STAFFORDSHIRE, a county (inland), bounded on
the north and north-west by Cheshire, on the west
by Shropshire, on the south by Worcestershire and a
detached portion of Shropshire, on the south-east by
Warwickshire, and on the east and north-east by a
small projecting portion of the county of Leicester, and
by Derbyshire. It extends from 52° 23' to 53° 14'
(N. Lat.), and from 1° 33' to 2° 22' (W. Lon.); and
includes an area of one thousand one hundred and
forty-eight square miles, or seven hundred and thirtyfour
thousand seven hundred and twenty statute acres.
The population, in 1821, was 341,040. Its ancient
British inhabitants were the Cornavii, whose territory,
on its subjection by the Romans, was included in the
division called Flavia Ctesuriensis. On the completion
of the Anglo-Saxon Octarchy, it was included in the
powerful kingdom of Mercia, several of the principal
towns of which were situated within its limits. In thfe
year 705, a battle was fought between Cenred, King of
Mercia, and Osred, King of Northumbria, near Maef,
in this county. Staffordshire shared largely in the calamitous
results of the Danish invasions. The Danes,
however, were defeated with great slaughter by the
Saxons in a battle fought in the reign of Edward the
Elder, early in the tenth century, either near Tettenhall,
or at Wednesfield, in the south-western part of the
county. In the reign of Henry I., Robert de Belesme,
Earl of Shrewsbury, in open revolt, in support of the
claim of Robert Duke of Normandy to the English
crown, committed great ravages in Staffordshire. In
the year 1322, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, in rebellion
against Edward II., was defeated at Burton tipon Trent,
whence he was pursued to Pontefract. During the sanguinary
struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster,
the Earl of Salisbury, proceeding, with a body
of about five thousand men, to join the Duke of York,
who then lay at Ludlow, was intercepted at Blore heath
by the royal army, amounting to ten thousand men,
under the command of Lord Audley: an engagement
ensued, in which, by a skilful manoeuvre, the earl succeeded
in gaining the victory, and Lord Audley himself
was slain, together with two thousand four hundred of
his men, almost all from Cheshire: Margaret of Anjou,
consort of Henry VI., who beheld the contest, fled to
Eccleshall castle. In the great civil war of the seventeenth
century, both parties had numerous active supporters
in this county. In 1643, a smart action occurred
on Hopton heath, near "Stafford, between a small party
of royalists, under the Earl of Northampton, and some
parliamentarian forces, under Sir John Gell and Sir William
Brereton: the royalists gained some advantage, but
the earl, being too eager in the pursuit, was surrounded
and slain. Stafford soon after surrendered to the parliament,
as also did the town of Wolverhampton and
the castle of Eccleshall, the latter only after a severe
siege, during which Sir William Brereton signally defeated
a party of royalists under Col. Hastings, who attempted
its relief: in the early part of this contest also,
Sir William Brereton had reduced the castle of Tutbury,
S TA 147 STA
after a vigorous siege. In 1643, Burton upon Trent
was plundered by the parliamentarian army, who left
a garrison in it. Lichfield Close, the fortified part of
that city, which was held by the royalists, was first be
sieged in March 3 643, by Lord Brook, who, being slain
in the course of the operations, was succeeded in the
command by Sir J. Gell, to whom the place shortly
after surrendered; but the parliamentarian garrison
left by this commander, after a brave resistance> was,
on the 31st of the following month, compelled to deliver
it up to Prince Rupert, who advanced hither from
the reduction of Birmingham: this place remained in
the hands of the royalists until about twelve months
after the decisive battle of Naseby. From Lichfield
Prince Rupert proceeded to Burton, and gained possession
of it, leaving a garrison, which was soon compelled
to surrender the town to Lord Grey. In 1644,
Dudley castle, locally situated just within the southern
confines of the county, after being besieged for the space
of three weeks by the parliamentarians, was relieved, on
July llth, by a party of the king's forces from Worcester.',
Stourton castle surrendered to the king this year;
and the parliamentarians were also defeated by Col.
Bagot, in an attack upon Lord Paget's manor-house,
near Burton upon Trent. In the course of the year 1646,
the fortresses held by the royalists were surrendered
to the opposite party. In 1745, the Scotch rebels halted
at Leek, while the army under the Duke of Cumberland
was drawn up on Stone field, near the town of Stone,
to oppose them; the rebels, however, resumed their
retreat, closely followed by the duke's forces.
Staffordshire is in the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry
(excepting the two parishes of Brome and Clent),
and in the province of Canterbury: it forms an archdeaconry,
containing the deaneries of Tamworth, Tutbury,
Lapley, Treizull, Alveton, Leek, Newcastle under
Line, and Stone, and comprises one hundred and forty-
six parishes, of which forty-five are rectories, forty-four
vicarages, and the remainder perpetual curacies. For
purposes of civil government it is divided into the
hundreds of Cuttlestone (East and West), Offlow (North
and South), Pirehill (North and South), Seisdon (North
and South), and Totmonslow (North and South). It
contains the city of Lichfield; the borough and market
towns of Newcastle under Line, Stafford, and Tamworth 5
and the market-towns of Burslem, Burton upon Trent,
Cheadle, Eccleshall, Hanley, Lane-End, Leek, Longnor,
Penkridge, Rugeley, Stone, Uttoxeter, Walsall, Wednesbury,
and Wolverhampton. Two knights are returned to
parliament for the shire, two representatives for the city
of Lichfield, and two for each of the boroughs. This
county is included in the Oxford circuit: the assizes
and quarter sessions are held at Stafford. There are
sixty-two acting magistrates. The rates raised in the
county for the year ending March 25th, 1827, amounted
to £165,518.12., and the expenditure to £158,808. 13.,
of which £124,958. 19. were applied to the relief of the poor.
