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Eccleshall
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Eccleshall
Eccleshall (/ɛkəlʃəl/) is a town and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is located seven miles northwest of Stafford, and six miles west-southwest of Stone. Eccleshall is twinned with Sancerre in France.
The name Eccleshall derives from a combination of the Primitive Welsh word eglẹ̄s meaning 'church' and the Old English halh meaning 'nook of land'.
According to the Domesday Book, Eccleshall in 1086 was no more than a small village of about one hundred inhabitants. A few fragments of stone at the base of the tower of the present Parish Church of Holy Trinity suggest that a stone church was in existence about this time and the base of a 10th-century cross still stands outside the church. The oldest part of the church, the pillars and arches of the nave, were begun in 1180 while the remainder of the church was completed during the 13th century, with a fine clerestory being added in the 15th century.
Eccleshall became important as a market town for the surrounding area. In 1153 it was granted the right to hold a weekly market. Around the beginning of the 13th century the village had become a town with the granting of ‘Borough’ status and by 1259 had obtained a charter to hold an annual fair at Ascensiontide. By the time of the survey of the bishop’s estates in 1298 about five hundred people lived in the village, mainly craftsmen or engaged in agriculture.
To the Bishop of Lichfield, Eccleshall was conveniently situated on the main road between the centres of the diocese in Chester, Lichfield and Coventry. Land was reputedly granted to St Chad and in 1200 Bishop Geoffrey de Muschamp was granted by King John a ‘licence to crenellate’ a castle. From then on until the 1860s the site would provide a residence for the Bishops of Lichfield.
However the ruins which exist today are those a later castle built in 1305 by Bishop William Langton, a friend of King Edward I and later Chancellor of England. This was the great era of castle building and he built an imposing fortress with four corner towers and a wide moat. Eccleshall castle briefly played a part in the War of the Roses, when it was used as a base for the Lancastrian Queen Margaret of Anjou and her troops before and after her defeat at the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459.
Bishop William Overton (1580–1609) was probably responsible, in 1580, for bringing two glass making families from Lorraine, Tyzack and Henzey to Bishop's Wood near Eccleshall to set up glass production. Manufacturing ceased around 1615, however, the site of one glass furnace has been excavated in recent times and is preserved and can be seen in Bishop's Wood.
In June 1643 the castle was besieged by Sir William Brereton and his Parliamentary forces encamped around the church. Their guns caused considerable damage to the walls but the castle held out. When the Parliamentary forces finally took the castle on 30 August they found that the bishop (Robert Wright) had died of a heart attack during the siege and most of the defenders were either drunk or had gone into town drinking in the taverns. The castle was sacked but enough of the building remained to be used as a prison for Royalist gentry.
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Eccleshall AI simulator
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Eccleshall
Eccleshall (/ɛkəlʃəl/) is a town and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is located seven miles northwest of Stafford, and six miles west-southwest of Stone. Eccleshall is twinned with Sancerre in France.
The name Eccleshall derives from a combination of the Primitive Welsh word eglẹ̄s meaning 'church' and the Old English halh meaning 'nook of land'.
According to the Domesday Book, Eccleshall in 1086 was no more than a small village of about one hundred inhabitants. A few fragments of stone at the base of the tower of the present Parish Church of Holy Trinity suggest that a stone church was in existence about this time and the base of a 10th-century cross still stands outside the church. The oldest part of the church, the pillars and arches of the nave, were begun in 1180 while the remainder of the church was completed during the 13th century, with a fine clerestory being added in the 15th century.
Eccleshall became important as a market town for the surrounding area. In 1153 it was granted the right to hold a weekly market. Around the beginning of the 13th century the village had become a town with the granting of ‘Borough’ status and by 1259 had obtained a charter to hold an annual fair at Ascensiontide. By the time of the survey of the bishop’s estates in 1298 about five hundred people lived in the village, mainly craftsmen or engaged in agriculture.
To the Bishop of Lichfield, Eccleshall was conveniently situated on the main road between the centres of the diocese in Chester, Lichfield and Coventry. Land was reputedly granted to St Chad and in 1200 Bishop Geoffrey de Muschamp was granted by King John a ‘licence to crenellate’ a castle. From then on until the 1860s the site would provide a residence for the Bishops of Lichfield.
However the ruins which exist today are those a later castle built in 1305 by Bishop William Langton, a friend of King Edward I and later Chancellor of England. This was the great era of castle building and he built an imposing fortress with four corner towers and a wide moat. Eccleshall castle briefly played a part in the War of the Roses, when it was used as a base for the Lancastrian Queen Margaret of Anjou and her troops before and after her defeat at the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459.
Bishop William Overton (1580–1609) was probably responsible, in 1580, for bringing two glass making families from Lorraine, Tyzack and Henzey to Bishop's Wood near Eccleshall to set up glass production. Manufacturing ceased around 1615, however, the site of one glass furnace has been excavated in recent times and is preserved and can be seen in Bishop's Wood.
In June 1643 the castle was besieged by Sir William Brereton and his Parliamentary forces encamped around the church. Their guns caused considerable damage to the walls but the castle held out. When the Parliamentary forces finally took the castle on 30 August they found that the bishop (Robert Wright) had died of a heart attack during the siege and most of the defenders were either drunk or had gone into town drinking in the taverns. The castle was sacked but enough of the building remained to be used as a prison for Royalist gentry.
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