Stafford facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Stafford
Shire Hall and Market Square
Stafford
Population	68,472 (2011 Census)
OS grid reference	SJ922232
District	Stafford
Shire county	Staffordshire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	STAFFORD
Postcode district	ST16-ST21
Dialling code	01785
Police	Staffordshire
Fire	Staffordshire
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Stafford
List of places UK England Staffordshire 52°48′25″N 2°07′01″W / 52.807°N 2.117°W / 52.807; -2.117

Stafford is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about 15 miles (24 km) north of Wolverhampton, 15 miles (24 km) south of Stoke-on-Trent and 24 miles (39 km) north-west of Birmingham. The town population in 2011 was 68,472 and that of the wider borough of Stafford was 122,000, making it the third largest in the county after Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

History

Stafford means 'ford' by a 'staithe' (landing place). The original settlement was on dry sand and gravel peninsula that provided a strategic crossing point in the marshy valley of the River Sow, a tributary of the River Trent. There is still a large area of marshland northwest of the town, which has always been subject to flooding, such as in 1947, 2000 and 2007.

It is thought Stafford was founded in about 700 AD by a Mercian prince called Bertelin who, according to legend, established a hermitage on the peninsula named Betheney or Bethnei. Until recently it was thought that the remains of a wooden preaching cross from this time had been found under the remains of St Bertelin's chapel, next to the later collegiate Church of St Mary in the centre of the town. Recent re-examination of the evidence shows this was a misinterpretation – it was a tree-trunk coffin placed centrally in the first, timber, chapel at around the time Æthelflæd founded the burh, in 913 AD. The tree-trunk coffin may have been placed there as an object of commemoration or veneration of St Bertelin.

Already a centre for the delivery of grain tribute during the Early Middle Ages, Stafford was commandeered in July 913 AD by Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia and daughter of King Alfred the Great, after the death of her father and of her husband, Æthelred, then ealdorman of Mercia in 911, in order to construct a burh there. This new burh was fortified and provided with an industrial area for the centralised production of Roman-style pottery ("Stafford Ware") which was supplied to the chain of West Midlands burhs.

She and her younger brother King Edward the Elder of Wessex, both children of King Alfred the Great and Ealhswith, wife of Æthelred, ealdorman of the Angles of Mercia, were attempting to complete their father King Alfred the Great's programme of unifying England into a single kingdom. Æthelflæd was a formidable military leader and tactician, and she sought to protect and extend the northern and western frontiers of her overlordship of Mercia against the Danish Vikings, by fortifying burhs, including Tamworth and Stafford in 913, and Runcorn on the River Mersey in 915 among others, while King Edward the Elder concentrated on the east, wresting East Anglia and Essex from the Danes. Anglo-Saxon women could play powerful roles in society; Æthelflæd's death effectively ended the relative independence of Mercia. Edward the Elder of Wessex took over her fortress at Tamworth and accepted the submission of all who were living in Mercia, both Danish and English. In late 918 Aelfwynn, Æthelflæd's daughter, was deprived of her authority over Mercia and taken to Wessex. The project for the unification of England took another step forward.

Stafford was one of Æthelflæd's military campaign bases and extensive archaeological investigations, and recent re-examination and interpretation of that evidence now shows her new burh was producing, in addition to the Stafford Ware pottery, food for her army (butchery, grain processing, baking), coinage and weaponry, but apparently no other crafts and there were few imports.

The Lady of Mercia, Æthelflæd, ruled Mercia for five years after the death of her father and husband, dying in Tamworth in 918.

At around this time the county of Staffordshire was formed. Stafford lay within the Pirehill hundred.

In 1069, a rebellion by Eadric the Wild against the Norman conquest culminated in the Battle of Stafford. Two years later another rebellion, this time led by Edwin, Earl of Mercia, culminated in Edwin's assassination. This meant his lands were distributed amongst the followers of William the Conqueror. Robert de Tonei was granted the manor of Bradley and one third of the king's rents in Stafford. The Norman conquest in Stafford was therefore particularly brutal, and resulted not only in the imposition of a castle, but in the destruction and suppression of every other activity except the intermittent minting of coins for about a hundred years.

