Penkridge Station.

Distance to Birmingham, 24—Liverpool and Manchester, 73½ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Places W. ofStation.

Places E. ofStation.

Bradley

3¾ miles.

Dunstan

2¼ miles.

Church Eaton

5¼ —

Acton Trussel

2¾ —

Bednall

3½ —

Cannock

5 —

Rugeley

8 —

Armitage

10½ —

Malvesyn Ridware

11 —

Longdon

11½ —

Penkridge is supposed by Camden to have been the Roman Pennocrucium; its modern name seems derivable from the river Penk, on which it stands.

The town, from its low situation, is liable to frequent inundations. It has no market-day, but two great cattle fairs are held here, on April 30, and first Monday in September. The Church was made collegiate by King John. Penkridge contains about 3,000 inhabitants. Quitting Penkridge, the villages of Thickerscote and Silkmoor appear in the distance; and shortly after leaving Acton Trussel to the E., and Levedale on the W., Dunstan Church, appears above the bank of the railway, on the E. The next object of interest is Stafford Castle, the tower of which is seen just before arriving at

STAFFORD STATION.

Distance to Birmingham, 29¼—Liverpool and Manchester, 68¼ miles.

DISTANCES BY ROADS FROM THIS STATION TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES:—

Places W. ofStation.

Places E. ofStation.

Castlechurch

1 mile.

Baswick or Berkswick

1½ mile.

Coppenhall

2½ miles.

Marston

3¼ miles.

Houghton

4 —

Tixall

4 —

Gnosnal

7 —

Ingestre

4 —

Newport

12 —

Weston

4½ —

Sandon

5 —

Gayton

5½ —

Stowe

6¾ —

Colwich

6¾ —

Milwich

7 —

Fradswell

7½ —

Hilderston

8 —

Rugeley

9 —

Gratwich

11 —

Abbots Bromley

11 —

Uttoxeter

14 —

Lichfield

17 —

Stafford is a borough and market town; contains 8,512 inhabitants. This place, which is of great antiquity, was anciently called Stadeford, from the Saxon Stade, signifying a place on a river, and the trajectus, or ford, across the river Sow, on which it is pleasantly situated, about six miles from its confluence with the Trent.

The entrance from the London road, is by a neat bridge over the river, near which was one of the ancient gates. The houses are in general well-built, and many of them are handsome and modern erections; the streets well paved, and the environs of the town abound with elegant mansions and villas. Assemblies are held in a suite of rooms in the Town Hall, and races take place annually in May. The chief branch of manufacture is that of shoes, and the tanning of leather is carried on to a considerable extent. Stafford is also renowned for its ale, in common with the surrounding neighbourhood. The market is held on Saturday, and fairs on April 5, May 14, June 25, October 3, and December 5.

From the year 700, this place has been gradually acquiring importance, and castles have been built and rebuilt by successive princes and possessors. In 705, it is said to have been the residence of the pious St. Bertalin, son of a Mercian king, and we may well imagine a royal hermitage to have formed an attractive nucleus for a future city. Ethelfleda, Countess of Mercia, erected a castle here in 913, and fortified the town with walls and a fosse. It appears to have increased greatly in extent and importance, and is in Doomsday Book called a city, in which the king had eighteen burgesses in demesne, and the Earl of Mercia twenty mansions. William the Conqueror built a castle here, to keep the barons in subjection, and appointed as governor, Robert de Toeni, the progenitor of the house of Stafford. It was rebuilt in the reign of Edward III., and in the parliamentary war was garrisoned for the king, but taken by the parliamentary troops, and finally demolished. The lover of picturesque relics of the olden time, must regret the utter destruction of this, and many other strong holds; but the knowledge, that the iron-handed tyranny upheld by these feudal dens, is for ever gone by with their departed strength, is a glorious and surpassing compensation. Where would be our railroads, if moss-trooping barons and slavish serfs formed, as they once did, the population of England?

The castellated building which now forms so prominent a feature in the landscape on approaching Stafford, is a modern erection, on the ancient site, commenced by Lord Stafford, (then Sir George Jerningham); only one front, flanked by two round towers was completed; these now contain some ancient armour and other curiosities. The County Hall is a spacious and handsome building of stone, occupying one side of the Market-place. The County Gaol is also a large and modern erection, well adapted for the classification of prisoners, who are employed at their trades, and receive a certain portion of their earnings on discharge.

The Church, dedicated to St. Mary, formerly collegiate, is an ancient and spacious cruciform structure, in the early style of English architecture, with a lofty octagonal tower rising from the intersection. The north entrance is richly ornamented, and the interior beautifully arranged, the piers and arches are of the early English, passing into the decorated style. The east window is an elegant specimen of the later English. In the north transept is an ancient font of great beauty, highly ornamented with sculptured figures and animals. There are many ancient monuments; amongst the most conspicuous, are those of the family of Aston, of Tixall. There are two other Churches, one, St. Chadd’s, originally in the Norman style, but much and incongruously altered; also, places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and Roman Catholics. The Free Grammar School was refounded by Edward VI.; there are also National and other Schools, and a variety of Public Institutions, among which the Infirmary, and Lunatic Asylum are the chief.

In olden times, a Priory of Black Canons existed here, founded in 1151; a small part of whose ruined abode remains, in the shape of a farm house, two miles east of the town. There were likewise, a House of Friars Eremites; a Priory of Franciscan Friars, and other monastic establishments, all dismantled at the dissolution. The most celebrated native of Stafford, is Isaac Walton, the angler, a name well-beloved by all votaries of the (so called) “gentle sport,” though there are and have been many who rather think with the Poet, that

“The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, in his gullet
Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it.”

Byron.

CHAPTER IV.
STAFFORD TO WHITMORE,
Fourteen Miles.

In leaving Stafford station, the Castle appears to the W. and the Town, E. of the line. Beacon Hill is seen immediately over the latter. On proceeding a short distance through a flat country, the little village of Aston is passed on the W., and Creswell Hall, (Rev. T. Whitley,) on the E., which, encompassed by richly wooded grounds, and overlooking the meanderings of the little river Sow, forms a fine object in the general landscape. The house is a plain, neat structure. Much of the ground here is marshy, and abounds with willows, whose light silvery foliage agreeably diversifies the meadow and woodland scenery; amid which, on the W., peeps the pretty tower of Seighford Church.

Passing two successive cuttings of no great depth, and through a marshy district adorned by poplar and willow trees, we arrive at