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Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

Historical Description

Uttoxeter, a market-town, the head of a poor-law union, petty sessional division and county court district, and a parish, in Staffordshire. The town stands at a forking of railways near the river Dove, 15 miles NE of Stafford, and 141 by railway from London. It has a station on the G.N.R. and North Staffordshire railway, and a head post office. It was known to the Saxons as Uttocceaster, was given at the Norman Conquest to Henry de Ferrers, passed to the Earls and Dukes of Lancaster, was the scene of some military operations in the Civil Wars of Charles I. The antiquary Sir S. Degge, the famous seaman Admiral Lord Gardner, the mathematician Allen, and Mary Howitt were born here. The town stands on elevated ground, is well built, and comprises several good streets, with a central market-place. The town-hall is a fine building, erected in 1854, and includes rooms for petty sessions and county courts, police office, and literary institute with reading-room and library. The cattle market is at the back of the town-hall, and occupies over an acre of ground. The church was rebuilt in the Decorated style in 1828, but retains a fine tower and spire, 180 feet high, of the previous 14th century edifice. It contains two altar-tombs of the 16th century to the Kynners-leys of Loxley. There are Roman Catholic, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels. The chief trade is in the dairy produce of the rich pastures around. There are large agricultural implement works, many of the machines being sent to the Continent and America; a large cheese manufactory, where Stilton cheese is made; brewing and brickmaking are carried on; there is also a large stay factory. Markets are held on Wednesdays, and for cattle on alternate Wednesdays. Cattle fairs are held on 6 May, and 11 and 27 Nov.; cheese fairs on 14 Mar., 5 Sept., and 4 Nov.; horses on 19 Sept. There is an endowed grammar school, founded in 1558, and reconstituted in 1886; it has ten scholarships, giving free tuition at the school, and an exhibition of £50 to the universities. The workhouse was rebuilt in 1840. The cemetery was laid out in 1861, and has two mortuary chapels. There are two banks and several suites of almshouses. Two weekly newspapers are published. Dr Johnson did voluntary penance in the market-place for having in his youth refused to take charge of his father's book-stall during an illness of the latter. A representation of the occurrence copied from the statue at Lichfield is inserted in the conduit. The parish includes also the hamlets of Crakemarsh, Stramshall, Creighton, Loxley, Woodlands, Woodgate, and Little Bramshall. Acreage, 9209; population of the civil parish, 5516; of the ecclesiastical, 5098. There is a parish council consisting of fifteen members. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; gross value, £242 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The vicarage of Stramshall is a separate benefice.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyStaffordshire 
Ecclesiastical parishUttoxeter St. Mary 
HundredTotmonslow 
Poor Law unionUttoxeter 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

Findmypast, in association with the Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent Archive Service have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Uttoxeter


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Uttoxeter from the following:


Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Staffordshire is online.


Maps

Online maps of Uttoxeter are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Staffordshire newspapers online:


Villages, Hamlets, &c

Crakemarsh
Creighton
Little Bramshall
Loxley
Spath
Woodgate
DistrictEast Staffordshire
CountyStaffordshire
RegionWest Midlands
CountryEngland
Postal districtST14
Post TownUttoxeter

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