Stafford Castle was built by the Normans on the nearby hilltop to the west in about 1090. 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 on the earthworks incorporate much of the original stonework.

Redevelopment began in the late 12th century, and while the church, the main north-to-south street (Greengate) and routes through the late Saxon industrial quarter to the east remained, in other ways the town plan changed. A motte was constructed on the western side of the peninsula, overlooking a ford, and facing the site of the main castle of Stafford, on the hill at Castle Church, west of the town. Tenements were laid out over the whole peninsula and trade and crafts flourished until the early 14th century, when there was another upset probably associated with the plague of Black Death, which was followed in the mid 16th century by another revival.

In 1206 King John granted a Royal Charter which created the borough of Stafford. In the Middle Ages Stafford was a market town, mainly dealing in cloth and wool. In spite of being the shire town, Stafford required successive surges of external investment from the time of Æthelflæd to that of Queen Elizabeth I.

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).

When James I visited Stafford, he was said to be so impressed by the town's Shire Hall and other buildings that he called it 'Little London'.

Charles I visited Stafford shortly after the out-break of the English Civil War. He stayed for three days at the Ancient High House. The town was later captured by the Parliamentarians, while a small-scale battle was fought at nearby Hopton Heath. Stafford later fell to the Parliamentarians, as did Stafford Castle, following a six-week siege. The town's most famous son is Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler, who was a staunch Royalist.

In 1658 Stafford elected John Bradshaw, the man who judged 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 feelings with his claims that there was 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 executed in 1680. The charge was false and over five years later, on 4 June 1685, the bill of attainder against him was reversed.

The town was represented in Parliament by the famous playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan in the 18th century. During the same era, the town's mechanised shoe industry was founded, the most well-known factory owner being William Horton. The industry gradually died out, with the last factory being redeveloped in 2008.

In 1837 the Grand Junction Railway built the first railway line (part of the line from Birmingham to Warrington) and railway station in the town; at Warrington this linked, via another line, with the Liverpool-to-Manchester railway. Birmingham provided the first connection to London. Other lines followed; Stafford became a significant junction and this helped attract a number of industries to the town.

On 31 March 2006 the Queen visited the town to join in the 800th anniversary civic celebrations.

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 History of Stafford' (sic).

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 changing 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 and Shakespeare productions take place in the castle grounds each summer. The castle forms a landmark for drivers, as it is highly visible from the M6 motorway.

The oldest building now in Stafford is St Chad's Church, dating back into the 12th century. The main part of the church is richly decorated. Carvings in the church's archways and pillars may have been made by a group of stonemasons from the Middle East who came to England during the Crusades. A great deal of the stonework was covered up during 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 was rediscovered. The church hosts "Timewalk", a computer generated display which 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 completely rebuilt in the early 13th century in a cruciform layout 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 using the chancel. St Mary's was restored in 1842 by Giles Gilbert Scott.

The Shire Hall Gallery was built in 1798 as a court house and office of the Mayor and Clerk of Stafford. It houses the Art Gallery, which shows changing exhibitions. It also contains a café and previously the town's library until its recent move to Staffordshire Place. The Shire Hall used to be the town's court house, and is a Grade II listed building. It still retains two courtrooms. One of them is open to the general public and has a permanent exhibition showing the history of the building and details of some high-profile cases that were heard there. An old 'holding cell' is also open to public viewing.

The Shugborough Hall country estate is 4 miles (6.4 km) outside town. It previously belonged to the Earls of Lichfield, and is now owned by the National Trust and maintained by the leaseholder, Staffordshire County Council. The 19th century Sandon Hall is 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of Stafford. It is set in 400 acres (1.6 km²) of parkland, and is the seat of the Earl of Harrowby. Weston Hall stands 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Stafford, in the Trent valley, with a large park and it was once part of the Chartley estate. It is believed that the main part of the hall was built around 1550 as a small dower house, however the architectural evidence suggests that it is Jacobean. Weston Hall was extended in 1660 into a three-gable structure with high-pitched roofs.

