Above Photograph of the Motte and Bailey Castle "Kings Bank" after recent cropping of trees.
The views below show the Moat (Kings Bank)
which is 3 meters deep in places.
Staffordshire's Forgotten Borough and Castle
The Dissertation
Introduction
The subject of this dissertation will centre on group of hills but not just hills. Some of these hills have be used, altered and enhanced by man, during the course of their long history. The history of the hills will also need to be put in to context of the area around them. The hills themselves centre upon a so called “Iron Age”[1] Hill Fort, although its name Berth Hill may indicate it was also an Anglo-Saxon burh. There are also hills with the names, Camp Hill a name often associated with Roman camps, War Hill, Red Hill, Bury Hill and Kings Bank. The Victoria County History for Staffordshire said about the hills, “there is an auspiciousness about the names”.[2] There are also numerous barrows or so called “Bronze Age”[3] Burial Mounds or do they belong to or were they used during the early Mercian pagan period?
The hillfort itself could have begun life as an Iron Age citadel, become a Roman station, been reoccupied by the Britain’s in post Roman times and been used as a Mercian burh in their various conflicts. Its historical lineage could in theory be immense. The hillfort is also be in a very strategic position, on the edge of the Lyme forests and in the marshes in the heart of the midlands gap between the upper Trent and the middle Severn. There is also the possibility of Maer Hills being at the hub of the areas Roman or perhaps Romanized prehistoric road network and this could also point to considerable history. It is also around this area to the north of Watling Street where the Roman invasion may have halted for several years, and where the kingdom of Mercia is thought by some to have had its origins.[4] It seems that all of the various earthworks and the other hills have historical question marks against them. The aim of this dissertation is to provide some possible answers to some of these questions. There will also be an attempt made to reconstruct the Anglo-Saxon landscape. In order to make some sense of what the area around the hills could have been like. They will also need to be placed in context of the social, political and religious units which they would have belonged and the communications network in which they existed.
Chapter 1/ The Physical Setting
Maer Hills now and in recent times
Maer Hills are today private property but often thought of as parkland and the tree covered hills and the many footpaths make for excellent walking and exercising etc. Maer Hills is also surrounded by what is regarded as unspoiled scenic countryside. The trees that cover Maer Hills are the result of Josiah Wedgwood the second’s energetic landscaping of the area. Wedgwood also brought much of the “waste” of the area in to production by draining and the creation of large plantations, after his acquisition of the Jacobean Maer Hall and the estate that was to grow to 1,000 acres, in the early 19th century.[5] The hills up to Wedgwood’s acquisition were referred to as heath land.[6]
The nearest urban centre to Maer is Newcastle under Lyme some 5 or 6 miles to the North West along the A53, the earliest documentary evidence for this “New-castle’s” existence was around the time of the troubled reign of King Stephen.[7] There is however good evidence for the Newcastle settlement being in existence at the time of the Domesday Book, as an appendix to the Trentham entry, thought of in terms of a Market Trentham.[8] Most local historians have agreed however, that the rise of Newcastle to borough status was as a result of the decline and fall of another near by castle and urban centre. These historians differ on the site of this previous castle and urban centre.[9] Speculation has put forward nearby Chesterton and its Roman fort as the possible site of Newcastle’s predecessor and Chesterton’s remains have been well documented.[10] Trentham has also been put forward as perhaps the site of the township or Borough of the “Old Castle”, where there is no evidence of such remains but Trentham may have been the centre of a Roman estate.[11]
No consideration has however been given to the possibility of the hillfort at Maer Hills and Broughton near to the hillfort being Newcastle’s predecessor as the castle and administrative settlement. This argument could be further bolstered if Kings Bank adjacent to the hillfort was identified as a Motte and Bailey castle. The close proximity of a hillfort / burh and a Norman motte and bailey castle is not unusual as the former was superseded by the later in many of what have become our towns and cities.
The Hillfort
The hillfort, Berth Hill (or Byrth, Burgh, Bruff, Borough etc) is centred on SJ 787390 and is a fine example of a so called “Iron Age” hillfort. In a resent report for the RCHME the hillfort at Maer, Berth Hill, is described as a large sandstone hill, shouldered hogback in profile, irregular in plan and over looking Maer Pool a glacial lake and the valley of the River Tern.[12] Else ware, this type of hill fort is called a low eminence contour fort, of which Maiden Castle in Dorset is an excellent and perhaps best known example.[13] The report goes on to say that, the hillfort at Maer was defended by two and in some places three major banks or ramparts. Structurally it is described as complex and showing signs of phasing. The internal area is said to be 4.ha, has a sloping nature and very unusually it has a spring rising inside the eastern rampart.[14] Very few forts have a spring rising inside them, even with the supposed higher prehistoric water table;[15] nearly all other hillforts relied on an external water sauce. Entrance wise Berth Hill has an elaborate south eastern interned entrance and a simpler, most likely earlier “phased out” entrance to the north east. In the detailed account the RCHME report says, the forts upper rampart is very complex having three stages of development visible today on the surface.[16] The late refurbishment at Berth Hill is said to be of “dump construction” overlying earlier “box type” ramparts. These box type ramparts were constructed from timber stone and earth often in a cellular manner.[17] This Iron Age hillfort at Maer is said to be one of the best examples of its type, despite the fact that it is now covered by forestry.[18]
Sampson Erdswick writing in writing in 1559, described Berth Hill as “a large steep hill which hath been fortified with a great double trench and a very thick wall, where of some ruins yet remain, in which there is a spring of water”.[19] Hillforts like Berth Hill could have been many things over their long history, such as walled towns, tribal capitals, centralized distribution centres, military barracks and protected farmsteads.[20] Anglo-Saxon Burhs often redeployed older established fortifications, such as Iron Age hillforts, which were repaired and modernized and had further fortifications built upon their ramparts. [21] Sampson Erdeswick continued, “This hill (Berth Hill) is to this day called the Bourgh which also argueth that some ancient town hath been there builded”[22] The name Berth Hill is of cause corruption of Burh Hill which suggests it was used in the Anglo-Saxon period and the term “Iron Age” hillfort may be a simplistic and restrictive term. These hill forts were often used and re-used continuously from pre-historic times right up to the Norman Conquest, when the were superseded by the Mott and Bailey castle.
The Physical Stetting
Place name evidence suggests the Berth Hill may have once been situated on the southern edge of the Lyme Forests. There are many places around the area to the north, that have been referred to as under Lyme or just Lyme, such as Newcastle under Lyme, Lyme Handley, Chesterton under Lyme, Burslem (Bugh-wards-lyme[23]) and Betton under Lyme in Shropshire.[24] Maer Hills appear to have been on the southern fringe of the Lyme forests with, Madeley under Lyme, Whitmore under Lyme, The Lymes near Barlaston, The Lymes just north of Buterton, Audlum (Old_Lyme) in Cheshire and Norton under Lyme in Shropshire [Norton in Hales], [25] making an east/west line just north of Maer Hills.
Some of the Iron Age sites like the one at Berth Hill were called by the Romans Oppida, derived from the Latin word Oppidum, wich strictly speaking means Town.[26] Greek geographer Strabo said of the British tribal oppida, “forest thickets are there cities”.[27] The Lyme forests may have stretched across five counties, S.E.Lancashire, N.E. Shropshire, most of Cheshire, N.W. Staffordshire and W. Derbyshire and could have been up to 40 miles deep (Ashton under Line (Lyme) to Whitmore under Lyme). The Lyme Forests were so dense that it was said by Lucius the monk that they cut off Cheshire from the rest of England.[28] William Camden writing in 1586 brought another unnamed ancient witness to account, who spoke of “silvae infinite continuae” in the vicinity of “Magdalae” [Madeley] bordering on a lake of marvellous virtues [Maer Pool], situate at the foot of a hill called Mahull [Maer Hill].[29] Madeley and Maer are Neighbouring manors / parishes etc.
Ranulph Blunderville Earl of Chester in 1218 exempted his Barons to the south beyond the cordon of the Lyme Forest of the usual services[30] and this also suggests a significant physical barrier. In 1259 the Earl of Chester licensed his men to “approve the waste from the wood called Lyme”[31] and this could have been the beginning of the end as far as this very large tract of woodland was concerned. Local historian Tomas Pape suggested Lyme was derived from Limes meaning boundary.[32] Given the extensive distribution, it seems reasonable that the role of the Lyme as a boundary zone was already ancient by the 10th century.[33] The Lyme Forests may have also defined the northern and eastern boundaries of the Mercian Wreocensaete tribe and perhaps the British Cornovii before them.[34] Some historians have found the association of forestry with the place name Lyme was a secondary development, the original application being “to the region above the 400 foot contour line from south Lancashire to north Shropshire and from east Cheshire to north and perhaps east Derbyshire” that may have been marsh.[35] The other alternative would be that the Lyme forests were made up of mainly alder trees, a shrub normally found in marsh or swampy conditions.[36]
To the south of Maer Hills there are no such place names referring to the Lyme Forest. There is however numerous places where the names make reference to water, The Boggs, the Lower Boggs Willowbridge Boggs, Dorrington Boggs, The Wellings, The Springs, Springfields, Wet Butts, Wetwood, Maer Moss, Chorlton Moss, not to mention Maer pool itself.[37] Much drainage work was also carried out by Josiah Wedgwood II when he acquired the Maer estate in the early 19th century[38] and the area adjacent to the A51 is now crisscrossed with drains.[39] Modern day pumping stations have been sited near by at Hatton and Mill Meece. Hatton pumping station, following the sinking of two bore holes in the late 19th century, yielded over 1,500,000 gallons of water a day.[40] In 1978 nearby Mill Meece pumping station was able to deliver 4 million gallons per day.[41] Various older large scale Ordnance Survey Maps show three wind pumps and around 20 small pumps adjacent to dwellings[42] and a railway reservoir is also shown in the vicinity.[43]
Where watercourses are concerned Black Brook skirts the south west of Berth Hill and seven or eight equi-spaced brooklets flowing in to Meece Brook skirt the south east. Black Brook flows in to the River Tern, which is then joined by the River Meece (not to be confused with Meese Brook) and flows in to the River Severn. All the other waterways in Staffordshire flow in to the River Trent. Meece Brook in common with most river and watercourse names is of Celtic origins, meaning mossy river[44] and as we have seen the same name occurs again a little further south west as the River Meece a quite separate waterway, flowing in to the Severn as opposed to the Trent. Another interpretation of the River Meese’s name is that since no early example are to be found Meece may have been a place name in origin rather than a river name and derived from the Old English moss, meaning Bog or Swamp etc.[45]Between the River Meece and Meece Brook and also the next village south of Maer, is Podmore which Margaret Gelling says is derived from Frog Marsh.[46] There is a place similarly namedto Maer, which is Maere in Somerset and like Glastonbury is referred to as a “lake village”, although it was probably built on an artificial platform of soil and brush wood in the marshes.[47]
There is also the River Trent name which we are reliably informed means, “strongly flooding”.[48] Another interpretation of Tren is Powerful River.[49] The near by River Roden means Swift River and may have been used by the Romans to name their station Rutunium.[50] The River Roden passes close by the Bury Walls hillfort which as we will see later is the most likely site of Rutunium.[51] The River Tern can also mean powerful river and is remembered by Welsh tradition as the border of the Kingdom of Powys and Mercia.[52] Eccleshall to the south of Maer is also a place name of interest, the terminal derived from “halh” meaning a slightly raised ground in the marshes and the same definition would apply to the near by Great Sugnall, Little Sugnall, Badenhall and Ellenhall.[53]
All the valleys about Maer are peaty and there is certain evidence that not so long ago these were marshland and the valley to the east and that to the west about two miles away towards Willowbridge in the valley of the Tern was also bog land.[54] One of the most striking glacial features found in a geological survey of Staffordshire was the flat floored trough between Madeley and Whitmore, was probably an old lake bed, with a thin cover of black peaty soil overlying a thick mass of glacial sand.[55] The Madeley Whitmore gap is 6 kilometres long and a kilometre wide. A little further south Ladfordpool North West of Stafford, was a hundred acre swamp not drained until 1800.[56] Chebsey and Doxey have the -sey suffix element, indicating an island site above the water meadows or marsh. The semi legendary Bethany which has phonetic similarities to Berth Hill was supposed to be the forerunner of Stafford and was also supposed to be an island site in the marshes.
