512 
STAFFORDS HIRE. 
oval, much elongated, and stretching from north to south. 
Its extreme length is 60 miles, the greatest breadth from east 
to west 38 miles, and the average breadth from 15 to 20. It 
lies within the parallels of 52. 23. and 53. 13. N. lat. and 
between 1. 36. and 2. 27. W. long. It contains 1196 
square miles, or 765,000 acres, with 254 inhabitants to each 
mile. It is divided into five hundreds, viz., Cuttlestone, 
Offlow, Pyrehill, Seisdon, and Totmanslow ; and 183 
parishes, in which are one city, Lichfield; three boroughs, 
Stafford, Newcastle, and Tamworth; and 17 other market 
towns, viz., Abbot’s Bromley, Brewood, Burton, Burslem, 
Cheadle, Eccleshall, Hanley, Lane-End, Leek, Longnor, 
Penkridge, Rugeley, Stone, Uttoxeter, Walsall, Wednesbury, 
and Wolverhampton. It sends ten members to parliament, 
two for the county, two for Lichfield, and two for each of the 
three boroughs. 
The aspect of Staffordshire is various; a range of hills 
runs along the north-western border, spreading out towards 
the north, over the whole breadth of the county. These 
hills are termed the Moorlands: they form the beginning of 
that chain of hills which extend northwards through York¬ 
shire to the borders of Scotland. To this bleak and hilly 
district in the north and north-west, the other parts of the 
county in the south, middle, and east, present a striking 
contrast, being generally level, or only interspersed with 
gentle eminences. A few detached hills, however, rise to a 
greater height, such as the limestone hills of Bowley, the hills 
of Clent and Barr-Beacon, and various others of less eleva¬ 
tion, as the high grounds on Cannock heath, the hills of 
Bushbury and Essington, Kinver-Edge, Tettenhall-Wood, 
and some places near Enville. Cannock heath, which 
was anciently covered with a great forest of oak, pre¬ 
sents now the appearance of a naked and barren waste, 
and scarcely a tree remains to enliven the scene. Accord¬ 
ing to the trigonometrical survey, Weaver hill, one of the 
highest peaks of the Moorlands, is elevated 1154 feet above 
the level of the sea; Ashley heath, 803; and Castle Ring, 
715. According to Pitt’s survey, Bushbury hill is elevated 
650 feet; Barr-Beacon, 750; the highest peak of Rowley 
hills, 900 feet. The rivers of Staffordshire rise mostly in 
these high grounds within the county, and are none of them 
of any great magnitude, but are, notwithstanding, of vast 
benefit to the county, by supplying the water for its exten¬ 
sive system of artificial navigation. The Trent is the prin¬ 
cipal river, and to which most of the other streams are 
tributary. It rises in the northern extremity of the county, 
among the Moorlands, near Biddulph, and traverses the 
whole county from north-west to south-east, running in a 
winding course through the middle of it, first southwards by 
the potteries and Stone, then eastwards to its junction with 
the Tame on the east of Lichfield ; and lastly, north-east¬ 
wards to Burton, where it enters Derbyshire, after a course 
of upwards of 50 miles. In its course it receives, either 
directly or through other channels, the following waters, 
which mostly rise also in the Moorlands:—the Dove, the 
Manyfold, and the Hamps or Hanse; the two latter of which 
run under ground a considerable way, near Ilam; the 
Churnet, the Blythe, the Teyn, the Sow, and the Penk. 
The Tame rises in the south of the county, and passing by 
Tamworth, joins the Trent near Wichnor. The Stour and 
Smestal run southwards into the Severn, which itself runs 
through the county for a mile or two on the south-west. 
Some lakes occur in this county, but they are not numerous, 
nor of much importance; the principal is that of Aqualate, 
1848 yards long, and 672 broad. The climate of this 
county varies considerably with the elevation of the ground; 
but even in the low lands, the air is sensibly colder than in 
many of the more southern counties. The Moorland is a 
dreary and cold track; the snow lying long. The west wind 
here usually brings rain, but the east and south winds fair 
weather, unless the wind changes to the south from the west, 
in which case the rain continues. The climate, on the whole 
rather inclines to wet; and upwards of 36 inches of rain are 
supposed to fall annually. The hay harvest is from the 
middle of June to the end of July. Corn harvest is in Au¬ 
gust and September; but in some early seasons, pease, oats, 
and barley, have been harvested about the end of July! 