Culture

Stafford Gatehouse Theatre is the town's main entertainment and cultural venue. The Met Studio within the Gatehouse is a dedicated venue for stand-up comedy and alternative live music. There is an art gallery in the Shire Hall. Staffordshire County Showground, just outside the town, is the venue for many national and local events. There is an annual Shakespeare Festival at Stafford Castle that has attracted many notable people, including Frank Sidebottom and Ann Widdecombe.

Victoria Park, opened in 1908, is a 13 acre (53,000 m²) Edwardian riverside park with a play park, bowling green, bird cages and greenhouses; Victoria Park has recently undergone a major redevelopment in places, incorporating a new children's play area, new sand and water jet area which has replaced the previous open-air paddling pool and also a brand new bmx/skateboard area. Stafford is also home to a 9 hole golf course near the town centre.

The three screen Apollo Cinema, showing mainstream releases, is in the centre of town. Stafford Film Theatre is based at the Gatehouse Theatre, and shows independent and alternative films. There is also a tenpin bowling alley at Greyfriars Place. The new Stafford Leisure Centre opened in 2008 on Lammascote Road.

Nightlife in the town consists of smaller bar and club venues such as Casa, the Grapes, the Picture House, and the nightclub Couture / Noir et Blanc, most of which are in walking distance of each other. There is a big student patronage, with coaches bringing students from Stoke-on-Trent, Cannock, and Wolverhampton.

Climate

As with the rest of the British Isles Stafford experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest Met Office weather station is at Penkridge, about 5 miles to the south.

Transport

Railways

Stafford railway station was once a major railway hub, but the suspension of passenger services on the Stafford to Uttoxeter line in 1939 and Beeching's closure of the Stafford to Shrewsbury Line in 1964 eliminated the station's east-west traffic. The years up to 2008 saw cross-country trains (operated by Virgin CrossCountry) stopping at Stafford less frequently. Since Arriva CrossCountry took over the franchise and adopted a new timetable in 2008, this has reversed and services between Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street almost always stop at Stafford, giving a service typically every 30 mins on weekdays. Beyond Birmingham, the services continue alternately to Bristol Temple Meads and Bournemouth.

Avanti West Coast services to London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street operate hourly in each direction seven days a week. In December 2008, London Midland introduced a service stopping at Stafford on the Crewe to London Euston route and a Birmingham New Street–Liverpool Lime Street service that departs from Stafford normally every 30 mins on weekdays. These are now operated by West Midlands Trains. At least one train a day in each direction between Birmingham New Street and Crewe is operated by Transport for Wales, usually the first and last of the day.

Roads

Junctions 13 (Stafford South & Central) and 14 (Stafford North) of the M6 motorway provide access to the town, so that Birmingham and Manchester are easily reached. The A34 runs through the town centre and links with Stone and Stoke-on-Trent to the north and to the West Midlands conurbation to the south including Birmingham, Walsall and Wolverhampton. The A518 road connects Stafford with Telford to the south-west and Uttoxeter to the north-east. This is the main route to the theme park at Alton Towers. The A449 runs south from the town centre to the nearby town of Penkridge and to Wolverhampton. Finally, the A513 runs east from Stafford to the local towns of Rugeley and Lichfield.

Most bus services in Stafford are run by D&G Bus as services to Lichfield, Cannock and Rugeley, while Arriva Midlands runs one to Telford. National Express West Midlands had a service between Wolverhampton and Stafford until April 2020, when it was cut short and later withdrawn. An infrequent link between Wolverhampton and Stafford is provided by Select Bus. Services to Stone and Stoke-on-Trent are handled by First Potteries (service 101).

Stafford has five taxi firms and several independent operators from ranks at the station, Bridge St, Broad St and Salter St.

Canal

The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal runs close to the Baswich and Wildwood areas and was once linked to the River Sow by the River Sow Navigation.

Language

Although a significant number of people living and working within Stafford speak with distinctly Black Country or Stoke-on-Trent accents, there exists a very distinctive Staffordian accent, spoken by most residents, that sounds like a weaker cousin of the East Midlands family of accents. The famous stand-up comedian, author, broadcaster and Stafford native Dave Gorman has a typically Staffordian accent.

