STAFFORD. 



i^ructs arc well paved, and tlie houfcs in general built of 

 i^.one, in a compadl and regular manner. It anciently had 

 four gates, and was defended, except on the fide next the 

 Sow, by a wall, and a ditch fupplied witii water from the 

 river. When taken by the republican army m 1643, the 

 wall was razed, and the ditch filled up, fo that no remains 

 of cither can now be difcovered. Under the charter of Ed- 

 ward VI. the civil government of Stafford was veiled in a 

 mayor, a recorder, ten aldermen, twenty comtnon-council- 

 raen, a town-clerk, and two fergeants at mace. Two re- 

 prefentatives are fent to parliament, and have been fo ever 

 fmce the 23d year of Edward I. The right of cleftion is 

 in the mayor and burgelles ; the number of voters being 

 .ibout four hundred. Tlie chief manufaftures in the town 

 are thofe of boots, (hoes, and cutlery. Tanning is likewife 

 carried on to a confiderable extent, as well for the exporta- 

 tion as home confumption of leather. A weekly market is 

 held on Saturdays, and feven fairs, annually. In the year 

 181 1, the population of Stafford was returned to parlia- 

 ment at 4868 ; the nBmber of houfes 885. The imme- 

 morial cultom of Borough Etigli/lj is flill retained in this 

 town, whereby the youngell ion iucceeds to property, as 

 '■cir at law, in preference to the elder children. Though 

 otafiord may with propriety be confidered as only one parifh, 

 there are two churches, St. Mary's and St. Chad's. The 

 former is a fpacious cruciform (Irufture, conlifting of a 

 nave, two fide aifles, a tranfept, and a chancel of three 

 aifles, with an otlagonal tower in the centre. This church 

 appears to be of very remote origin : it has, however, been 

 zlmott entirely rebuilt, but fome remains of the ancient 

 ilrufture are Itill vifible. The general ftyle of architefture 

 is the early pointed. The font is a fingular remnant of an- 

 tiquity, very large, and aukwardly conltrufled. Its height 

 is three feet three inches : the lower part is two feet fquare ; 

 and is ornamented on three fides with human figures lying 

 flat on their faces : on the fourth fide is the figure of a ram. 

 Among a variety of monuments, ancient and modern, in this 

 church, thofe mod worthy of notice are, an altar-tomb, in 

 honour of lord Edward Afton, of Tixal, and his wife lady 

 Ann ; a monument to the memory of fir Edward Alton, 

 who erefted the ancient manfion of Tixal, tern. Hen. VIII. 

 and his lady Joan ; and one to lady Barbara Crompton, who, 

 as the infcription informs us, " lyeth interred in the parifli- 

 church of St. Gregory, by St. Paules, London." Near 

 the church, to the wellward, formerly ftood an ancient 

 building, which Mr. Pennant conjeftines to have been the 

 dean's houfe. The church of St. Mary, anterior to the 

 reformation, was collegiate : king Stephen, at the com- 

 mencement of his reign, bellowed it on the biffiop and 

 chapter of Lichfield and Coventry. At the diffolution, a 

 dean and thirteen prebendaries were attached to it. The 

 other cliurch of Stafford, St. Chad, is a very ancient edi- 

 fice. Early in the lull century it wascafed witli brick ; but 

 fome portions of the buttrefies of the original building are 

 ftill vifible. St. Chad's parifh is of very fmall extent, not 

 containing more than 20 houfes, the rents of which are 

 chiefly paid to the dean and chapter of Lichfield catliedral. 

