STAFFORDSHIRE, an inland English county of an oblong form. Its greatest length from northeast to southwest is about sixty, and its greatest breadth about thirty eight, miles. It contains 1148 statute square miles, or 734,720 acres. It is bounded on the north by Cheshire, west by Shropshire, south by Worcester 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 one hundred and eighty-one parishes, twenty-three market towns, and one city. The whole of the county, with the exception of two parishes, is within the diocese of Lich field, and comprehended within the archdeaconry of Stafford.

The population of this county at the four decennial periods of enumeration, was found to be as follow: in 1801, 239,153; in 1811, 295,153; in 1821, 341,040; and in 1831, 410,400.

In 1831, the occupiers of land employing 1a bourers were 3,781

The occupiers not employing labourers 3,649

Labourers employed in agriculture 16,812

Labourers employed in manufactures 26,755

Labourers employed in retail trade or handi craft 24,766

Capitalists, bankers, &c 3,569

Labourers not agricultural 22,690

Other labourers under twenty years of age... 4,245

Males at and above twenty years 101,632

Male servants 1,959

Female servants 12,739

In the same year, the number of families, chiefly employ ed in agriculture, was found to be 18,156; of those chiefly employed in trade, manufactures, and handicraft, 43,646; and of those not comprised in either of the preceding classes, 21,789. The number of inhabited houses was 78,049, occupied by 83,593 families. The uninhabited houses were 4088, and those building 573. The annual value of the real property of the county, as assessed for the purposes of the property tax in the year 1813, was L.1,150,285.

The towns and townships within this county, and their population in 1831, were as follows, but some of them may be better described as large villages than towns.

Wolverhampton 48,184 Wednesbury 8437

Stoke-upon-Trent... 37,220 Newcastle-under-Lyne 8196

Sedgley 20,577 Stone 6918

West Bromwick 15,066 Stafford 6998

Kingswinford......... 15,156 Darlaston 6647

Walsall 15,066 Lichfield (city) 6499

Tipton 14,951 Handsworth 4944

Burslem 11,250 Uttoxeter 4864

Wolstanton 10,853 Eccleshall 4471

Leck, the town 4,374 Burton-on-Trent 4399

but the parish 10,780 Penkridge 2991

The middle and southern portions are generally level, but interspersed with gentle eminences. The northern division[7:20:558] 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 tracks of country equal to the most beautiful parts of the island. Among these, the district betwixt Lichfield and Stone, and the picturesque banks of the Dove, especially at Ham, are very remarkable.

The soil is various, but the strong clays are the most pre dominant; 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 some spots there is much inert peat, yet, when it is properly drained, 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 thirty-six 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 Newpool 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. The Dove is celebrated for the picturesque scenery through which it flows. In its course it receives the Mani fold and the Hamps, two streams which are lost in subterraneous channels, but again emerge at the distance of some miles, and rejoin it. The smaller rivers are the Tame, the Blythe, the Sow, and the Penk, all of which empty them selves into the Trent. No part of Great Britain is so intersected with navigable canals as Staftbrdshire, and in no county have 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 ninety-one miles in length. The fall of water to the north is 326 feet, and to the south 316 feet. It is twenty-nine 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 of which the weight would make them almost worthless without the means of cheap conveyance to distant markets

That great work, the railroad from Liverpool to Birmingham, has been completed. In proceeding northward it enters this county about a mile from Birmingham, and continues in it for the distance of forty-five miles, when it enters Cheshire. The whole distance of ninety-seven miles is commonly performed in four hours and a half, including stop pages. The towns which, though not on the immediate line of the road, are in communication with it, and at only a few miles distance, are, in this county, West Bromwick, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Stone, Eccleshall, Utto exeter, Newcastle-under-Lyne, Stoke-upon-Trent, and the Potteries. After passing through Cheshire and entering Lancashire, it separates into two branches at Newton, the right proceeding to Manchester, and the left to Liverpool, at the distance of ten miles from each of these towns.

The chief mineral productions of the county are iron and coal, and these arc 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 not withstanding the length of time, and the extent to which they have been worked, it is calculated that not one-tenth of their contents has been yet consumed. The strata of this mineral, in the mines already worked, vary in thick ness from twenty-four to thirty-six 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 yet been discovered; but it is supposed there are some abundant repositories of it be neath the surface.