The Stafford accent may be distinguished from that of the more southern parts of Staffordshire heading towards the West Midlands, where the accent is more Black Country-influenced. The accent of Stafford is more influenced by Stoke-on-Trent, to varying extents, but less broad and perhaps more "watered-down." Those who live in Stafford tend to believe they have a more "neutral" accent, or perhaps no accent at all, but the influence of Stoke-on-Trent and nearby Stone sets it apart and distinguishes itself from more southern Staffordshire.

The Stafford knot

Areas

• Baswich

An estate which is next to Weeping Cross, and many people get confused between these two estates. It is found by heading towards Rugeley and Cannock from Stafford Town Centre, or from Uttoxeter past Weston Road High School and through Baswich lanes. It has a Co-Op as a convenience store, and a hairdresser. It also has a church with a graveyard.

• Beaconside
• Burton Manor
• Castle House Gardens
• Castle House Drive
• Castlefields

An estate built on the wetlands off Newport Road in the early 1990s, to the displeasure of many protesters. The roads are named after famous athletes of the time (Gunnell Close, Christie Drive etc.)

• Castletown

An estate of terraced cottages, built in the 1830s and 1840s for the influx of railway workers into the town. The estate used to have a church, St Thomas's, but this was demolished in the 1970s and replaced by the new church in Doxey. The offices of Staffordshire Newsletter now occupy the site. Castletown is changing rapidly, with the demolition of Stafford Arms and the building of new executive flats heralding a new era on the estate.

• The Crossings

A new estate built on the former site of Stychfields, in the grounds of the Alstom factory. It also includes a new retail park.

• Coppenhall
• Coton Fields
• Doxey
• Forebridge
• Highfields

A large council estate with Wolverhampton Road at one end and Newport Road at the other. The first houses in Highfields were built c. 1955, with substantial additions (Highfields number two estate, as it was then known) in 1963-64. West Way is the longest street in Highfields, carving its way through the entire estate. Many of the streets in the '60s expansion of Highfields were named after poets and playwrights (Shakespeare Road, Masefield Drive, Coleridge Drive, Keats Avenue, Tennyson Road, Binyon Court, etc.) Of the older roads, the longest is Bagot's Oak, so called because of a large oak tree that was in the road. Much of the original estate was built on Preston's Farm land, and one of the bus services was still called 'Highfields Farm until recently. Two residential tower blocks once stood on Milton Grove, named Binyon Court and Brooke Court. Brooke Court was primarily used as student housing, and was subsequently demolished in 1998 to make way for a new housing development. Binyon Court underwent renovations and was renamed the Keep.

• Holmcroft
• Hyde Lea
• King Edward Court
• Kingston Hill
• Littleworth
• Manor Estate
• Meadowcroft Park
• Moss Pit

Moss Pit is situated in southern Stafford, approximately one mile from Junction 13 of the M6 motorway; areas include the Pippins, the Chestnuts and Scholar's Gate.

• Parkside

A housing estate at the extreme north of the town. It has two entrances from the A513 Beaconside Road, forming a U-shape. The estate has access to many green areas, including 3 parks, a 'green' and access to Stafford Common. There is also a primary school (Parkside Primary School) on the estate and access to Sir Graham Balfour School which has been totally rebuilt in 2001. Some of the school grounds were sold off when the old school was demolished to build "the Oaks" housing estate which is adjacent to Parkside. There is also a precinct of shops and the northern terminus of the number 10 bus route (Parkside - Trinity Fields - Stone Road - Stafford town centre). The Parkside estate was built in the 1970s and has a selection of different types of housing: detached, semi-detached, flats and modern terraced housing.

• Queensville
• Rising Brook
• Rickerscote

Rickerscote many years ago used to have a lane running from the now Silkmore estate heading towards the area where the bridge to Argos is. This area is known to many as 'the village', and there is a local shop that serves the people. Rickerscote is home to a large area of grassland know locally as the 'green'.

Other locally well known areas of here are the Conker Tree, Boulton's Farm, Devil's Triangle and the Metal Bridge. The local drinking houses are the Rickerscote Arms(now closed), known to the old school as the Alpine, and before that, The Plough and Trumpet... and further into the estate there is the Post Office Social Club.