Its. surface is various. The northern part rises
into hills, called the Moorlands, constituting the south-,
ern extremity of the long mountainous range which
extends hence through the north of Derbyshire, and
along the western confines of Yorkshire, towards the
mountainous borders of Scotland. These moorlands are
situated to the north of a supposed line drawn from.
Uttoxeter to Newcastle under Line, and comprise large
tracts of waste and uncultivated land, appropriated almost
entirely to the pasturage of sheep. A large portion
of them has been enclosed with stone walls, almost the
only fence to be seen in this part of the county; but
these enclosures have not been subdivided, and large
breadths have never undergone the least improvement.
The pleasant vale, in which is situated the town of Cheadle,
in this part of the county, is bounded, in the vicinity
of that town, by high barren hills, composed of huge
heaps of gravel: the wastes upon these hills, and others
equally dreary andbarren, extending both northward and
westward of Cheadle, are extensive; almost their only
produce being heath, broom, whortleberries, and mountain
cinquefoil. Eastward of this town also, approaching the
borders of Derbyshire, are similar desolate wastes, one of
which, near the banks of the Dove, is called Oak-moor,
from its being nearly covered with dwarf oaks. A little
to the north of this commences an extensive tract of
limestone country, included between the rivers Dove and
Churnet, extending westward as far as Ipstones, and
northward as far as Longnor, and comprising an area
of fifty or sixty square miles; this is the most valuable
part of the moorlands, the soil naturally producing a fine
herbage: many of the hills, which are composed of
immense masses of limestone, rise to a very considerable
height, and in various places present huge perpendicular
cliffs; the Weaver hills, in the southern part
of it, of very considerable extent, rise, in common with
some other of the highest peaks of the moorlands, to the
height of a thousand feet and upwards above the level
of the tide in the Thames at Brentford, and command
remarkably extensive views, in which are included the
Peak hills of Derbyshire; these are almost covered
with irregular excrescences, clothed with moss or
lichens. Large tracts of the other parts of the moorlands,
notwithstanding their great superiority of elevation,
are entirely wet peat moors, or mosses; such
are Morrage, Axedge, the Cloud heath, High Forest,
Leek Frith, and Mole Cop. The summits of some of
the hills terminate in huge cliffs, particularly those called
Leek Rocks, or Roches, composed of a coarse gritstone;
and Ipstones' Sharp Cliffs, large rugged rocks piled in remarkably
striking forms, and overhanging a precipice, at
the base of which are scattered prodigious masses, which
have fallen from the rocks above. Indeed, one of the greatest
obstacles to the improvement of much of the moorlands
consists in the immense quantities of stones lying
on, or of rocks rising above, the surface soil: some of
the most striking of these masses, besides those just
mentioned, are Wetley rocks, those to the west of Flash,
and others on High Forest, the Cloud heath, and Mole
Cop common, with the waste to the north of it. The
scenery of Dove Dale is celebrated for its romantic
beauty; and in the limestone part of the moorlands are
various narrow, deep, and picturesque v allies, bounded
on each side by precipices of rock, among the principal
of which are Mill Dale, near Allstonefield, and the vale
of the small river Manifold.
The middle and southern parts of the county are
level, or diversified only by gently rising eminences. The
following tracts, however, are exceptions to this observation,
viz., the limestone hills of Dudley and Sedgley;
the parish of Rowley-Regis, principally composed of
an isolated mountain, terminating in various peaks,
the loftiest of them, called Turner's Hill, being the
highest spot of ground in the south of Staffordshire,
rising to the height of nine hundred feet above the level
of high water in the Thames at Brentford; the hills of
Clent, in the detached portion of the county lying to
the south of Stourbridge in Worcestershire, and nearly
equal in height to those of Rowley; Bar-beacon, rising to
the height of six hundred and fifty-three feet, and many
others of less elevation; all of which command striking
and extensive prospects over this and some of the neighbouring
counties. The soil of the Rowley hills is a strong
marly loam, through which the rocky substratum frequently
rises in innumerable fragments; that of the
Clent hills is of the kind commonly called stone-brash,
the lower parts being of stronger staple than the
summits: much of these latter hills consists of sheepwalks
of good herbage. Magnificent views may also
be obtained from Beaudesert park, Sherholt park, Tarnworth
castle, and Tutbury castle. The lowest points of
land are supposed to be the banks of the Severn at
Upper Arely, which are only sixty feet above the level
of high water at Brentford; and the banks of the Trent,
at its junction with the Dove below Burton, about one
hundred feet above the same level: those of the Tame
at Tamworth are fifty feet higher than the last-mentioned.