“A charter boundary clause suggests that the witan, the king’s councillors, may have met on at least one occasion in the later 10th century at a wooded place on the boundary of Madeley, it’s self on the boundary of Pirehill hundred. The witan by this date, dealt not only with land grants but with judicial judgments and the settlement of disputes.” 33c?[57]
To the north Maer parish and manor borders on Madeley and an Anglo-Saxon charter exists from the time of King Edgar outlining the borders of neighbouring Madeley.[58] The boundaries with Maer immediately north of the Berth Hill are shown to be made up of marshes despite the fact that this ground to the north of the hillfort is slightly higher than to the south. The charter shows areas on the Madeley border with Maer called, The Great Marsh, and Reedy Marsh.[59] The area around the Maer hillfort is also the watershed between the drainage basins of the Rivers Dee, Trent and Severn.[60]
Berth Hill may have been entirely surrounded by water and or marsh and this situation could have been exaggerated by the deliberate flooding of the area to create still more defences for the hillfort. In its heyday Berth Hill would have been hugely defensible and with its own spring even able to withstand siege. Berth Hill was also perhaps one gateway through the midlands gap between the upper Trent and the middle Severn, depending on the road network.
Chapter 2/
The Roman Road Network around Maer Hills
The hillfort at Maer could have been situated at a significant hub of the Roman Road network, which may have evolved from the existing prehistoric road network. There is a necessity to investigate the various roads in the vicinity in order to try to establish how old these roads might be, Prehistoric, Roman or Medieval and how they may have serviced Berth Hill, other Hillforts or Roman Stations and the surrounding area. Previous attempts at finding Roman Roads in this area were generally inconclusive and often confused. The previous attempts were based the traditional sources for this kind of work the Antonine Itineraries, the Ravenna Cosmography, Ptolemy and Richards Transcript, which mostly relate to the major military roads of which only Watling Street with any surety, has relevance to this project. The investigations in to the Roman roads made in the past did not have the benefits of modern ordnance survey maps and it will be these maps and others that form the basis of this investigation because the Roman system of main roads has heavily influenced the pattern of communications today.[61]
(This section on Roman Roads requires the large Map inside the front cover)
Watling Street (Not on the map)
The best known of the Roman Roads in the area now covered by Staffordshire and Shropshire is Watling Street, largely what is now the A5 and it may date from as early as AD 50.[62] The character of Watling Street is typically Roman with long straight angular sections, which appear to go from one high vantage point to the next. Watling Streets appearance is one of having been well planed and purposefully executed and it was referred to as one of the Kings highways 1013.[63] The so called laws of the confessor, re-instituted soon after the Norman Conquest also referred to Watling Street as one of the country’s chief arterial routes, Watling Street, the Fosse Way, Hikenild Street (Rikenald Street) and Ermingstreet were called the four kings’ highways.[64] It is well known that Watling Street was part of the very earliest military phase of Roman Road building.[65] Watling Street in later Anglo-Saxon times was referred to as a Herepaeth, a path for the passage of the army.[66]
Watling Street may also have served a frontier zone were it passes through Staffordshire and Shropshire on route initially to Wroxeter and ultimately Chester and beyond. The majority of Watling Street from London until it crosses the Fosse Way at High Cross on the border of Leicestershire and Warwickshire is perfectly aligned in a fairly straight line heading for Chester, which was probably the original objective It is only the last most northerly quarter of Watling Street that swings around to the West and may have terminated, at lest initially at Wroxeter. Watling Streets change of direction contrasts with the other early military phase roads such as Ermine Street, and the Foss Way which for the most part were extremely strait.[67] Watling Street in this early military phase, may have followed the movement of the invasion to supply the troops as close to the front line as possible. The reason why the road and possibly the invasion swung around westward to Wroxeter, rather than continuing diagonally straight across Staffordshire to Chester, may have been because of physical barriers. These barriers may have included the Lyme Forests and the huge belt of marshes to the south of the Lyme forests, across the midlands gap. Another reason for this change of direction could have included heavy resistance from the more belligerent Celtic tribes and their hillforts of which Berth Hill could have been one, to the north and west of Watling Street. So the shape of Watling Street may be reflecting the way the invasion went, faltering in and around what is now the Staffordshire / Shropshire border area, north of Watling Street.[68]
The appointment of Ostorius Scapula as Roman governor of Britain in AD 47 sparked a rash of rebellions which lead to the new governor establishing a new forward base at Wall near Lichfield on Watling Street, bringing the Cornovii tribe under direct control.[69] This may have also brought them in to direct conflict with the Cornovii’s tribal neighbours the Ordovice who may have occupied what is now the North West Staffordshire uplands, including the hillfort at Maer and the Lyme forests beyond. Likewise the Brigantes also in the north and east, now the Staffordshire / Derbyshire Mooreland’s and the lower Pennine fringe.[70]
For several years the border zone between the Romans and the retreating Celtic resistance could have been, the River Severn from its estuary up stream to Wroxeter, eastward across Watling Street to the River Tame near Tamworth, following the Tame downstream to the Trent, the River Trent down stream to the River Humber, following the Humber to it estuary.[71] A recent reinterpretation of Tacitus also places the borders as being in the vicinity of the midlands gap, between the upper Trent and the middle Severn.[72] The Trent also formed the border between the British and English in a similar way in later times, at lest as far west as Yoxall and Wichnor north of Lichfield.[73] But the English expansion halted on the west at the Watling Street, and did not penetrate westward in to the territory of the British Cornovii. The Cornovii had a military tradition that gave them possibilities of raising their own defenses.[74] The rivers Trent and Tame formed an effective political and social boundary between the two areas of England again as defined in the reigned of Alfred the great.[75]
Wroxeter in Roman times was garrisoned by the Legio XIV from AD55 to AD66[76] and would have been responsible for the policing of this border zone. When the XIV Legion moved from Wroxeter to Chester, Legio XX would have taken over at Wroxeter from ADF66 to circa AD 90[77] but their orientation would have changed, looking west in to what is now Wales, rather than looking toward the northern Celts. During the Legio XIVs time at Wroxeter they represented the Roman empires north western frontier force on the outer limits of lowland Britain.[78] The XIV Legion was the empires front line troops in Britain during this invasion period and it was this legion that was famed for its victory over Boudicca.[79]
The area between the rivers Severn and Trent and north of Watling Street could have been “bandit country”par excellence, even before the Roman invasion. This area is likely to have been the border “zone” between contending British tribes of pre-Roman era, notably the Ordovice and Cornovii tribes to the west and north and the Cornovii and Brigantes to the north east. It is more likely that there were frontier regions of rather unstable ownership at this time.[80] Perhaps similar rivalries existed in the same way, between the kingdoms of Powys and Mercia and also Mercia and Northumbrian in later times. The term border “zone” has been carefully chosen as it is unlikely that a line could have been drawn or held down through this unforgiving terrain.
Evidence for this type of tribal division and border zone in later times, exists in the form of a treaty in the mid 10th century, between King Edmond Ironside and King Onlaf the Danish king of Deira the southern most kingdom within Northumberland, where Watling Street forms a north south divide between the two countries.[81] This section of Watling Street was also a border previously between Alfred the Great and another Danish King in 886.[82]
Further evidence may exist in the north / south linguistic divide that still exists within Staffordshire County, with accents and dialects being very distinct across a divide, which roughly corresponds to this area just north of Watling Street. This linguistic divide may have had its origins in one or maybe several different ethnic divisions down the millennia. Little wonder then, that so many place names and river names in this zone can be translated as meaning border or boundary, place names that include Maer, Tern, Lyme, and maybe even Mercia. Little wonder too that several hillforts are to be found in and around this border zone, including Berth Hill at Maer, Bury Bank Berry Ring and Castle Ring going south eastward, The Berth (not to be confused with Berth Hill) Old Oswastry and Bury Walls etc going westward.. These hillforts may be further evidence that this route (Watling Street) through Staffordshire and Shropshire was a preferred route even before Roman times.[83]
Watling Street 2 (Not on the map.)
The engineers building Watling Street may well have followed in the wake of the XIV legion once again when they moved north from Wroxeter to Chester around AD 66, the new section passing through Shawbury, Whitchurch, etc along what is now largely A49. The position of the stations along this road could have included two hillforts, Bury Walls (Ruunium) and Cheshire’s Maiden Castle (Bovium), with another station at Whitchurch between the two hillforts, being a former Ordovice tribal capital, Mediolanium.[84] The use of hillforts as stations would have made perfect sense, offering a ready made repairable site, with a high degree of security, in this early, still military phase of the Roman Road building. . This road would have linked the two major Cornovii cantons Chester and Wroxeter known in Latin as Deva and Viroconium. Midway between the two Cornovii cantons was a similar tribal capital of the Ordovice peoples called Mediolanium on this same road. The construction of this road would have therefore required the pacification or destruction of the Ordovice tribe. This area between the two Cornovii cantons may well have been disputed territory even prior to the Roman invasion.
Watling Street 3 (Not on the map.)
The original intended straight line Watling Street to Chester across what is now Staffordshire may have been replicated later by another as yet unnamed Roman road that took a short cut from Watling Street near Penkridge via Whitchurch to Chester bypassing Wroxeter. This road could possibly have been a second phase commercial road.
The other roads in this project would have passed though the previously mentioned border zone and may have also made use of pre-existing, prehistoric road networks and hillforts on both sides of a possible tribal divide.
The A51? Tamworth to Audlem (B to B on the map.)
