Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/527

Rh SlAl''i'ORD. STAFFORD. The manufacture of earthenware was little attended to tit the commencement of the last century, and owes much of its prosperity to the enterprise and ingenuity of Josiah "Wedgwood, who commenced working on his own account in 1760, and before his death in 1795 quite changed the character of the pottery business. The population of the Potteries exceeds 80,000. The chief towns in the dis- trict are Stoke-upon-Trent, Longton, Shelton, Burslem, Hanley, and Lane End, but these, though formerly dis- tinct places, have so considerably increased as to pre- sent the appearance of one town; they form together the borough of Stoke-upon-Trent. The finest clays used are principally brought from Dorsetshire, soap- stone from Cornwall, and flints from chalk-pits near Gravesend, and from Wales and Ireland. A con- siderable business in boots and shoes is done in Staf- ford, where tanning is also much attended to. Glass is made on the confines of Worcestershire. Cotton mills have been erected at Eocester and other places, and there are extensive breweries at Burton-on-Trent and Wolverhampton. The county constitutes the arch- deac. of Stafford, in the dioc. of Lichfield and prov. of Canterbury, and comprises 138 whole pars., besides parts of 12 others, and 15 ext. par. places. It is divided for civil purposes into 5 hunds., in 2 divs. : Offlow North, Pirehill, North and South, and Totmonslow, North and South, forming the northern div. ; and Cuttlestono, East and West, Offlow South, and Seisdon, North and South, constituting the southern. The government is en- trusted to a lord lieutenant and custos rotulorum, high sheriff, and about 327 deputy lieutenants and magis- trates. The county returns 17 members to parliament 2 for the northern div., population 289,663, constituency, 10,703 in 1865 ; 2 for the southern div., population 457,280, constituency 10,841 ; 2 each for Stoke-upon- Trent (2,858), Tamworth (451), Wolverhampton (4,533), Stafford (1,495), Lichfield (704), and Newcastle-under- Lyne (976) ; and 1 for Walsall (1,219). Prior to the passing of the Reform Bill the number was only 10. Stafford is the place of election for the northern division, and Lichfield for the southern. The county is in the midland military district and the Oxford circuit. Assizes and quarter sessions are held at Stafford, where the county gaol is situated. County courts are held at 13 places. The county lunatic asylum is at Stafford. Owing to the large manufacturing population, education is not attended to among the lower orders. Staffordshire has 21 market towns, and upwards of 400 smaller towns and villages. It is in the West Midland division for registration purposes, and comprises 16 superintendent registrars' districts, or Poor-Law unions, and 60 sub- districts. It abounds in seats of the nobility and resident gentry, of which the following are the principal : "Trent- ham, Duke of Sutherland ; Ingestrie, Earl Talbot ; Alton Towers, Earl of Shrewsbury; Beaudesert, Marquis of Anglesea ; Stone Park, Earl Granville ; Sandon, Earl of Harrowby ; Sandwell, Earl of Dartmouth ; Shug- borough, Earl of Lichfield ; Aston, Viscount St. Vincent ; Tiddesley, Lord Hatherton ; Blithfield, Lord Bagot ; Enville, Earl of Stamford ; Weston, Earl of Bradford; Chartley, Earl Ferrars. Some of the antiquities have already been noticed in connection with the early history of the county. In addition to these there are some Druid remains at Biddulph ; Danish pillars at Wolver- hampton, Draycot, and Checkley ; ecclesiastical ruins at Fairwell, Tamworth, and Over Arley ; an old cathedral at Lichfield ; abbeys at Burton, Croxton, and Dieulacres ; and castle ruins at Dudley, Stourton, Tamworth, and Tutbury. STAFFORD, the county town of co. Stafford, a municipal and parliamentary borough, market town, and the seat of a Poor-law Union, is 141 miles W.N.W. from London by road, 133 miles by the North- Western rail- way, 29 miles N. from Birmingham, a like distance W. from Shrewsbury. It is situated on the left bank of the river Sow, a tributary of the Trent, about 6 miles from its confluence with that river. It is in the united pars, of S't Mary and St. Chad, in the S. div. of Pirehill hund. The municipal and parliamentary boroughs are co- VOL. m. extensive, comprising an area of 2,510 acres, -with a population in 1851 of 11,829, and in 1861 of 12,532, occu- pying 2,241 houses. The earliest mention of Stafford is in 913, when the Saxon chronicle records that Ethelfleda, Countess of Mercia, and sister of Edward the Elder, there built a fort to keep the Danes in check ; but of this there is now no trace. It is mentioned in Domesday Book as a city under the name of Stafford, or Stafeford. A Norman castle was built in the neighbourhood by Richard de Todeni, or de Stafford, who had obtained a grant of the place from William the Conqueror. The castle was restored in the reign of Edward III., and was visited in 1575 by Elizabeth. During the civil wars between Charles I. and the parliamentarians the royalists withdrew to Stafford after Lichfield was wrested from them, and an indecisive battle was fought early in March, 1643, between the rival parties at Hopton Heath, about 2 miles from the town. Later in the same year the town, which was walled, was taken by Sir William Brereton at the head of a parliamentary force, and sustained considerable injury at their hands. The castle, which is in Castlechurch parish, 1J mile from the town, was also surrendered and demolished. The only trace of the town wall which remains is one of the gates, named Gaol-gate, now used as a blackhole, or bridewell. The custom of borough English prevails. The town is low, but generally well built ; the houses are of stone or brick, and slated. The lower and older portion occupies an irregular four-sided area of about 1J mile in circumference, and is disposed in two princi- pal streets called Gate-street and Gaol Gate-street, with which small squares or open areas are connected by subordinate streets and alleys. On the S. a suburb called Forebridge communicates with the town by a bridge, and on the N. are traces of what seems to have been a suburb. The streets are paved and lighted with gas, and there is a good supply of water from public and private putnps. The county hall with assembly rooms in the market square is of' recent erection, and has a front 120 feet long. The other public buildings are the county gaol, recently erected, county infirmary, district lunatic asylum, theatre, public library, savings-bank, and mechanics' institute. Stafford has returned two members to parliament since the reign of Edward I., constituency 1,495 in 1865. Down to the passing of the Reform Act the right of election was in the resident freemen. It was first chartered in 1206 by John, and is divided under the Municipal Reform Act into two wards, which are governed by 6 aldermen and 18 councillors, from among whom a mayor is chosen. The spring and summer assizes and the quarter sessions for the county are held in the town, which is also the place of election for the northern division of the county. A considerable quantity of leather is tanned in or near the town, and there are some ale breweries, but the principal manu- facture is of boots and shoes, which are made in large quantities, chiefly for the London market and for ex- portation. The Trent Valley railway passes close to the town, and with the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal affords great facilities for commerce. The Poor- law Union and superintendent Registration district comprise 20 parishes. About 1 mile to the S.W. of the suburb of Forebridge, the ruins of the ancient castle occupied a conspicuous position ; they were removed in 1810, and a massive castellated building erected. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Lichfield, val. 365, with a residence, in the patron, of the lord chancellor. The parish church of St. Mary, formerly collegiate, was restored in 1846 at the cost of 16,000. It is cruciform and embattled, with nave, side aisles, and a transept 100 feet long, with a three-aisled chancel. A lofty octagonal tower, containing a peal of eight bells, rises from the intersection ; the upper part of the tower is of recent date. Within the church is an ancient font. In addition to the parish church tbere are the following district churches, viz., St. Chad's, a Norman structure recently restored ; and Christchurch Marston, the livings being perpet. curs., val. respectively 220 and 85. The Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, and 8 x