The lakes are neither numerous nor very extensive;
the principal is Aqualate meer, on the borders of
Shropshire, near Newport in that county, which is one
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight yards long,
and six hundred and seventy-two broadj the extent
of Ladford Pool is about sixty acres. The climate, in
its general character, is cold and wet; in the moorlands
the very great quantity of rain that falls is attributed
to the attractive force of the mountains
acting upon the passing vapours; and in this district
the snow, which is here always of greater depth than
elsewhere in the county, continues upon the ground
for a very long time; and its fences, being almost entirely
uncemented stone walls, do not at all mitigate the
piercing coldness of the atmosphere. The average annual
quantity of rain which falls in Staffordshire is
estimated at thirty-six inches.
The arable soils have been distinguished, by Mr. Pitt,
in his general view of the agriculture of the county, into
four species, viz.: first, strong, or clayey soils, which
are of two kinds, the harsh, stiff, and untractable, and
the more mild and friable, both of them commonly resting
on a substratum of marl, with a hard stone rock
underneath. Lands of this nature occupy a very extensive
tract, stretching across the middle of the county,
from the border of Derbyshire to that of Shropshire,
but excluding the extensive waste of Cannock
heath, and the country to the east of Stafford,
between that town and the Trent. That part of the
county lying eastward of the river Tame has the same
kind of soil, as also have several parishes in the southwestern
extremity approaching the banks of the Severn.
Secondly, loose, light, sandy land, adapted to
the culture of turnips, and occupying a tract bounded on
the north by the Trent, on the east by the Tame, on the
south by the confines of the county, and on the west by
an imaginary line drawn from the village of Armitage,
near the Trent, southward by Longdon, Hammerwich,
Aldridge, and a short distance eastward of Walsall, to
the verge of the county, near Birmingham; of the
same kind also are, a considerable tract lying to the
south-west of Dudley and Wolverhampton, extending
from the border of Worcestershire to that of Shropshire
and another, of much smaller size, extending
westward from Brewood, and including the Village of
Sheriff-Hales. Thirdly, the calcareous soils, or those
resting on a substratum of limestone; such are the
soils of the great northern limestone district before
described, as also of one of very small extent to the
north and north-west of Dudley, and of another to the
north-east of Walsall. Fourthly and lastly, mixed soils
and loams, formed of the above in different proportions,
frequently with the addition of gravel and various adventitious
matter, and occupying the remaining extensive
portions of the county: the substrata are various, including
sand, gravel, clay, marl, and stone of different
kinds. In some of the uncultivated tracts, and in one
or two other places, are found small pieces of ground
of a thin light black earth of a peaty nature, generally
lying upon gravel. The meadow soils are in
many places similar to those of the adjoining arable
lands, with the addition, when within reach of natural
inundation, of the accumulating sediment so deposited;
and in others composed of peat-earth, varying in thickness,
sometimes to the depth of several feet, and containing
trunks of trees. This kind of land, which must
be drained on converting it to meadow, or pasture
land, for which it is very valuable, sinks several inches
during that process.
The quantity of land devoted to agricultural purposes
is estimated at six hundred thousand acres,  of
which five hundred thousand are arable, the rest meadow,
or pasture. Of the arable lands, two hundred
thousand acres are of the clayey, or of the more friable
of the mixed loams; an equal quantity is of gravelly
or sandy loam, or of the calcareous soils, while the remaining
hundred thousand acres are, for the most part,
of light sandy or gravelly loams, suitable for turnips.
The courses of crops are various; it may be observed,
however, that the famous Norfolk system, including the
rotation of turnips, barley, clover, and wheat, is in common
practice on the light soils. The crops of grain
and pulse commonly cultivated are wheat, barley, oats,
beans, and peas; the average of what are considered
good crops of wheat is twenty-five bushels per acre;
of barley, thirty; and of oats, from thirty to forty: that
of peas and beans varies greatly. Rye is little grown,
though some is sown as early spring food for sheep. Oh
the moorlands oats are almost the only grain ever cultivated,
and are commonly sown for three succeeding
years, after which the ground is laid down for grass:
a considerable quantity of oaten bread is eaten in the
moorlands. Buck-wheat, here called French wheat, is
sometimes cultivated, both as a crop and for ploughing
under as manure. Hemp and flax are also grown,
though upon a small scale; and many leases are subject
to restrictions to prevent the cultivation of these
plants to any great extent. Cabbages are a common
agricultural crop in many parts of the county. The
common and the Swedish turnip are both extensively
grown, as also are vetches and rape. The common artificial
grasses are red clover, white clover, trefoil, and
ray-grass; burnet and rib-grass are sown in considerable
quantities, as are also mixed hay-seeds. The low
lands adjoining the rivers and brooks consist of mea-
dows and pastures, as also do considerable tracts of
flat land, which, by the backing on of water in former
times, have acquired a stratum of peaty earth upon their
surface. Considerable tracts of meadow land, lying
near the larger streams, are rendered very productive
by the occasional overflow of their waters, which, however,
sometimes sweep away, or greatly damage, the produce.
The meadows on the banks of the Dove, in the
higher part of its course, before it is joined by the
Churuet, are rendered proverbially fertile by the calcareous
particles deposited by the overflowing of that
river, the plain within reach of which is in some places
nearly a mile broad. There is a considerable extent of
grass land in the vicinity of all the principal towns; the
vale of the Trent is regarded as the richest tract in the
county for its extent: there are several irrigated pieces
of meadow land in different parts of the county. Lime
is extensively applied as manure upon all kinds of land;
an extraordinary quantity of marl also is used for the
same purpose, being found under the loamy soils, and
in gravelly land; numerous marl-pits, the formation of
which is of unknown date, occur in most parts where
that substance is to be found.