This road from Tamworth to Chester corresponds roughly, for the most part with the A51 past Maer Hills and this road may also have been the main road from London to Ireland, even in prehistoric times. Another road to Chester branches northward of this road to Ireland near a place significantly called Irelands Cross at the crossroads at Pipe Gate. A map of the road network around Maer Hall in the quarter session rolls of 1807 shows this road, the now A51 to be called the London to Chester road and by 1807 it was also turnpiked.[85] The place name Pipe Gate is interesting, being one of several place names in the area around Maer using the terminal or suffix Gate or -gate, Baldwins Gate, Maerfield Gate and Hookgate all of which appear to indicate crossroads or road junctions. If the term gate is taken literarily they could also have been natural controlling points, especially if the road is surrounded by forest and marsh. It may be however that the place names ending Gate or –gate may be of Danish origin and the Danish term for street.[86]
This road going east links the hillfort, Berth Hill at Maer directly to Bury Bank hillfort near Stone, crossing the Trent at Meaford, the place name Stone can be an indication of a Roman Road being an Anglo-Saxon term for the metaling, and in its early form Stane, is repeated elsewhere in the Roman Road Stane Street.[87] The road continues south east passing just a few miles North West of Berry Ring hillfort near Stafford and then passes adjacent on to Castle Ring near Cannock Chase and on, joining Watling Street at Tamworth were there is also a long history of fortifications, burhs etc.[88] Going in the other direction from Berth Hill at Maer, this road leaves the modern A51 at Pipegate / Irlands Cross and continues in a fairly strait line west along footpaths and field boundaries and a mixture of what are now lanes to Audlem. This road if projected further, would intersect Watling Street 2 in the vicinity of Maiden Castle (Cheshire), making this hillfort increasingly likely to be the site of the Roman station called Bovium of the 2nd of the Antonine itineraries.[89] The large number of hillforts along this road suggests it to have been a Romanized prehistoric road and one of many Roman Roads that were late prehistoric in origin and merely Romanized.[90] It may also have formed a line of interconnected border forts at various times. The heaviest concentration of hillforts were along just such border zones, similar to the castles in the marcher lands of the Middle Ages and could here be a strong indication of border zones between Celtic tribes or perhaps the proto-Welsh and proto-Mercians.[91]
There seems to have been another Roman Road splitting off the A51 at the likely crossroads at Maerfieldgate, (-gate being perhaps an indication of a crossroads) heading in the direction of Trentham, a place thought to have been the centre of a Roman estate.[92] This may be the track way referred to as going from Maerfieldgate, crossing Chorlton to Hanchurch.[93] (This road is marked as Z on the map.)
The roads (the A51ect.) in the vicinity of Maer Hall were altered almost entirely in the early 19th century when Josiah Wedgwood II created a parkland around his Jacobean home Maer Hall,[94] and the A51 as it now is would have taken a much more direct route though Maer. Some of this more direct route can possibly be seen in the farm tacks, footpaths and field boundaries in the vicinity of Maer Hall and adjacent to Berth Hill.
London Road Eccleshall (Also Tamworth to Audlem) D to D on the Map)
This situation regarding the previous road the A51is however confused by another London to Chester road that went North West from Stafford crossing the river Sow at Seighford, Cesteforde in the Domesday Book, where there may have been a Roman camp or settlement.[95] This road then continued through Eccleshall, Broughton, and Loggerheads and on most likely also to Audlem and possibly Ireland etc, passing near but not through Maer. This could have been a later Roman Road, passing through Eccleshall which was the site of a Romano British Christian Church.[96] This road also passed through Broughton, which place name evidence suggests, was in mid Anglo-Saxon times a significant settlement perhaps a borough town and or garrison town as we will see later. Cold Meese also occurs near to this road could be an example of a place name similar to Coldharbour occurring along side a Roman Road, the cold being a possible reference to a cold shelter, Cold- is a place name often situated alongside Roman Roads.[97] This perhaps later Roman Road suggests a change of status for the hillfort, from being an administrative and a military centre to being just military, with Broughton taking the administrative role. This change may have taken place in the later Roman period and this road being a reflection of the change of enforces and role. This road too is likely to have passed through Tamworth just as the previous motioned London to Ireland road did. This road was referred to as the London to Hollyhead Highway by John Ogilby in his Britania in 1675.[98]
King’s Street? Oakengates to Middlewich (C to C on the Map)
Berth Hill, Maer and Broughton are adjacent to a section of Roman Road found at Maerway Lane in 1813,[99] running due north from Uxicona Roman station on Watling Street near Oakengates to King Street near Middlewich,. Oakengates is yet another instance of a crossroads being at a place called Gate or ending in –gate. This previously undiscovered Roman Road runs due north from Uxicona Roman Fort on Watling Street, to a crossroads with Watling Street 3 (Stretton to Whitchurch) at Camp Farm where a map of 1775 shows the outline of an ancient camp.[100] The road then continues north along a straight “tell tale” section of the Staffordshire / Shropshire border, continuing in a straight line along a lane up the western side of Bishops Wood, to a place in the vicinity of Broughton Folly Farm. Another indication of a possible Roman Road is the place name Folly, if architectural foolishness can be ruled out, the term folly occurs very regularly along side Roman Roads for reasons unknown.[101] This road now cuts across Ashley where the evidence is vague, up through Maerway Lane Township, a ribbon type development, which is the other township in Maer Parish other than Maer itself.[102] The road then continues on along a section of Holloway Lane, some Roman Roads evolved in to hollow ways and Holloway Lane could be one example of this type of evolution.[103]
The road then continues along the footpaths and the parish boundary to a tumulus adjacent to the remains of Madeley Manor where some Roman coins have been found,[104] joining and continuing along Manor Road Madeley, passing Hey House where it is said a roman road can be seen as parallel lines in the melting snow. It then continues through Madeley village, up through Little Madeley the site of a large Roman horde and continues on past Heighley Castle. This road if it is projected further would most likely go to Elworth near Sandbach Cheshire and on to Middlewich and Northwich were it is known to as King Street.[105] This road passes some very interesting places in the sections north of Maer, right alongside the remains of Madeley Manor, and then passes right alongside the remains of Heighley Castle and both of these historic sites could have developed where they did because of this road. Medieval buildings were often built on top of the remains of Roman Roads using the agger as a foundation.[106] It was said in 1772 that the road from Camp Hill went all the way to Heilghley Castle, the seat of the lords Audley. One of which commanded the kings forces at the battle of Blore Heath during the wars of the roses and it is believed used Camp Hill as a base for his troops. Little Madeley is also interesting being where a “great quantity” of roman coins were found in 1817, the latest date for which is A.D. 326.[107]
John Ward in his History, detailed some correspondence between two mid eighteenth century professors, which included references to sections of Roman Road near Cheswadine and at Newport that one of the correspondents had seen, that could also be this referring to this road.[108]
Going south from Uxicona station on Watling Street this road would have gone to Greensforge where there was a early Roman settlement, and would follow the east bank of the River Severn perhaps as far as the salt town of Droitwich. If this was so, this road would join the salt towns of Cheshire Nantwich, Middlewichwith and Northwich etc, to the salt producing Droitwich and perhaps the Roman ports of Chester and Gloucester. This road could have facilitated the export of salt in roman times and possibly even before. This road north from Droitwich through Greensforge was always thought to be aimed at Wroxeter[109] but goes to the next Roman station east Uxicona.
Leomichistrete? Wolstanton to Shrewsbury (E around the arc to E on the Map)
The pattern of roads on the modern Ordnance Survey maps suggest that there was a forerunner of the A53 the Newcastle to Shrewsbury road, which followed a more north westerly path at least as far as Market Drayton where it may have been known as Leominchistrete in medieval times.[110] This road seems likely to have progressed in a large arc to the north west of the River Tern rather than crossing it, as the modern A53 does. Akeman Street curves around the Themes in a similar way.[111] It is also likely to have crossed the previously mentioned new section of Staffordshire’s “Kings Street” at Little Madeley where the large Roman horde was found.[112]
This road appears to have gone south west from Wolstanton through Knutton to the south of the Roman station at Chesterton, along a large part of the bridal way near Finney Green, over Agger Hill, what appears to be a rare example of a Latin place name and word for rampart or road embankment etc.[113]
The road then continued on to the A525 at Little Madeley, the site of the large roman hoard, passing north of Madeley Pool and may have continued north of Bar Hill, on to Onneley before finding its way to Irelands Cross. From Irelands Cross and Pipe Gate, the road continues to arc around the River Tern through Norton in Hales and on to Market Drayton. From Market Drayton the arc continued around the River Tern to Tern Hill, now having joined the present A53, on to Hodnet and Shawbury. At Shawbury the road crosses the section of Watling Street 2 from Wroxeter to Chester before continuing to Shrewsbury and then turning southward though Church Stretton passing the hillfort Caer Cradoc near Church Stretton.[114] The place name Church Stretton is interesting, Stretton and Stone may be derived from Settlement by the “streete” the Anglo-Saxon name for Roman Road.[115] This road would then continue on south as the roads name would suggest to Leominster or the nearby Leintwardine hillfort and beyond. Leominster and Leintwardine have the pre-English district name Lene as the first element, appropriate to a place of early administrative importance.[116] The great royal manor of Leominster is said to have preserved it’s welsh rural organization well in to the 13th century.[117] Leominster or the hillfort at Leintwardine is also the likely site of the Ordiviceian canton known in Latin as Branageneum and this road could have helped join this capital with the other Ordavician capital Mediolanium most likely the modern day town of Whitchurch. This road being on the west side of the River Severn, may have been on the Celtic side of the border zone during the early stages of the Roman invasion and the other side of a possible Celtic / Roman or the Powys / Mercia divide from “King Street.” The two parallel roads again indicative of a border, this time the River Severn.
The A53 (A to A on the Map)
It is also probable that another Roman Road ran from Manchester to Wales and also passed through Maer in the way the A53 does now. This is likely to be the Roman Road from Manchester via Buxton and Leek passing through what is now The Potteries along Hot Lane and Etruria Road. Heading south west along a long straight section of the Whitmore Road, continuing in a straight line across fields where the modern A53 deviates adjacent to Whitmore Hall. It then continues from a place now known descriptively as Shutlanehead along a short straight section of Shut Lane and it appears next as a footpath which rejoins the A53 which is in perfect alignment with the previous section of the A53, the Whitmore Road. This road continues south west passing between Berth Hill and Kings Bank, as it progresses through Maer Hills. The road then continues in a straight line to Loggerheads where the present A53 turns west to Market Drayton, but the roads previous alignment is continued by another footpath and during a long gap in the road / footpath evidence passes adjacent to the Roman Villa at Hales. This Roman Villa site at Hales is believed to have been occupied from at lest the Bronze Age.[118] The roads alignment is then continued by Tyrley Road and a short farm track. If the alignment of these roads, footpaths and tracks etc is projected a little further south west, it would cross the River Tern at Stoke Bridge, Stoke upon Tern. The place name Stoke meaning ancient holy place.[119] Next this road crosses “Leomichistrete” and Watling Street 2 between which is Bury Walls hillfort the increasingly likely site of Rutunium Roman station, which is also adjacent to the River Roden from which it is believed the station took its name. This roads alignment now flattens out in a westward direction, passing through Clive and Middle and between The Berth, hillfort (not to be confused with Berth Hill) and Baschurch. From here the road becomes more erratic and appears to go west in to Wales. The way in which this road passes several hillforts again suggests this is a Romanized pre-historic road.
The roads that may have been identified in this chapter may not have existed all at the same time, as some may have superseded others. We have no way of knowing the quality of the roads, though it would however seem likely that they were not of the quality of the four kings highways, the herepathes mentioned earlier. The likelihood is that they were second phase commercial roads in the main and were mainly used for local traffic.
Spatial aspects of possible Roman Stations
The spatial aspects of the possible Roman Stations are very interesting. Uxicona Station is one days march (13 miles) from the major settlement the former tribal capital Wroxeter, Camp Farm where there is an “Ancient Camp” outlined on a map of 1775,[120] a similar distance north from Uxicona and Maer is the same distance again (one days march) form Camp Farm (12 miles). The distance to the next station to the north of Berth Hill is similar (13miles) to Chesterton and to the west of Maer Hills Ternhill is 13 miles and Whitchurch is 11miles from Ternhill. The three major Roman Roads that intersect at Maer make six equilateral triangles, with the possibly of six different stations being just one days march from the Maer hub. This hub was most likely in existence before the roman’s arrived and probably linked earlier settlements and or hillforts. Along with the two other roads very near by and at least one branch road, the hub at Maer may have been very significant. The two stations in Cheshire are however not identifiable.
