 |
Stafford - A History & CelebrationSelected extracts and photosReturn to Book | Search for another Book | View all photos for Stafford | Stafford homepage |
15 captions found: Showing captions 1 to 15 | |
 Shallowford, Izaak Walton's Cottage 2005 (ref. S851701k) | Stafford was next involved in national politics when William Howard, Viscount Stafford (1614-80), became one of the victims of the so-called 'Popish Plot' invented by the notorious Titus Oates. Arrested in October 1678, Howard finally faced trial by his peers in December 1680. He was found guilty of high treason by 55 votes to 31. He behaved with immense courage and dignity throughout the trial. Upon conviction he said, 'My lords, I have very little to say. I confess I am surprised at it, for I did not expect it; but God's will be done, and Your Lordships, I will not murmur at it. God forgive those that have sworn falsely against me.' The king spared Howard the appalling penalty of hanging, drawing and quartering, and he was beheaded on Tower Hill on 29 December 1680. Howard was beatified as the Blessed William Howard by a decree of (Nick Thomas) Izaak Walton's cottage at Shallowford is one of Stafford's three heritage sites. |  Add your own Memory Add to your Album |
 Stafford, Law Courts, Victoria Square 2005 (ref. S411721k) | Its surroundings are pleasant without being spectacular: 90% of Staffordshire is rural, and nowhere in the town, not even in the very centre, is one ever far from the countryside. One thing to be said for Stafford (as far as anywhere can make such a claim in these unsettled times) is that it is a town without a darker side. It is not big enough to contain 'inner city areas', and there are many places of similar size or smaller, including some much more picturesque, with far worse social problems. Certainly people as different as George Borrow and Lee Chapman have looked back on their days in the town with affection. The general verdict on Stafford seems reasonably favourable. It is never in the forefront of modern developments, nor is it quaintly old-fashioned. In one respect at least it has changed little. Like the Staethford of Anglo-Saxon times, it remains a very English town. | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, St Mary's Grove 2005 (ref. S411718k) | The town also has an association with Skarzysko/Kamienna in Poland. Like everywhere else, Stafford is changing. Until perhaps halfway through the last century the majority of people living in the town | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, County War Memorial, Victoria Park 2005 (ref. S411717k) | School pupils, reached No 3 in the USA charts in 1973 (No 10 in the UK) with its single 'Couldn't Get it Right.' Fran Henley, the lead singer of Travis, is also a Staffordian. In the 1980s and 1990s Bingley Hall, part of the County Showground on Weston Road, hosted several groups such as Black Sabbath and the Electric Light Orchestra. The showground still stages national events in areas as diverse as dogs, flowers, antiques, motorcycles and caravans. Stafford has links with overseas towns in twinning arrangements with Dreieich in Germany; Tarragona in Spain; Stafford, Virginia in the USA; and Belfort in France. | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, former Library, Grapes Corner 2005 (ref. S411715k) | Slightly further west, and just one minute away from the town centre, the 300 acres of wet grassland that are Doxey marshes remain largely unspoiled. Although they are unspectacular they are of considerable environmental value. They are home not only to rare birds such as redshank, snipe, lapwing, reed bunting, little ringed plover, goosander, shoveler, tufted duck and widgeon, but also to endangered mammals like the otter and the watershrew. Tourism in the area has, rightly, not been encouraged; the balance of nature is too fragile. To the east of the town are similar marshes at the King's Pool, off North Walls. And of course Stafford Castle - or the shell of it - still remains on top of the hill to the west of the town. Some of the surrounding fields have been sacrificed to housing development, but there no longer seems any danger of the castle suffering the same fate. A constant grumble by young people in Stafford used to be that there was nothing for them to do, especially in terms of night- life. They now have less cause for complaint because there are half-a-dozen night-spots. The best-known is the Zanzibar in Newport Road, opposite the Chetwynd Centre. It is on the site of the Top of the World, which was established immediately after the Second World War. During the 1960s the proprietor was the formidable local character Eddie Fenton, who effectively acted as his own bouncer. Many well-known entertainers have been associated with Stafford. Neil Morrissey, of the television comedy 'Men Behaving Badly', and the late Patrick Fyffe, better known as Dr Evadne Hinge, of the musical comedy act Hinge and Brackett, were both born in the town. Freya Copeland, of 'Emmerdale' | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, the Windmill, Broad Eye 2005 (ref. S411714k) | Slightly further west, and just one minute away from the town centre, the 300 acres of wet grassland that are Doxey marshes remain largely unspoiled. Although they are unspectacular they are of considerable environmental value. They are home not only to rare birds such as redshank, snipe, lapwing, reed bunting, little ringed plover, goosander, shoveler, tufted duck and widgeon, but also to endangered mammals