Stafford Town Defences (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Staffordie; East Gate; Green Gate; North Gate; Goal Gate; West Gate

In the civil parish of Stafford.
In the historic county of Staffordshire.
Modern Authority of Staffordshire.
1974 county of Staffordshire.
Medieval County of Staffordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ923234
Latitude 52.80640° Longitude -2.11142°

Stafford Town Defences has been described as a certain Urban Defence.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Scant remains of C13 stone wall, which, with ditch, marshes, river and earthbanks, made Stafford medieval town defences. Grant of timber made in 1215 and first murage granted in 1224. Built to replace those of the Anglo Saxon burh (which may have enclosed a smaller area) Refortified during the Civil War, raised in 1643, the walls were in ruins by the 1670s. PastScape also reports sites of four town gates of which traces remain of one, though not in situ. Note especially medieval north gate (SJ92082353) which by C17 it was in use as a prison and was known as Gaol Gate and was ruinous by 1678 and which is sometimes confused with the Domesday King's Castle

East Gate. Part of gate, the sole remaining fragment of the medieval town walls. Probably early C15, most of gate demolished c1800, moved for road widening, 1939, and rebuilt against wall of a cottage which was demolished in 1964. Dressed squared stone. Wall approx. 5 metres tall and 3 metres wide, with some dressed jambs to right end; part of brick cottage wall remains to rear. (Listed Building Report)

Stafford has today no visible indications of defences, but there was a grant of timber in 1216, followed by a long series of murage grants. A large-scale map in the William Salt Library, Stafford, undated but c. 1620, shows a complete circuit of defences; the conventions suggest that about half of it was stone wall, the remainder timber palisading. (Barley)

It has been incorrectly suggested that a Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1215 May 12 (Click on the date for details of this supposed licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006131, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number st11
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1211357
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 77479; 619405; 77551; 77552; 77553.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00765; 00767; 00768; 00769; 00026.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Staffordshire Past-Track for old photographs and drawings.
  Cannock Chase History
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 136
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 40, 88, 170, 235, 237, 266
  Salter, Mike, 1997, Castles and Moated Mansions of Staffordshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 47
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 453
  Carver, Martin, 1981, Underneath Stafford town: an archaeological assessment
  Greenslade, M.W. and Johnson, D.A. (eds), 1979, VCH Staffordshire Vol. 6 p. 199
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 download/view online
  Pevsner, N., 1974, Buildings of England: Staffordshire (London, Penguin) p. 245
  Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 209
  Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p. 34-5 online copy
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co) p. 225
  Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol. 2 (London) p. 531 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Cuttler, R., Hunt, J. and Ratkai, S., 2009, 'Saxon burh and royal castle: re-thinking early urban space in Stafford' Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society Transactions Vol. 43 p. 39-85
  Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Beckett, J.H., 1928-9, North Staffordshire Field Club transactions p. 63, 148
  Garbett, H.L.E., 1923-4, North Staffordshire Field Club transactions Vol. 58 p. 56-8
  Davies, J.T., 1919, Birmingham Archaeological Society transactions Vol. 45 p. 133-51
  Armitage, E., 1904, 'The Early Norman Castles of England' The English Historical Review Vol. 19 p. 209-245, 417-455 esp. 430-4 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1086, Domesday Book online copy
  Hardy, T.D. (ed), 1833, Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in turri Londinensi (1204-24) (Record Commission) Vol. 1 p. 199b
  Close Roll for 1215 (Pipe Roll Society 31 ns) p. 136 nos 45-7 (grant of timber for defences)
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1891-1916, Calendar of Patent Rolls (1216-1225) p. 459; (1225-1232) p. 37; (1232-47) p. 26; (1247-1258) p. 103; (1266-1272) p. 17; (1281-1291) p. 409; (1301-1307) p. 331; (1317-1321) p. 136; (1334-1338) p. 402; (1338-1340) p. 213 (murage grants)
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain online copy)
  Celia Fiennes, 1888, Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press) Vision of Britain online transcription
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 46 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 West Midlands (London: English Heritage) p. 55 online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

Data >	PastScape	County HER	Scheduling	Listing	I. O. E.
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio