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David Bowyer Print & Design
01785 253060
[email protected]
7
The Mayor
of Stafford
Borough’s
1614
Town Walk
C
B
The Ancient High House
1)
From Market Square head south down Greengate St (pedestrianised) to South Walls to start
the Walk.
2) Turn Right onto Mill Bank entering Victoria Park by the Mill Wheel path.
3) Follow the pathway through the park keeping the river on your left hand side, passing under the
bridge of Victoria Road
4) Exit the park and follow Tenterbanks along the edge of the park until you get to Broad Eye
Windmill, continue along Broad Eye to Doxey Road
5) Continue on Doxey Road to the pedestrian Crossing, after crossing the road turn right leading
onto Chell Road.
6) Keep to the Pavement (Doxey Road Car Park) crossing at the second pedestrian crossing on
Chell Road.
7) Continue onto Queensway A34 until it joins Goalgate Street, follow the path keeping Gaol
Square Clock (four clock faces) on your right hand side, passing the bus station and turn right
onto North Walls. Continue down North walks crossing Eastgate Street.
8) Continue along North walls turning Right onto South walls
9) Cross Clark Street
10) Cross to the opposite side of the road before you get to Cope Street continue along South
Walls then turn right onto Greengate Street and follow the road up to Market Square.
St. Chad's.
This is the oldest building in Stafford, with a history reaching
back into the twelfth century. Many generations of people
have worshipped here and made their contributions to this
fine building. The
names of some of
them are recorded in
the parish registers
which date back to
1636. Yet this only
represents a part of
our heritage of faith
which stretches back
to the time of St.
Chad who was the
first
Bishop
of
Lichfield (669-672)
and beyond that to St.
Augustine
who
established
the
English Church in the
year 597.
The Ancient High House is one of the finest Tudor buildings
in the country. Once dominating the skyline of Stafford, it is
the largest remaining timber framed town house in England.
Royalty was welcomed to the house in 1642 when King
Charles I stayed there
en route to Shrewsbury,
and the house retains
an extensive collection
of period furniture and
architectural features. It
is also the home of the
Staffordshire Yeomanry
Museum.
Built in around 1595 for
the wealthy Dorrington
family, the ornate timber
framed
building
is
reputed to be the largest
surviving timber framed
town house in England
from the Tudor period.
Along the route you will also see St. Mary’s Church, St. Chad’s
Church and The Ancient High House which are all worthy of a visit.
7
Last standing piece of the wall
The East Gate was situated
at the east end of Eastgate
Street between Backwalls
North (North Walls) and
Backwalls South (South
Walls), until the year 1800
this gate was still standing
and was an arch and on one
side there was a grove for a
portcullis.
Stafford was a ‘Walled Town’ by the middle of the 13th
Century but was in a state of disrepair. The most vulnerable
parts of the town wall had been rebuilt in stone and the three
entrances to the town protected by stone gatehouses. The
work probably began in 1224, when the King spent up to 20
Marks on our walls. In following years, other grants were
made and in 1233 the King gave 60 Royal Oaks from
Cannock Forest to make good three gaps in the remaining
timber walls. The main reason we had both Stone and
Wooden walls surrounding Stafford - Cost!! We just could
not afford to build an ‘All Stone Wall’ to fortify the town.
A
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The earliest references to a church in Stafford are from the
C10th which mention a wooden building on the site of St
Bertelin's Chapel, the foundations of which are still to be
seen at the west end of St Mary's. This was replaced with a
stone structure c.1000A.D. This building appears to have
been largely rebuilt in the C13th and C14th with the addition
of a clerestory and south aisle. There was access from this
chapel to St Mary's via a doorway and the outline can still
be seen on the interior of the west wall.
Until 1593 the octagonal tower was topped by a spire said
to be one of the highest in England but a ferocious storm
that year blew it down and the spire was never rebuilt.
By 1777 St Mary's was in such poor state of repair that it
had to be closed. Some works were carried out on the tower,
roof, parapets and windows to facilitate re-opening but by
1837 the church was once more in a dilapidated condition.
To
undertake
the
necessary restoration
money was raised and
work commenced in
1842. It was completed
in 1844. A.W.N. Pugin
pronounced the project
to
be
"the
best
restoration in modern
times".
Original South Gate location
Name before Domesday
Staitheford
Domesday name:
Stadford and Statford
12th Century name:
Stafford
Stafford’s Name means 'ford' by a 'staithe' (landing place)
Domesday entry: ‘In the City of Stafford the King has 13
prebendary canons. They hold
3 hides from the King in alms.