The Station
With three likely Romanized pre-historic roads passing through Maer Hills and others close by, it might be expected that there was a Roman Station reused the hillfort (Berth Hill) or near by Camp Hill. If as seems likely Camp Hill or the hillfort was a Roman station, that begs the question which station was it, and there are several possibilities. The Antonine Itineraries, Ptolemy’s Geography, Richards’s Transcription and the Ravenna Cosmography, have never been satisfactorily delineated where this part of the country is concerned. The reason for this being the case is most likely the road network itself has not been satisfactorily delineated. With several Roman roads undiscovered in Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire, it would be very difficult to put the various station labels on the various towns and hillforts etc in these counties. There are many known Roman towns and stations in the area now covered by Staffordshire Shropshire and Cheshire, but all appear to correspond to hillforts or modern towns other than the possible station at Maer. This does not mean there was not a station a Maer or Camp Hill; it just means we unfortunately don’t have a name for it at this time. The likely candidates for Maer were Mediolanium which the weight of evidence suggests to be Whitchurch, and the way the roads detailed above intersect makes Rutunium almost certainly Bury Walls hillfort or adjacent to it.
The Station named Mediolanium could have moved around over time as it appears to have been in heavily disputed territory, whilst this is not beyond the bounds of possibility, this would be clutching at straws. Other historians have suggested that a roman station at Maer or Broughton was Rutunium[121] but this was almost certainly not the case.
Chapter 3/ The Borough Triangle
Maer
The relationship of a group of “Domesday” manors, centring on Maer where the later medieval lords of this group of manors lived, gave the impression that Maer was the probable centre of this large 7th Century unitary manor. The point of origin of this possible political and or religious unit is most likely the prehistoric hillfort at Maer, Berth Hill. Sampson Erdeswick (1586) said “the people of Maer still called the hillfort (Berth Hill) the Borough.” Gregory King writing in the 17th Century also put on his map where the hillfort is “The Borough”.[122] This suggested that the hillfort Berth Hill had been an Anglo-Saxon Burh” the name Berth has sometimes been written as Byrth and may have been derived from burh the genitive for which is byrh and the dative byrig.[123] It could also suggest that it may have been the Borough settlement that may have preceded Newcastle under Lyme as it is only 6 miles away. The “Iron Age” citadel and likely Anglo-Saxon burh, being the old castle, as Newcastle did not come in to being as a borough town until the 12th century.[124]
General Wrottersley also talking about Maer when he said, he believed Maer to have once been, “the centre of an extensive district or region, similar to the Ridwares and the Bromwitches”.[125] The place name Ridware is taken to mean the people who lived by the river or ford[126] Rhyd is welsh for river,[127] and –ware meaning folk.[128] The Bromwiches place name is taken to mean the dwellers on the heath lands amongst the broom.[129] Both of these names must have covered extensive regions in Wrotterleys day, though today this seems less obvious. The possibility of the hillfort at Maer being an administrative settlement must however take in to account another nearby place called Broughton, this place name also suggests that it was once a “Borough” type settlement or administrative unit of some importance.[130] There may be some confusion between the medieval manorial centre Maer in medieval times and the most likely earlier regional caput at Broughton. Broughton has also been described as a deserted settlement.[131]
The Borough Triangle
It has been argued in a paper on pre-conquest Leek in Staffordshire, that Leek and Rudyard were the twin centres of a large parochia/greater unitary manor, perhaps dating back to the seventh century.[132] Rudyard being the lay or administrative centre of the large unified manor (The Borough) and Leek being thought, to be the ecclesiastic centre of the parochia. These large parochia were later to be subdivided in to the many parishes we know today. This twin centre theory may coincide with the situation at Broughton with Eccleshall being the ecclesiastic centre in the early to mid Anglo-Saxon period and perhaps before. That would however leave the hillfort Berth Hill at Maer without a role in the fractious early to middle Anglo-Saxon period, unless it was purely a military centre or burh around this time. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, known as the Mercian Register, referred to the building of and also the restoration of burhs.[133] Some of these burhs were reused ancient hillforts such as Eddisbury in Cheshire.[134] This would suggest that there were three elements that made up the land units of this time.
This triangular mid Anglo-Saxon system consisting of Administrative, Ecclesiastic and Military centres, would appear to work elsewhere in the area that is now Staffordshire Cheshire and Shropshire and possibly all over England. Some of the most notable instances of this perhaps mid Anglo-Saxon triangle include, Burton on Trent as originally an administrative centre, Stapenhill as being the original ecclesiastic centre and Tutbury being the purely military centre. The Stafford (Ecclesiastic centre) triangle would have included Burton Manor (administrative) and Berry Ring hill fort being the purely military element. This triangulation can be repeated over and over, Stone (ecclesiastic), Barleston (administrative) and Bury Bank the Anglo-Saxon burh. Another good example would be Woxeter being an administrative centre, Shrewsbury in origin an ecclesiastic centre and The Wrekin hillfort being the purely military element. This particular example may indicate a possible Roman or Romano British origin for this type of system, this origin would also be appropriate for Eccleshall the site of a probable Romano British church[135]. Perhaps the long period of relative stability during the Roman period meant that a less defensible administrative settlement close to the security of the hillfort was desirable, the social mixture of administrator and warrior always being an unlikely scenario. The administrative centre may have resorted to the military centre or burh in troubled times, such as wartime and invasions. This Anglo-Saxon triangular system seems to be applicable to almost every, so called “Iron Age” hillfort in Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire and finding the hillfort first may be the best way to locate the triangular units. (See the list of likely triangles) Identifying this triangular system is also dependent upon differentiating between Borough towns such as Broughton and the purely military Burhs such as Berth Hill. This triangular system may have preceded the hundredal and shire political systems, and subsequently become component parts of these later systems.
The shire system may have been late in its formation in Mercia and in Staffordshire in particular, which appears to have functioned by an older system until the Danish wars, based on what are termed in Latin documents as regions or Provinciae.[136] These Provinciae may correspond with the similarly Latin named Parochia, the corresponding ecclesiastical unit and may represent the greater unitary manor previously mentioned. Broughton was the probable 7th Century administrative settlement associated to the burh Berth Hill and the administrative centre of this Provinciae.
Broughton
Broughton has been described as a disappearing Township, with 8 inhabitants in 1327 and only 1 inhabitant after 1424.[137] The suffix “ton” suggests the origins of the name Broughton to be around the 7th century and many such place names ending in “ton” (“ton” means enclosure, homestead or village) are found on elevated sandstone ridges above the densely forested valleys just as Broughton is. Mr Vernon Yonge said “from Broughton’s elevated church yard there is a gracious prospect of The Wrekin, Caer Cradock, The Long Mynd and Wenlock Edge”.[138] It is believed _tun names are characteristic Anglo-Saxon and are likely to have been open land at the coming of the English.[139]
Margaret Gelling said “the early spellings show that Broughton is derived from Burton”.[140] There are no less than 80 places around the country called Burton or some derivative of Burton, many of which are in close proximity to prehistoric hillforts.[141] Broughton may have developed in to an administrative centre during Mercia’s 8th century political expansion.[142] Colonel Wedgwood attributed the original caput of Pirehill hundred to Eccleshall,[143] which would have been the ecclesiastic centre of this Anglo-Saxon triangular unit based on the administrative centre of Broughton and so Broughton is likely to have been the caput of Pirehill hundred rather than Eccleshall.
Broughton has also been identified with the Domesday Book “Hereborgestone”,[144] in which the Saxon prefix seems to be here “Army.”[145] Dr Studd said “Broughton “Hereborgstone” the army burh, was clearly one of the Mercian king’s defended military posts”,[146] although the burh its self is most likely to have been at Berth Hill with the administrative element of the triangle Broughton, using it as a refuge in troubled times.
Army being so fresh in the memory of the compilers of the Domesday Book may lead us to suspect that “Hereborgstone” or the nearby hillfort Berth Hill at Maer associated with it, was an Anglo-Saxon army base during the Norman Conquest. It may also confirm suspicion that the Iron Age hillfort at Maer was also an Anglo-Saxon burh in previous conflicts with the Danes. There are three known, as yet unidentified AEthelflaedian burghs Bremesburh, Scergeat and Wearburh,[147] Bremesburh, being the most likely of the three to be a possibility, The British term for hill is bre,[148] Burh would translate as Fort in old English and Mes perhaps also Celtic derived from or the River Meece and Meese Brook, as Meese is thought to have been derived from a district name.[149] The Domesday Book called Mill Meese Mess. There is also the possibility that this particular burh at Berth Hill has no surviving documentary references and its name may never be known.
Place name evidence suggests that the area around Anglo-Saxon burh at Maer was occupied by the Danes, evidence for this being the case exists in the form of the Danish word for street, gate, being much used around the area of Berth Hill and Broughton, Pipe Gate, Maerfield Gate, Baldwins Gate Offley Gate, and Hookgate etc. This is a phenomenon the area around Maer Hills shares with the Mercian Capital Tamworth.[150] Tamworth was taken by the Danes in 876 but was back in the hands of the Anglo-Saxon forces by 913 and this period of occupation may correspond to a similar period of occupation at Berth Hill and Broughton.[151] These wars with the Danes culminated in AEthelflaeda’s defeat of the Danes at Chester in 907. The burh at Maer (perhaps Bremesbyrig 910) may have been a useful stepping stone to the recapture of other burhs at Scergeat and Brigenorth (912), Tamworth and Stafford (913). A useful stepping stone also, when another Viking army was defeated, at Tetenhall in 910 by Edward the Elder.[152]
The Ecclesiastic Centre
Broughton’s church is dedicated to St Peter and this dedication is sometime taken as an indication of an early foundation,[153] though the evidence suggests otherwise in this case. The church at Broughton was erected as a private chapel in the early 17th century and did not become a parish church until 1711.[154] This suggests that Broughton itself was not an ancient religious centre and would have had an ancient religious centre nearby.
Eccleshall would have made the third and ecclesiastical element of this Borough triangle, to add to the administrative settlement of Broughton and the Anglo-Saxon garrison fortress of Berth Hill at Maer. Margaret Gelling said “Eccleshall is now an exceptionally large parish and was the centre of a composite estate and shows cognisance of British institutions and the administrative unit predates the coming of the English”.[155] The Eccleshall place name is derived from the Celtic / Welsh Egles meaning church,[156] and Eccleshall was also the centre of the estates of the bishop of Mercia / Lichfield and probably some of the original estates of St Chad.[157] It is likely that Eccleshall was in origin simply an ecclesiastic centre of a very large parochia.
In the later Anglo-Saxon period and the early Middle Ages however the growing wealth of the church meant that many of the administrative centres were often, drawn in to the ecclesiastical centres which themselves became borough towns in due course. Good local examples of ecclesiastic centres becoming administrative centres or Borough towns in Staffordshire, being Stafford, Stone, Eccleshall and Leek. Stafford would also have had its origin as an ecclesiastic centre, the other parts of the borough triangle being Burton Manor and the Berry Ring hillfort.