• Rowley Park
• Silkmore

Silkmore is an area situated between Rickerscote and Meadowcroft, with the distant Rising Brook to its side. The local primary school is Silkmore and the area has a selection of shops, ranging from the local butchers to a Chinese. Over the years the area has been under a development programme to upgrade the exteriors of the blocks of flats and the development of new houses on Exeter Street alongside new flats on Sidney Avenue.

An area of Silkmore is renowned for flooding, namely the area where the 'Southend Club' used to stand. This has now been replaced with new homes. Other areas of the estate that no longer exist are 'the Pioneer', 'the Garage' and 'Finney's Farm'. These have all now been replaced by homes or the Co-op.

• St. George's

A new housing development close to the St George's Hospital. The main throughway is St. George's Parkway. The housing is a mixture of modern buildings of various types, including a modern interpretation of a Georgian crescent. Work has recently begun on restoring the old St. George's Hospital building (disused since 1995) into luxury flats.

• Tillington, Staffordshire
• Trinity Fields
• The Oaks

The Oaks a new estate that is off the A34 near Sir Graham Balfour School extreme north of Stafford.

• Walton on the Hill

Walton on the Hill is located to the south of Stafford bordering Milford. Walton High School is specialist science school.

• Weeping Cross

Weeping Cross is an estate on the east side of Stafford. It is easily found by heading up Radford Bank, towards Rugeley and Cannock. It also holds Leasowes Primary School and St Anne's Catholic Primary School. Weeping Cross also has a local pub, the Lynton Tavern (now closed), a clinic with nearby pharmacy, a library and a row of convenient shops. The number one bus runs every 30 minutes around the estate.

• Western Downs

An estate on the edge of Stafford that borders on Highfields and the M6 motorway. A large green area with two football pitches and a basketball court known as the 'Bottom Pitches' can be found in Western Downs along with the 'Rainbow Park' on Clarendon Drive, and the 'Dome Park' on Torridge Drive. Until the council built a play area they were the main footballing locations on the estate. The number nine bus route also covers Western Downs.

• Wildwood

A large estate with a ring road that joins onto the A34 road. The estate was built around the 1970s and housed a lot of the Stafford police force as the Staffordshire Police HQ was / is located on the opposite side of the A34 road.

Nearby places

• Alton Towers
• Birmingham
• Cannock
• Cannock Chase
• Creswell
• Eccleshall
• Great Haywood
• Heath Hayes and Wimblebury
• Hixon
• Lichfield
• Little Haywood
• Newport, Shropshire
• Rugeley
• Shugborough Hall
• Stoke-on-Trent
• Stone
• Trentham Gardens
• Uttoxeter
• Wolverhampton

Twin towns

Stafford is twinned with:

• Belfort, France
• Dreieich, Germany
• Tarragona, Spain
• Stafford, Virginia, USA
• Skarżysko-Kamienna, Poland

Economy

Stafford has a history of shoemaking as far back as 1476, when it was a cottage industry, but a manufacturing process was introduced in the 1700s. William Horton founded a business in 1767 that became the largest shoe company in Stafford, selling worldwide. He had several government contracts through the town's Member of Parliament (MP), the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The shoe industry gradually died out in the late 20th century, with Lotus Shoes the last manufacturer. Its factory in Sandon Road was demolished in 2001 and replaced by housing.

A locomotive firm, WG Bagnall, was set up in 1875 to manufacture steam engines for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway and the Great Western Railway. Between 1875 and 1962, the Castle Engine Works in Castle Town produced 1,660 locomotives, including steam, diesel and electric. It was taken over in 1962 by English Electric, which also bought the Stafford-based engine manufacturer WH Dorman & Company. This had merged with Bagnall's by then.

Since 1903, a major industrial activity has been heavy electrical engineering, particularly power station transformers. The works have been successively owned by Siemens, English Electric, GEC and GEC Alsthom. Alstom T&D was sold in 2004 to Areva. At the end of 2009, Areva T&D was split between former owners Alstom and Schneider Electric. At the end of 2015, the works were acquired by General Electric consolidating Stafford as the Centre of Excellence for HVDC, AC Substations and Converter Transformers. Each transformer weighs several hundred tons and a road train is used for transport. In the 1968 Hixon rail crash, one such road train was struck by an express train on a level crossing.

