HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [19 



vated about 420 feet, and the vale of Trent varies from that level 

 to about 200 feet at Burton, and is consequently in a mild and 

 temperate climate, though in 53 of latitude. The Vale of Trent 

 may be considered as the Garden of Staffordshire, and the first 

 families of the county have accordingly taken up their residence in 

 this salubrious tract, which includes the noble mansions of Trent- 

 ham, Sandon, Ingestrie, Shugborough, Blithfield, Hagley near 

 Rugeley, Beaudesert, and many others. This part of the county 

 is beautifully varied in its surface, is well wooded, and exceed- 

 ingly fertile. 



North of the Trent the country rises gradually into hills and 

 mountains, which continue through the northern counties into Scot- 

 land, and have been termed the back-bone of the kingdom. The 

 part extending into Staffordshire, called the Moorlands, is a rough, 

 dreary, cold tract, the snow lying long on it. The Moorlands con- 

 sist in part of gravelly hills, impracticable to the plough from un- 

 evenness of surface : other portions consist of high moors, and peat 

 mosses, where peat is dug for fuel, the soil beneath being a gravelly 

 clay. A considerable part of the county is upon a lime-stone 

 bottom, in many parts rising out of the main surface in huge cliffs : 

 the lime-stone is covered with good calcareous loamy e^rth, and is 

 the best part of the Moorlands, but the elevation is too great to 

 ripen corn in due season : oats have been unripe in November, and 

 no other grain is sown. The elevation of a hill called Bunster, near 

 Ham, is propably more than 1200 feet, that of the Weaver-hills 

 1500, and that of the highest hills north of Leek 1800 to 2000 or 

 more : this is equal to 10 or 12 degrees of latitude, and brings the 

 climate to a level with that of the lowlands on the Arctic Circle, 

 where the sun does not rise t all on our shortest day. ' This land 

 is better adapted to grass than corn ; the grass, clinging to the 

 earth, is less exposed, and the humid climate is favourable to its 

 growth. 



Soil. The soil of this county is various, and may be divided into 

 1. The Argillaceous, constituting the stiff and strong lands ; 2. Si- 

 liceous, or the loose and light sandy lands ; 3. Calcareous, as in 

 the lime-stone districts ; and, 4. In the valleys, and again on the 

 highest hills, peat-earth, composed of the roots of aquatic vege- 

 tables, saturated with water. The light soils have sometimes a 

 considerable mixture of pebbles, and are then termed gravelly 

 loams ; the clay soils are of two kinds : 1. the strong, stubborn, 

 harsh, tenacious clay, or clay loam; 2. the more mild and tractable, 