The feeding of cattle is not practised extensively,
although there are more bred than are consumed: the
surplus is sold to dealers for the London market. The
cattle are for the most part of the long-horned breed;
the dairies, to which they are almost all appropriated,
vary in size, containing from ten to forty, and,- in some
instances, even to seventy cows each; the few oxen that
are bred are scarcely ever worked. Staffordshire contains
the following distinct native breeds of sheep. First,
the grey-faced, without horns, which is the native breed
of Cannock heath, and the neighbouring commons. Secondly,
the black-faced horned sheep, with fine wool,
which are peculiar to the commons on the western side
of the county, towards Drayton in Shropshire. Thirdly,
the white-faced polled breed, with long combing wool,
peculiar to the eastern parts of the moorlands. Fourthly,
the mixed waste-land breed, which is found' upon the
wastes and uncultivated enclosures of the western parts
of the moorlands, and is much inferior to the lastmentioned.
The sheep on the commons of the southernmost
part of the county are also of mixed breeds j
their wool is tolerably fine, and of a clothing quality.
Lastly, the pasture flocks, of various sorts and crosses,
but chiefly of the Old and New Leicester breeds; those
of the Cotswold, Wiltshire, and Dorsetshire, are also
occasionally met with. Hogs are fattened upon most
farms, both for pork and bacon: the breed most esteemed
is a cross between the large slouch-eared kind aud a
dwarf breed, which is finer boned, broad, and plump;
part of the consumption, of bacon, which is very great
in this county, is supplied from Shropshire and North
Wales. Rabbits are very abundant upon the sandy parts
of the waste lands. The gardens and orchards are not
remarkable either for their extent or the nature of their
productions, except that in the parish of Tettenhall,
near Wolverhampton, great quantities of a peculiar kind
of pear, called from the name of the place where it
is produced, are grown: a great quantity of fruit is
brought to the markets of this county from Worcestershire.
The woods, wastes, and impracticable lands, are
supposed to occupy an extent of upwards of one hundred
thousand acres. The county is well stocked with
almost every species of thriving English timber, growing
on the numerous estates of the nobility and gentry.
Plantations to a great extent have been made on various
parts of the steep moorland hills, particularly those of
Dilhorne, Kingsley, and Oakmoor; from the \\nderwood
of these, many rods and staves, to make crates for the
use of the potteries, are cut. Needwood Forest, in the
eastern part of the county, situated between the rivers
Trent and Dove, before the passing of an act of enclosure
about the commencement of the present century,
was an entirely wild tract of nearly ten thousand acres,
presenting much romantic arid beautiful scenery, and
affording pasturage to numerous herds of deer; it was
also subject to a common-right for cattle and horses.
Of the wastes at present remaining, Cannock heath is
far the most extensive; it contains upwards of twentyfive
thousand acres, and is situated near the centre of
the county, lying chiefly to the north and east of the
small town of Cannock, whence it extends to the southern
banks of the Trent. The northern and western
parts of this common have for the most part a light
soil, but the eastern and southern are of a coldj wet,
gravelly nature; the best sheep-land is a tract on the
western side, towards Tiddesley, and another in the
northern part of it, near Rugeley and Beaudesert Park,
to which may also be added the vicinity of Hedgford;
the southern and eastern parts are in a great measure
barren, producing little besides heath, whortleberries,
lichens, and mosses. Although now a bleak and
dreary tract, entirely devoid of trees, this waste in
former times is asserted to have been covered with a
profusion of majestic oaks, and to have been a favourite
chase of the Saxon monarchs of Mercia. In addition
to Walsall wood, Whittington heath, and the Weeford
Flats, the other principal waste lands are those of
Swindon and Wombourne, and that near Stewponey, on
the south; those of Morrage, Wetley moor, Stanton
moor, Hollington heath, and Caverswall common,
in the north; and, in the middle districts, those of
Essington wood, Snead common, Wyrley and Pelsal
commons, Tirley, Ashley, Maer, Swinnerton, Tittensor,
and Shelton heaths, Houlton, Milwich, Hardwick, and
Fradswell commons, and others of smaller extent, chiefly
used as sheep-walks. Most of them bear evident marks
of ancient cultivation. Fuel is very plentiful, the principal
article being coal from the numerous mines of the
county; on the moorlands a good deal of peat is dug,
particularly on Morrage and Axedge commons.
The mineral productions are numerous and valuable,
consisting chiefly of coal, iron, lead, copper, marble,
alabaster, and stone of various kinds. The coal strata
have been found to exist to a superficial extent of fifty
thousand acres. The coal district of the southern part
of the county extends in length from Cannock heath,
a part of which it includes, to near Stourbridge in
Worcestershire; and in breadth from Wolverhampton
to Walsall. In the north of the county this mineral is
raised in abundance, in the neighbourhood of Newcastle
and the Potteries, near Lane-End and Holly-bush,
and again in the vicinity of Cheadle and Dilhorne; the
thickness of the strata in the southern district is
frequently as much as eight, ten, and even twelve
yards: these and all the other beds of this formation
dip westward towards the red sandstone, which occupies
a tract twelve miles in breadth between this
and the Shropshire coal formation. In the colliery of
Birch hill, near Walsall, occurs a bed of trap, or greenstone,
as it is here called, lying upon indurated sandstone,
and covered by a bed of slaty clay: the effect
it has upon the coal is that of depriving it of its
bitumen, and thus reducing it to what is called blind
coal: the whole of the strata of this mine are interrupted
faults, as the miners call them, of this greenstone.