The relative proportion of the employment of the several families shows the great preponderance of manufacturing labour in this county. The whole of the southern part is occupied in the different working of metals. Wolverhampton is the chief seat of the manufacture of locks, keys, hinges, bolts, and the heavier kinds of iron ware. Walsall furnishes buckles, bitts, 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 work 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. Wedgew∞d; whose combinations of the different earths, and study of the arts of design, have 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 pipeclay 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 connection 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 ex tensive scale at Stafford and at Newcastle. At Tamworth are great works for printing calicoes. Burton has ale-breweries of great celebrity, with manufactures of hats, and of several kinds of cotton goods. At Leck there are large and flourishing establishments for ribbons, handkerchiefs, ferrets, galloons, and other kinds of silk goods.

In order to exhibit the proportion of employment in the several branches of industry, we extract the notices from the returns under the population of 11 Geo. IV., cap. 30. “Eastward of West Bromwich, 1000 males are employed in the further preparation of iron for the forges and workshops; 2200 are employed at Tipton, 1200 at Walsall, 740 at Willenhall, 157 at Wednesfield, 444 at Wednesbury, and 200 at Rowley Regis, in making guns and other firearms, gas-tubes, chains, spades, locks and keys, &c. &c. &c.; and in producing the more various and complex aids of human industry, which are comprehended under the name of machinery. At the villages of Smith wick and Handworth, near to Birmingham, 150 men are similarly occupied. Wolverhampton contains 2000 men, who, in addition to articles before mentioned, are employed in making domestic fire-irons, and turned and japanned iron[7:20:559] ware. Sedgley contains 500, and Kingswinford 200 manufacturers of the same kinds of goods. At Tettenhall sixty men, and at Brewood 190 men are employed, with 500 in villages, in the less refined manufacture of stock-locks; and in most of the places here enumerated, the more domestic manufacture of iron nails, furnishes employment to 2500 men, and to a part of their families.

“The other great manufacturing branch of the county, the pottery, is spread over the vicinity of Newcastle; in which the town of Burslera contains 900 men and their families; Shelton, a larger number; Longtown and Lane End, nearly 1000; Parkhall, 700; Handley, 360; Fenton Cal vert, 300; and Sneyd, 150; all within the parish of Stoke upon-Trent. In the town of Stafford 800 men are employed in making shoes, and in the district of the potteries is some cotton trade. The working of the coal mines alone, is a great source of occupation for men and machinery.”

The cultivated lands of this county are nearly all enclosed by good hedges, chiefly of the white thorn, in fields of from twenty to thirty acres. The general rotation of crops in the clayey soil is, 1st, fallow; 2d, wheat; 3d, oats, after which they are 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 pease; 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 of late years have 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 Coldfield 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 the county; and the re mains of ancient stations or encampments. Here the Saxons have left few remains that merit particular attention.

This county gives titles to the following peers: that of marquis of Stafford, to the eldest son of the duke of Sutherland; those of earls to Ferrers, Talbot, Harrowby, and Lichfield. For parliamentary purposes, the county has been formed into two divisions, distinguished by their position as North and South; each of which elects two members to the House of Commons. The election for the northern division is held at Stafford; and the other polling places are Leck, Newcastle-under-Lyne, Cheadle and Abbots Bromley. The election for the southern division is held at Walsall; and the other polling places are Lichfield, Wolverhampton, Penk ridge, and Kingswinford. By the Reform Bill, the towns of Wolverhampton and Stoke-upon-Trent have been en titled to elect two members each, and Walsall to elect one.

The most remarkable noblemen and gentlemen’s seats are the following :—Trentham, duke of Sutherland; Beau desert, marquis of Anglesea; Ingestrie, earl Talbot; Sandon, earl of Harrowby; Sandwell, earl of Dartmouth; Emville, earl of Stamford; Shugborough, earl of Lichfield; Wrothesley, Sir. J. Wrothesley; Wolsely Hall, Sir Charles Wolsely; Tixall, Sir T. H. Clifford; Etruria, Josiah Wedge wood, Esq.; Weston, earl of Bradford.

See Plott’s History of Staffordshire; Pitt’s Agricultu ral Survey of Staffordshire; Aikin’s History of Manches ter; Shaw’s History and Antiquities of Staffordshire; Jack son’s History of Lichfield; Beauties of England and Wales.