Perkins Engines has a factory for diesel engines in Littleworth. Adhesives manufacturer Bostik has a large factory in the town. Stafford is also a dormitory town for commuting to Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham.

Private service industries based in Stafford include TopCashback. The public sector provides much local employment, with Staffordshire County Council, Stafford Borough Council and Staffordshire Police all headquartered in the town. Stafford Prison, County Hospital and Beacon Barracks are other sources of public-sector employment.

The town was home to the computer science and IT campus of Staffordshire University, along with Beaconside campus, which housed the Faculty of Computing Engineering and Technology and part of the Business School. These have all been transferred to Stoke-on-Trent. The only block of Stafford University left in use is the School of Health in Blackheath Lane, which teaches medical nursing. The main Stoke campus lies about 18 miles (30 km) to the north.

The Guildhall Shopping Centre in the centre of town offers over 40 retail outlets, several empty at present. The three superstores around the main town centre were joined by two others in 2018.

Sport

Stafford is home to three association football clubs; Stafford Rangers F.C., Brocton F.C. and Stafford Town F.C., none of which play at a fully professional level.

The town has two rugby union clubs, though again they do not play at a high level.

There is a local hockey club with eight adult teams.

Stafford Post Office Rifle and Pistol Club is a Home Office approved rifle club founded in 1956. It has a 25-yard indoor range attached to the Stafford Post Office Social Club. In addition to short-range indoor shooting facilities, the club has a number of outdoor ranges, including Kingsbury, Sennybridge and Thorpe, for larger-calibre long-range shooting.

Stafford Cricket and Hockey Club, an ECB Clubmark Accredited Club founded in 1864, is almost certainly the town's oldest sports club. It appears to have played originally at the Lammascotes, before being offered a field at the Hough (Lichfield Road/GEC site) in 1899, which belonged to the grammar school. In 1984 the club made a move to Riverway in 1984, as the Hough came under the ownership of GEC. It currently owns 11 acres (4 ha) at Riverway and hosts numerous sports: two cricket pitches in summer and football, mini-football, rugby and hockey facilities in winter. In 1999 it won a £200,000 lottery grant towards a new pavilion completed in 2000, with six changing rooms and a function room. The cricket section welcomes players of all abilities. Four senior sides play on Saturdays. The first and second elevens play in the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire League. The third and fourth elevens play in the Stone and District Cricket League. There is also a senior team that plays in the Lichfield Sunday League. The five junior sides are for under 9s, under 11s, under 13s, under 15s and under 17s.

In December 2018, a parkrun (free weekly timed 5k run/walk) was launched in Stafford on the Isabel Trail, a public foot/cycle path that follows part of the former course of the Stafford–Uttoxeter railway. The run/walk takes place on Saturday mornings at 09:00am, starting at the southern end of the Isabel Trail by Sainsbury's supermarket.

Education

Primary schools

Secondary schools

Tertiary education

The Chetwynd Centre provides higher education in the town. It normally teaches specialised A-levels, some vocational qualifications and subjects taught by teachers with no school base. The centre has joined with all the town's secondary schools except the grammar school, to provide better resources for students.

Stafford College is a large college of further education. It also provides some higher education courses on behalf of Staffordshire University, focusing on computing and engineering.

South Staffordshire College has a base in the village of Rodbaston on the edge of Stafford. It is largely an agricultural college.

Staffordshire University had a large campus in the east of the town which focused heavily on computing, engineering and media technologies (film, music and computer games). It also ran teacher-training courses. The university had two halls of residence opposite the campus, the smaller Yarlet with 51 rooms and the larger Stafford Court with 554 Rooms. Stafford Court was divided into 13 "houses" named after local villages. This part of the campus closed in 2016, with the majority of facilities relocating to its new campus in Stoke-on-Trent.

Notable people

Notable people from Stafford include the 17th-century author of The Compleat Angler, Izaak Walton, whose cottage at nearby Shallowford is now an angling museum, and the 18th-century playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who was once the local MP. The 1853 Lord Mayor of London Thomas Sidney was also born in the town.

In the early 1900s, the village of Great Haywood near Stafford became home to the famous The Lord of the Rings author J. R. R. Tolkien and his wife, Edith, in her cottage in the village during the winter of 1916. Surrounding areas were said to have inspired some of his early works.

The Scottish poet, playwright and freelancer Carol Ann Duffy, though born in Glasgow, grew up in Stafford and attended Stafford Girls' High School. She was awarded an OBE in 1995, and a CBE in 2002. Many of her poems describe experiences and places in Stafford. She was the Poet laureate from 2009 to 2019, and now lives in Manchester.

Baron Stafford is a title created several times in the Peerage of England. A full schedule of over 30 of the eponymous title holders is listed at Baron Stafford. Here just three are included.

Early times

In birth order:

• Ralph de Stafford, 2nd Baron Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford (1301–1372), a notable soldier in the Hundred Years' War
• Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford (1501–1563) In 1531 Staffordshire elected him recorder for the borough. He was later appointed JP for Staffordshire and Shropshire and Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire.
• Richard Barnfield (1574 in Norbury – 1620) poet, had an obscure but close relationship with William Shakespeare that interests scholars.
• Thomas Maxfield (real name Macclesfield) (c. 1590–1616), Roman Catholic priest and a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929, was born in Stafford gaol.

18th and 19th cc.

In birth order:

• Sir Robert Pigot, 2nd Baronet (1720–1796 in Stafford), a British Army officer during the American Revolutionary War
• Lieutenant General Sir William Congreve, 1st Baronet (1742 in Stafford – 1814), a British military officer who improved artillery strength through gunpowder experiments
• James Oatley, Sr. (c. 1769 in Stafford – 1839), an Australian watch and clock maker and one-time convict. Oatley, aged 44, was sentenced to penal transportation for life for stealing shirts and bedding. He had an earlier conviction for stealing a ton of cheese.
• James Trubshaw (1777 in Colwich – 1853) English builder, architect and civil engineer
• John Prescott Knight RA (1803 in Stafford – 1881) English portrait painter, Secretary of the Royal Academy from 1848 until 1873
• George Smith (1805–1874), known as Throttler Smith, was an English hangman at Stafford gaol from 1840 until 1872.
• Charles Pye VC (1820 in Stafford – 1876) sergeant-major, recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Benjamin Broomhall (1829 in Bradley – 1911) author and advocate of foreign missions, administrator of China Inland Mission
• Francis Webb (1836 in Tixall – 1906) British engineer responsible for the design and manufacture of locomotives for the London and North Western Railway (LNWR)
• Edward Ilsley (1838 in Stafford – 1926) prelate in the Roman Catholic Church, first Archbishop of Birmingham (1888–1921)
• Ernest Shears (1849 – 1917 in Stafford), an Anglican clergyman in South Africa, retired to Stafford.
• William Gordon Bagnall (1852–1907) British mechanical engineer, founded the locomotive manufacturing company of W.G. Bagnall in 1875 which operated until taken over in 1962 by English Electric
• Captain Egerton Bagot Byrd Levett-Scrivener (1857 in Milford Hall – 1954) Royal Navy Flag Lieutenant and aide to Vice Admiral George Willes in the Far East
• Alice Hawkins (1863 in Stafford – 1946) a leading English suffragette among the boot and shoe machinists of Leicester

20th c.

In birth order:

• G. Godfrey Phillips CBE (1900-1965) was the Town Clerk from 1932 to 1934. He then became secretary and later Commissioner General of the Shanghai Municipal Council.
• Moira Forsyth (1905–1991) stained-glass artist
• Falkner Allison (1907–1993) Anglican bishop successively of Chelmsford and the Winchester.
• Michael John Wise CBE, MC (1918–2015) academic, professor of geography at the University of London
• Thomas Worrall Kent (1922–2011) Canadian economist, journalist, editor, public servant, and industrialist; born in Stafford
• Sarah Buck OBE (born 1953) structural and civil engineer and business woman in engineering and construction, attended Stafford Girls High School.
• Francis Melfort William Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford (born 1954), landowner and peer, Chancellor of Staffordshire University
• Mike Dilger (born 1966) ecologist, ornithologist and TV presenter
• Sir Jonathan Ive, KBE (born 1967), iPhone designer, went to school at Stafford Walton High School and now resides in San Francisco, California.
• Hannah Maybank (born in Stafford 1974) artist best known for the ripped and distressed surfaces of her three-dimensional paintings in acrylic

