STAFFORDSHIRE, an inland English county of an oblong form. Its greatest length from north-east to south-west is about sixty, and its greatest breadth about thirty-eight miles. It contains 1,148 statute square miles, or 734,720 acres. It is bounded on the north by Cheshire, west by Shropshire, south by Worcestershire and Warwickshire, and east by Derbyshire. The great divisions are five hundreds; but, as each of these is subdivided into the north and south portions, there are effectively ten hundreds. These contain 181 parishes, 23 market towns, and one city. The whole of the county, with the exception of two parishes, is within the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, and comprehended within the archdeaconry of Stafford.
According to the census of 1821, the increase of the population in the preceding ten years had been at the rate of sixteen per cent. At that period, the inhabited houses were 63,319, and the families occupying them 68,780; of these families, 18,285 were chiefly employed in agriculture, 42,435 in trade, manufactures, and handicraft, and 8060 comprised in neither of those classes. The whole number of persons was 341,040; of whom 171,668 were males, and 169,372 females.
The middle and southern portions are generally level, but interspersed with gentle eminences. The northern division is of an opposite character, the surface being for the most part bleak and hilly.
The general elevation of this district above the southern part of the county is about two or three hundred feet; but some points rise to the height of from 1200 to 1500; of those the most elevated are Bunster and the Weever Hills. In the valleys on the banks of the rivers are some tracts of country equal to the most beautiful parts of the island; of these, the district betwixt Lichfield and Stone, and the picturesque banks of the Dove, especially at Ilam, are very remarkable.
The soil is various, but the strong clays are the most predominant; next in extent is the sandy soil, chiefly to the south of the Trent. There is no chalk, and only a small district is calcareous. The meadows, especially on the banks of the Trent, are most rich and luxuriant; and, though on spots there is much inert peat, yet, when it is drained properly, it becomes valuable pasture and meadow land. The climate is generally raw and moist; the rain that falls on an average of several years is about 36 inches. The quantity of snow, in the winter on the moorlands, is very great, which may contribute to the general coldness of the district.
The Trent, the third river in England, is the principal stream of the county. It rises at New-pool on the confines of Cheshire, and enters Derbyshire below Burton, after having formed a junction with the Dove; through the whole of its course in this county it is a clear and rather rapid stream.
* By a proclamation of the Spanish Regency, an authority established by the French, every public act since the Revolution of 1820 has been declared null and void, and the country is to be reinstated into the same condition as it had been before that change. The moderation with which, during the interval of writing and publishing this article, the Prince D'Angouleme has behaved in Spain, though it can never justify the armed interference of his government, might seem to invalidate our charge, as to the intended restoration of the Inquisition. What the real feelings of his Royal Highness's government may be upon this point, the author of the article has not the means to ascertain; but he knows too well the spirit of the party, into whose hands it appears that the French wish to put the fate of the Spaniards, not to fear that the execrable tribunal, to which Spain owes her degradation and sufferings, will re-appear in that unfortunate country. Should his suspicions prove true, he has no hesitation to assert, that all the blame and disgrace of such a restoration belongs to those who, when they were determined to interfere with the private concerns of the Spaniards, did not care to extenuate the infringement of national rights, by any stipulations in favour of the general interests of the invaded country.
The Dove is celebrated for the picturesque scenery through which it flows. In its course it receives the Manifold and the Hamps, two streams which are lost in subterranean channels, but again emerge at the distance of some miles, and rejoin it. The smaller rivers are the Tame, the Blythe, the Sour, and the Penk, all of which empty themselves into the Trent. No part of Great Britain is so intersected with navigable canals as Staffordshire, and in no country has their beneficial effects been so extensively experienced. The Grand Trunk was planned and executed by Mr Brindley, the most eminent engineer that ever exerted talent in this peculiar branch of inland navigation. This canal is about 91 miles in length; the fall of water to the north is 326 feet, and to the south 316 feet. It is 29 feet wide at the top, and about four feet deep. It unites by navigation the internal trade of the great marts of London, Liverpool, Hull, and Bristol. The branches that extend from it in every direction are very numerous, and serve to connect the great shipping ports with all those districts, in the centre of the kingdom, which produce those heavy commodities whose weight would make them almost worthless without the means of cheap conveyance to distant markets.
The chief mineral productions of the county are iron and coal, and these are so copious that they appear to be almost inexhaustible. Upwards of 50,000 acres have been already ascertained to have beneath them beds of coal; and, notwithstanding the length of time, and the extent to which they have been worked, it is calculated that not one-tenth of their contents have been yet consumed. The strata of this mineral, in the mines already worked, vary in thickness from 24 to 36 feet. Every portion of the coal district abounds in iron ore; and the strata of that mineral are generally found beneath a stratum of coal. Copper and lead are also raised, but not to an extent nearly approaching that of iron. Limestone, freestone, alabaster, marble, ochre, gypsum, and clays of various descriptions, applicable to the purposes of the potteries, are most abundantly extracted from the bowels of the earth. Though salt springs are both copious and richly impregnated with that mineral, no rock salt has been yet discovered; but it is supposed there are some abundant repositories of it beneath the surface.
