Chartley Castle
Viewed from Beside the A518 Road
The Certelie mentioned in the Domesday Book changes to Certelea in a document of 1192 and to Cerdel in 1199. The place-name suffix is certainly derived from the common OE word -leah referring to a 'woodland clearing', while the prefix may possibly be derived from OE cert meaning 'rough ground'; the compound place-name cert-leah meaning 'The Woodland Clearing on Rough Ground'. (Poulton-Smith, p.32)
There is evidence to indicate Stone-Age activity in the neighbourhood only in the form of worked-stone tools; a Mesolithic mace-head found at Chartley (SK0028) in antiquity, a Mesolithic quartzite mace-head found c.1918-19 in Chartley Park (SK0130) and a 'Prehistoric' stone axe found at Chartley (SK0028) which is now possibly held in Stoke on Trent Museum. (AHDS)
Following field investigation in 1958 the alleged Bronze-Age round barrow on Gage Hill (SK 0068 2806) has been reclassified as a 'natural mound'. This means that the only evidence of Bronze-Age activity at Chartley comes as scattered finds: a looped palstave found in the bank of a stream to the north of Chartley Hall (SK 0063 2911) in the 19th century, and two polished 'axe hammerheads' found at Chartley Manor in 1854 (SK0028). The former item was originally given to the William Salt Library in Stafford but has resided at the Stafford Borough Museum since 1962 (accession number: 620a/31), whereas the latter two items may be found as part of the Ferrers Collection at Hanley Museum in Stoke-on-Trent (Accession numbers: 42.50 & 42.50b). (AHDS)
There is no evidence of any Iron-Age activity in or around Chartley and the report of a 'Roman Camp and pottery' supposedly found in Chartley Park (SK0129) is refuted, with nothing visible on the ground and nothing recorded on aerial photographs of the area. There is no surviving archaeology from the Saxon period at Chartley either, the next evidence being that recorded in the Domesday Book (see below). (AHDS)
"[In Pirehill Hundred] The King holds CERTELIE (Chartley) Earl Algar held it. 1 hide. Land for ... ploughs. In lordship 2; 9 villagers and 6 smallholders with 8½ ploughs. Meadow, 10 acres; woodland 1 league long and ½ wide. Value before 1066, 100s; now 10s more." (The Domesday Book, 1086, 1.14)
The Saxon Earl Algar or Ælfgar had many estates confiscated and redistrubuted by William of Normandy, for more information on Lord Ælfgar see the section on the Rugeley page. The rest of the entry starts by giving information on the size of the settlement but the Domesday document is, unfortunately, damaged in this portion so we know only the tax assessment for the village of one hida or 'hide'; the same value as that of Penkridge and Cannock, for example, but five times the assessment of Rugeley. We do not know how much land was cleared for agriculture at Chartley, but we are told that the Lord of the Manor has two carucates or 'ploughs' worth of land, worked by his own retainers, and a further eight-and-a-half 'ploughs' were worked by nine land-owning villagers or 'villeins', who each worked their own plot of land, and six tenant smallholders who rented land from the Lord of the Manor. The use of the word 'plough' in Domesday is much debated, but has two main meanings; 1.) referring to a plough-team of eight oxen, and 2.) referring to the amount of land which could be managed by one plough-team, this latter usage gives a true measure of area for which there is no commonly accepted modern equivalent. The meadowland attached to the village was 10 acres, or about 4 hectares, while the woodland amounted to just over one square mile, given that a Domesday 'league' amounted to about 1½ miles.
