User:G-13114/Works in progress

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History[edit]

Ancient[edit]

Prehistoric finds suggest scattered settlements in the area, whilst 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-west of the town lies an ancient Iron Age hill fort at Berry Ring. Evidence also exists of Roman settlement in the area around Clark and Eastgate Street.[1]

Anglo-Saxon[edit]

Stafford means "ford" by a staithe (landing place). The original settlement was on a near island, on a gravelly lowland bounded by loop of the River Sow to the south and west (a tributary of the River Trent). The eastern boundary was bounded by a tributary stream called Sparch Pearl ditch, with a marshy area to the north. Despite many drains being constructed in the 19th century, the area is still prone to flooding.[1]

Map of Stafford by John Speed circa 1611

Stafford has been identified as the island of Bethney, or Bethnei where St Bertelin is said to have founded a hermitage about AD 700, before moving to a more remote area.[2][3][1]

Others then settled in the area and named it Stafford. There may have been a settlement there in 913, when Æthelflæd Lady of Mercia founded a burh (defended settlement) at Stafford; one of many founded across Mercia as part of her campaign against the Danes. A mint was founded at Stafford by King Æthelstan (924-39) which continued in operation until the reign of Henry II (1154-89).[1] Stafford also provided an industrial area for centralised production of Roman-style pottery (Stafford Ware),[4] which was supplied to a chain of West Midlands burhs.

The county of Staffordshire was formed at about this time, with Stafford as its county town. Stafford lay within the Pirehill hundred.[5]

Norman and medieval[edit]

In 1069, a rebellion by Eadric the Wild against the Norman conquest culminated in the Battle of Stafford. Two years later another rebellion, led by Edwin, Earl of Mercia, ended in Edwin's assassination and distribution of his lands among the followers of William the Conqueror, who granted Robert de Tonei (later known as Robert de Stafford) the manor of Bradley and one third of the king's rents in Stafford. The estate became the seat of the powerful Stafford family.[6]

Stafford Castle

Stafford Castle, was first built by Robert de Stafford on a nearby hilltop to the west around 1070.[6] It was first made of wood and later rebuilt in stone around 1348. It has been rebuilt since.[7]

By 1086, Stafford was a walled town, with four gates on the roads into the town from the north, east, west and south. The town walls were probably originally wooden, but later rebuilt in stone. By around 1670 the walls were in ruin, and their remnants were gradually demolished.[8]

Redevelopment began in the late 12th century. While the church, the main north–south street (Greengate) and routes through the late Saxon industrial quarter to the east remained, the town plan changed in other ways. A motte was built on the western side of the peninsula, overlooking a ford and facing the site of the main castle of Stafford on the hill at Castle Church, west of the town. Tenements were laid out over the peninsula and trade and crafts flourished until the early 14th century, when a period of upset may have been associated with the Black Death. This was followed in the mid-16th century by another revival.[4]

King Richard II was paraded through the town's streets as a prisoner in 1399, by troops loyal to Henry Bolingbroke (the future Henry IV).[2]

17th century[edit]

When James I visited Stafford, he was said to be so impressed by the Shire Hall and other buildings that he called it "Little London".[2]

The author Izaak Walton was born in Stafford. Portrait by Jacob Huysmans

During the English Civil War, Stafford was initially held by the Royalists; King Charles I visited Stafford shortly after the outbreak of the war in September 1642, staying for three days at the Ancient High House. The town resisted two assaults by the Parliamentarians in February 1643, but later fell to them in May 1643, when a force led by Sir William Brereton captured the town by stealth. Stafford then became the seat of the parliamentary county committee.[1] Stafford Castle was defended by a garrison led by Lady Isabel Stafford, but the Parliamentarians finally won control in 1643. A few months later an order was given for the demolition of the castle.[7] However, Stafford's famous son Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler, was a staunch Royalist.[2]

In 1658 Stafford elected John Bradshaw, who had been judge at the trial of King Charles I, to represent the town in Parliament. During the reign of Charles II, William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford became implicated in the Popish Plot, in which Titus Oates whipped up anti-Catholic feeling with claims of a plot to have the king killed. Lord Stafford was among those accused; he was unfortunate to be the first to be tried and was beheaded in 1680. The charge was false and on 4 June 1685, the bill of attainder against him was reversed.[9]

18th century to present[edit]

The town was represented in Parliament from 1780 by the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. During that period, the town's mechanised shoe industry was founded, the best-known factory owner being William Horton.[2] The shoemaking industry flourished over the next century, and became Stafford's staple industry, at its height in the 1880s, there were 39 manufacturers in the town. The industry went into steady decline from thereon, and by 1958 there was just one manufacturer, Lotus remaining.[10] The last shoe factory was demolished in 1998.[11]

In 1837 the Grand Junction Railway built a line from Birmingham to Warrington to pass through the town and link at Warrington, via another line, with the Liverpool–Manchester railway. Birmingham provided the first connection to London. Other lines followed. Stafford became a major junction, which helped to attract other industries.

The Friars' Walk drill hall was completed in 1913, just in time for the First World War.[12]

On 31 March 2006 the Queen visited the town for the 800th anniversary civic celebrations.

In 2013 Stafford celebrated its 1,100th anniversary year with a number of history-based exhibitions, while local historian Nick Thomas and writer Roger Butters were set to produce the two-volume A Compleat [sic] History of Stafford.

  1. ^ a b c d e Greenslade, Johnson & Currie 1982, pp. 185–187.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Stafford Borough Council – History of Stafford". staffordbc.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  3. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Stafford" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 757.
  4. ^ a b "ArchSearch: Collections description: Anglo-Saxon Stafford. Archaeological Investigations 1954–2004. Field Reports on Line". ahds.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 17 December 2010. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  5. ^ "Pirehill Hundred: History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851". Archived from the original on 10 August 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
  6. ^ a b "Staffordshire has a hands-on history from the Normans". BBC. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Stafford Castle Origins". Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
  8. ^ Greenslade, Johnson & Currie 1982, pp. 199–200.
  9. ^ "Oxford DNB article: Howard, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13948. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2011. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  10. ^ Greenslade, Johnson & Currie 1982, pp. 217–218.
  11. ^ "Closing Room, Lotus Shoe Factory, Stafford". STaffordshire Past track. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  12. ^ "Stafford". The Drill Hall Project. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
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