Uttoxeter in 1859

UTTOXETER (ST. MARY), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the S. division of the hundred of TOTMONSLOW, N. division of the county of STAFFORD, 13 miles (N.E. by E.) from Stafford, and 135 (N.W. by N.) from London; containing 4735 inhabitants. This place, anciently Uttokeshather, is of great antiquity, and is supposed to have derived its name from the Saxon words Uttoc, a mattock, and Hather, heath; it was afterwards called Utoc Cestre and Utcester. One of its late commons, called the High Wood (a moiety of which was seized by the crown within the last two centuries), anciently constituted, with other lands, one of the wards of the late Forest of Needwood.

The manor heretofore formed part of the possessions of the duchy of Lancaster, and once belonged to the Peverills of the Peak, lords of Nottingham. Having come, by marriage, into the hands of William de Ferrars, Earl of Derby, it was forfeited to the crown, together with the other large estates of that family, by Earl Robert, in the reign of Henry III., and given to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, the king's second son; and in 1308, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund, obtained for it the grant of a market, and a fair on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Mary Magdalene.

The manor reverted to the crown, as parcel of the duchy of Lancaster, in the person of Henry IV., son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who obtained it by marriage with Blanche, daughter and coheiress of Henry, Earl of Lancaster, nephew of Earl Thomas. Charles I., in the first year of his reign, granted it and the demesne to Robert Dixon and William Walley, as trustees for Henry, Viscount Mandeville, afterwards Earl of Manchester; and it is now vested, in twelve shares, in Earl Talbot and other proprietors: the market and fairs were sold at the same time, and are now the property of the earl. During the civil war of the seventeenth century, from its proximity to Tutbury Castle, it was alternately the head-quarters of the royalist and the parliamentary forces. 

The TOWN stands upon an eminence rising from the western bank of the river Dove, across which is an ancient stone bridge of six arches, connecting the counties of Stafford and Derby; it consists of several spacious streets, and a good central market-place, and the houses in general are well built, and several of them handsome. It has long been noted for the manufacture of clock cases and movements; there are also several maltsters, tanners fellmongers, nail-makers, bendware-manufacturers, wool-staplers, rope and twine spinners, timber-merchants, &c., and a large brewery. The local trade in cheese, corn, and other articles, is benefitted by the communication with the Potteries, by means of the Caldon branch of the Trent and Mersey canal, which comes up to a wharf at the northern end of the High-street.

The land in the vicinity of the Dove is very fertile in pasturage; and the neighbouring rivers and brooks afford trout, grayling, and other kinds of fish. Near the town is found a pure red brick-clay, from one to five yards below the surface, in irregular masses. The market, which is well attended, is held on Wednesday; on every alternate Wednesday is a large market for cattle, merchandise, &c.; and fairs for cattle take place on the Tuesday before Old Candlemas, May 6th, July 31st, September 1st and 19th, and November 11th and 27th, of which those on May 6th and September 19th are the principal.

The first charter of the town was granted in the 36th of Henry III., by William de Ferrars, Earl of Derby, and conferred on the burgesses all the privileges of a free borough. Uttoxeter, though a manor, with power to hold a court baron, was subject to the jurisdiction of the officers of the courts held for the honour of Tutbury; but, in 1636, an order of the court of the duchy chamber was made, discharging the inhabitants from further attendance at the courts for the honour. Petty-sessions for the southern division of the hundred ofTotmonslow occur here, once a fortnight, under the county magistrates, who choose surveyors of the highways, and also constables, headboroughs, &c., in cases where the lords of the different courts leet in the neighbourhood neglect to make the necessary appointments. The parish comprises 8083a.1r.7p., of which 6008 acres are pasture and meadow, 1846 arable, 121 woodland, and 146 waste, &c.

The LIVING is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £27.1.8.; net income, £136; patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor, who hold courts for the rectorial manor. The church has been rebuilt, with the exception of the ancient tower and beautiful and lofty spire, and has received an additional number of sittings; the spire was damaged by lightning in 1814, and has been partly rebuilt. The chantries of St. Mary and the Holy Trinity founded in the church, were endowed with houses and lands in the neighbourhood. There are places of worship for Independents, the Society of Friends, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics.

A free grammar school, situated in Bridge-street, was established by the Rev. Thomas Allen, a celebrated mathematician in the sixteenth century; and there are almshouses for twelve persons, with small endowments, and a fund of about £60 per annum, for apprenticing children. The poor law union of Uttoxeter comprises 16 parishes or places, 12 of which are in the county of Stafford, and 4 in that of Derby, the whole containing a population of 14,407. Thomas Allen, the mathematician; Sir Simon Degge, the antiquary; and the distinguished Admiral Gardner, were natives of the place. 

An 1859 Gazetteer description of the following places in Uttoxeter is to be found on a supplementary page.

• Loxley
• Stramshall

 

[Description(s) from The Topographical Dictionary of England (1859) by Samuel Lewis - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]