Staffordshire

V

Education and Culture

Staffordshire University has campuses in Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent, and Keele University is near Newcastle-under-Lyme. Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler, was born in Stafford in 1593, and his cottage at Shallowford, a short distance north of the city, is maintained as a museum. The cathedral city of Lichfield was the birthplace of Dr Samuel Johnson, and the house where he was born is now a museum filled with Johnson memorabilia. The novelist Arnold Bennett was born in Hanley in 1867; his “Five Towns” novels feature the Potteries.

Staffordshire is home to two professional football clubs—Port Vale FC and Stoke City FC are both based in Stoke-on-Trent and play in the English Football League.

VI

Places of Interest

There are several museums in Stoke-on-Trent, including the working Gladstone Pottery Museum, the Etruria Industrial Museum, the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, and Ford Green Hall (a 17th-century house complete with period garden). Burton upon Trent has a museum concerned with brewing. Alton Towers, one of the country’s most successful amusement parks, is a short distance east of Stoke-on-Trent. At Tutbury, north of Burton upon Trent, are the ruins of a 12th-century castle where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned on two occasions. Moseley Old Hall, just north of Wolverhampton, is an Elizabethan house where Charles II took refuge after the Battle of Worcester; the bed he slept in is on view, as well as the cupboard in which he hid. In Stafford the largest timber-framed townhouse in England, dating from 1595, can be seen. Lichfield’s Anglican cathedral dates mainly from the 13th and 14th centuries, and is remarkable for having three spires, which are known familiarly as “the Ladies of the Vale”. Just to the south of Stoke-on-Trent lie Trentham Gardens, with a serpentine lake designed by Lancelot Brown in 1759, a 19th-century terrace garden, and an Italianate garden designed by Sir Charles Barry. There are also lakes for fishing.

VII

Economy

In the local government reorganization of 1974, Staffordshire lost a major part of its economy when the industrial areas of Wolverhampton, Walsall, and West Bromwich were transferred to the West Midlands. The latest administrative changes mean that Stoke-on-Trent has also been removed from the county, at least in terms of economic planning and development, and local finance. The city remains Britain’s pottery centre, manufacturing everything from fine china to earthenware pipes and bricks. Within the area administered by the county council the main sources of employment are now the electronics and plastics industries, brewing, agriculture, the distribution industries, tourism, and education. The production of chemicals, tyres, glass, and footwear are other local industries. Some coal mining continues in the north of the county, with both opencast and deep pit workings. Burton upon Trent, which has long been famous for its beer, is the main centre of brewing. The brewing activity in the town originated with Benedictine monks who founded an abbey there in 1004. Agricultural activities focus on dairy farming, the raising of crops for fodder, and market gardening.

VIII

History

There are Neolithic (Stone Age) burial grounds in the north-east of the county, and a number of Iron Age hill forts. The Roman Road, Watling Street, which ran from London to Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury, crosses the southernmost part of the county. South-west of Lichfield, at Wall Roman Site, the foundations of a bathhouse and an inn have been excavated; these formed part of a Roman staging post, Letocetum, on Watling Street. From the 7th to the 9th centuries Staffordshire formed the central part of Mercia, which was ruled from Tamworth, while Lichfield became the main religious centre. At the end of the 9th century the county was plundered extensively by the Danes, and much conflict continued in the 10th and 11th centuries.

The town of Stafford was founded by Aethelflaed, the daughter of Alfred the Great, and was originally named Betheney. A castle was built there by William I, and in 1206 King John granted Stafford a charter giving it borough status. During the English Civil War, the town supported the Royalist cause, but was occupied by Parliamentary forces, who destroyed the 11th-century town walls and the castle. In the 18th century the county became the recognized home of British porcelain and pottery-makers, to the extent that “Staffordshire” became the widely known name for their products, and especially for the ornamental figures that were produced. The most celebrated of all English pottery-makers, Josiah Wedgwood, set up his own business in Burslem in 1759, and rapidly established his reputation. In 1769 he built one of Britain’s first modern factories at Etruria, the village he established near Burslem, his birthplace. In 1764 Josiah Spode set up a factory in Stoke-upon-Trent and developed a highly successful business producing fine earthenware. His son, also Josiah, led the development of bone china around the turn of the century. His marketing success resulted in bone china becoming the Standard English porcelain body. One of Josiah senior’s best-known pupils was Thomas Minton, who set up his own factory at the end of the 18th century.