PROBATE VALUATIONS IN STAFFORDSHIRE
The History of Staffordshire
The history of Staffordshire begins upon the fortification of Stafford under Æthelflæd, Queen of Mercia. At this time, in 913, the newly constructed burh in Staffordshire was an incredibly strategic stronghold for Mercia. It’s thought that Staffordshire emerged as a county around a decade after this time. Human occupation of areas of Staffordshire have been linked to the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 7th to 8th century, upon the discovery of Anglo-Saxon gold.
The historic landscape of Staffordshire saw the county divided into five hundreds, an administrative division. These hundreds were Seisdon, Totmonslow, Pirehill, Cuttleston, and Offlow. The southern and western based hundreds in Staffordshire where more stable than those in the north and east.
The hundreds based in the south-west were the standard size, but the other hundreds were considerably larger than the norm – although from their presence in the 1086 Domesday Book to modern times, the boundaries are largely the same. Forest and moorland would have covered a large proportion of the hundreds, more so than today.
Between the years of 1553 and 1888, Lichfield was separated from Staffordshire and given its own administrative government. It was a year after the end of Lichfield being classed as a county corporate, that the administrative county of Staffordshire was established, which covered much of the county, with the exception of Hanley, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and West Bromwich.
In the years following, numerous changes were made to the county boroughs, changing the landscape of Staffordshire further; this includes the formation of Stoke-on-Trent, which was formed from six towns in 1910. In 1974, Smethwick, Wolverhampton, West Bromwich, and Walsall, became part of the West Midlands.
Today, Staffordshire consists of eight county council districts: Stafford, Lichfield, Cannock Chase, Staffordshire Moorlands, South Staffordshire, Tamworth, East Staffordshire, and Newcastle-under-Lyme; as well as one unitary district, the City of Stoke-on-Trent.