Music, acting and writing

• Rodney Milnes OBE (1936–2015) music critic, translator and broadcaster, with an interest in opera
• Dave Follows (1941–2003), British cartoonist, lived in Stafford best known for his comic strip Creature Feature
• Patrick Fyffe (1942–2002) creator of Dame Hilda Bracket
• Pete Haycock (1951 in Stafford – 2013) musician, film score composer and founding member of the Climax Blues Band
• Storm Constantine (1956–2021) British science fiction and fantasy author primarily known for her Wraeththu series
• Mark Curry (born in Stafford 1961) actor and television and radio presenter
• Neil Morrissey (born in Stafford 1962) actor, star of Men Behaving Badly
• Climax Blues Band formed in 1968, a popular Stafford blues band which later achieved international record success
• Dominic Mafham (born 1968), actor born in Stafford
• Medicine Head 1970s hit duo, hailed from nearby Tixall.
• Dave Gorman (born 1971) comedian, author and television presenter
• Duncan Botwood (born 1972 in Stafford) video game designer and voice actor
• Fran Healy (born in Stafford 1973) singer in Travis moved to Scotland when very young.
• Kieron Gillen, (born 1975) British computer games and music journalist and comic book author. He went to Blessed William Howard Catholic High School.
• Tom Vaughan (born in Stafford 1985) television actor, played the part of Spike in Channel 4 series Hollyoaks in 2007.
• Bizarre Inc, rave act formed in 1989
• Altern-8, rave act formed in Stafford in 1990
• Chicken Lips, dance music band, production team formed in 1999, successor to Bizarre Inc

Sport

• Charles Baker (1867–1924) played in the Football League for Stoke F.C. and Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
• Walter Twigg (1883 in Weeping Cross – 1963) field hockey player and cricketer
• Harry Hutsby (1886 in Stafford – 1971) joined Stoke F.C. in 1908 from local side Stafford Wednesday
• Bill Aston (1900 in Hopton – 1974) racing driver, participated in three World Championship Grands Prix
• Joe Hulme (1904–1991) English footballer and cricketer, played 333 times for Arsenal F.C. and 225 times for Middlesex as an aggressive middle-order batsman and medium-fast bowler.
• Walter Robins (1906–1968) cricketer and footballer. He was one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1930.
• Brian Little (born 1953) former Aston Villa player and manager lives in the town.
• Nigel Callaghan (born 1962) professional footballer with Aston Villa, Derby County and Watford, lives and DJs in the town.
• David Fell (born 1964), cricketer
• Phil Robinson (born 1967) Recruitment Manager at Manchester City, former footballer, with 567 pro appearances mainly for Notts County, Huddersfield Town, Stoke City, Hereford United and Stafford Rangers.
• Chris Birchall (born 1984), footballer, scored 21 goals in 322 appearances in a 16-year professional career, and scored four goals in 43 international matches,
• Christopher Paget (born 1987), right-handed batsman and right-arm offbreak bowler, plays for Derbyshire.
• Joe Leach (born 1990) cricketer, is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium for Worcestershire, as a first-team regular in 2015 and county captain in 2016.
• Steve Leach (born 1993), cricketer
• Nick Yelloly (born 1990 in Stafford) auto racing driver
• Emma Wilkins (born 1991) sprint freestyle swimmer, born in Stafford
• Morgan Gibbs-White (born 2000 in Stafford) English footballer, midfielder for Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., went to Sir Graham Balfour.

Images for kids

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  The author Izaak Walton was born in Stafford. Portrait by Jacob Huysmans

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  The Borough Hall

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  View from Stafford Castle

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  St Chad's Church, Stafford

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  Victoria Park, Stafford

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  Stafford Hospital

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  Stafford Crown Court

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  Stafford Knot

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  Map of Stafford

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  Town Twinning Sign on Eccleshall Road

See also

In Spanish: Stafford para niños