A singular species of coal, called peacock-coal,
from the prismatic colours it exhibits, is raised at Hanley.
In the district called the Potteries, the strata intervening
between the beds of coal consist chiefly of
clays of different kinds, some of which make excellent
fire-bricks for building the kilns, and making the saggars,
or cases in which the ware is burned. Iron-ore
abounds in all the coal-mines; the strata of it that are
found in the neighbourhood of Wednesbury, Tipton, Bilston,
in part of the parish of Sedgley, and to the west
of Newcastle, are very extensive, lying generally under
a vein of coal: the iron-ore found on Cannock heath is
of a peculiar kind, called Cannockstone, of very little
value. In the numerous mines of coal and iron, and
in the' foundries, blast-furnaces, slitting-mills, and
other iron manufactories, an immense mimber of workmen
are employed: the works on the banks of the
Birmingham canal are particularly numerous and extensive.
The other metallic ores obtained are those of
copper and lead, of both which considerable quantities
are raised at Ecton, near Warslow, approaching the
north-eastern border of the county: a copper-mine
is also worked at Mixon, within a few miles of Leek;
and a lead mine near Stanton moor, in the same part
of the county. Limestone forms the substratum of
a very great extent of country, already described:
an immense quantity of it is raised for burning into
lime; the lime-works on Caldon Low, and in the neighbourhood
of the Weaver hills, are particularly extensive.
Under several of the limestone hills, in the southern
part of the county, that are perforated by tunnels,
large caverns have been hollowed out, without disturbing
the surface soil, some of them penetrating
to a distance of three hundred yards from the canal.
The limestone of this county, in different places, has
some of the qualities of marble, and is susceptible of
a high polish; in others it is composed, in a great
measure, of petrified marine substances. The kind
of marble called ranee-marble, which is white, with red
veins formed of shining gritty particles, and takes so
good a polish, as to be frequently used for chimneypieces
and monuments, is found in great abundance in
Yelpersley Tor and the adjoining hills; there is a considerable
quantity of grey marble at Stansop, and at
Powke hill is obtained a very hard black marble. In
the great limestone district, particularly on the banks
of the river Dove, are some veins of alabaster, which is
also dug between Needwood Forest and Tutbury: many
of the moulds used in the potteries are composed of
this material, after it has been ground. Extensive
quarries of excellent freestone are numerous: at Bilston
is obtained a particularly fine kind: Gornall, near
Sedgley, has different quarries of a coarser sort; and
among the numerous other places where freestone is
obtained may be specified, more particularly, Tixall,
Wrottesley, firewood park,  and Pendeford. The hills
of. Rowley have for their basis, a peculiar kind of
quartzose stone, devoid of any gritty quality, called
Rowley rag-stone, a great quantity of which is carried
to Birmingham and elsewhere, for paving, &c.: this
stone lies in no regular strata, but in rude heaps and
masses, which sometimes project above the surface.
Clays of almost every description are found in this
county; potters' clay, of several sorts, abounds chiefly
in the vicinity of Newcastle under Line, where the pottery
wares were formerly manufactured from it. At
Amblecot, in the southern part of the county, is a clay
of a dark blueish colour, of which glass-house pots
of a remarkably superior quality are made, great quan»
tities of them being sent to different parts of the
kingdom, and many consumed in the neighbouring
glass-works. Yellow and red ochre are also found in
Staffordshire; and a blue clay, obtained at Darlaston
near Wednesbxiry, is used by glovers. A kind of black
chalk exists, in beds of grey marble, in Langley-close;
and a fine reddish earth, little inferior to the red chalk
of France, is obtained near Himley hall.
The manufactures are various and extensive:
that of hardware, in the southern district, is very important;
and affords employment to many thousand persons.
AtWolverhampton, and in its vicinity, are made
locks of every kind, edge-tools, files, augers, japanned
goods, and a great variety of other articles of the
same material. The town and neighbourhood of Walsall
are famous for the manufacture of saddlers' iron»
mongery, such as bridle-bits, stirrup-irons, spurs, &c.,
sent thence to every part of the kingdom. The manufacture
of nails employs many thousand persons in
some of the most populous parishes in this part of
the county, particularly in those of Sedgley, Rowley,
West Bromwich, Smethwick, Tipton, Wombourne, and
Pelsall, and in the Foreign of Walsall: many women
and children are employed in making the lighter and
finer sorts. The other kinds of hardware produced
are chiefly plated, lackered, japanned, and some enamelled
goods, toys, tobacco and snuff boxes, of iron
and steel; and machinery for steam-engines. Some
places also partake of the manufacture of guns; and
there are several works for making brass, and for preparing
tin plates, chiefly in the northern part of the
county. In those parts of Staffordshire situated in the
vicinity, of Stourbridge and Dudley, in Worcestershire,
are a number of large glass-houses, where the manufacture
is carried on to a great extent. The manufacture
of china and earthenware, in the north-western part of
the county, is the most extensive and important in.
