HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 357 



was advanced in Parliament, to the dignity of Duke of Lancaster, 

 with great splendour and solemnity. He died in 1398, being suc- 

 ceeded by his eldest son, Henry of Bolingbroke, who, as Henry the 

 4th, assumed the Crown of England. Ever since his accession to 

 the Throne, the possessions of the Duchy of Lancaster (including 

 this Castle and Manor) have been virtually united to the Crown, 

 though separated therefrom in point of form, by the policy of diffe- 

 rent Monarchs.* 



The Manor and site of the Castle, of which nothing is left but 

 the foundations, are now held by the Marquis of Stafford, as 

 Lessee of the Crown in right of the Duchy of Lancaster. The 

 pool which surrounds the site of the Castle, and the adjoining 

 mills, were granted by the Crown, in the 8th year of James I. to 

 Ralph Sneyd, Esquire, (an ancestor of their present owner Walter 

 Sneyd, Esquire,) subject to a fee-farm rent of 14. 6s. Sd. The 

 Coal Mines under all the Copyhold Lands within this Manor are 

 the property of the Duchy, and now yield a considerable revenue. 

 They are worked extensively, for the consumption of the Potteries, 

 by the Lessee of the Crown, Lord Viscount Granville. Within the 

 limits of the Borough, all Manorial Franchises have long been ex- 

 ercised by the body corporate. 



The town was first incorporated, as above-mentioned, by Hfinry 

 the 3d, on 18th September, 1235. His Charter was twice confirmed 

 by Edward the 3d, viz. once in 1344, f and afterwards in 1372,i and 

 subsequently, in 1378, it received confirmation by Richard the 2d. 

 In 1281, Edward the 1st, at the instance of his brother Edmund, 

 added the Grantjj of a Fair for three successive days, viz. on the 

 Feast of the Holy Trinity, and on the eve and morrow of that 

 day ; and other Fairs were afterwards added by Edward the 3d and 

 Henry the 6th,5[ 



The early Charters do not contain the style of Incorporation; but 

 it appears by the Records of the Borough, which are extant from 

 the year 1368, that a Mayor and two Bailiffs, besides other inferior 

 Officers, were annually elected. Queen Elizabeth, by Charter 

 dated in 1590,** confirmed all the former Grants, and added many 



Blackstone's Commentaries, llth Edit. vol. 1. p. 119. 

 f Calendarium Rotulorum in the Tower, published 1802, p. 149. 



Original Charter amongst the Borough Records. 



% Ibid., but the date obliterated, and here supplied from the Calendar. JRot, 

 in the Tower, p. 200. || Original Charter amongst the Borough Records. 

 * Calendar. Rotulorum in the Exchequer, published 1803, pp. m & 199; 

 ** Original Charter amongst the Borough Records. 



