Visit Stafford Places

Welcome to Visit Stafford Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Stafford

  

Stafford Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Stafford

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Stafford history

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Stafford means “ford” by a staithe (landing place). The original settlement was on a dry sand and gravel peninsula that offered 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 north-west of the town, which is subject to flooding and did so in 1947, 2000, 2007 and 2019. Stafford is thought to have been founded about AD 700 by a Mercian prince called Bertelin, who, legend has it, founded a hermitage on a peninsula named Betheney. Until recently it was thought that the remains of a wooden preaching cross from the time had been found under the remains of St Bertelin’s Chapel, next to the later collegiate Church of St Mary in the town centre. Recent reappraisal of the evidence shows this to be a misinterpretation – it was a tree-trunk coffin placed centrally in the first, timber chapel around the time that Æthelflæd founded the burh in 913. It may have been placed there as a commemoration or veneration of St Bertelin. Already a centre for delivering grain tribute in the Early Middle Ages, Stafford was commandeered in July 913 by Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia, to construct a burh there. This fortification provided an industrial area for centralised production of Roman-style pottery (Stafford Ware), which was supplied to a chain of West Midlands burhs. Æthelflæd and her younger brother, King Edward the Elder of Wessex, were trying to complete their father King Alfred the Great’s programme of moulding England into a single kingdom. Æthelflæd, a formidable military leader and tactician, 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, 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 in 918 effectively ended Mercia’s relative independence. Edward the Elder of Wessex took over her fortress at Tamworth and accepted submission from all who were living in Mercia, Danish or English. In late 918 Aelfwynn, Æthelflæd’s daughter, was deprived of her authority over Mercia and taken to Wessex. The project of unifying England took another step forward. Stafford was one of Æthelflæd’s military campaign bases. Extensive archaeological investigations and recent re-examination and interpretation show her new burh producing, alongside Stafford Ware, food for her army (butchery, grain processing, baking), coinage and weaponry, but apparently no other crafts and making few imports. The county of Staffordshire was formed at about this time. 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, led by Edwin, Earl of Mercia, ended in Edwin’s assassination and distribution of his lands among 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 there was especially brutal, and resulted not only in the imposition of a castle, but in destruction and suppression for about a century of every other activity except intermittent minting of coins. Stafford Castle, built by the Normans on a nearby hilltop to the west about 1090, was first made of wood and later rebuilt in stone. It has been rebuilt twice since; 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. While the church, the main north–south street (Greengate) and routes through the late Saxon industrial quarter to the east remained, the town plan changed in other ways. A motte was built 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 peninsula and trade and crafts flourished until the early 14th century, when a period of upset may have been associated with the Black Death. This was followed in the mid-16th century by another revival. In 1206 King John granted a Royal Charter creating the borough of Stafford. It became a medieval market town mainly dealing in cloth and wool. Though a shire town, Stafford required waves of external investment from Æthelflæd’s time 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 Shire Hall and other buildings that he called it “Little London”. Charles I visited Stafford shortly after the outbreak of the English Civil War, staying for three days at the Ancient High House. The town was later captured by the Parliamentarians after a small-scale battle at nearby Hopton. Stafford still later fell to the Parliamentarians, as did Stafford Castle after a six-week siege. However, its 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. 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 industry gradually died, the last factory being redeveloped in 2008. In 1837 the Grand Junction Railway built a line from Birmingham to Warrington to pass through the town and link at Warrington, via another line, with the Liverpool–Manchester railway. Birmingham provided the first connection to London. Other lines followed. Stafford became a major junction, which helped to attract other industries. The Friars’ Walk drill hall was completed in 1913, just in time for the First World War. On 31 March 2006 the Queen visited the town for 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 [sic] History of Stafford.

Stafford culture & places

Stafford Gatehouse Theatre is the town’s main entertainment and cultural venue. Victoria Park is a 13-acre (53 ha) riverside park with a play park, bowling green, bird cages and greenhouses. The annual Shakespeare Festival at Stafford Castle has attracted many notable people, including Frank Sidebottom and Ann Widdecombe.

Stafford landmarks

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. The oldest building now in Stafford is St Chad’s Church, dating back to the 12th century. 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.

You can visit Stafford places with Walkfo Stafford to hear history at Stafford’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Stafford has 45 places to visit in our interactive Stafford map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Stafford, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Stafford places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Stafford & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 45 audio facts unique to Stafford places in an interactive Stafford map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Stafford Places Map
45 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Stafford historic spots	Stafford tourist destinations	Stafford plaques	Stafford geographic features
Walkfo Stafford tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Stafford

  

Best Stafford places to visit

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Stafford has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Stafford’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Stafford’s information audio spots:

Priory of St. Thomas near Stafford Priory of St. Thomas near Stafford was an Augustinian religious house. Founded in 1174, surrendered to the Crown in 1538, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Brocton F.C. Brocton Football Club are currently members of the North West Counties League Division One South. They play at Silkmore Lane in Stafford, England.

Radford Meadows Radford Meadows is a nature reserve of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, on the southern edge of Stafford, in Staffordshire. The reserve is a floodplain situated between the River Penk to the west, and the. Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.

Stafford Hospital scandal The Stafford Hospital scandal concerns poor care and high mortality rates at the Stafford Hospital, Stafford, England, during the first decade of the 21st century. The hospital was run by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and supervised by the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority. It has been renamed County Hospital.

Stafford Town F.C. Stafford Town Football Club has over 30 teams in men’s, women’s, and several junior teams. The club’s senior men’s team play in the North West Counties League Division One South.

Friars’ Walk drill hall, Stafford Friars’ Walk drill hall is a former military installation in Staffordshire. It is located on Friars’ Walk, a former drill hall in the city’s former base.

Stafford railway station Stafford railway station is the second busiest station in Staffordshire, after Stoke-on-Trent. The station lies on the junction of the Trent Valley Line, the Birmingham Loop/Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line and the West Coast Main Line. The current brutalist station building was built in 1962 and is the fourth station to have existed on this site.

Borough of Stafford The Borough of Stafford is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire. It is named after and includes the town of Stafford. It also includes the towns of Stone and Eccleshall and numerous villages.

St Chad’s Church, Stafford St Chad’s Church, on Greengate Street in the centre of Stafford, is a Grade II* listed Anglican church. The church was built in the 12th century, and is the oldest building in Stafford. Saint Chad, who died in 672, was the first Bishop of Lichfield.

St Mary’s Church, Stafford St Mary’s Church, Stafford is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Stafford. It was built in the 1930s and is located in the area of Stafford.

Visit Stafford plaques