page_title: History of Penkridge
section_title: Changing fortunes
hierarchical_section_title: History of Penkridge / Changing fortunes
caption_attribution_description: Edward John Littleton, 1st Baron Hatherton, by Sir George Hayter (died 1871). See source website for additional information. This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch have been confirmed as author died before 1939 according to the official death date listed by the NPG.
context_page_description: Penkridge is a market town and parish in Staffordshire with a history stretching back to the Anglo-Saxon period. A religious as well as a commercial centre, it was originally centred on the Collegiate Church of St. Michael and All Angels, a chapel royal and royal peculiar that maintained its independence until the Reformation. Mentioned in Domesday, Penkridge underwent a period of growth from the 13th century, as the Forest Law was loosened, and evolved into a patchwork of manors of greatly varying size and importance, heavily dependent on agriculture. From the 16th century it was increasingly dominated by a single landed gentry family, the Littletons, who ultimately attained the Peerage of the United Kingdom as the Barons Hatherton, and who helped modernise its agriculture and education system. The Industrial Revolution inaugurated a steady improvement in transport and communications that helped shape the modern town. In the second half of the 20th century, Penkridge grew rapidly, evolving into a mainly residential area, while retaining its commercial centre, its links with the countryside and its fine church.
context_section_description: The 18th and 19th centuries brought vast changes to agriculture and industry, both locally and nationally. After prospering throughout the Georgian period and especially in the Napoleonic wars, when the Continental System and the Corn Laws together kept grain prices high, agriculture went through a series of crises in Victorian times that hit rural areas hard. However, Penkridge's progress was not entirely typical. The population figures are hard to establish and interpret but seem not simply to show growth followed by sustained decline, as we find, for example, at neighbouring Brewood.
  In 1666, the township of Penkridge contained 212 households. The rest of the parish had probably under a hundred households altogether. A population of 1200 to, at most, 1500, seems a reasonable estimate. In 1801, the first census recorded a population of 2,275 – a definite increase – and there were just over two hundred more in 1811. Thereafter the population rose steadily to a peak of 3316 in 1851. The next recorded total, for 1881, shows a considerable drop to 2536. However, this is not strictly comparable. The parish was partitioned in 1866 and the townships of Coppenhall, Dunston, and Stretton were made into separate parishes. Their total population in 1881 numbered nearly 600 and all three were at that time in decline. Penkridge itself seems to have had a fairly stable population for the century from 1851 to 1951. Of course, the population of the country as a whole rose rapidly in this period, so Penkridge's was in relative decline, and there must have been a drift to the towns, but the town did not suffer the collapse endured by nearby settlements.
  Agriculture continued to be the most important employer of labour throughout the Victorian period, although it did decline to some extent and it was never totally dominant. The 1831 census collected male employment data at the parish level. It shows 894 adult males in work. Of these, 90 were farmers and 394 agricultural labourers, so agriculture directly employed almost exactly 60% of the men. The next largest category is those in retail and handicrafts, which accounts for 175. This significant number reflects Penkridge's continuing importance as a commercial centre. These men would be largely inhabitants of the town, while the agriculturalists would be much more widely dispersed throughout the parish. Although the market had been discontinued, the town must have teemed with small shops and workshops.
  Not until fifty years later do we get parish-level employment data, this time including women, but not directly comparable. 305 of the 638 working men are accounted for by agriculture – about 48%: a considerable, if not precipitous drop. The great majority of the women are shown as status unknown or not in a specified employment. Of those who are employed, 150, the vast majority, are in domestic service. These actually form the largest single group of employees after the agriculturalists, and probably found work with many middle-class families as well as with the gentry. The hospitality industry seems to have been quite important: forty men are shown as working in food and lodging – a significant number, although not surprising on a major route. Oddly only one woman is listed in the same trade: almost certainly many women worked part-time or in family concerns, without showing up in the figures. A good proportion of the 15 men working with carriages and horses probably serviced the inn customers too. The diversity of trades is marked. No less than 43 – 25 women and 18 men – were involved in dress-making, an important part of any retail centre at the time. There were quarrymen, traders, and many others. However, professionals are numbered at only 14. Most of these must have been associated with the church and the gentry estates: although a lively shopping centre, Penkridge did not have the numbers of lawyers and executives characteristic of the county towns and larger market towns.
  Penkridge owed much to its transport links, which were always good, but steadily improved. The main Stafford-Wo
caption: The 1st Baron Hatherton, by Sir George Hayter.
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