Course:History 344 Nasty Families/Regions/Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county located in the East Midlands of England. A north-western boundary is formed between Staffordshire and neighbouring county Derbyshire by the River Trent, and this border lies on a direct line between London and Chester .[1] Geographically, the land consists of a broad valley of green meadowland extending from the valley of River Trent, which then grows into hilly country-side to the north-east and south-west .[2] Along the county’s south-west boundary lays the Great Dudley Coalfield and the “Black Country,” where the iron trade, a main industry of Staffordshire, flourishes .[3] Other main industries of the county include pottery, brewing, shoe-making, silk-weaving, and agriculture .[4]
In the typically variable climate of the United Kingdom,[5] this once heavily forested and hilly area grew into districts suitable for grass.[6] Due to the tremendous fertility of the four-fifths of arable land,[7] the county became famous for growing barley, and relied heavily on the grazing of cattle, and even more so sheep, where economy was concerned. Today dairy-farming has become more popular than grazing due to the large markets of many nearby heavily populated centres.[8]
Historically, evidence of settlement in Staffordshire extends back approximately one thousand years, with the Iberians as the first inhabitants.[9] A people referred to as the Cornavii then settled the Churnet area (a.k.a. River of the Horn), located on a sharp elbow in the River Trent near Leek.[10] Settlement by the Romans brought both Christianity and road building to the area, but pagan invasion drove much of it out before it was re-introduced from the North in the late 600’s.[11] The county was harassed in 1069 for refusing to acknowledge the authority of William the Conqueror, which left the area very poor and sparsely populated.[12] During the War of the Roses, they supported the side of the Lancastrians, who held much land in Staffordshire. The Battle of Blore Heath, the place of the Lancastrians’s defeat, was fought in the west of the county.[13] No battles were held in Staffordshire during the English Civil War,[14] as a public meeting in 1642 proposed to raise local “third forces” to prevent royalist and parliamentarian troops and recruiters from coming into the area.[15] Despite these efforts, sides were still taken, and the county as a whole generally sided with Parliament. Religiously, Staffordshire was heavily protestant, and Roman Catholics were heavily persecuted.[16]
- ↑ W. Bernard Smith, Cambridge County Geographies: Staffordshire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1915), 2.
- ↑ C. S. Burne, ”Staffordshire Folk and Their Lore,” Folklore 7, no. 4 (1896): 366, http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stable/1253301?&Search=yes&searchText=Lore&searchText=Staffordshire&searchText=Folk&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DStaffordshire%2Band%2BFolk%2BLore%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don&prevSearch=&item=1&ttl=484&returnArticleService=showFullText (accessed January 28, 2012).
- ↑ Burne, 367.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Smith, 40.
- ↑ Smith, 33.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Smith, 51.
- ↑ P. H. Ditchfield, et al., The Counties of England: Their Story and Antiquities (London: George Allen and Company, LTD., 1912), 210.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ditchfield, 210-1
- ↑ Smith, 65.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Smith, 67.
- ↑ Clive Holmes, Why Was Charles I Executed? (London: Antony Rowe Ltd., 2006), 62.
- ↑ Smith, 68.