In the 19th century Eccleshall was the second largest parish in Staffordshire which in previous times much larger still and within the parish of Eccleshall was the failed township of Broughton. There are two small parts of Eccleshall parish that exist as islands in between other parishes, which suggests Eccleshall parish was once much larger still and has been subdivided or satellite chapelries within Eccleshall have gained independence. The Domesday Book tells us that the Bishop of Lichfield held Eccleshall and also Shugnull (now northern Eccleshall) estates just as St Chad’s had done previously.[158] The Domesday Book also shows that the various manors held by the Bishop cover an area much larger than the parish of the 19th century. Maer in contrast is a very small parish and is adjacent to the previously mentioned island parts of Eccleshall parish, suggesting Maer was once part of the Eccleshall parochia. There are several other small parishes around this area that would also have been part of the massive Parochia of Eccleshall. This vast area covered by the bishop’s manors could however have been of low value in the early 8th century, if place name evidence is to be believed and covered with vast areas of marsh and forest.
Stafford
It has been suggested the most of the hundreds that make up Cheshire were made up themselves of two Minster parochia and the land units corresponding with that particular parochia.[159] The administrative district associated with the Broughton triangle and its ecclesiastic unit could have in origin been one such Minster type parochia and the southern half of the Staffordshire’s hundred of Pirehill. The land unit or provinciae is likely to have been tribal in origin and predated the parochia and even Christianity.
The most obvious rival to Broughton for the administrative role in the southern half and the southern parochia / provinciae of Pirehill hundred, is what is the now county town Stafford. Stafford the capital of the county is not the caput of the hundred as is the case in the vast majority of such shire towns and the Pirehill hundred boundary cuts through the Stafford parish.[160] This suggests that Stafford would have evolved after the hundred system which was most likely based on pre-existing tribal units. It would seem it was during the Danish wars that Stafford gained its elevated status leading to it becoming the shire town, perhaps at the expense of Broughton the provencea caput and the likely the early hundredal capital which may have been occupied by the Danes for long periods and may have been destroyed.
Pirehill hundred at the time of the Domesday Book consisted of 90 hides, possibly three-quarters of one long Danish hundred and if added to the one quarter of a similar long hundred of Totmanslow, could be taken as further evidence of Danish influence in the area. The other Staffordshire hundreds were long hundreds consisting of 120 hides. Danish numeric system being based on the unit of 12, as opposed to the Anglo-Saxon unit 10.[161] Colonel Wedgwood said “it is to the Danes that we owe the creation of Stafford, it would never have existed in its own right; it blocked the way to somewhere else and for its strange name alone we may reject the legendary Bethany”.[162] Bethany is the legendary place that is supposed to have preceded Stafford and is phonetically similar to Berth Hill.
Stafford occupied a marshy site which barred entry in to English Mercia through the Midlands Gap,[163] the same role that could have been Broughton’s in earlier times. Stafford could not have been a natural crossroads[164] and Stafford is not known to have been of political significance under the Mercian dynasty.
The church at Stafford is however known to be very early from the excavations of St Bertalin’s church and the ecclesiastic switch from Eccleshall may have predated the administrative switch from Broughton.
It could have been that when Eccleshall ceased to be a centre for religious worship and became the bishop’s residence in the mid Mercian era, Stafford’s Minster church came to the fore as a replacement for Eccleshall’s Romano British church and the religious centre of the southern of the two Ministers’ in Pirehill hundred. As Stafford emerged as an ecclesiastic centre an administrative centre would have emerged near to Stafford at Burton Manor and a burh at Berry Ring would have completed the Stafford Borough triangle. The roles of ecclesiastic and administrative centres would have merged at Stafford by the later Anglo-Saxon period.
District or Region
The creation of the hundred system in what later became Staffordshire appeared to re impose the existing order, the hundreds being based on traditional meeting places and not political religious or economic centres and this suggests that tribal areas became hundreds.[165] The tribal area of the Tomsaetan tribe became Offlow, the Pencersaete tribal region becoming Cuttleston, the Pecsaete Totmanslow and so on.[166] Pirehill hundred may be more difficult to identify as far as tribal areas is concerned, though it is likely to have been part of the Wreocensaete hegemony.
The other half of the double parochia Pirehill hundred is likely to have been based on the church at Stoke and there is a weight of evidence as to the size and shape of the northern parochia of Pirehill hundred The place name Stoke (Stoc) is also believed to mean an ancient religious place[167] and St Peters at Stoke has a long history as the mother church in North Staffordshire; its territories consisted of more than twenty villages and hamlets.[168] The former chapelries of the mother church at Stoke consist of (Penkhull, Clayton, Shaybridge, Ridge, Shalton, Cobridge Gate, Handley Green, Bucknall, Bagnall, Norton in the Mores, Newcastle, Whitmore, Burslem, Botteslow, Fenton and Longton.[169] The total of these territories belonging to the mother church at stoke amounted to more than 21,000 acres, a very large tract of North Staffordshire and it might correspond to the remnants of the 7th century parochia. There were only two churches mentioned in the Domesday Book in Staffordshire, they were Tettenhall and Stoke, [170] a half interest in the Stoke church was held before the conquest with the manor of Caverswall by Wulfgeat whose manorial seat was at Maer.[171] Though there was no mention of the other half of this church, we could however speculate that Godric would have a half share as he had in so many of Wulfgeat’s manors. At Stoke St Peters there is also evidence of Anglo-Saxon times in the form of a cross shaft decorated with knot work[172] and a font, the former said to date from around 800 AD.[173] John Ward in his history mused on the large size of the Stoke ecclesiastical division and suggested it was once much larger still.[174] There is the distinct possibility of St Peters being an Anglo-Saxon Minster church, with an origin as early as the seventh century.[175]
A similar weight of evidence exist for the southern half and the southern parochia of Pirehill hundred would make it increasingly likely that the Eccleshall / Broughton / Berth Hill triangle would make up the southern unit. The Dependences of Eccleshall at the time of the Domesday Book were, Aspley, Aston, Baden, Bridgeford, Brockton, Charnes, Chatcull, Chorlton, Cotes, Coton, Croxton, Dorsey, Doxey, Flashbrook, Meese, Offley, Seighford, and Slindon would apper to be the remnants of the southern Parochia.[176]
The Boundaries
It has been suggested that Maer the site of the hillfort Berth Hill or possibly the Anglo-Saxon administrative unit based around the hillfort at Maer i.e. Broughton was the centre of an extensive district or region. There may be some clues that still remain in the boundaries and documentation of the last thousand years or so, to help us find the size and shape of this district or region.
To the north the boundary of the district or region based on the Broughton triangle there are no obvious major lines of hillforts or defences developed in the way Berth Hill, Berry Ring and Bury Bank were, which suggests the people of Pirehill were originally one tribe. There may however have been a number of intermediate forts at Penkhull near Stoke and possibly Carmount Head further north near Burslem. In theory at least there should have been a fort near the probable Anglo-Saxon Minster church at Leek in Totmanslow hundred, though the lower Pennine hills may make identification difficult. The old name of Leek and Lowe may give a clue; the place name Lowe could have been an earthwork and an indication of a fortress on the outskirts of Leek where the huge 7 story mill (Wardle and Davenport) now towers above the Macclesfield road atop of a cliff face. This site would have made an excellent promontory type fort site.
The Pirehill border with Totmanslow to the north east may be marked by a change in tribal burial rites. The area around the Pirehill boundary with Totmanslow shows hundred with a huge increase in inhumation burials[177] making this hundredal boundary possibly also previously, a tribal boundary. There are around 300 known round barrows in Staffordshire with the numbers heavily weighted towards Totmanslow hundred in the north east. There are however several so called Bronze Age burial mounds are in the vicinity of Maer Hills all adjacent or near the roads previously mentioned. Pirehill Hundred itself could be reference to these and other burial mounds, usually in this area nothing has been found in them and they are likely to have been pyre hills, cremation sites rather than the burial mounds of Totmanslow hundred. Another alternative is that the barrows that are found to be empty of human remains may have been used as cenotaphs. The person honoured having died in war far away from home or buried in a church yard and a barrow being desirable as well as a church burial, people edging there bets as far as the after life is concerned. [178]
The Eccleshall parochia and Broughton provinciae may have abutted a similar parochia based up on Stoke in the North, with the place name Burslem suggesting that was the administrative place at the centre of this provinciae in the north of Pirehill hundred, with Stoke being the ecclesiastic centre and perhaps Penkhull being the military site. To the east perhaps Shrewsbury or Baschurch, where Shrewsbury may have superseded an earlier perhaps “British” parochia centre at Baschurch, with Wroxeter being the lay centre. To the south west Lichfield and Tamworth may have been a similar unit.
Languages and Ethnicity
Bede said that St Chad was suited to his position as Bishop of Mercia because he could deal with angles and Britain’s equally well, suggesting that Mercia in the seventh century was then a mixture of language and culture and Chad is also believed to have been a welsh name.[179] The first Bishop of Mercia Trumhere was trained in the Schools of the Celtic Church,[180] which also tends to suggest a large Celtic population. The Mercians took there Christianity from Ireland and Iona either directly or through Lindisfarne.[181] There is also the remarkable difference in the present day accents and dialects of North and South, Staffordshire and this would also be suggestive of past ethnic or tribal divisions and borders etc. Colonel Wedgwood suggested that the Staffordshire people were as Celtic as the Welsh or Cornish, down to the Norman Conquest.[182] The Mercian people were however likely to have been a mix of the Celtic British and the Angles. The “British” Wreocensaete, of which the people of Pirehill hundred were likely to have been part, may have adopted Anglo-Saxon culture including language and thence place names from self interest. Anglicisation may have spread from the political focus of the region,[183]most likely Wroxeter with the English usurpation of eastern Powys.[184]
Celtic habitive names are scattered fairly plentifully in riverine situations like the upper basin of the Trent, Penkeridge, Penkhull and Eccleshall etc.[185] Nearby Cotes and Cotton are Celtic derived place names which may be attributable to welsh peasant’s homesteads. Most of the other place names in the vicinity are of Old English origins and could possibly be attributed to the early to middle Anglo-Saxon period. Chorlton .for instance is likely to have derived from ceorl the Anglo-Saxon for a free bourn man, tun meaning farmstead or Settlement.[186] Chapel Chorlton churchyard is also said to be a fine example of early Anglo-Saxon churchyard.[187] Offley is also an interesting name translated as Offa’s clearing.[188]
The Traditions
The area around Maer Hills also has many local traditions of significant events in Anglo-Saxon times, the most interesting being one about King Penda defeating Northumbria in a battle there and King/Saint Oswald being killed in that battle.[189] This battle was said to have been fought at a place called Meserfelth[190] (Old English) and Maes Cogwy[191] (Old Welsh/Celtic). Both these place names could be referring to the River Meese and Meese Brooke or the marshy area between them, the Welsh word for marsh being Maes. The river Meese’s name is also believed to have been derived from a place name and the Domesday Book listed Mill Meese as Mess.[192]
Stenton only tentatively identified Meserfelth as Oswestry on account of the name being derived from Oswalds Tree.[193] It is possible that Bede’s Meserfelth could have been a translation from the Welsh Annuls, Maes- being field moor or marsh and -gwyn being white. Henry Huntingdon, talking poetically of Oswald’s death, spoke of “the plain being white with the bones of saints”.[194] Adjacent to the Maer hillfort is Whitmore which according to Margaret Gelling being derived from White More.[195] Another local tradition says the Pendas son EAthelred and Oswalds grandson Ecgfrith fought there with the Mercian’s again victorious in what came to be known as the battle of the Trent,[196] (or should that be Trent valley or Trent region) Yet another local tradition states the Ceonren king of Mercia defeated and killed Osred king of Northumbria (716) at a place Henry Huntingdon called Mere whilst this is unlikely to be a reference to Maer it could well be more likely to translate as mere, south of the border.[197] North Mercian territories were annexed by Northumbria during this period[198] and this may have included most of what is now Cheshire north of the Lyme forests border zone. It would appear that Cheshire may have been a kind of no mans land outside of the tribal territories of the day and at times may have been deemed expendable by the Mercians.[199] This would place the hillfort at Maer on the Mercian side of the frontier and south of the Northumbrian border.