Land for 9 ploughs. 4 villagers,
8 smallholders and 4 slaves
who have 2 ploughs. A mill at
4s, meadow 2 furlongs in length
and 1 furlong wide.
Value before 1066, 20shillings;
now 60shillings
Stafford was defended by a wall and three gates. On the
south, the walls extended from Mill Bank, where we start our
walk, and where the ‘South Gate’ was situated. (Also known
as Green Gate and where today the name Greengate Street
comes from) This was the main entrance into Stafford by
anyone wishing to enter the town. It was located right on the
main junction where Bridge Street meets Mill Bank,
Greengate Street and South Walls. South Gate (Greengate)
was taken down in 1780.
St Mary’s Church
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Post House, being the old Chetwynd House.
Chetwynd House had been Stafford's General Post Office
since 1914. The interior still maintains many of its original
features.
Built in 1746 by William Chetwynd (whose family seat was
Brocton Hall, now a golf club), the house was sold in the 1780s
to William Horton, a shoe manufacturer.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (playwright, and M.P. for Stafford,
1780 - 1807) was a friend of Horton's and often stayed here.
3
Mill Bank
The two water mill
wheels that are
outside the gates
to Victoria Park
date from 1834. It
has always been
assumed
that
these mill wheels
were sited near to
the original mill
mentioned in the
D o m e s d a y
Survey. During modernisation of this area the timber
foundations of a massive two-wheeled medieval watermill
were found underneath the site of the 19th and 20th century
mill. The remaining timbers were very well preserved, some
being 2ft square. One mill would have been used to grind
corn and the other used for cloth fulling.
You will now enter Victoria Park, The grassed area outside
the College is known as Tenterbanks. In the medieval period
this was used for the drying of cloth. The drying was part of
a process known as Fulling, after fulling the cloth was dried
on tenter-frames and fastened with ‘tenter hooks’.
4
Broad Eye corn mill was built in
1796 using stones taken from the Old
Town Hall (now replaced by the Shire
Hall). The miller lived in a house next
door.
In 1845 steam power was introduced
and the sails were removed in the
1890s.
The building was then used as a warehouse for grain and,
later, by James Marsh, a mineral water manufacturer.
In 1925 the lower floors were converted into a butcher shop,
owned by Mr G. Foster; by 1932 it had become Palmer's
greengrocers.
The houses were demolished in 1930 and the land added
to the Victoria Park extension. In 1951 the windmill was
declared a Grade II listed building. Part of the painting
depicted below shows the windmill and St. Mary’s Church
5
Stafford was, in 913 AD one of Princess Ethelflæd's
(Daugther of King Alfred The Great) military campaign bases
and extensive archaeological investigations, and recent reexamination and interpretation of that evidence now shows
her new BURH (fortified fort dwelling) was producing, in
addition to the Stafford Ware pottery, food for her army
(butchery, grain processing,
baking),
coinage
and
weaponry. The Lady of
Mercia, Ethelflæd, ruled
Mercia for five years after the
death of her father and
husband, dying in Tamworth
in 918.
Artist Impression of the Burh built by The Lady of Mercia 913 AD
The location of this castle was near to the site now occupied
by the mill (corn mill) at Broadeye. The windmill is said it
stands on the foundations of the castle keep. The actual
castle was probably where the College is at Tenterbanks.
Further evidence of this came to light when the college had
an extension built recently. During the clearance of the
ground they came across ancient stonework that turned out
to be a guard robe (a mediaeval toilet) which was mostly
found in castles.
6
Location of a castle at Sainsbury’s
Shortly after the Norman Invasion in 1066, William the
Conqueror had a crude timber and earthen castle hastily
built around 1070 on the same island that Ethelfleda used
for her fortress. It is possible that William used existing
defences put up by Ethelfleda in its construction. In the
Domesday Book the castle is recorded as being destroyed
by 1086.The castle was rebuilt by 1102 and latterly used as
a prison. It was disused and in ruins by the 16th Century.
The castle was known as Kings Castle and in some
historical documents was known as Broadeye. No remains
exist of this castle today. The North Gate was situated in the
centre of Gaol Square and was in ruins by 1680, but was
rebuilt in 1700 and used as a prison. In 1794 it was taken
down during town improvements. The Kings Castle was
sited on the current location of Stafford’s Sainsbury’s
Supermarket