 Befidcs the churches, there are places of worfliip for the 

 Quakers, Independents, Frefbyterians, and Melliodills, of 

 wtiich fedts the two latter are numerous. Of the other 

 public buildings, tlie molt confpicuous are ; the county hall, 

 a fpacious modern edifice, fituLted near the centre of the 

 town : it extends a hundred feet in front, and contains many 

 handfome apartments. Behind the hall is a convenient 

 market-place. The county infirm.ary, a plain building, in 

 the Forcgate ; ereftcd about the year 1772, according to 

 Mr. Pennant ; and fupported by voluntary contributions, to 



the annual amount of nearly 900/. The county gaol, 

 fituated oppofite to the infirmary ; an extcnfive modern 

 itrufture, containing about 150 cells or apartments. The 

 free-fchool, an ancient building, founded and endowed (a? 

 appears by an infcription in St. Mary's church) by king Ed- 

 ward VI., in the year 1550. Leland fays, "there is a fre 

 fchool for grammar in Stafford, made by fir Thoma) 

 Countre, parfon of Ingeflre, by Heywodde and Syr Ran- 

 dol, a chantre priefl of Stafford." Various alms-houfes, at 

 different periods, have been built and appropriated for 

 the comfortable accommodation of the aged poor : each 

 tenement has a garden annexed to it. Previous to the diffo- 

 lution of religious hoiifes, Stafford contained feveral monaf- 

 tic eftablifhments. At the north end of the walls ftood a 

 houfe of Francifcanp, or grey friars, founded, Erdefwick 

 fays, by fir James Stafford, of Sandon. King Henry VIII. 

 granted it to James Levefon. A priory of black canona 

 was founded here about the year 1 180, and dedicated to St. 

 Thomas a Becket, ten years after his death. Richard 

 Peche, bifliop of Lichfield and Coventry, had fuch a par- 

 tiahty for this houfe (of which he is by fome authors confi- 

 dered the founder), that, refiiijning his fee, he entered him- 

 felf as one of the members, and fo continued the remainder 

 of his life. At the diflolution it was granted to Rowland, 

 bifhop of Lichfield. This houfe, which was fituated on 

 the banks of the river Sow, about two miles to the E. of 

 Scafford, was inclofed by a flrong flone wall ; fom.e remains 

 of the building are ftill extant. About the middle of the 

 fourteenth century, the Auflln friars founded a religious 

 eltablifhment at the fouthern extremity of the town ; a por- 

 tion of ground having been granted to them by Ralph, lord 

 Stafford, for that purpofe. This houfe was given by queen 

 Mary to Thomas Neve and Giles Ifam. 



About a mile and a half fouth-welt from the town, on 

 the fummit of a hill, are the remains of the callle of the 

 barons of Staflbrd : the chief portion now itanding is the 

 keep, of which each angle is furmountcd by a fmall otlan- 

 gular tower. At a fmall dlllance to the fouth of the caflle 

 flood the manor-houfe, the ufual refidcnce of the ancient 

 and powerful family to which this town has given the title 

 of baron, vifcount, and earl, from the time of William the 

 Conqueror till the beginning of the hilt century, when it 

 became extindt ; but was again revived In the year 1 7S6, by 

 the elevation of earl Gower to the dignity of marquis ot 

 Stadord, which title is now enjoyed bv his fon, the lecond 

 marquis. Among the more diltinguilhed natives ot this 

 town we find John Staflord, a Francilcan friar, a philofo- 

 pher and divine of confiderable celebrity, born tounrds the 

 cloie of the fourteenth century ; Tlioma- Afliebi'rn, an 

 eminent divine of the fame century, who didingullhed him- 

 fe!f as a ftrenuous opponent of WicklKle and his new doc- 

 trines ; Edmund Stalloi d, bifhop of Exeter, and chancellor 

 in the reigns of Richard II. and Henry IV.; Thomas Fitz- 

 heibert, a learned and able writer of the fixteentli and feven- 

 teeiith centuries, who was born in 1552, and died in 1640, in 

 the 88th year of his age. 



About three miles weft from Stafford, on a lofty mounti 

 is an intrencliment, called Blllington Bury. Its area is cir- 

 cular, including feveral acres, and is furrounded in fome 

 parts by one, and in others by two deep ditches. Mr. 

 Pcunant conliders this fortification as having been originally 

 a Britifii poll, fubfeqncntly occupied by the Saxons, whole 

 llations have generally the addition of borough <'r bury. 



At the dlllance ot four miles fonth from Stafford, in the 



angle formed by the juiiflion of the river."; Sow and Trent, 



is Tixal Hall, the feat of Thomas Clifford, c!q. The prc- 



leiit edifice is a plain modern brick building ; but in front 



6 of 



