A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 



mining districts of Silverdale and Apedale on the west. Newcastle is therefore 

 a residential rather than an industrial and manufacturing town, and may be 

 regarded as a suburb for the whole of the pottery district. 101 



The rainfall varies greatly in different parts of the county, being especially 

 heavy in the hilly moorland regions of the north and north-east. 



But, taken as a whole, the climate is too damp for corn growing, and 

 both climate and soil are better adapted for pasturage, the central part of the 

 county being composed largely of marls intermixed with a sandy, gravelly 

 soil, found largely also on the borders of the southern coalfield. The rich 

 alluvial deposit of the river valleys produces excellent grass, and even the 

 limestone uplands produce, as Dr. Plot observed in 1686 



a short but fine and sweet pasture, and large oxen. Much more [he adds] can they breed 

 and feed cattle in the rich meadows that adorn the banks of Trent, Blithe, Terne, Churnet, 

 Hamps, and Manifold, and more especially on the famous Dove banks. 11 



With the exception of a tract of light land round Stafford, and extending 

 thence through Lichfield to Tamworth, dairy-farms are the rule, Uttoxeter 

 being specially famous for its dairy produce, which is sent thence daily to 

 London and other parts of the country. 12 



Corn is grown to some extent on the drift plain which lies to the west 

 of the pottery coalfield, but more and more arable land is being turned into 

 pasture, as corn becomes less and less profitable, and the demand for dairy 

 produce increases with the growth of industrial populations in the districts 

 adjoining the agricultural area. 



The poverty of records for the period between the Domesday Survey 

 (1085) and the opening of the twelfth century makes the student of social 

 history in Staffordshire peculiarly grateful for any indication of the life of 

 the people at this time. One very valuable record for a part of the county 

 is to be found in the Burton Chartulary 13 containing the early surveys of the 

 manors belonging to that monastic foundation, and a number of documents 

 concerning the relationship between the monks and their tenants. The date 

 of the surveys has now been conclusively fixed between the years iioo and 

 ii33, u whilst the other documents refer to times as late as the reign of 

 Edward II. 



The surveys show that the tenants on the Burton manors were divided 

 into three main classes, consisting of those who paid rent for their land, and 

 in addition performed certain fixed agricultural services ; others who held their 

 land in return for fairly arduous labour services, with food contributions and 

 an occasional payment, such as \d. at Martinmas ; and finally a third class 

 of cottars who held a cottage and a croft in return for one day's work 

 per week on the lord's land. Among the last class may be placed the 

 ' bovarii,' a few men on each manor who looked after the lord's oxen for 

 the plough-team, and in return for these services possessed a cottage and 

 a small plot of land. 



I0a W. Gibson, ' North Staff Coalfield,' Memoirs of the Geolog. Surv. of End. and Wales, iqoc, pp , 220 

 11 Rob. Plot, The Nat. Hist, of Staff. (1686), 107. 



11 In Leland's day Uttoxeter was famous for its dairy produce. See his I tin. (3rd ed. Hearne, 1769), 

 vii, 26, where he says 'the men of the town useth grazing, for there be wonderful pastures upon Dove ' 

 " The Will. Salt Arch. Stic. Coll. v, pt. i. 



14 Engl. Hist. Rev. , 275 et seq. ; J. H. Round, The Burton Abbey Surv. 



2 7 8 