the kingdom; the district called the Potteries consists
of numerous scattered villages occupying an extent of
about ten square miles, and containing about twenty
thousand inhabitants; it is crossed by the Trent
and Mersey, or Grand Trunk, canal. This manufacture,
though of very ancient establishment in this part of the
country, was of inferior importance until the latter part .-
of the eighteenth century, when, chiefly by the exertions
of the late Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., it was raised
to such a pitch of excellence, as confers honour upon
that gentleman's ingenuity and taste; and in consequence,
several of the villages of this district, particularly
Burslem and Hanley, have grown rapidly into poj
pulous market-towns. The several species of ware
invented by Mr. Wedgwood, varied by the industry and
ingenuity of the manufacturers into an infinity of forms,
and variously painted and embellished, constitute nearly
the whole of the fine earthenwares at present manufactured
in England, which are the object of a
very extensive traffic. They are chiefly the following,
viz., the Queen's ware, which is composed of the
whitest clays from Derbyshire and Dorsetshire, and
different other parts of England, mixed with a due
proportion of ground flint; terra cotta, resembling
porphyry, granite, and other stones of the silicious,
or crystalline, order; basaltes, or black ware; porcelain
biscuit,of nearly the same properties as the
natural stone of that name; a white porcelain biscuit,
of a smooth wax-like surface, of the same properties
as the preceding j jasper, a white porcelain
biscuit of exquisite beauty and delicacy, possessing the
general properties of the basaltes, together with the.
singular one of receiving, through its whole substance,
from the mixture of metallic calces with other materials
of the same colours which those calces communicate to
glass, or enamels, in fusion, a property that no other
porcelain, or earthenware, of either ancient or modern
composition has been found to possess; bamboo, or
cane < coloured porcelain biscuit, possessing the same
qualities as the white porcelain biscuit j and a porcelain
biscuit, remarkable for great hardness, little inferior to
that of agate: the glazes are of vitreous composition.
A very great number of persons is constantly employed
in raising and preparing the raw materials for this
manufacture in different parts of the kingdom, more
especially upon the southern coasts, from Norfolk
round to North Devon, and on the shores of Wales
and Ireland. Vessels, which in the proper season have
been employed in the Newfoundland fishery, convey
these materials coastwise to the most convenient ports,
whence they are forwarded by the inland small craft to
the Potteries. Notwithstanding that almost every part
of the kingdom, receives supplies of pottery from this
manufacture, yet by far the greater portion of its produce
is exported to foreign countries. The exports of
earthenware and china to the United States alone amount
to sixty thousand packages annually. The quantity of
wool manufactured is small; nearly the whole of the
produce of the county being sold to the clothing and
hosiery districts. The cotton manufacture is considerable
the works at Rochester and other places near the
Dove are on a large scale, as are also those at Fazeley,
and Tutbury. The town of Leek and its neighbourhood
has a considerable manufacture of silk, and mohair, the
articles being chiefly sewing-silk twist, buttons, ribands,
ferrets, shawls, and handkerchiefs. Tape is manufactured
atCheadle and Tean, affording employment to many
of their-inhabitants. Stafford has manufactures of shoes
and boots, for exportation and home consumption;
tanning and hat-making are carried on to a great extent
in several of the towns. This county is also celebrated
for its ale, particularly that made at Burton upon Trent.
The principal rivers are the Trent, the Dove, the
Tame, the Blythe, the Penk, and the Sow: the Severn
also, though not considered a Staffordshire river, takes
its navigable course by the parish of Upper Arely,
at the south-western extremity of the county. The
Trent, which ranks as the third largest river in England,
rising from New Pool, near Biddulph, on the
borders of Cheshire, flows southward through the district
of the Potteries to Trentham, and thence southeastward
by the town of Stone: having received the
waters of the Penk and the Sow, near the centre of the
county, its winding course gradually assumes an easterly
direction, and, as it approaches Derbyshire, it forms
several islands; having been joined by the Tame from
the south, the Trent almost immediately becomes the
boundary between this county and that of Derby, which
it continues to be, pursuing a north-north-easterly direction,
and passing by the town of Burton, where it
becomes navigable, and a little below which, being joined
by the Dove, it wholly enters Derbyshire, after a course,
through this county and bordering upon it, of upwards
of fifty miles. During its progress through Staffordshire
the Trent is a bold, clear, and rapid stream, bordered
by luxuriant meadows, the banks of which are in several
places adorned with fine seats and ornamented grounds.
