The family of Cresswell, which has been in possession of considerable estates in the county of Salop for upwards of two centuries, was anciently at Barnehurst, in the parish of Tottenhall,co. stafford, where it had a fine old manor house, and enjoyed an extensive property. The only vestige of the ancient mansion now left, is a square ivy-grown tower and gateway, which remains a pleasing relic of the architecture of olden times.
The Cresswells appear to have been established in Staffordshire from a very early period, and to have ever maintained a high position among its great landed properties. Shaw in his 'History and Antiquities of Shropshire' observes, that there was an estate called after their name near Stafford, where a branch of the family resided, and whence he considers that they originally sprung.