Stitt and Gatten, two miles north-west, were members of the _Domesday_ manor of Ratlinghope. Between 1204 and 1210, William de Botterell confirmed a moiety of Stitt to Haughmond Abbey. Robert Corbet, of Caus, also gave to the Canons of Haughmond his culture of Gateden, and an assart situate near their culture of Gatteden. There was a church at Stitt in the reign of Henry II., but since the dissolution of Haughmond Abbey nothing more is heard of it, and its district with Gatten was annexed to the parish of Ratlinghope. W. E. M. Hulton-Harrop, Esq., is lord of the manor of Gatten, which, he inherited in 1866 from his maternal grandfather, Jonah Harrop, Esq. The Church of St. Margaret, at Ratlinghope, is a small stone building, consisting of nave and chancel, with south porch, and a wooden bell turret. The original Church erected in the 12th century was no doubt the Priory Church also. The Rev. D. H. S. Cranage says that the mediaeval Church may have entirely disappeared, and that there are no details which prove that the present building is not entirely of post-Reformation date. {ib} The south and only door was made in 1625, and erected by Humfrey Bigge and Thomas Bright, then Churchwardens. The roof may be of the same date. There are two fonts. In 1341, Ratlinghope Church was in the Deanery of Clun. It was afterwards held to be in the Deanery of Pontesbury. It is not named in the _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ of 1534-5. Until the dissolution of the Priory it was considered as extra-parochial and extra-diocesan. The Church was served by the Canons until the dissolution; and no Incumbent seems to have been instituted by the Bishops of Hereford until 1555. The following is the most complete list of the Incumbents we have as yet been able to make out:-- 1549. Sir Lances Philson, clerk, curate. 1555. Laurence Johnson, a Canon of Wigmore, presented by Philip and Mary, and instituted 15th February, 1555. 1587. Richard Davis, curate, presented by William Whittingham, gent. His salary was 7 pounds 13s. 4d. 1755. William Williams, curate. 1758. George Hodges, born at Shrewsbury 1720, educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, B.A. 1743. Rector of Woolstaston 1770-1780. 1769. David Richards, signs in 1767-70 as "Minister," and afterwards as "Curate." 1778. Thomas Williams. 1782. Richard Lloyd, curate. 1795. John Hawkins. 1833. Edward Homfray, died 24th June, 1856. 1857. Edmund Donald Carr, B.A. Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Rector of Woolstaston 1865-1900. Died June, 1900. 1866. William George Clutton Nottley, Rector of Alpheton, Suffolk, 1876-8. 1876. William Henry Whitworth, M.A. and sometime fellow and tutor of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 1885. Henry Anderton. Vicar of Hopton Cangeford 1881, and of Garway 1883-4. Resigned in 1891, and went to live at Chester. 1891. Arthur William Benjamin Walmsley Watts, B.A. Selwyn College, Cambridge. Resigned 1892. Rector of Coates, 1901.