The Dove, which, throughout its course, forms the
boundary between this county and that of Derby, rises
in the moorland hills, near the point to the north-west
of Longnor, at which the three counties of Stafford,
Derby, and Chester, meet: not far from its source it
enters the beautiful and sequestered Dove Dale, flowing
through it, in a southerly direction, to the vicinity
of Ashbourn in Derbyshire, whence it proceeds southwestward
towards Uttoxeter, near which town it assumes
a south-easterly direction, by Tutbury, to its
junction with the Trent to the north-east of Burton;
from the great inclination of the bed of this river its
waters flow with great rapidity, in some places dashing
over rugged masses of rock, in others forming gentle
cascades. Near the village of Ham, in this county, the
Dove is greatly augmented by the waters of the rivers
Manifold and Hamps; the former, rising near the
source of the Dove, takes a very circuitous route
through a romantic vale situated in the north-eastern
part of the county, and, sinking into the earth to the
south of Ecton hill, between the villages of Butterton
and Wetton, it emerges again at Ham, shortly before its
junction with the Dove, and at the distance of about
four miles from the spot where it sinks into the ground:
this stream is joined during its subterraneous transit by
the Hamps, which in like manner passes under ground
for a considerable distance. A little below Rochester,
and a few miles above Uttoxeter, the Dove is joined
from the north-west by the powerful stream of the
Churnet, formed by the junction of two moorland rivulets
near Leek. The Tame rises from several sources
in the vicinity of Walsall, whenee it takes a southeasterly
direction, and enters Warwickshire near Aston
iuxta Birmingham: after making a sweep through the
northern part of that county it re-enters Staffordshire
at Tamworth, after having formed the boundary of the
county for a short distance above that town, whence its
course, though irregular, is generally in a northerly direction
towards the Trent, with which river it forms a junction
immediately before it reaches Derbyshire. The
Blythe rises near Watley moor, in the northern and
mountainous part of the county, and takes a course
nearly parallel with the Trent to its junction with that
river near King's Bromley. The Penk, rising near the
western border of the county, and flowing northward, a
little to the east of Brewood, by the town of Penlcridge,
forms a junction with the Sow, which descends by
Eccleshall and Stafford, at a short distance to the eastward
of the latter town, whence their united waters
proceed directly to the Trent. The small river Dane,
rising near the source of the Dove, but assuming an
irregular westerly course, forms the boundary between
this county and Cheshire for upwards of ten miles.
Several streams from the south-western part of the
county take their course to the Severn; the principal
of these is the Stour.
The extent of artificial navigation for the ready
transport of the produce of the mines, manufactures,
&c., is remarkably great. The Grand Trunk canal,
which was planned, and in a great measure executed,
by the celebrated engineer Brindley, enters this county
from Cheshire, near Lawton, and almost immediately
passes through the Harecastle tunnel, which is two
thousand eight hundred and eighty yards long; hence
it proceeds in the vicinity of Newcastle under Line, and
soon gaining the valley of the Trent, it closely follows
the course of that river by Stone and Rugeley, crossing
it several times; a few miles below the latter town,
however, it makes an extensive sweep, leaving the Trent
some miles to the north, but afterwards again crosses
it, along the northern bank of which it proceeds, at
a little distance to the north of Burton, until it quits
the county for Derbyshire. The highest level of this
canal is at Harecastle, near which it enters Staffordshire,
and from which, on the south-eastern side, there
is a fall of three hundred and sixteen feet, the greater
part of which occurs in this county; the ordinary
breadth of it is twenty-nine feet at the top, and sixteen
at the bottom, and its usual depth four feet and a half,
but in the part of its course below Burton it is several
feet broader, and five feet and a half deep. The
Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal branches from
this, at Haywood, near the confluence of the rivers
Sow and Trent, up the valley of the former of which it
proceeds for some miles in a westerly direction, and
then assumes a course nearly southerly, which it pursues
by Penkridge and near Wolverhampton, quitting
the county, in its course to the Severn, a short distance
to the south of Kinver; this canal, with the Grand
Trunk, completes the communication between the ports
of Bristol, Liverpool, and Hull. The Coventry and
Oxford canal branches from the Grand Trunk at Fradley
heath, whence it takes a circuitous route, in a southsouth-
easterly direction, by the village of Whittington,
to that of Fazely, near which it enters Warwickshire;
from Fazely, a branch proceeds to Birmingham, and is
called the Birmingham and Fazely canal. The Wyrley
and Essington canal, commencing at a place called
Wyrley Bank, passes through Oldfield, over Essington
wood and Snead commons, and across the road from
Wednesfield to Bloxwich, soon after which it turns westward
to Wednesfield, and a little beyond that village,
near Wolverhampton, forms a junction with the Bir-
mingham canal; its branches are, one from the vicinity
of Wolverhampton to Stow heath, another from Pool-
Hayes to Ashmore Park, and a third from Lapley-Hayes
to Ashmore Park. At Huddlesford commences a
branch from the Coventry canal, called the Wyrley and
Essington Extension, which, proceeding to the south
of Lichfield, and over part of Cannock heath, forms a
junction with the Wyrley and Essington canal, near
Bloxwich; on the western side of this part of Cannock
heath, a branch is carried southward, by Walsall wood,
to the lime-works at Hayhead; its whole extent, including
the branches, is thirty-four miles and a half; and
from Cannock heath to the Coventry canal it has a fall
of two hvmdred and sixty-four feet. The Birmingham
canal, from that town in Warwickshire, takes a northwesterly
course, and soon enters this county, proceeding
to the north-east of the town of Dudley in Worcestershire,
and by Tipton and Bilston to Wolverhampton,
and thence to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire
canal, a little to the north of the latter town, after a
course of twenty-two miles. Of the very numerous
branches of this canal, one proceeds northward, over
Ryder's Green, to the collieries of Wednesbury, and the
vicinity of Walsall; while another, commencing about
a mile from Dudley, passes south-westward by Brierly-
Hill, and to the left of Brockmore Green joins a canal
which, commencing in a large reservoir at Pensett's
Chase, and passing nearly in a straight line by Wordsley,
crosses the river Stour, and joins the Staffordshire
and Worcestershire canal, a few miles to the west of
Stourbridge in Worcestershire, to which town there is
a small branch. The cut which connects the Dudley
canal with that of Birmingham, called the Dudley Extension
canal, has part of its course in this county. Sir
Nigel Gresley's canal extends from the Grand Trunk,
near Newcastle under Line, past that town, to the coalmines
in Ape-dale.
