page_title: Stone, Staffordshire
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Stone, Staffordshire / History
caption_attribution_description: English: North Pirehill Farm Taken from Staffordshire Fire And Rescue Headquarters, upper floor
context_page_description: Stone is a market town and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, 7 miles north of Stafford and 7 miles south of Stoke-on-Trent and 15 miles north of Rugeley. It was an urban district council and a rural district council before becoming part of the Borough of Stafford in 1974.
context_section_description: There is a Bronze Age ring ditch at Pirehill suggesting occupation in prehistoric times (County Archeology).
  Stone lies within the territory of the Iron Age Celtic tribe 'the cornovii' (people of the horn; perhaps a horned god or topographical feature) mentioned by Ptolemy 2nd century AD in Geographia. To the northwest of Stone lies one of their hill forts which overlooks the Trent and perhaps the salt production in the region.
  The early history of Stone is unclear and clouded by the 12th century medieval romance concerning the murder of the Saxon princes Wulfad and Rufin by their father Wulfhere of Mercia who reputedly had his base near Darleston (Wulfherecester). The murder of Wulfad in the 7th century and his subsequent entombment under a cairn of stones is the traditional story (described as 'historically valueless' by Thacker 1985: 6).
  More recent research points to older, though no less interesting nor tangible, possibilities regarding its name and founding. Around Stone lie several Romano British sites and it is not inconceivable that the stone remains of a bridge or milestone, perhaps continuing the Roman road from Rocester to Blyth Bridge and then potentially through Stone, is alluded to in the name. The settlement of Walton (which now forms a suburb) is ancient Brythonic (Celtic/ancient Briton place name). The most likely derivation for most places called Stone is from a prehistoric megalith, Roman milestone, a natural boulder or rock formation, or from 'a place where stone was obtained' and a Keuper sandstone outcrop on the north side of Stone, long quarried for building materials, may be the topographical feature from which the place was named. It may also be noted that a huge stone or erratic is recorded on Common Plot and in that respect it is unclear whether Stone Field here, one of the open-fields of Stone is 'the field at Stone' or 'the field with the stone'.
  Stone lay within the Pirehill hundred of Staffordshire named after nearby Pire Hill.
  In 1251, Henry III granted Stone a market charter.
  The Common Plot (aka Mudley Pits) is a large area of open and wooded common land sited just to the north of the town of Stone. The Duke of Cumberland built extensive winter fortifications and a camp here, traces of which can still be seen, during the winter of 1745/46. The purpose of the camp was to bring the Duke's army down from the freezing Staffordshire Moorlands and Peak District, where they had been seeking to stop an advance on London by a force of 6,000 Jacobite rebels. The rebels were thought to be using pack-horse routes over the high country, with the aim of reaching Derby. Stone was also strategic in preventing any break-away Jacobite group going across to Wales to recruit more men there.  But with winter coming on, the Jacobites decided to retreat back to Scotland.
  Stone Urban District was an urban district. It was based on the Stone civil parish which equates to the town of Stone. There were two amendments in parts of the Stone Rural parish in Stone Rural District were transferred in. The district was abolished by the Local Government Act 1972, and replaced with Stafford Borough Council and Stone Town Council. The latter publishes a history of Stone.
caption: North Pirehill Farm
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