Ground 40 Evans Park

Date: 18.08.2018 Ground: 40 Match: 7 (64) Venue: Evans Park Teams: Stafford Town V Foley Meir Competition: Staffordshire County Senior League Premier Division Admission: £3 Final Score: 4-2 ( H/T 2-2 ) Referee: Chris Jackson Attendance: 36 ( Head Count ) Mileage to venue and return: 89.4 Miles Programme: £1 Information and History on the Town of Stafford Stafford is the County town of Staffordshire, West Midlands. The town is situated 16 miles to the North of Wolverhampton, 18 miles South of Stoke on Trent and 24 miles Northwest of Birmingham. Stafford has a population of, 63,681 and a population of the wider Borough of Stafford, 122,000. The town is linked with the following places across the World: Dreiech – Germany Tarragona – Spain Stafford, Virginia – USA Belfort – France Skarzysko-Kamienna – Poland The name Stafford means, ‘Ford’ by a ‘Straithe’ otherwise known as, Landing Place. Stafford was founded in approximately, 700AD and by a Mercian Prince by the name of, Bertelin. The site of the original settlement all those years ago was on a dry sand and gravel peninsula. The story goes that the founder of Stafford, Bertelin, established a hermitage on the peninsula and named it either, Bethany or Bethnei. By the time of the early middle ages, Stafford was already a centre for the delivery of grain tribute. This was before it was commandeered in July 913 by The Lady of Mercia, Ethelfelda. The purpose of this action was for Ethelfelda to construct a Burh. A Burh or Burg was an old fortification or a fortified settlement. Ethefelda with the help of her younger brother, King Edward The Elder of Wessex (Born 874 – Died 924) were attempting to complete their late Father’s (King Alfred The Great Born 849 – Died 899) programme of unifying England into one single Kingdom. To protect and further extend both the Northern and Western frontiers from the onslaught of the invading Vikings, Ethelfelda fortified numerous more Burhs which included sites in both Tamworth and Stafford during 913 and also further North in Runcorn two years later in 915. During this period, her brother concentrated his efforts on protecting the Eastern frontier. The Lady of Mercia died in 918, following her demise the relative form of independence of the Mercian area ceased to exist. Edward The Elder took over his Sister’s fortress in Tamworth and subsequently accepted the submission of all peoples living in Mercia, this included both Danish and English. Ethelfelda was the ruler of Mercia for a period of five years, following her death, the county of Staffordshire was formed. In 1069, three years after the famous ‘Battle of Hastings’ a rebellion was led by a man by the name of, Eadric The Wild ( a Anglo-Saxon Mangate of the West Midlands ) against the Norman Conquest, this eventually led to the battle of Stafford. Two years later, a separate rebellion took place, this one was led by, Edwin, Earl of Mercia, the rebellion culminated in Edwin’s death. The aftermath of his death meant that his lands were handed out amongst the followers of, William the Conqueror. One of the people to benefit from Edwin’s lands was, Robert de Tonei (Born 1039 – Died 1100) de Tonei was a Norman Nobleman and he was given The Manor of Bradly and furthermore, a third of the King of England’s rents in Stafford. The Norman Conquest in Stafford was a particularly brutal period, as a result a Castle was eventually constructed by, Robert de Tonei. Further to this, the destruction and suppression of every other activity besides the sporadic minting of coins, was introduced. Stafford Castle was constructed to the West of the town, high upon a hilltop in 1090. It was initially built out of wood and later, out of Stone. Today Stafford Castle is a Grade II listed building which can be seen from The M6 Motorway and from The West Coast Mainline Inter-City Trains. The structure of the Castle still possesses much of the original Stone Work from all those many years ago. The Castle was partly rebuilt in a Gothic Revival style from 1813, however this work was discontinued due to funds running out. I visited Stafford Castle during my brief visit to Stafford, it really is a fantastic site, I took the opportunity to take pictures, as shown below: Entrance to Stafford Castle (I think the bin is a recent feature) Stafford Castle Pictured from the Rear In 1206, King John (Born 1166 – Died 1216) granted a Royal Charter, thus creating the Borough of Stafford. During the time of the Middle Ages, the town of Stafford was a thriving and bustling Market Town. Many items were under dealership at the market but the main items being dealt were the materials, Cloth and Wool. During 1399, King Richard