Several large single stones at Cannock are supposed,
to be Druidical, as also are the eight upright stones,
called " the Bridestones," near Biddulph, on the northwestern
border of the county; and on Drood, or Druid,
heath, where there are several singular earth-works, Mr.
Shaw, the historian of this county, considers the chief
seat of the Arch-Druid of Britain to have been situated.
Thyrsis, or Thor's house, a cavern, situated in the side
of a lofty precipice in the vale of the Manifold, near the
village of Wetton, is also supposed to have been the
scene of Druidical rites. Some very ancient artificial
caves have been discovered at Biddulph. The encampment
of Billington, about three miles to the west of
Stafford, and that on Castle hill, near Beaudesert park,
in the vicinity of Rugeley, are of ancient British formation.
Under the Roman dominion, the tract now
constituting Staffordshire contained the stations of
Etocetum, at Wall, near Lichfield; and Pennocrucium,
now Penkridge. Sheriff-Hales, near the confines of
Shropshire, is supposed by some antiquaries to have
been the site of the station Uxacona, or Usacona. Two
of the great praetorian ways also crossed Staffordshire:
the Watling-street, entering it from Warwickshire, near
Tamworth, proceeded westward across the southern
part, and quitted it for Shropshire, to the west of the
town of Brewood: the Iknield-street, which  entered
from Warwickshire, at the village of Handsworth, near
Birmingham, proceeded thence, in a north-north-easterly
direction, to a little beyond Shenstone, where it
crossed the Watling-street, and afterwards pursued a
north-easterly course, entering Derbyshire at Monks
Bridge, on the Dove. Roman domestic remains, and
traces of their roads, are discoverable in different places;
and Roman earth-works are visible at Arely wood,
Ashton heath, Ashwood heath, near Kinver at Oldbury,
near Shareshill, and in Tiddesley park. Near Maer are
intrenchments supposed to have been thrown up "J
Cenred, in the progress of his hostilities against Osred,
King of Northumbria; and on Sutton-Coldfield there
is a camp, considered to be of Danish formation. The
number of religious houses in this county, including free
chapels, hospitals, and colleges, was about forty. Remains
of the abbeys of Burton and Croxden, and of the
priories of Rowton, Stafford, and Stone, are still visible.
The present religious edifices most worthy of notice for
beauty or antiquity are, the cathedral of Lichfield, St.
Chad's church in that city, and the churches of Armitage,
Audley, Barton, Burslem, Bushbury, Caverswall,
Checldey, Colwich, Clifton-Campville (remarkable for its
magnificent spire), Draycott Elford, Gayton, Gnosall,
Kinver, Madeley, Mavesyn-Ridware, Muckleston, Pipe-
Ridware, Rushall, Sandon, St. Mary's and St. Chad's at
Stafford, Stoke, Tettenhall, Trysull, Wednesbury, and
Wolstanton. The most remarkable fonts are those of
Armitage, Ashley, St. Chad's in Lichfield, Pipe-Ridware,
Norton under Cannock, St. Mary's at Stafford, Tettenhall,
and Wolverhampton. The remains of ancient castles
are chiefly those of Alveton, Caverswall, Chartley,
Dudley, Healy, or Heyley, castle, Tamworth, and Tutbury.
Among the most remarkable ancient mansions
are Bentley hall and Moseley hall, in both which
Charles II. remained concealed for some time after the
battle of Worcester. Staffordshire contains numerous
modern seats of the nobility and gentry, many of which
are elegant, and several magnificent: among the most
distinguished are Trentham, the property and residence
of the Marquis of Stafford; and Beaudesert, that of
the Marquis of Anglesey. Most modern houses of the
ordinary class are built of brick, and roofed with tile
or slate, the latter brought along the canals, chiefly
from Wales and Westmorland: near Newcastle, and in
one or two other places, large quantities of a peculiar
kind of blue tiles are made, which, owing to their
superior durability, are in great demand. Salt springs
exist in different places j the principal are in the parish
of Weston; and there are other mineral springs
of various. qualities, the most remarkable being that
near Codsall, formerly famous for the cure of leprosies j
St. Erasmus' well, between Ingestre and Stafford; and
that at Willoughby. Numerous fossil remains occur in
different parts of the strata of this county, more particularly
in some of the limestone beds. At Bradley, a
hamlet immediately adjoining the village of Bilston, to
the east of Wolverhampton, a stratum of coal, about
four feet thick, and eight or ten yards below the surface,
having been set on fire, burned for about fifty
years, and has reduced a considerable extent of land
to a complete calx, used for the mending of roads:
sulphur and alum are found in its vicinity. Some of
the most remarkable plants and shrubs occasionally
found growing wild are, the wild teasel, on moist ground;
the reseda luteola, or dyers' weed j the periwinlde; the
daffodil; geraniums of various sorts; the black currant
the riles alpinum, or mountain currant, on the
moorlands; the cranberry, on the moist parts of Cannock
heath; and thebarberry. The original calendar
of the Norwegians and Danes was, till lately, used by
many of the inhabitants of this county, where it has
the appellation of the Staffordshire Clog: this is a
quadrangular piece of wood, on each of the four sides
of which are contained three months of the year, the
days being expressed by notches, to which are added
the symbols of the several saints, to denote the day of
their festival, &c.