Chartley Castle Viewed from Beside the A518 Road |
A castle was built here (SK010285) in the 1090's for the Earl of Chester who installed the Ferrers family as custodians, but only the earthworks from this period have survived, the first castle itself being built of timber. Repairs to the original defences were undertaken in 1191-2 after which the castle was garrisoned for a time by the Crown. The castle-keep was rebuilt in stone by the Earl of Chester, Ranulf de Blundeville during the early-1220's and at the same time a stone curtain-wall with corner towers was built to enclose the original bailey. These works had almost been completed when, in 1223 the Earl was outlawed by Henry III and ordered to surrender all of his castles and associated landholdings. Earl Ranulf refused to comply with the young King and his family remained in control of Chartley until his death in 1232, whereafter the estate fell into the hands of William de Ferrers through his marriage to the Earl's daughter Agnes. The Chartley estates passed again into Royal hands after the Battle of Chesterfield in 1266 when Robert de Ferrers was defeated by King Henry III and given to his younger son Edmund. Robert seized back Chartley during a daring night-time attack and held onto it for quite a while before a large force was sent to dispossess him. The estates were later returned to Robert by Edmund's older brother, Edward I, in 1274. The castle continued to be occupied by the Ferrers until the death of the Sixth Baron Ferrers, William, in 1450, after which it passed to his daughter Anne and her husband Sir Walter Devereux. Devereux was summoned to Edward IV's first parliament in 1461 as Baron Ferrers de Chartley and was killed alongside King Richard III on the battlefield at Bosworth in 1485. Following Devereux's death the castle at Chartley was allowed to fall into disrepair, with no major construction being undertaken on the site since the 1270's; by the time the noted antiquarian visited Chartley around 1540 he recorded the site as a ruin. (Salter, CMMS, pp.18-21)
Following the death of the Seventh Baron at Bosworth the Ferrers family continued to live at Chartley in a moated hall (SK007285) built in the 15th century just to the west of the Norman motte and bailey upon a platform measuring 48 by 29 metres set within a moated defensive structure some 90 metres square. The great grandson of Walter Devereux became the Earl of Essex in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, who was entertained for a time at Chartley in 1575. Mary 'Queen of Scots' was emprisoned at Chartley Hall from December 1585 until September 1586 and it was here that she formulated the plot against her cousin Queen Elizabeth which was to lead to her being removed from Chartley to Fotheringay Castle in Northamptonshire where she was executed for treason on 8th February 1587, aged 44.
The Second Earl Essex later became a favourite of Elizabeth but was himself executed for plotting against the Crown in 1601 and the estates at Chartley, once again, fell into the hands of the Crown. Chartley passed back into the Ferrers family when Robert, son of the Second Earl Essex, was reinstated by King James I after the death of Elizabeth. Robert de Ferrers died childless in 1646 whereupon Chartley passed to his sister's grandson Sir Robert Shirley, who became Baron Ferrers of Chartley in 1677 and was made Earl Ferrers in 1711. The original moated mansion was burnt to the ground in 1781. (Salter, CMMS, pp.18-21)
The site of the Elizabethan moated mansion remains just to the north of the surviving Chartley Hall, which was originally built in 1787 and was itself burnt to the ground in 1847, to be replaced by the house now extant. Chartley remained in possession of the Shirley family until the early-20th century. (AHDS; Salter, CMMS, pp.18-21)
A survey of the Castle Pool (SK 0109 2863) undertaken in 1975 recorded the dry remains of two Medieval or post-Medieval fishponds, partly covered by a copse of trees but still discernable, constructed by erecting large 'pond bays' across the valley of the Amerton Brook. Field investigations of the earthwork remains of the Medieval moat (SK 0072 2859) at Chartley Hall in 1975 found the moat to be in good condition and filled with water, the eastern arm of the moat had been widened and converted into an ornamental pool containing two small artificial islands. The 1975 fieldwork also looked at the alleged site of Chartley DMV (SK 0080 2876), the existence of which was recorded in a document of 1334, but the earthworks investigated were identified as old gravel workings. The field investigations of 1975 also viewed the remains of a Medieval moat at Daffodil Wood (SK 0081 2888), which was found to have been drained but was otherwise in good condition; retaining banks were recorded outside the northern and southern arms of the moat. It is possible that the site was at some time used to house the menagerie of Chartley Castle. A watching brief and topographical survey of Chartley Castle itself was carried out by Northamptonshire Archaeology in 1998 and a summary report appeared in West Midlands Archaeology (Vol.41, 1998, pp.72-73) outlining the repair and consolidation works conducted on the Grade II Listed Building. (AHDS)