The strong clayed soil prevails mostly in two very consider-" 
able tracks: the one lies between the Trent and the Dove, 
extending from Burton westwards, nearly to Stowe; the 
other extends from Stowe southwards to Brewood, and’from 
Stafford to the western border of the county. A small track 
also occurs at the south-western point of the county, near 
the Severn. The light soil occurs in a district which stretches 
from the Trent southwards along the Tame and the eastern 
border of the county, nearly to Birmingham ; and from the 
Tame westwards beyond Lichfield, in another district on 
the south-west, extending on each side of the river Stour 
from Pattingham southwards to Worcestershire; and in a 
third smaller district, westward of Brewood. The calcare¬ 
ous district is of considerable extent, and situated chiefly 
between the Dove and the town of Ipstones on the west • 
and between Farley on the south, andWarslow on the north;’ 
two other tracks of smaller extent occur at Dudley and 
Walsall. The mixed soil comprehends all the rest of the 
county. The meadow and pasture land extends along the 
banks of the principal rivers and canals, traversing, along 
with them, all the other districts indiscriminately. They 
usually partake of the nature of the arable soils in their neigh¬ 
bourhood, with the addition of the sediment of water, when 
within reach of the streams. In some particular spots, peat 
earth forms the soil in the meadow ground, and when pro¬ 
perly drained and meliorated, becomes valuable pasture and 
meadow land. Of this arable there are 200,000 acres of clay 
loam, or friable mixed loam ; 200,000 acres of gravelly and 
sandy loams or other mixed, including calcareous soils; and 
100,000 acres of light, sandy, gravelly, or other soils, tolerably 
adapted for turnip. Of the uncultivated lands, to the amount 
of 180,000 acres, there are 39,040 of roads, rivers, canals, 
&c. and 141,760 of waste lands, forests, woods, &c., 
of which 100,000 acres may be set down as irreclaimable. 
Staffordshire is not very remarkable for its agriculture; the 
industry aud resources of the county being more directed to 
mines and manufactures. Of late years much has been done 
to introduce every established improvement. A general 
county agricultural society, upon an enlarged and liberal 
plan, and one near Newcastle, have been founded. They 
have done much to encourage the best modes of cultivation • 
but hitherto their exertions have not been attended with all 
the good effects which could be wished. Underground 
draining to a very great extent, has been lately executed in 
this county, though in many instances not very substantially. 
The value of estates varies from 10,000/. a-year, to that of 
the smallest freeholder. The farms are of all sizes, from 20 
acres to 500; but the smaller ones are much less numerous 
than formerly. Leases are often granted for 21 years. The 
cultivated lands of the county are nearly all inclosed, not 
more thanj 1000 acres now remaining open. The fences 
are generally bad, being a mixture of the black and white 
thorn, hazel, alder, maple, bramble, and briars. They 
are ill kept, occupy much land, and are full of gaps. The 
field produce commonly Cultivated, is whea rye, barley, 
oats, beans, peas, vetches, buck-wheat, hemp, flax, turnips, 
potatoes, cabbages, rape; to these may be added clovers, 
trefoils, and two or three of the real grasses. That of turnip 
has been much extended of late; but the defective course 
almost generally pursued is fallow, wheat, oats, seeds. 
Lime is now used in considerable quantities, in place of a 
bad clay marl; and a large portion of the arable land is laying 
down rapidly to grass. Turnip cabbage has been also tried, 
as well as sainfoin, lucerne, burner, and other artificial 
grasses. The practice of drilling has made considerable 
progress, but much of the sowing is still performed in the 
old broadcast way. Kitchen garden stuffs are sufficiently 
abundant, but fruits fall much short of the consumption 
of the county. The grass lands of this county are of very 
considerable extent, comprehending all the low land along 
the courses of the several rivers. These are in many parts 
fertilized by the floods of the rivers, and yield a very rich 
pasturage. On the banks of the Dove in particular, the land 
is 
