Stafford’s history can be traced back to an Anglo Saxon settlement, when it became the county town of Staffordshire. The Normans built a castle in the town and a priory was founded nearby. The two mediaeval churches in the centre of the town also survive from this period. Stafford was fought over during the Civil War and was eventually captured by Parliamentary forces. In later centuries Stafford’s wealth grew from industries such as shoemaking and later engineering, and the arrival of the canal network through the River Sow Navigation and the railway in the nineteenth century. Stafford’s history also features its military connections, the story of crime and its punishment in the town and recreation, not least the foundation of the Stafford Rangers Football Club in 1876 and the opening of Victoria Park in 1908.

Illustrated throughout, this accessible historical portrait of the transformation that Stafford has undergone through the ages will be of great interest to residents, visitors and all those with links to the area.

Helen Harwood was born in Stoke-on-Trent and grew up in nearby Wolstanton, where her lifetime love of history developed. Her family have had a long association with the Staffordshire coal industry over several generations, working at a number of collieries.