MONUMENT NO. 77479

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Course of the later medieval town defences of Stafford, first built 1225 (to replace those of the Anglo Saxon burh which may have enclosed a smaller area). Refortified during the Civil War, raised in 1643, the walls were in ruins by the 1670s.

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[Name SJ 920 229] Town Wall [GT] (Site of).
[Name SJ 922 234] Town Wall [GT] (Site of). (1)

The name Stafford itself suggests that from its innovation it had a palisade, but the first reference to the making of the town walls occurs in the Patent Rolls of 1225 when permission was granted by the King enabling customs of tolls to be collected for the purpose of enclosing the town. The word fortify is also used. Probably the masonry still existing by the site of the East Gate (SJ 92 SW 84), and in the foundations of the wall at various points, is the result of this.

A copy of a plan apparently made between 1593-1611 shows the course of the wall and also the palisade that served in place of the wall in parts. The N, S and E gates are mentioned but the western approach is described as an entrance only. The wall and gates were destroyed by order of General Brereton in 1643. (2)

No further information except to say that the town was defended by a ditch as well as a wall, but no trace of either is now visible, and that Pennant says there were four gates. (3)

The town wall was razed by Sir W Brereton after taking the town in 1643, but its extent and course are still indicated by a circumambient lane. On the south it extended from Greengate Street where the south gate was situated, along the south side of Mill Bank to a point a short distance east of the present old Corn Mill, where the wall ended and a ditch and the River Sow brought into requisition. From the south gate the wall ran east along the south side of Backwalls South to Eastgate Street, where the east gate and mill were situated, thence a short distance along the east side of Backwalls North, the walls giving way here to a wooden stockade with the King's Pool lying beyond, the wall beginning again before reaching the corner of the old house of correction in Gaol Square. Thence it ran in a northerly direction towards Foregate Street where the north gate was situated. From here back along the opposite side of the Square to Bull Hill and along the north side of the latter to a point a short distance east of the present gasworks where the double or fortified wall would seem to have ended. From this point a single or low wall, according to Speed's map, would seem to have run through part of the gasworks along Chell Road and the Broad Eye to the new bridge over the Sow. The foundations of the wall can still be traced in several places but not continuously. (Domesday Book speaks of Stafford as one of the seven towns that were walled). (4)

Portion of the town wall discovered during the demolition of old buildings in Millbank consisted `of ashlar, the stones varying in size and generally approximating the square. The topmost course set on end and probably not part of the original wall. The only distinctive feature is a weathered base course. There is however a projecting mass of masonry which may conceivably be the base of a buttress.' (5)

(Centred at SJ 9218 2322) Course of town wall shown from A to F. (6)

Complete circuit of wall shown, confirming the above course except that to the west of the North Gate the wall seems straight from D to E. No bastions or towers are shown. Along the aluvium of the River Sow (from G to H) and of the Pearl Brook (from about B to C) the wall is shown as a wooden palisade. A water feature named `The Towne Ditch' is shown outside the wall from the North Gate to the East Gate. (7)

Apart from a fragment of the East Gate (SJ 92 SW 84) no trace of the town wall or the town ditch survives. (8)

(SJ 9181 2329 - SJ 9216 2299) Town Wall (NR) (Site of). (9)

The fortification at Stafford erected by Ethelfleda in 913 probably consisted of earth and timber defences round the settlement; they may well have enclosed a smaller area than the later defences. Stafford was a walled town in 1086 and remained such until the 17th century, with four gates on the roads into the town from north, south east, and west. In the late 11th century the castle (SJ 92 SW 3) was part of the defences on the defences on the north-west, while in the mid 13th century the king's fish-pool (SJ 92 SW 27) was recognized as part of those on the north-east. In 1224 the king ordered the sheriff to spend up to 20 marks `on walling our town of Stafford' (advillam nostram Staff' claudendam). A few weeks later the burgesses received a two-year remission of their aid to help them to wall their town (advillam suam claudendam) and in 1227 a year's remission to fortify it (firmandam). In 1233 the king gave them sixty oaks from Cannock forest to repair three gaps in the wall. About 1600 the walls were mainly of stone, but the stretch between the town mill and a point beyond Broadeye bridge consisted of wooden palisades, and there was another wooden section on the north-east. In 1583 the corporation used the stretch of wall between the South and East Gates as a quarry for work on the Green Bridge, but it was still repairing the walls in 1620. The fortifications were strengthened in 1643 and 1644. The parliamentarians, who captured the town in 1643, demolished buildings in Foregate and on the Green in 1644 to make an attack on the town more difficult. By the early 1670s the walls were in ruins. (For town gates see SJ 92 SW 83, 84, 85 and 86). (10)

A complete circuit of defences, consisting of lengths of stone wall and palisade, is shown on a map of Stafford dated between 1593 and 1611 (11). The defences of this date are also shown by Carver (12) (see illustrations). Speed's plan (in auth 10, see illustration) shows the wall forming a square projection at about the same position as one shown on OS 25" 1881 (SJ 9228 2343). This is not shown by Carver or the 1593-1611 plan. (11-12)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 25" 1925

( 2) Birmingham and Midland Institute, Birmingham Archaeological Society transactions, excursions and reports

(T J Davies) 45 - 1919 Page(s)133-51

( 3) General reference

Survey of Staffs, 1820, pp119 (Erdeswick by Harwood)

( 4) General reference

Stafford in Olden Times, 1890, pp89 (J L Cherry)

( 5) The North Staffordshire Field Club transactions

(J H Beckett) 1928-9 Page(s)63, 148

( 6) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1:500 1881

( 7) General reference

Large scale sketch plan of Stafford dating from between 1593 and 1611 (copy in Wm Salt Library; whereabouts of original unknown)

( 8) Field Investigators Comments

F1 VJB 15-JAN-1958

( 9) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 25" 1881

(10) edited by M.W. Greenslade and D.A. Johnson 1979 A history of the county of Stafford, volume 6

The Victoria history of the counties of England (M W Greenslade et al) 6 - 1979 Page(s)199

(11) The North Staffordshire Field Club transactions

(H L E Garbett Emt) 58 - 1923-4 Page(s)56-8

(12) by Martin Carver 1981 Underneath Stafford town: an archaeological assessment

1981

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STAFFORD
STAFFORD

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Anglo-Saxon burh of Staethford founded 913. Sometime after 913 Stafford became the county town and a mint was established under Athelstan (924-939) wh...

GREEN GATE
STAFFORD

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Medieval south gate of Stafford. Demolished 1777.

NORTH GATE
STAFFORD

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Medieval north gate of Stafford. First mentioned probably 1170. By the 17th century it was in use as a prison and was known as Gaol Gate. Ruinous by 1...

WEST GATE
STAFFORD

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Medieval west gate of Stafford; demolished before 1611?

EAST GATE
STAFFORD

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Medieval east gate of Stafford. First mentioned in the later 12th century, it was mostly demolished c 1800. Survivng remains are not in situ.

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