Stafford is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about 15 miles (24 km) south of Stoke-on-Trent, 15 miles (24 km) north of Wolverhampton and 24 miles (39 km) north-west of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021 census, and is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Stafford, which had a population of 136,837 in 2021.
Stafford has Anglo-Saxon roots, being founded in 913, when Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, founded a defensive burh; it became the county town of Staffordshire soon after. Stafford became an important market town in the Middle Ages and later grew into an important industrial town, due to the proliferation of shoemaking, engineering and electrical industries.
History
Ancient
Prehistoric finds suggest scattered settlements in the area, whilst 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-west of the town lies an Iron Age hill fort at Berry Ring. There is also evidence of Roman activity in the area, with finds around Clark and Eastgate Street. However it is thought that the Romans reclaimed the marsh for agriculture rather than settlement.
Anglo-Saxon
Stafford means "ford" by a staithe (landing place). The original settlement was on a near island, on a gravelly lowland bounded by loop of the River Sow to the south and west (a tributary of the River Trent). The eastern boundary was formed by Sandyford brook, with a marshy area to the north. Despite many drains being constructed in the 19th century, the area is still prone to flooding.
Stafford has been identified as the island of Bethney, or Bethnei where St Bertelin is said to have founded a hermitage about AD 700, before moving to a more remote area.
Others then settled in the area and named it Stafford. There may have been a settlement near the river crossing in 913, when Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia founded a burh (fortified settlement) at Stafford; one of many founded across Mercia as part of her campaign against the Danes (Vikings). A mint was founded at Stafford by King Æthelstan (924-39) which continued in operation until the reign of Henry II (1154–89). Stafford also provided an industrial area for centralised production of Roman-style pottery (Stafford Ware), which was supplied to a chain of West Midlands burhs.
The county of Staffordshire was formed at about this time, with Stafford as its county town. Stafford lay within the Pirehill hundred.
Norman and medieval
In the autumn of 1069, a rebellion led by Eadric the Wild against the Norman Conquest culminated in the Battle of Stafford, during which the Anglo-Welsh rebel army was decisively defeated by Norman forces led by Brian of Brittany and William I. Two years later another rebellion, led by Edwin, Earl of Mercia, ended in Edwin's assassination and distribution of his lands among the followers of William the Conqueror, who granted Robert de Tosny (later known as Robert de Stafford) the manor of Bradley and one third of the king's rents in Stafford. The estate became the seat of the powerful Stafford family.
Following the Battle of Stafford, and the subsequent Harrying of the North, Stafford underwent an extensive period of depopulation and urban decay. Archaeological evidence has revealed that much of the town had been abandoned following the battle, and when the Doomsday Book was completed in 1086, seventeen years after the battle, the town was declared to still be "partially waste" with almost a third of the messuages uninhabited.
Stafford Castle, was first built by Robert de Stafford on a nearby hilltop to the west in the wake of the Norman Invasion, where the motte, moat and baily remain visible to this day. It was first made of wood and later rebuilt in stone around 1348. It has been rebuilt since. A wooden castle had been built in 1070 much closer to the town centre, however this had fallen into ruin by the recording of the Doomsday Book and its precise location remains unknown.
Stafford was a walled town by 1086. The town walls were probably wooden originally, but later rebuilt in stone. There were four gates on the roads into the town from the north, south, east and west. By around 1670 the walls were in ruin, and their remnants were gradually demolished.
Stafford became an important market town during the Middle Ages, which had a particular focus of trading cloth and wool. By the 1280s there were various trades such as tanning, glove making and shoe making being practised in the town. A guild of shoemakers was founded in 1476.
Medieval Stafford was served by two churches: St Chad's, which is the oldest building in Stafford, dating from the mid-12th century, and St Mary's which dates from the early-13th century.
King Richard II was paraded through the town's streets as a prisoner in 1399, by troops loyal to Henry Bolingbroke (the future Henry IV).
Tudor
In 1521, Stafford was described as 'a proper and fair town', although it went into decline during the Tudor period, and in 1540, many of the houses were described as being in a state of disrepair. Elizabeth I visited Stafford in 1575, at this time the town was still in a state of decay.
The Ancient High House, believed to be the largest timber-framed town house in England, was built in 1595 for John Dorrington; it was extensively restored during 1976-86.
17th century
When James I visited Stafford in 1617, he was said to be so impressed by the Shire Hall and other buildings that he called it "Little London".
During the English Civil War, Stafford was initially held by the Royalists; King Charles I visited Stafford shortly after the outbreak of the war in September 1642, staying for three days at the Ancient High House. The town resisted two assaults by the Parliamentarians in February 1643, but was later taken by them in May 1643, when a force led by Sir William Brereton captured the town by stealth. Stafford then became the seat of the parliamentary county committee. Stafford Castle was defended by a garrison led by Lady Isabel Stafford, but the Parliamentarians finally won control in 1643. A few months later an order was given for the demolition of the castle. However, Stafford's famous son Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler, was a staunch Royalist.
In 1658, Stafford elected John Bradshaw, who had been judge at the trial of King Charles I, to represent the town in Parliament. During the reign of Charles II, William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford became implicated in the Popish Plot, in which Titus Oates whipped up anti-Catholic feeling with claims of a plot to have the king killed. Lord Stafford was among those accused; he was unfortunate to be the first to be tried and was beheaded in 1680. The charge was false and on 4 June 1685, the bill of attainder against him was reversed.
18th century to present
The town was represented in Parliament from 1780 by the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. During that period, the town's mechanised shoe industry was founded, the best-known factory owner being William Horton. The shoemaking industry flourished over the next century, and became Stafford's staple trade, at its height in the 1880s, there were 39 manufacturers in the town. The industry went into steady decline from thereon, and by 1958 there was just one manufacturer, Lotus remaining. The last shoe factory was demolished in 1998.
In 1814, Stafford was linked to the canal network by the River Sow Navigation; a short navigation which linked Stafford to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. The navigation fell into disuse in the 1930s.
The railways arrived in Stafford in 1837 when the Grand Junction Railway was opened, linking the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to Birmingham, which provided the first rail connection to London. The Trent Valley Railway to Rugby and then direct to London, was opened in 1847. Two more lines, both now closed then followed, from Stafford to Shrewsbury in 1849, and to Uttoxeter in 1867. Stafford became a major junction, which helped to attract other industries.
In the late 19th century, Stafford's economy began to diversify into engineering, when the locomotive manufacturer W. G. Bagnall opened a large works in the town in 1875. In the early 1900s electrical engineering became a major activity, when Siemens Brothers, opened a large factory in the town, producing such items as electrical motors, generators and transformers. The electrical industry has been under the ownership of several companies since, including English Electric and GEC.
The Friars' Walk drill hall was completed in 1913, just in time for the First World War.
The M6 motorway was opened to the west of Stafford in 1962.
In 2013, Stafford celebrated its 1,100th anniversary year with a number of history-based exhibitions, while local historian Nick Thomas and writer Roger Butters were set to produce the two-volume A Compleat [sic] History of Stafford.
Civic history
Stafford was already an ancient borough by the time of the Domesday Book of 1086. Its borough status was confirmed in 1206, when King John issued a charter. Stafford was reconstituted as a municipal borough in 1835. The borough boundaries were expanded in 1876, 1917 and 1934.
The modern Borough of Stafford covers a much larger area then the town itself, and was created in 1974, when the old municipal borough of Stafford was merged with the Stafford Rural District, the Stone Rural District and the Stone Urban District.
Under current local government reorganisation plans, all district councils in Staffordshire, as well as the county council, will be abolished in 2028, with the borough of Stafford being abolshed and merged into a new South and Mid Staffordshire unitary authority. Stafford is currently an unparished area. In 2026 a consultation took place as to whether a civil parish should be established for the town to allow it to have a town (parish) council, which would allow for the tradition of the mayoralty to be continued.
Landmarks
The Elizabethan Ancient High House in the town centre is the largest timber-framed town house in England. It is now a museum with temporary exhibitions.
Stafford Castle was built by the Normans on the nearby hilltop to the west in about 1090, replacing the post-Conquest fort in the town. It was first made of wood, and later rebuilt of stone. It has been rebuilt twice since, and the ruins of the 19th-century Gothic revival castle crowning the earthworks incorporate much of the original stonework. The castle has a visitor centre with audio-visual displays and hands-on items. There is also a recreated medieval herb garden. Shakespeare productions take place in the castle grounds each summer. The castle forms a landmark for drivers, as it is visible from the M6 motorway.
The oldest building now in Stafford is St Chad's Church, dating back to the 12th century. The main part of the church is richly decorated. Carvings in its archways and on its pillars may have been made by a group of stonemasons from the Middle East who came to England during the Crusades. Much of the stonework was covered up in the 17th and 18th centuries and the church took on a neo-classical style. In the early 19th-century restoration, work was carried out on the church and the Norman decoration rediscovered. The church hosts "Timewalk", a computer-generated display that relates the journey of history and mystery within the walls of the church.
St Mary's, the collegiate church formerly linked to St Bertelin's chapel, was rebuilt in the early 13th century on a cruciform plan, with an aisled nave and chancel typical of the period. It has an impressive octagonal tower, once topped by a tall steeple, which can be picked out in Gough's plan shown above. The church was effectively two churches in one, divided by a screen, with the parish using the nave and the collegiate canons the chancel. St Mary's was restored in 1842 by Giles Gilbert Scott.
The Shire Hall was built in 1798 as a court house and office of the Mayor and Clerk of Stafford. The Shire Hall used to be the town's court house, and is a Grade II listed building. In recent times, the building was used as an art gallery and library, before a new facility was built within the new council buildings, The Market Square has recently gone under a £2 million redevelopment which was completed in November 2023.
Green Hall on Lichfield Road is a Grade II listed manor house (now apartments), originally built about 1810 as Forebridge Hall, known after 1880 as Green Hall. It was previously used as a girls' school and as council offices.