While it is unlikely any of these traditions could be proven factual, the burh at Maer and area around it would have been of strategic importance and would have been a key military objective. The control of the midlands gap and the hub of the road network, in the marshes between the upper Trent and the middle Severn would have been vital in this conflict between Mercia and Northumbria.
Original Mercia
The origins of Mercia have been thought by some to have been in the general vicinity of the Trent valley.[200] The tribal name Mierce, from which Mercia is derived, means “boundary folk”.[201] This could equally well be termed border folk or people of the marches but not necessarily the Welsh Marches. Maer has in many cases in the past been written as Mere which could also be derived from the same origin as Mercia meaning border although it is more likely to have been derived from the lake or Mere, Maer pool being a remnant of a glacial lake.[202] The nearby River Tern is a Celtic river name also meaning boundary or border. The river Tern is long remembered in Welsh history as being the Welsh border and perhaps a Welsh region, until the rise of Mercia as a dynastic power in the 7th century.[203] The Lyme forests were also likely to have been the border of tribal territories and eventually the borders of the Hundreds and Shires, Lyme can also be taken to mean border if it was derived as some historians believe from the Latin Lime.[204] In Roman and pre Roman times these borders to the west and north could have been between the Ordivice and Cornovii tribes. In middle Anglo-Saxon times the boundaries could have been those that separated the eastern principality of Kingdom of Powys from the Wreocensaete, Pecsaete Tomsaete and Pencersaete tribes. Mercia according to the venerable Bede consisted of 12,000 households in the seventh century, when the region was regarded as Pagan in contrast to their neighbours, who were Christian.[205] Divided it is believed by the river Trent in to North Mercia 7,000 households and South Mercia 5,000 households.[206] This may have a natural division on ethnic or linguistic lines used for taxation purposes. Known as the tribal hideage this taxation list divided possibly the Wreocenseatan hegemony (7,000) to the north and Tamseatan hegemony (5,000) to the south, or the uplands to the north and the lowlands to the south.
These borders were unlikely to have been static for more than a short while. It is likely the borders ebbed and flowed a great deal, according to which tribal province or kingdom gained supremacy. It was Edward I that first confined the northerly marcher shires within the borders far tighter than those previous.[207] The Mercian border to the north may have fluctuated between a solid border based on the river Mersey to a border along Watling Street and the Trent, with other more transparent borders in between. The areas that are now North West Staffordshire, Southern Cheshire, and North Eastern Shropshire, are the most likely areas covered by original Mercia. This area would have had significant large border zone areas all around it and through it, at various times.
Chapter 4/ The Norman Conquest
Hereborgstone Wasta Est
The Domesday Book shows much of this area around the Maer hill fort / burh listed as “waste” in 1086 (see map Staffordshire waste in 1086[208]) and Broughton was one of this clutch of “waste” Domesday vills. Some traditionalists believe the land was somehow still, after 16 years physically laid to waste and perhaps returned to the wild. Others believe that there was a multitude of reasons behind the category of “waste”. The waste may however amount to areas depopulated during the harrying of the north campaigns, of William the Conqueror following the Mercian rebellions of 1069-70. The harrying campaign of 1069-70 saw crops spoiled, livestock carried away, farm implements and indeed farmsteads burned to the ground[209] and the land around areas of resistance depopulated. Let’s not forget the usual scenario for any country or region involved in a civil war is one of implosion. In the wake of sword and flame comes famine and disease and the result of all this would be depopulation. Repopulation of whole areas would be difficult in these times because most of the population would have been bonded to a lord and a manor.[210] Evidence of the depopulation of Staffordshire and other counties involved in the rebellions appears in the chronicle of Evesham. In this chronicle the refugee’s from the Mercian counties who went in search of a morsel of bread, were given aid by Abbot AEthelwig of whom it was said, he was so fierce that even the Normans were afraid.[211] The chronicle continues the streets, houses and church yard of Evesham were crowded with homeless wretches, who had barley the strength to swallow the food given to them. Every day five, six or more died and were buried in the care of the Prior and this included men of high rank now dispossessed.[212] A hundred thousand human beings are said by the chronicle to have died of cold and hunger, in that winter that effectively made William the Conqueror king of all England.[213]
The harrying
The Domesday “waste” around the area of Maer and its hillfort however appears very concentrated and Pirehill Hundred with 30 locations made up nearly 40% of the waste in Staffordshire.[214] In these vills listed as waste we may be seeing the footprints of the Conquerors army, finally crushing the last remnants of Mercian Anglo-Saxon resistance taking refuge at “Hereborgestone” or the hillfort associated with it Berth Hill. Staffordshire was the only place that King William was moved to visit himself, not once but twice during this period of rebellion, preferring to send his trusted generals on other occasions to other places
William the Conqueror crossed the Pennies in January 1070 from Yorkshire in an almost unprecedented forced march in the depths of winter, with the mercenary elements of his forces on the brink of mutiny.[215] There may have been advantages in this action taken in the middle of winter, if the marshes were frozen. These marshes may have proved the stumbling block in Williams’s first encounter with the Mercian rebels, some months previous, just as they would later with Hereward and Ely. It is reputed that Williams’s army approached Stafford for this the second time from Chester and could have done so via the Chester to London road passed Berth Hill and Broughton. Moving against the rebels and the native population with absolute savagery, leaving only scorched earth in his wake.[216] William may have instigated the most terrible visitation that had ever fallen on this part of England since the Danish wars of Alfred’s time.[217]
Using this approach form Chester he would not have to cross the River Trent if he had to enter Stafford town. William and his army caught up with the remnants of the Mercian army and put them down “by the power of the royal army”.[218] These remnants of the Mercian forces could have based themselves for the winter at the former Anglo-Saxon Burh on the old hillfort Berth Hill or Broughton which as we have seen the Domesday Book calls Hereborgstone, with “Here” meaning army. The Mercian army were perhaps routed believing they were safe in the marshes until the spring at least. The heavy concentration of the wasted vills around this area and also to the south around Eccleshall could also be indication of an involvement of the Bishop of Chester with the rebels. All the English bishops with the odd exception appear to have been replaced by Norman bishops around this time which may implicate them as far as this rebellion was concerned[219] and Oderic hints at some kind of ecclesiastical participation.[220] Further concentrated devastation was wreaked around the Litchfield area, which were also manors belonging to the Bishop, and on the route William could have taken on his return south.
A “Royal” Castle ?
As far as the captured Burh was concerned, there would have been a need to hold down this possible stronghold of the resistance movement. The hillfort would have been too big for a small Norman garrison to occupy and possibly lacking the timber required for a Norman style keep, a new Motte and Bailey castle would be required to watch over the old and now finally redundant burh. The castle and hillfort could have been abandoned as the vills around it remained depopulated and were possibly kept depopulated until at least 1086. After the abandonment of this castle and another one at Stafford, two more castles were to be built the first just outside Stafford, and the other later at Newcastle under Lyme.
The old borough town (Broughton) may have re-emerged 5 or 6 miles to the North East at what was to become “New castle” some time between the conquest and the Domesday Book and outside of the depopulated zone close to the same Roman Road which has been referred to here as the A53. The “old” castle to which the “new” in Newcastle refers to could be the Iron Age hill fort / burh or it could be the “conquest” motte and bailey castle that watched over it for a short time. It could also be reference to the castle within the town of Stafford or AEthelflaeda’s burh there.[221] But Stafford is over 15 miles away and the castle at Mare being only 6 miles from Newcastle.
This Motte and Bailey castle at Maer still exists as the evocative “Kings bank” just north of the old hill fort (see photo sheets.).[222] Here a relatively modest garrison could watch the old fort in relative safety and make sure it would not be reoccupied. Kings Bank was thought to have been a burial mound or barrow[223] and was also referred to as a lookout post after archaeological investigation showed now sign of a burial.[224] Kings Bank is an unlikely burial mound being 130 feet in diameter and 20 foot high and on top of a natural conical hill. The motte was no doubt built from the spoil extracted from the moat and carried up the hill. The moat can still be found encircling the hill and it becomes double where it is over looked from the outside by a rocky outcrop. (See photo sheets) Kings Bank was only a fledgling motte and bailey castle, most likely built and abandoned within the sixteen years between the rebellion in 1069-70 and the Domesday Book in the same way as the one in Stafford was. It was not at all developed in the way that many of the surviving examples were. These castles were in effect engines of the conquest, purely functional and were well depicted in the Bayeux tapestry. Two such castles were built in the few days between the Normans landing at Pevensey Bay and the battle of Hastings.[225]
Conclusion
The development of the area around Maer during the Iron Age, Roman, Romano British, Anglo-Saxon, Danelaw and Norman times may have been dominated by the many conflicts of one sort or another. Defence would have been upper most in the psyche, of the Iron Age people who first built the still impressive triple ramparts of the hill fort and the various people who occupied and reoccupied it. In its early Iron Age history the conflicts may have been relatively local and tribal in nature. In Roman times, matters were at the other end of the scale, with the involvement of a world super power. During the Roman period the building of reliable road networks perhaps based on previous ancient track ways, required stations or marching camps to be positioned between the large towns to allow travelling armies and other travellers to change horses, eat and sleep in a secure environment and this suggests that travel was to remain a risky business. After the Romans left, the “Britain’s” often returned to the hill forts as the Anglo-Saxon tribes began to arrive.[226] In the mid Anglo-Saxon period the burh / fortress may have served again in the defence of pagan Mercia against an expansive Christian Northumberland. Mercia’s then meteoric rise to dynastic power themselves, could have seen the hillfort abandoned again in favour of the administrative settlement at Broughton, which was not necessarily where it is now. In the late Anglo-Saxon period these burhs were used again as a springboard for re-conquest of the Danish held territories.
During the post Norman Conquest rebellions the Burh may well have been a place of last resort for Mercian forces, still in arms and attempting to regroup when the Norman army fell upon them unexpectedly in mid winter.[227] Mercia in its death throws may have unwittingly returned to one of its points of origin, in the marshes of the old tribal border lands. The area was once again being devastated as it may have been during the Danish wars and many other conflicts, but this time the Domesday Book gave us a record of the devastation 16 years after the rebellions.
William the Conqueror may have seen the strategic value of this fortress for himself, possibly twice and knew he had to ensure it was never used again. He replaced it at Maer Hills with the “modern state of the art” Motte and Bailey castle at King’s Bank a design he knew and trusted. The land around it was kept depopulated for a generation so it could never again support a rebellion, and the memory of the old borough and castle was all but extinguished. It would seem likely however that Newcastle was to grow in to the void in due course, as it gained its “new castle” in the 12th century and gained borough status probably in the early 13th century.
The fortifications at Maer were strategically situated in the gap in the swampy area to the west of the rivers Trent and Sow and to the east of the rivers Tern, Roden and Severn. If it was necessary to enter Stafford town from the north, the River Trent would not need to be crossed, and the approach to Shrewsbury from the north would not be encumbered by the River Severn. Travel in a North South direction may have been very difficult due to the east-west line of marsh for many miles deep to the south of Maer Hills. If the Lyme’s were also primarily marsh too, as some have suggested, marsh would have covered a considerable amount of what is now North Staffordshire and possibly Cheshire and could have made for a bottle neck in and around Maer Hills. The means of travel down the ages would have been controlled by fortresses like those at Maer Hills, and in times of war they would have controlled the movement of armies. The people who controlled the fortresses and therefore travel could put themselves in position to win these conflicts and in some instances take an aggressive conquering stance. There could be no more strategically important site in Mercia and possibly few in England.