The relative proportion of the employment of the several families show the great preponderance of manufacturing labour in this county. The whole of the southern part is occupied in the different workings of metals. Wolverhampton is the chief seat of the manufacture of locks, keys, hinges, bolts, and the heavier kinds of iron ware. Walsal furnishes buckles, bits, stirrups, spurs, and all the kinds of hardware used by saddlers. Wednesbury supplies guns, iron axle-trees, saws, trowels, hammers, edge tools, and cast-iron works of every kind. Almost all the villages in the vicinity of these towns contribute in a greater or less degree to supply part of the work for which the town nearest to them is the great mart.
The northern part of Staffordshire is celebrated for the excellence of its earthenware, with which it supplies the consumption of the greater portion of
the civilized world. The great extension of this manufacture has been owing to the scientific skill and persevering energy of one distinguished individual, the late Mr Wedgwood; whose combinations of the different earths, and study of the arts of design, has given a value to that which before was almost worthless, and increased to a most wonderful extent the wealth of his neighbourhood, and the number and comfort of its inhabitants. By means of the canals, the pipe-clay from Dorsetshire and Devonshire, and the flints from Kent, are brought to the spots where the clays and coal abound; and the finished goods, by the same means, are conveyed to the great shipping ports, from whence they are distributed to all parts of the globe. Salt is made from natural springs at Shirleyweck, and, of late, at Lord Talbot's works at Ingestrie, to such an extent as to supply all those parts of the middle of the kingdom which are not in more close contact with the refineries of Northwich or Droitwich. There are some respectable establishments at Cheadle for making brass and copper goods. Shoes are manufactured on an extensive scale at Stafford and at Newcastle. At Tamworth are great works for printing calicos. Burton has manufactures of ale, of great celebrity, of hats, and of several kinds of cotton goods. At Leek there are large and flourishing establishments for ribbons, handkerchiefs, ferrets, galloons, and other kinds of silk goods.
The cultivated lands of this county are nearly all enclosed within good hedges, chiefly of the white thorn, in fields of from twenty to thirty acres. The general rotation of crops in the clayey soils is, 1st, Fallow; 2d, Wheat; 3d, Oats, after which it is laid down with clover, trefoil, and rye-grass, for two or more years. On breaking up an old sward, the usual course is, 1st, Oats; 2d, Fallow; 3d, Wheat; 4th, Oats, and then the grasses. On the more friable soils the rotation is, 1st, Fallow; 2d, Wheat; 3d, Beans, or peas; 4th, Oats, and then the grasses. On the light soil, the Norfolk system of turnips, barley, clover, and then wheat, is most commonly followed.
The black cattle are generally of the long-horned breed, and have, of late years, been much improved by the spirited exertions of some distinguished individuals. The sheep are of different races; the new Leicesters are said to be the most predominant. About Cannoch and Sutton Colfield they have a breed much resembling the South Downs. On the moorland there is a breed with white faces, without horns, and long combing wool. The county is well stocked with timber, especially on the estates of some of the great proprietors. The lands in an unimproved state are still estimated to amount to nearly one-tenth part of the whole county.
The Roman antiquities are the Watling Street and the Ichnield roads, which pass through it, and the remains of ancient stations or encampments. The Saxons have left few remains here that merit particular attention.
This county gives titles to the following peerages: Titles, and Marquis of Stafford, Earls of Ferrers, Talbot, and Harrowby. The county returns two members to the House of Commons, and two each are sent from Lichfield, Stafford, Newcastle, and Tamworth.
The most remarkable noblemen and gentlemen's seats are the following: Trentham, Marquis of Stafford; Beaudesert, Marquis of Anglesea; Ingestrie, Earl Talbot; Sandon, Earl of Harrowby; Sandwell, Earl of Dartmouth; Enville, Earl of Stamford; Shugborough, Lord Anson; Wrothley, Sir J. Wrothley; Wolsely Hall, Sir Charles Wolsely; Tixtall, Sir T. H. Clifford; Etruria, Josiah Wedgwood, Esq.; Weston, Earl Brodford.
The population of the principal places are as follows: Wolverhampton, 18,380; Sedgley, 17,195; Bilston, 12,003; Walsal, 11,914; Tipton, 11,546; Kingswinford, 11,022; Burslem, 9699; West Bromwich, 9505; Lane End and Longton, 7100; Newcastle-under-Lyne, 7031; Wednesbury, 6471; Lichfield, 6075; Rowley Regis, 6062; Stafford, 5736; Henley, 5622; Darlaston, 5585; Uttoxeter, 4658; Burton-upon-Trent, 4114.
See Plott's History of Staffordshire; Pitt's Agricultural Survey of Staffordshire; Aiken's History of Manchester; Shaw's History and Antiquities of Staffordshire; Jackson's History of Lichfield; Beauties of England and Wales. (w. w.)