II (Born 1367 – Died 1400) was paraded through the streets as Stafford as a prisoner by troops who were loyal to, Henry Bolingbroke. (Born 1367 – Died 1413) Bolingbroke was later to become better known as King Henry IV. King James I (Born 1566 – Died 1625) made a visit to Stafford during his reign on the throne. His Royal Highness was so impressed with the town that he named it fondly as, ‘Little London’ King Charles I (Born 1600 – Died 1649) made a visit to the town in 1642 along with his nephew, Prince Rupert. Both Charles and Rupert, spent two nights at the Ancient High House on their way to Shrewsbury. Their visit coincided with the outbreak of The English Civil War. Parliamentarian forces occupied Stafford two years later, the house was then used as a prison especially for captured Royalist Gentry. A small-scale battle was fought out in nearby, Hopton, following 6 weeks of intense fighting, Stafford and the town’s Castle fell into the hands of the Parliamentarians. The Ancient High House was constructed in 1595 for the wealthy cloth merchant, Richard Dorrington. It was made by using Oak sought from woods close by. During a period in the 18th Century, the Ancient High House was halved into two separate dwellings. The main staircase in the house along with several rooms were decorated with the latest designs of wallpaper. By 1759 the house was owned by the medical professional and sometime mayor of Stafford, Brooke Crutchley. Following the death of Brooke Crutchley his widow married the medical practitioner to the Hospital, Dr Thomas Fowler. Dr Fowler was to own the building until 1792. During the early years of the 1800’s, part of the house was used as a school for girls. By 1830, the ground floor of the house had been turned into three shops. One of the shops was opened by John Marson who opened his grocers’ shop in 1827. The shop was subsequently developed by his son, William and it became one of the most reputable shops in the whole of the town. Stafford County Council purchased the building in 1975 and under the direction of architect, Frederick Charles it was fully restored to its original plan, however two shops remained on the ground floor area. In 1986 it was opened to the public and is still open to the public to this day. I made a visit to the Ancient High House during my time in Stafford, the house is also home to the Staffordshire Yeomanry Museum. The whole building Is beautiful and is well worth a visit by people who are visiting Stafford – during my short visit to the house I took the following pictures: Front of the Ancient High House ‘The Royal Visit’ Made by Charles I and Prince Rupert in 1642 Copy of Execution Warrant of Charles I Entrance to the Staffordshire Yeomanry Museum Museum opened in 1993 by, The Marquess of Anglesey. In 1658, John Bradshaw was elected as Stafford’s member of parliament. Bradshaw was the judge during trial proceedings of King Charles I During a period of the 18th Century, Stafford was represented in parliament by the well known playwright – Richard Brinsley Sheridan (Born 1751 – Died 1816) around the same period of time the mechanised shoe industry was founded in the town. The most famous factory owner within this industry was, William Horton. Unfortunately, it did not take too long for the industry to diminish, the last remaining factory was redeveloped in 2008. In 1837, The Grand Junction Railway Company built the first railway line and railway station in the town. With the introduction of this, Stafford started to attract many industries and it became a very important junction. The Friars Walk Drill Hall was designed by architects from Hanley, it was built in 1913 just in time for the outbreak of The First World War. The Hall was to become the headquarters of the Staffordshire Yeomanry. Nearly 100 years later, in 2006 - Queen Elizabeth II visited Stafford to mark the 800th anniversary of Stafford being granted the royal charter by King John in 1206. This event was commemorated by the installation of a plaque in the town: In 2013 Stafford celebrated the towns 1,100th anniversary, lots of history-based exhibitions were organised to help with the celebrations. During my brief visit to Stafford I took the opportunity to visit two churches, namely, St. Chads and the Collegiate Church of St. Mary. St. Chads church was founded in 1150 and restoration works were carried out from 1854-1886. The Collegiate Church of St. Mary dates back to the 13th Century, excavations carried out in 1954 found the adjacent late Anglo-Saxon church of St. Bertelin. Both churches are beautiful building as you can see from the following pictures: St.

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