HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. W 



From the time of the establishment of the Heptarchy, Staffordshire 

 Blways formed a part of the kingdom of Mercia. Alfred, who may 

 justly be called the first English monarch, about three years before 

 his death, drove the Danes from Bridgnorth, and they never after- 

 wards troubled him. He now proceeded to divide his kingdom 

 into shires or counties, hundreds and tythings : this division was 

 specified in a book called the Roll of Winchester, where Alfred 

 kept his court; but, although often referred to by ancient writers, 

 no copy of this book has been preserved. This part of Mercia then 

 took the name of Staffordshire, from Stafford, a town situated 

 near the middle of it, and so called from a shallow 7 place in the 

 river Sow, on which it stands, that could be passed by the help of 

 a staff only. 



The whole Saxon Heptarchy was once divided into hides of 

 land, which division included only the cultivated part. Antiqua- 

 ries rate the hide of land at one hundred acres of arable (the mea- 

 dows and woodlands not being included) and a hide of land was as 

 much as one team of oxen could manage in a year : Mercia con- 

 tained 30,000 hides.* The Hyde-farm, near Breewood, and Hyde- 

 ley, near Stafford, are so called from this method of dividing land. 



From the first division of this county it has always been in five 

 hundreds, Offlow, Totmanslow, Pirehill, Seisdon, and Cuddlestone: 

 the two first had their names from Lows or bury ing-places; the 

 third is named from a hill near Stone; the fourth from a village, the 

 importance of which is now forgotten ; and of Cuddlestone nothing 

 remains but a bridge over the Penk, a mile above Penkridge, 

 called Cuddlestone-bridge. 



The NORMAN CONQUEST (1060) forms a most important period in 

 the history of this country. A total change of circumstances took 

 place, and many ancient families had the mortification of seeing 

 their manors and lands distributed amongst Norman favourites, 

 and themselves reduced from affluence to poverty. Besides the 

 royal demesnes in this county, the Conqueror gave Hugh de Mont- 

 gomery Earl of Arundel, thirty manors; Robert de Stafford, eighty- 

 one lordships; Henry de Ferrers, seven manors, besides the castle 

 and borough of Tutbury; arid to William Fitz Ansculph, twenty- 

 five manors : these great barony divided their baronies into lesser 



* The hide of land was then valued at about GJ!. or Is. per acre upon 120 

 acres; when ahove that price, it was considered us a mark of the extra vngance 

 of the times, and the ambition of the laity : but whether this was the annual 

 rent, or fee-simple, does not appear. 



