blithbury after the early 14th century.<ref name="rhs"/><ref name="bho"/>

According to [[Douglas Adams]]' 1983 humorous dictionary "[[The Meaning of Liff]]", a Blithbury is "A look someone gives you by which you become aware that they're much too drunk to have understood anything you've said to them in the last twenty minutes".

==References== {{Reflist|refs = <ref name="pub">{{Cite web| url = https://camra.org.uk/pubs/bull-spectacles-blithbury-123998|title=Bull & Spectacles, Blithbury|year = 2020|accessdate = 10 January 2025}}</ref> <ref name="bho">{{Cite web| url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=37843|title = Houses of Benedictine nuns &ndash; the priory of Blithbury|via = British History Online|year = 2009|accessdate = 29 September 2009}}</ref> <ref name="rhs">{{Cite web| url = http://www.kmaone.com/rhs/Blithbury.htm|title = Blithbury|publisher = Ridware History Society|year = 2005|accessdate = 29 September 2009}}</ref> }}

==External links== {{Commons category-inline|Blithbury}}

{{Monasteries in Staffordshire |state=expanded}}

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[[Category:Villages in Staffordshire]] [[Category:Lichfield District]]

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