There is still some doubt about what the Anglo-Saxon town was called; perhaps the Domesday Herebrogstone would be the best estimate and its site could have been the present day Broughton or the hillfort at Maer Berth Hill or both at various times.
It would seem that the history of Maer Hills and the area around it was every bit as immense as the various place names suggested. The present forestry and drainage was completed by Josiah Wedgwood II, son of the famed potter Josiah in the early 1800s.[228] His energetic remodelling of his estate, left several chapters of Staffordshire history shrouded in woodland, not least Staffordshire’s forgotten Borough and Castle.
[1] William Page, Victoria County History of Stafford, vol 1, Archibold and Constable co ltd, 1908, 332
[2] VCH, 340
[3] William Page, Victoria County History of Stafford, vol 1, Archibold and Constable co ltd, 1908, 341
[4] DM Palliser, The making of the Staffordshire Landscape, Hodder and Stoughton, 1976, 43
[5] Josiah C Wedgwood, History of the Wedgwood Family, St Catherines Press, 1908, 184
[6] Wedgwood Mosley Collection, Keele University Library, WM1643,
[7] DM Paliser, in John Briggs Ed, Newcastle under Lyme 1173-1973, 1973, 2
[8] Robin Studd, Medieval Newcastle under Lyme a hidden Domesday Borough? Staffordshire Studies volIII, University of Keele, 1990/1, 1
[9] Robin Studd, 1990/1, 2
[10] Thomas Pape, Medieval Newcastle under Lyme, Manchester University Press, 1928, 4
[11] T Pape, 3
[12] Berth Hill (Hill Fort) Archaeological Survey Report, NMR no SJ 73 NE 7, Royal Commit ion on the Historical Monuments of England, 1
[13] James Dyer, Hillforts of England and Wales, Shire Archaeology, 1981, 7
[14] RCHME, 3
[15] James Dyer, 21
[16] Berth Hill (Hill Fort) Archaeological Survey Report, NMR no SJ 73 NE 7, Royal Commit ion on the Historical Monuments of England, 4
[17] James Dyer, 8
[18] G Harnaman, Way of the Beaton Track, Six Towns Magazine, June 1967, 12
[19] Samson Erdswick, A Survey of Staffordshire, JB Nichols and Son,1844, 116
[20] James Dyer, 28
[21] Richard Hodges, The Anglo-Saxon Achievement, Duckworth, 1989, 32
[22] Samson Erdswick, 116
[23]Anthony Poulton – Smith, Staffordshire Place Names, Countryside Books, Berkshire, 1995, 25
[24] John Ward, History of the Borough of Stoke on Trent 1843, republished by SR Publishers Ltd, Wakefield, 1969, 20
[25] Ordnance Survey, Explorer, Stoke on Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme, 258
[26] Keith Branigan, Roman Britain, Readers Digest, 1980, 17
[27] Keith Branigan, 18
[28] John Ward, 20
[29] William Camden, 1586, 517
[30] John Ward, 303
[31] Thomas Pape,, 3
[32] Tomas Pape, 4
[33] NJ Higham. The Origins of Cheshire, Manchester University Press, 1993, 96
[35] Margaret Gelling, The West Midlands in the Early Middle Ages, Leicester University Press, 1992, 63
[36] Graham Webster, The Cornovii, Duckworth, 1975, 123
[37] Ordnance Survey, Explorer, Market Drayton, 243
[38] George Laurence Gomme Ed, Topographical History of Staffordshire and Suffolk, Elliot Stock, 1899,116
[39] Ordnance Survey, The National Grid, Provisional Edition, 6inches to 1 mile, 1954, Sheet SJ 73 NE,
[40] http://homepage.ntlworld.com/howard.v.moore/hatton_works.htm
[41] http://www.sbury8.freeserve.co.uk/misc/mill_meece/mill_meece.htm
[42] Ordnance Survey, 6in to the mile, Sheet SJ 73 NE, 1954
[43] Ordnance Survey, 6in to the mile, Sheet XXIII NW, 1925,
[44] Margaret Gelling, Place Names in the Landscape, Phoenix Press, 2000, 56
[45] Eilert Ekwall, English River Names, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1968, 280
[46] Maragret Gelling, 2000, 55
[47] Keith Branigan, Roman Britain, Readers Digest, 1980, 24
[48] Dela Hooke, The Landscape of Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire the Charter Evidence, Department of Adult Education, The University of Keele, 1998, 18
[49] Eilert Ekwall, 1968, 400
[50] Margaret Gelling, 66
[51] Eilert Ekwall, 1968, 345
[52] Margaret Gelling, 1992, 66
[53] Patrick V Stiles, in Names, Places and People, An Onomastic Miscellany in Memory of John McNeal Dodgson, Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1997, 330
[54] BB Simms, Recent Investigations of the Hill Fort and Camp at Maer, North Staffordshire Field Club Transactions, vol 66, 1931-2, 98
[55] J Myers, Staffordshire, The Land of Britain, Land Utilisation Survey, 1945, 578
[56] DM Palliser, The making of the Staffordshire Landscape, Hodder and Stoughton, 1976, 129
[57] A.D.M Phillips and C.B Phillips, An Historical Atlas of Staffordshire, Manchester University Press, 2011
[58] Staffordshire Studies, 106
[59] Staffordshire Studies, 108
[60] Della Hooke, The Landscape of Anglo-Saxon England, Department of Adult Education Keele University, 7
[61] DM Palliser, 1976, 40
[62] DM Palliser, 1976, 39
[63] Charles Bridgman, Watling Street in Staffordshire, in Collections for a History of Staffordshire, 1916, 302
[64] Charles Bridgman, 302
[65] Graham Webster, 27
[66] John Morris, 442
[67] Martin Gilbert, British History Atlas, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1968, 14
[68] Charles Bridgman, 302
[69] M W Greenslade and D G Stuart, A History of Staffordshire, Phillimore, 1984, 19
[70] DM Paliser, 32
[71] Peter Salway, 97
[72] Peter Salway, 100
[73] John Morris, 243
[74] John Morris, 111
[75] Robin Studd, in ADM Pilllips ed, 57
[76] Graham Webster, 21
[77] Graham Webster, 34
[78] Peter Hunter Blair, 54
[79] Graham Webster, 34
[80] Della Hooke, 1998, 7
[81] Charles Bridgman, 302
[82] Peter Hunter Blair, 215
[83] D M Palliser, 37
[84] Charles Bridgman, 308
[85] Staffordshire County Record Office, Q/SB Mich 1807
[86] English Place Name Eliments,
[87] Richard Bagshawe, 15
[88] Michael Swaton Ed, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Phoenix Press, 1996, 96
[89] Urquhart A Forbes and Arnald C Burmester, Our Roman Highways, F E Robinson and co, 1904, 205
[90] Richard Bagshawe, 8
[91] John Ward, 24
[92] Henry Wedgwood, The Romance of Staffordshire, 154
[93] North Staffordshire Field Club Transactions, vol 67, 1937, 126
[94] http://www.virtuallyhistorical.com/downloads/1007_The%20berth%20Iron%Age
[95] Robert W Eyton, The Staffordshire Survey, Domesday Studies, Trubner and Co, 1881, 79
[96] Margaret and Peter Spufford Eds, Eccleshall the Story of a Market Town and its Dependent Villages, The Department of Extra-Mural Studies, University of Keele, 1964, 8
[97] Richard Bagshawe, 21
[98] Margaret Spufford, 1995,
[99] John Ward, 589
[100] William Yates, A Map of the County of Stafford, 1775, Collections for a History of Staffordshire, 4th Series, vol XII, The Staffordshire Record Society, 1984
[101] Richard Bagshawe, 21
[102] William Whites Directory, 2nd Ed, 1851, 397
[103] Richard Bagshawe, 21
[104] Charles Bridgman, Early Staffordshire History, in Collections for a History of Staffordshire, 1916, 141
[105] Ordnance Survey Map, Range Finder,
[106] Richard Bagshawe, 15
[107] John Ward, 17
[108] John Ward, 11
[109] Webster, 50
[110] DM Palliser, 1976, 40
[111] Richard Bagshawe, 14
[112] John Ward, 17
[113] Richard Bagshawe, 15
[114] James Dyer, 18
[115] Richard Bagshawe, 18
[116] Margaret Gelling, 168
[117] Finberge, 78
[118] F H Goodyear, The Roman Villa at Hales, Staffordshire, The Final Report, in North Staffordshire Journal of Field Studies, vol 14, 1974, 19
[119] Anthony Poulton – Smith, 115
[120] William Yates, A Map of the County of Stafford, 1775, Collections for a History of Staffordshire, 4th Series, vol XII, The Staffordshire Record Society, 1984
[121] John Ward, 8
[122] Margaret Spufford, Poverty Portrayed, Cambridge University Press, 9
[123] WH Dugnan, 17
[124] Robin Studd, 1990-1, 5
[125] General Wrotersley, Forest Tenures of Staffordshire, in Collections for a History of Staffordshire, vol X, New Series, 67
[126] Anthony Poulton – Smith, 98
[127] NJ Higham, 33
[128] W H Duignan, 73
[129] W H Duignan, 84
[130] Robin Studd in ADM Phillips ed, 63
[131] DM Paliser, 96
[132] Nigel Tringham, Leek before the Conquest, Essays in the honour of Michael Greenslade, Collections for a History of Staffordshire, 4th Seriers vol 19, Keele University, 1999, 5
[133] Margaret Gelling, 1992, 128
[134] Frank Stenton, 528
[135] Peter and Margaret Spufford, 8
[136] Magaret Gelling, 1992, 139
[137] Peter and Margaret Spufford, 20
[138] Weston E Vernon Yonge, Bye-Paths of Staffordshire, Benion and co, Market Drayton, 60
[139] James Dyer, 99
[140] Margret Gelling, Some Thoughts on Staffordshire Place-Names, North Staffordshire Jurnal of Field Studies, vol 21, 1981,18
[141] WH Dugnan, 17
[142] Robin Studd in ADM Phillips ed, 63
[143] Colonel Wedgwood, 159
[144] John Morris, The Domesday Book, Staffordshire, Phillimore, Chichester, 1976, 2,12
[145] Margaret Gelling, 1981, 18
[146] Robin Studd, In ADM Phillips Ed, 63
[147] Frank Stenton, 322
[148] Margaret Gelling, 2000, 61
[149] Eilert Ekwall, English River Names, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1968, 281
[150] Victor Skipp118
[151] Charles Masefield, 226
[152] Robin Studd in ADM Phillips ed, 64
[153] Margaret Gelling, 161
[154] Mike Salter, The Old Parish Churches of Staffordshire, Folly Publications, no date, 28
[155] Margaret Gelling, 62
[156] Victor Skipp, 109
[157] Peter and Margaret Spufford, 8
[158] Peter and Margaret Spufford, 9
[159]NJ Higham,176
[160] Colonel Wedgwood, 159
[161] P Wheatley, 178
[162] Colonel Wedgwood, 161
[163] Victor Skipp, 118
[164] Margaret Gelling, 1992, 141
[165] Robin Studd in ADM Phillips, 58
[166] Robin Studd in ADM Phillips ed, 58
[167] John Ward, 448
[168] John Ward, 449
[169] Gregory King, Note Book, CHS, 1919
[170] John Morris, 249b
[171] John Morris, 249b
[172] Aurther Mee, Staffordshire, Revised and Edited by F R Banks, The King’s England, HOdder and Stoughton, 1971, p160
[173] Robert Mountford, Stoke –“Holy Place on the Trent” ,Lifelines Christian Newspaper, December 2003, 6
[174] John Ward, 447
[175] Robert Mountford, 6
[176] P Wheatley, 168
[177] FM Chambers and David Wilson, in ADM Phillips, 46
[178] Audrey Meaney, A Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites, George Allen and Unwin, 1964, 19
[179] John Morris, 314