Another remnant of this era survives in Chartley Park (SK 013298), a Medieval deer park which covered an area of 900 acres and was documented in the 13th century. Archaeological fieldwork in 1975 uncovered part of the original 'Park Pale' earthworks which survive as a slight bank and ditch much eroded by time, the bank measures about twelve feet wide and nowhere rises more than two feet high (c.3.5 x 0.5 metres) while the ditch varies in width between thirteen and sixteen feet and is about two feet deep (c.4 to 5 x 0.6 metres). Another survival from this period is the 13th century churchyard cross at Stowe-by-Chartley (SK 0033 2734), which has now been restored, also the site of the Medieval or post-Medieval stocks (SK 0029 2731) at Stowe. Also of interest is the 14th century farmhouse at Lower Booth (SK0027), which underwent alterations and rebuilding during the 16th, the early/mid-17th and the 18th centuries. (AHDS)
Monitoring of groundworks at the scheduled Medieval moated site of Chartley Hall conducted by Stafford Borough Council Archaeology Section in 2000 recorded a back-filled ditch probably dating to the early part of the post-Medieval period, which contained a fragment of a sandstone chimney pot and post-Medieval pottery; the findings were recorded in the Journal of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology (Vol.35, 2001, p.179). (AHDS)
The fieldwork undertaken in the Chartley area during 1975 included investigation of the Watermill at Mill Cottage (SK 0035 2821) which was recorded as being in ruins in 1886 and appears on Ordnance Survey maps of 1925. The mill cottage still survives and the earthworks of the mill bay, 125 metres long and 12 metres wide survive up to a height of 1.3 metres in places but has been breached by the waters of the Amerton Brook. (AHDS)
A short distance to the south of Chartley Castle and Chartley Hall the cuttings and embankments of the Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway lie disused. The railway serving Chartley and Stowe Station opened to both passenger and freight traffic in 1867 but was closed to passengers in 1939 and the goods station ceased operations entirely in 1951. (AHDS)
"33. Chartley White Cattle. Bos taurus, Linn. No account of the mammals of Staffordshire could be considered complete without reference to the famous herd of white cattle so long preserved in a half-wild condition at Chartley Park by the Earls Ferrers. These magnificent animals are white, with the ears, hoofs, and generally the muzzle, black. Black spots and blotches are usually seen on the lower part of the fore-legs and sometimes on the hind-legs also. The horns are white finely tipped with black, are long and sweeping, not short and sharply curved upwards as in the Chillingham and Cadzow herds, and remind one of the fine Old English long-horn cattle and the Highland breed in the bold way in which they stand out from the sides of the head. A remarkable feature is a large tuft of long curly hair which adorns the forehead and reaches as low as the inner corners of the eyes, and especially in old bulls possesses a parting down the centre which gives to the tuft the appearance of a carefully arranged and very beautiful wig. In the cows the horns are thinner than in the bulls and with a more decided upward trend.
"As a rule the disposition of these Chartley cattle is mild and timorous, and when approached by strangers the herd slowly retreats. At certain seasons the animals become dangerous, and it is at all times unsafe to approach too closely to the cows when accompanied by their calves, the first signs of a projected attack being stamping with the fore-feet and an angry tossing of the head. When alarmed the members of the herd collect together and at first retreat a short distance. They then suddenly turn and face the object of their resentment, the herd standing in the form of a semicircle. On being further pressed they again retreat and again turn towards their adversary, and if still molested do not hesitate to charge. Few spectators, however rash and curious, will be found to await the latter consummation, and prudently retire to the shelter of some pineclump or group of birch trees after one or two demonstrations of hostility on the part of the herd. Even young calves but a few days old when met with away from their dams butt with great spirit and fierceness.
"Black calves are occasionally born and are invariably destroyed by the keepers, but black and white calves seem to be unknown. The birth of a black calf was anciently considered to foretell disaster to some member of the Ferrers family.
"Originally driven into Chartley Park from Needwood Forest by William, Earl of Derby, in the reign of Henry III., these cattle have been carefully preserved pure by his descendants, the Earls Ferrers, and although inbred for over 650 years they still survive. At times however they have been very near extinction, for about twenty years ago they were reduced to 17 head. By 1887 the herd had doubled in numbers, and from 1890 to 1900 averaged about 45 head. Within the last few years the numbers have steadily declined, and in April, 1903, they were reduced to less than a dozen." (VCHS, Vol.1, p.167)