like the otter and the watershrew. Tourism in the area has, rightly, not been encouraged; the balance of nature is too fragile. To the east of the town are similar marshes at the King's Pool, off North Walls. And of course Stafford Castle - or the shell of it - still remains on top of the hill to the west of the town. Some of the surrounding fields have been sacrificed to housing development, but there no longer seems any danger of the castle suffering the same fate. A constant grumble by young people in Stafford used to be that there was nothing for them to do, especially in terms of night- life. They now have less cause for complaint because there are half-a-dozen night-spots. The best-known is the Zanzibar in Newport Road, opposite the Chetwynd Centre. It is on the site of the Top of the World, which was established immediately after the Second World War. During the 1960s the proprietor was the formidable local character Eddie Fenton, who effectively acted as his own bouncer. Many well-known entertainers have been associated with Stafford. Neil Morrissey, of the television comedy 'Men Behaving Badly', and the late Patrick Fyffe, better known as Dr Evadne Hinge, of the musical comedy act Hinge and Brackett, were both born in the town. Freya Copeland, of 'Emmerdale' | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, County Buildings, Martin Street 2005 (ref. S411711k) | On the other hand, in a town where immigration has been below the national average, multi-culturalism has made comparatively little impact. Only one non- Christian group has established a place of worship in Stafford in recent times - the Sikh Gurdwara in Tithe Barn Road. It is tempting to deplore the loss of many fine buildings during the last century and to forget that much has been preserved. In the main street, for example, many of the shop frontages were developed in the last century with little regard to their history. Yet the first floors are a different manner, and an upward glance can still reveal something of the Stafford of former times. | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, Victoria Park 2005 (ref. S411709k) | AND SO, with the new millennium, to modern times. It cannot be claimed that Stafford celebrated the event with much originality or enthusiasm. Of course, private parties and firework displays lit up the sky for an hour or two, but within the town itself the event was marked solely by a countdown clock in the Market Square. Perhaps the date was regarded as a mere figure on the calendar, although the local Staffordshire Newsletter and Stafford Post each brought out special editions, and there was correspondence debating whether the millennium actually began in 2000 or the following year. The first notable event of the 21st century (or the last of the 20th) was unpropitious. For the first time since 1946 Stafford suffered serious flooding. After a period of unprecedentedly wet weather in November 2000 some parts of the town were submerged, notably the Lammascote area near the King's Pool, and much of Victoria Park. Whether this was due to global warming and climate change or not, the amount of rain over a prolonged period exceeded that of 1946. This time, though, the town was better prepared and the results were less disastrous. Although the water level beneath the Green Bridge rose to a dangerously high level the arch never quite flooded, and apart from the Picture House, which suffered severely, the main street escaped inundation. A sign of the times is that the first major building project of the new millennium | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, the Public Library c1955 (ref. S411018) | The White Lion Inn Unfortunately, construction of Stafford's new road system was accompanied by another act of civic vandalism. The White Lion Inn was demolished so that the new traffic island at the Green could be constructed. At the time the citizens of Stafford were assured that the medieval inn would be dismantled carefully and rebuilt elsewhere, stone by stone. Nothing of the sort happened. | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, Church Lane c1960 (ref. S411099) | Church Lane has always been one of the most attractive parts of Stafford. Legionnaire's Disease The most notorious misfortune to affect 20th-century Stafford occurred in April 1985. The cooling towers of the new District Hospital in Weston Road became the source of the worst outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease ever to occur in this country, possibly in the world. There were 101 suspected cases, 68 of which were confirmed. 28 people died as well as, in all probability, a few others who had escaped diagnosis early in the outbreak. For a time Stafford suffered unwanted international notoriety; nervous foreign tourists (mostly American) cancelled trips to the town. Eventually, after becoming a nine-day wonder, Stafford lost its place in the headlines and returned to its normal inconspicuous state. | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, Register Office, Eastgate Street 2005 (ref. S411706k) | Roman Catholic mission was established in Wolverhampton Road. In 1815 Sir George Jerningham began paying it the sum of £60 a year, and, together with his brother Edward, built a new church on the site. It opened on 5 June 1817. A striking feature of the church Sectarian Riots The last serious religious troubles in Stafford were the Sectarian Riots of 1715, when a mob of 'lewd fellows of the baser sort' attacked the Presbyterian Chapel