[180] D Sylvester and G Nulty, The Historic Atlas of Cheshire, Cheshire Community Council, 1958, 14
[181] H.P.R. Finberg, Lucerna, 69
[182] Colonel Wedgwood, 143
[183] NJ Higham, 94
[184] NJ Higham, 212
[185] Victor Skipp, 103
[186] Anthony Poulton – Smith, 32
[187] Margaret Gelling, 90
[188] Anthony Poulton – Smith, 68
[189] G Harnaman, Way of the Beaton Track, Six Towns Magazine, June 1967,
[190] Bertram Colgrave and R.A.B. Mynors, Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991, 243
[191] John Morris, Nennius, British History and The Welsh Annuls, Phillimore, 1980, 46
[192] Colenal Wedgwood, 168
[193] Frank Stenton, 82
[194] Thomas Forester, The Chronical of Henry of Huntingdon, Henry G Bohn, 1853, 101
[195] Margaret Gelling, 2000, 55
[196] Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, Second Edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1955, 85
[197] Thomas Forester, The Chronical of Henry of Huntingdon, Henry G Bohn, 1853, 119
[198] Frank Stenton, 1955, 23
[199] NJ Higham, 31
[200] Della Hooke, The Landscape of Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire the Charter Evidence, Department of Adult Education, The University of Keele, 1998, 7
[201] Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1971, 40
[202] J Myers, Staffordshire, The Land of Britain, Land Utilisation Survey, 1945
[203] Margaret Gelling, 1992, 73
[204] Thomas Pape, 4
[205] Christopher Lee, This Sceptred Isle, Penguin Books, 1977, 17-18
[206] Margaret Gelling, 1992, 80
[207] NJ Higham, 213
[208] P Wheatly, 203
[209] Thomas Forester, The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy by Ordericus Vitalis, Henry Bohn, vol II, 1854, 28
[210] Michael Wood, Domesday a Search for the Roots of England, Book Club Associates, Chatham, 1987, 192
[211] Edward A Freeman, The Norman Conquest, 313
[212] Edward A Freeman, 314
[213] Edward A Freeman, 314
[214] Robin Studd, 5
[215] Thomas Forester, Ordericus Vitalis, 30
[216] DM Paliser, 1976, 57
[217] Frank Stenton, 597
[218] Thomas Forester, Ordericus Vitalis, 31
[219] Frank Stenton, 652
[220] Robin Studd, Recorded Waste in the Staffordshire Domesday Entry, Staffordshire Studies vol12 2000, University of Keele, 2
[221] Philip Morgan in John Darlington ed, Stafford Castle, Stafford Borough Council, 2003, 32-33
[222] Ordnance Survey Map, Explorer, 243,
[223] GJV Bemrose, Archaeology and History, North Staffordshire Field Club Transactions, vol 73, 1938 Allison and Bowen, 114
[224] GJV Bemrose, 114
[225] Frank Stenton, 591
[226] Michael Wood, Domesday a Search for the Roots of England, Book Club Associates, Chatham,1987, 72
[227] Margaret Gelling, 1992, 18
[228] DW Adams, A Description of Maer, 1812, 3
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Margaret Gelling, Place Names in the Landscape, Phoenix Press, 2000,
Margret Gelling, Signposts to the Past Place-Names and the History of England, Dent, 1978
Margret Gelling, The West Midlands in the Early Middle Ages, Leicester University Press, 1992
Martin Gilbert, British History Atlas, Weildenfield and Nicolson, 1968
George Laurence Gomme Ed, Topographical History of Staffordshire and Suffolk, Elliot Stock, 1899
M W Greenslade and D G Stuart, A History of Staffordshire, Phillimore, 1984
Harnaman, Way of the Beaton Track, Six Towns Magazine, June 1967
Richard Hodges, The Anglo-Saxon Achievement, Duckworth, 1989
Della Hooke, The Landscape of Anglo-Saxon Englnd, Leicester University Press, 1998
Della Hooke, The Landscape of Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire, The Charter Evidence, Department of Adult Education The University of Keele,
WG Hoskins, Fieldwork in Local History, The University of Leicester, 1967
Staffordshire County Council, Domesday Book for Staffordshire, Local History Source Book No 10
Christopher Lee, This Sceptred Isle, Penguin Books, 1977
Charles Lynam, Victoria County History of Stafford, vol 1, Archibold and Constable co ltd, 1908
Frederic W Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond, Cambridge University Press, 1907
Audrey Meaney, A Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites, George Allen and Unwin, 1964
Charles Masefield, Staffordshire, Methuen and Co, 1918
H. Mattingly, Tacitus on Britain and Germany, Penguin, West Drayton, 1948
I D Margary, Roman Roads in Britain, Baker, 1973
FW Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond, Cambridge University Press, 1907
Arthur Mee, The Kings England Staffordshire, New Edition, Hodder and Stoughton, 1971
DV Mayer, Notes on the “de Mere” Family of Feudal North Staffordshire, Staffordshire History, Vol 21 1995
Robert Mountford, Stoke –“Holy Place on the Trent”, Lifelines Christian Newspaper, December 2003
John Morris Ed, Domesday Book Staffordshire, Phillimore, Chichester, 1976
John Morris, Nennius, British History and The Welsh Annuls, Phillimore, 1980
John Morris, The Age of Arthur, A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650, Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1989
Philip Morgan, The Domesday Book and the Local Historian, Help for Students No95, The Historical Association, 1988
John F Moxon, Old North Staffordshire, Keele University, 1972
J Myers, Staffordshire, The Land of Britain, Land Utilisation Survey, 1945
William Page, Victoria County History of Stafford, vol 1, Archibold and Constable co ltd, 1908
Thomas Pape, Medieval Newcastle under Lyme, Manchester University Press, 1928,
DM Palliser, The making of the Staffordshire Landscape, Hodder and Stoughton, 1976
DM Palisser AC Pinnock, The Markets of Medieval Staffordshire, North Staffordshire Journal of Field Studies, University of Keele,11, 1971
DM Palisser, A Thousand Years of Staffordshire: Man and the Landscape, North Staffordsire Journal of Field Studies, University of Keele, 14, 1974
A.D.M Phillips and C.B Phillips, An Historical Atlas of Staffordshire, Manchester University Press, 2011
A.D.M. Phillips and C.B. Phillips Eds, A New Historical Atlas of Cheshire, Cheshire County Council, Chester, 2002
A.D.M. Phillips Ed, The Potteries Continuity and Change in a Staffordshire Conurbation, Alan Sutton,
Anthony Poulton – Smith, Staffordshire Place Names, Countryside Books, Berkshire, 1995
Stafford Castle a brief history, Stafford Borough Council, 1988
Alexander Rumble and A.D.Mills Eds, Names, Places and People, An Onomastic Miscellany in Memory of John McNeal Dodgson, Paul Watkins Stamford, 1997
Mike Salter, The Old Parish Churches of Staffordshire, Folly Publications, no date,
Peter Salway, Roman Britain, The Oxford History of England, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1981,
BB Simms, Recent Investigations of the Hill Fort and Camp at Maer, in North Staffordshire Field Club Transactions, vol 66, 1931-2, 98
C F Slade, Domesday Book for Staffordshire, Victoria County History, vol IV, 1958
Margaret Spufford, Poverty Portrayed, Staffordshire Studies, vol 7, University of Keele, 1995
Peter and Margaret Spufford, Eccleshall the Story of a Staffordshire Market Town and its dependent Villages, Department of Extra Mural Studies, University of Keele, 1977
Victor Skipp, The Center of England, Eyre Methuen, 1990
Robin Studd, Medieval Newcastle under Lyme a hidden Domesday Borough? Staffordshire Studies volIII, University of Keele, 1990/1
Robin Studd, Recorded “Waste” in the Staffordshire Domesday Entry, Staffordshire Studies, .vol 12, The University of Keele, 2000
Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1971
Michael Swaton Ed, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Phoenix Press, 1996
Dorothy Sylvester and Goeffrey Nulty, The Historical Atlas of Cheshire, Cheshire Community Council, 1958, 14
Nigel Tringham, Leek before the Conquest, Essays in the honor of Michael Greenslade, Collections for a History of Staffordshire, 4th Series vol 19, Keele University, 1999
John Ward, History of the Borough of Stoke on Trent 1843, republished by SR Publishers Ltd, Wakefield, 1969
Graham Webster, The Cornovii, Duckworth, 1975
Henry Wedgwood, The Romance of Staffordshire Col Wedgwood,
Colonel Wedgwood, Early Staffordshire History, Collections for a History of Stafffordshire, 1916
Josiah C Wedgwood, History of the Wedgwood Family, St Catherines Press, 1908
P Wheatley, in The Domesday Geography of Midland England, Chapter IV Staffordshire, Cambridge University Press, 1971
William Whites Directory, 2nd Ed, 1851, 397
John K Wild, Maer (A Church Guide), no date
Michael Winterbottom, Gildas The Ruin of Britain and other Works, Phillimore, 1978
Michael Wood, Domesday a Search for the Roots of England, Book Club Associates, Chatham, 1987
Michael Wood, In Search of the Dark Ages, Checkmark Books, New York, 1987
Weston E Vernon Yonge, Bye-Paths of Staffordshire, Benion and co, Market Drayton,
Barbara York
Berth Hill (Hill Fort) Archaeological Survey Report, NMR no SJ 73 NE 7, Royal Commit ion on the Historical Monuments of England
Wedgwood Mosley Collection, Keele University Library, WM1643,
Staffordshire County Record Office, Q/SB Mich 1807
Maps
Ordnance Survey Map, Landranger, No’s 117, 118, 126, 127 and Others
Ordnance Survey Map, Pathfinder, No’s 808, 809, 849, 850 and Others
Ordnance Survey Map, Explorer, No’s 257, 258, 243 and Others
Ordnance Survey Map, The National Grid, Provisional Edition, 6inches to 1 mile
Ordnance Survey Map, First Series, 1 inch to the mile 1836
Ordnance Survey Map, Roman Britain,
Ordnance Survey Map, Britain before the Norman Conquest
Ordnance Survey Map, First Edition, 6in to the Mile
William Yates, A Map of the County of Stafford, 1775, Collections for a History of Staffordshire, 4th Series, vol XII, The Staffordshire Record Society, 1984
Staffordshire 1610 by John Speed
Staffordshire 1838? by J. Archer
Staffordshire 1904 by Bacon
Staffordshire 1872 by J. Bartholomew
Staffordshire 1835 Engraved by Walker after Creighton.
Staffordshire 184 Bacon
Staffordshire 1787 Cary
http://www.old-maps.co.uk/
http://www.yourmapsonline.org.uk/
The Moat? (Kings Bank)
A view of the moat at Kings Bank, despite silting up for over a 1000 years, is still 3 meters deep in places ?
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