BARLASTON YESTERDAY

An Old English name probably meaning BEORNWULF'S homestead or village.  A pagan Anglo-Saxon grave of about 600 AD has been discovered cut into the rock east of the Upper House.

Barlaston, first mention by name about the year 1000 in the will of Wulfric Spot, a nobleman with extensive property in the Midlands, founder of Burton Abbey and who was killed in battle against the Danes at Ipswich in 1012.

Barlaston was listed among his estates as "Beorelfestune" and the heron and coronet, which to this day appear on the Barlaston Parish Council Chairman's Chain of Office, the Village Sign and the Parish Council Newsletter, were from the coat of arms of Wulfric Spot.

Barlaston was inherited by Wulfage, possibly Wulfric's son or nephew and some 60 years later was held by a free man named Augustine.  With the Norman Conquest of 1066 it passed to one of William the Conqueror's followers, Robert de Toen, who after acquiring further extensive lands in Staffordshire changed the family name to de Stafford.  This family, of considerable importance during the Middle Ages, retained Barlaston for 50o years until the reign of Elizabeth I.

Listed in the Domesday Book in 1086 as Benulvestone, the first details of the village community appear - eight households, a population of perhaps 35 engaged in cultivation of the land.  The estate was probably the most valuable of Robert de Stafford's possessions in the County.

The estate passed into the hands of a tenant called Helgot whose descendants continued as Lords of Barlaston Manor under the Stafford's for nearly 300 years.

There is no mention of a church in Barlaston in 1086.  By the 1220's a chapel was built by John Fitzphilip who had succeeded his father Philip as Lord of Barlaston.  About 1225 John granted the right of appointing the priest here to Trentham but stipulated Barlaston was to become a parish separate from Trentham and, should hve its own rights of baptism and burial and its priest was to live in Barlaston and celebrate divine service there with a house and land provided.

The map of Barlaston Village, shown below, probably provides a picture of the village as it had existed for some centuries.  The half century form the Domesday Book shows an increase from eight households to 18 and the map can be compared with the village centre today.  A picture of farming, charcoal burning and little change throughout the Middle Ages emerges.

Barlaston Village 1526

Click on the image above to see a larger version

The 16th and 17th centuries saw several changes to this medieval pattern.  The Reformation under Henry VIII ultimately saw the right of appointing the pairsh priest in Barlaston passed into the hands of laymen.

After 500 years in the Stafford family hands the manor changed hands. Charles Cavendish of Welbeck Abbey became the new owner thus ending the centuries old connection of the Staffords with Barlaston.

An important change took place around 1600 when the medieval system of cultivation came to an end.  The open fields were inclosed and individually run farms took their place.  The common meadows survived longer also known as "butty meadows" and relics of such common pasture land survive to this day in the village green (three acres) and Barlaston Common at Rough Close (52 acres).

The 18th century saw Barlaston in many ways as a classic English Village - the squire (John Bagnall) at the Manor House, the church nearby and the villages grouped at the gates of the hall.  At the same time new farms and hamlets were appearing away from the old centre.  The manor house passed by marriage to Thomas Mills who decided to rebuild around 1756.  The present Barlaston Hall is substantially the house built by Thomas Mills and its present owners are faithfully restoring the Hall in a sympathetic, traditional manner.  The large original painting of the Mills Family is still on display today balanced by a similar painting of the present owners.

The earliest record of education in Barlaston comes from the 1680's when a school was kept by the brother of Thomas Matthews, the minister.  Two dame schools are recorded in the 18th century and were probably humble cottage affairs.  In 1793, Thomas Mills established a charity school and placed a school mistress in the cottage on the Green, at a salary of £12 per year.  By the early 1820's there were 28 charity pupils, boys and girls and a few fee paying pupils.  A new building was erected in 1845 and extended in 1861 and reorganised in 1873 as a public elementary schoolunder a qualified master receiving £70 per year.  Another school had been founded at Parkfields, possibly by the Wedgwood family where a party was held in 1840 for 140 elderly people and children followed by a dance to celebrate Queen Victoria's marriage.  This building is now a garden centre.

The canal built between 1766 and 1777, although a feature of the Industrial Revolution both enhanced the rural beauty of Barlaston and brought new industry and development.  Barges were built and even though the boatyard was closed early in the 20th century, the row of workers' cottages and the masters' house still stand on the canalside.  The old Plume of Feathers had been built near the bridge by the 1790's.

In 1848 the railway opened and after a petition a station was established in Barlaston.  One of the first commuters was Francis Wedgwood, master potter of Etruria and grandson of Joshiah I.  The 1851 census shows Francis, his wife, son and three daughters established in a household with a governess, a music mistress, a dressmaker, a cook, a housemaid, a kitchenmaid, a nurserymaid, a footman and a groom.

In 1851 Barlaston was still very much a rural area with 13 substantial farmers, agricultural workers, blacksmiths, joiners, waggoners, brickmakers, slaters, shoemakers, tailors and alehouse keepers.  

In 1961 the population of Barlaston had risen to 2459.  Contributing factors included the purchase by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd of the 380 acre Barlaston Hall Estate in 1937.  A new all electric pottery and model village for employees was established and opened in 1940 with railway sidings and a new station, Wedgwood Halt.  Delayed by World War 2 the move from Etruria was completed in 1950.  The coming of Wedgwood did not mar the rural aspect of Barlaston, largely because of the firm deliberately preserved the parkland setting of the works.  To this date the approach down to Wedgwood's from all directions and in particular the route passed Barlaston Hall are simply beautiful.

The real change to Barlaston is its growth as a residential area particularly since the War.  Added to Wedgwood's Barlaston Park were housing developments, particularly in the bottom of the village in Old Road, Brookhouse Drive and Meadow Road and from Meaford Road, Park Drive, Diamond Ridge and Tittensor Road.  Shops, telephone exchange, general public services of water, gas and electricity and bus services, a new vicarage, a new church, a new methodist chapel and a new Plume of Feathers all supported this population growth.

Barlaston is the gateway to the Downs Banks.  Owned by the National Trust it offers approximately 160 acres of bracken covered moorland forming an idyllic backdrop to Barlaston Village and its hills, streams and woods provide a popular haven for walkers, horse riders, picnicers and wildlife.

Sources of information: Barlaston a History by M. W. Greenslade; Memories of my Life 1920 - 46 Barlaston School and Village by Ernie J. Hawkins; A History of Barlaston School 1680 -1962 by George Donkin and Eve Rowley

For information on places of interest in the village click here