the history of the Borough of Stoke-upon-Trent 

     

Saxon owner or governors, - Leofric, Algar; - notices in Domesday Book, - Edwin and Morcar's revolt. - Robert De Stafford and his property.

 

Saxon owner or governors, - Leofric, Algar; - notices in Domesday Book, - Edwin and Morcar's revolt. - Robert De Stafford and his property.
Source: "The Borough of Stoke-upon-Trent" John Ward, 1843

 

 "we.. hazard a bare conjecture, that in the name of Penkhull, the last syllable contains a corrupt memorial of the Hall of some Saxon Thane (thane - man who held land from an English king or other superior by military service)….

 The earldom or dukedom of Mercia, (one of the largest kingdoms which arose out of the Saxon domination, and in which Staffordshire was included), remained and office of the first rank, after the union of the whole monarchy, by Egbert (AD 827).

 During a great part of the reign of Edward the Confessor, this title was held by the wise and patriotic Leofric, the husband of Lady Godiva - Leofric died in 1057, and was succeeded by his son Algar, who is mentioned in Domesday as having held considerable portions of the royal demesnes in this part of Staffordshire, in the reign of King Edward.

Algar died seven years before the conquest, and his sons Edwin and Morcar, (Earls of Mercia and Northumberland), ..took up arms on behalf of their enslaved countrymen in the year 1071, and Edwin being betrayed into the hands of the Normans, met an untimely fate; when his estates were, of course confiscated and most of those in Staffordshire remained in the King's hands at the Domesday survey. The devastating vengeance which William inflicted on the English revolters, may probably account for the immense tract of waste lands in Staffordshire, mentioned in Domesday, where about thirty lordships are specified in succession, including Biddulph, Endon, Bucknall, Shelton Cheadle and its vicinity; to which list is added the ...observation "All this land of the King is waste!" 

There were also many lordships of other proprietors lying waste: among which was Fenton, consisting of three carucates, or plough lands, .. Allward was tenant in capite (or lord), and at the same time held two carucates under cultivation, in Burslem belonging to Robert de Stafford, as chief lord.

Robert de Stafford

He was a relative of the Conqueror, - his father Richard was standard-bearer of Normandy, and was descended from Malahusius, uncle of Duke Rollo.

This Robert held no less than one hundred and fifty lordships at the time of Domesday, of which more than half lay in Staffordshire, including Norton-in-the-moors, Chell, Madeley, Burslem, Hulton, and Rushton, in this immediate neighbourhood. He, with his brother Nigel, came in with the Conqueror, whose kinsmen  they were, and he liberally rewarded both out of the spoils of the English proprietors.

 


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