with the intention of burning it down. The Dissenters did not give up without a fight, but after much mayhem the rioters achieved a partial victory when some of the chapel furniture was carried into the Market Square and set alight 'amid scenes of wild excitement.' (Nick Thomas) Stafford Register Office, until 1960 the Chief Constable's Headquarters. Of interesting design, it is probably the oldest building in Eastgate Street. | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, St Chad's Church c1950 (ref. S411009) | The church contains numerous items of interest; the stained glass windows are particularly fine. Facing the south door is a bust of Stafford's best-known son, Izaak Walton, author of 'The Compleat Angler'. The most enigmatical feature of the church is a very old font, probably of 12th-century origin. At the base are carvings of lions with the legend: 'Discretus non es qui non fugio: ecce liones.' This has been poetically translated as 'Unwise you be, the lions see, and do not flee.' Around the upper part of the font is an even more cryptic inscription, not helped by being practically illegible. It may be a tribute to the donor. St Chad's Church is of similar age to St Mary's, and may at one time have been a larger structure than it is today. One of the tower columns bears an inscription: 'Orm vocatur qui me condidit': 'He who founded me was called Orm.' No-one knows for sure who Orm was, although several candidates of that name have been suggested. Like St Mary's, St Chad's has associations with Izaak Walton, who is said to have worshipped there. The yard has been substantially encroached upon by neighbouring buildings (see photograph S411009, below). For once, modern development is not to blame; the problem dates from the 17th century. In fact Walton, who died in 1683, bequeathed money to enable the churchyard to be walled to prevent further incursions. | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, the Font, St Mary's Church 2005 (ref. S411702k) | The church contains numerous items of interest; the stained glass windows are particularly fine. Facing the south door is a bust of Stafford's best-known son, Izaak Walton, author of 'The Compleat Angler'. The most enigmatical feature of the church is a very old font, probably of 12th-century origin. At the base are carvings of lions with the legend: 'Discretus non es qui non fugio: ecce liones.' This has been poetically translated as 'Unwise you be, the lions see, and do not flee.' Around the upper part of the font is an even more cryptic inscription, not helped by being practically illegible. It may be a tribute to the donor. St Chad's Church is of similar age to St Mary's, and may at one time have been a larger structure than it is today. One of the tower columns bears an inscription: 'Orm vocatur qui me condidit': 'He who founded me was called Orm.' No-one knows for sure who Orm was, although several candidates of that name have been suggested. Like St Mary's, St Chad's has associations with Izaak Walton, who is said to have worshipped there. The yard has been substantially encroached upon by neighbouring buildings (see photograph S411009, below). For once, modern development is not to blame; the problem dates from the 17th century. In fact Walton, who died in 1683, bequeathed money to enable the churchyard to be walled to prevent further incursions. | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, remains of the Town Walls 2005 (ref. S411701k) | Like many old towns, Stafford retains its medieval layout at its heart. At the town centre, then as now, was the Market Square, mostly lying on the east side of the main street. The street's northern section is now known as Gaolgate Street, the southern as Greengate Street. From the North (later Gaol) Gate to the East Gate ran the North Walls. The South Walls ran from the East Gate to the South (or Green) Gate. The street names survive to this day, but only a tiny section remains of the walls themselves, moved and repositioned near the former East Gate. The effective boundary of the medieval town to the west was provided by the river. Most of the south-western section was, and still is, known as Tenterbanks, from the racks used there for drying cloth and stretching cattle hides; there is mention of 'le teynter on the walls' in 1468. For most of its life the region between Broad Eye and the North Gate seems to have been called Dottell Prick. For a short time after the opening of the nearby gas works in 1829 it was known by the hardly more attractive name of Gas Lane. It reverted briefly to Dottell Street in 1838 and acquired its present comparatively mundane title of Chell Road in 1841. (Nick Thomas) The remains of Stafford's walls are preserved near the site of the old East Gate. | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
 Stafford, Church Lane 2005 (ref. S411719k) | The town also has an association with Skarzysko/Kamienna in Poland. Like everywhere else, Stafford is changing. Until perhaps halfway through the last century the majority of people living in the town (Nick Thomas) A view of St Mary's Grove, opposite the Church. The Georgian building on the left houses solicitors' offices. (Nick Thomas) Church Lane, viewed from Water Street. This is one of the pleasantest parts of the town. A Television Regular The Stafford building most often shown on television is without doubt that of the Law Courts, frequently appearing on Midland news broadcasts at the time of major trials. | Add your own MemoryAdd to your Album |
