"UTTOXETER, a parish, post and market town in the S. division of Totmonslow hundred, county Stafford, 14 miles N.E. of Stafford, its post town, and 10½ S. of Ashbourn. It is a station on the North Staffordshire railway. It is situated on the river Dove and the Caldon branch of the Trent and Mersey canal. The parish contains the townships of Crakemarsh, Stramshall and Creighton, Loxley, and Woodlands, also the hamlets of Woodgate, Little Bramshall, and Spath. Uttoxeter is a place of great antiquity, and was originally called Uttokeshather by the Saxons, and afterwards Uttocceaster and Utcester.
It is a polling place for the county elections, and a petty sessions town. The manor was given by the Conqueror to Henry de Ferrers, and heretofore formed part of the Duchy of Lancaster, having been given by Henry III. to his second son, Edmund, from whom it came to John of Gaunt, and reverted to the crown in the person of Henry IV. By Charles I. it was granted to Viscount Mandeville, afterwards Earl of Manchester, and it is now vested in twelve shares in Earl Talbot and other proprietors. During the civil war it was occupied alternately as the head-quarters of the royalist and parliamentary forces.
The town stands upon an eminence, rising from the western bank of the river Dove, across which is an ancient bridge of six arches, connecting the counties of Stafford and Derby. It consists of several good streets, diverging from the market place, and is well lighted with gas. There are two banks, savings-bank, &c. The town-hall, which stands in High-street, was erected in 1855 at an outlay of about £4,000; the county court, petty sessions, and other public business is carried on within this building. The population of the parish in 1861 was 4,847, and of the town 3,645. There are two large breweries, a large cork-cutting establishment, cheese, skin, wash-leather, and glue factories.
The first charter was granted in the 36th of Henry III. by William de Ferrars, Earl of Derby, which conferred on the burgesses all the privileges of a free borough, and in 1308 it obtained the grant of a charter for a weekly market and annual fair. Previous to 1636 it was subject to the honour of Tutbury, though a manor with power to hold a court baron. Petty sessions for the southern division of the hundred of Totmonslow are held here once a fortnight. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield, value £136, in the patronage of the Dean and Canons of Windsor.
The church, dedicated to St. Mary, has some stained windows, and was re-erected in 1828, with the exception of the ancient spired tower, at an outlay of about £6,000. The chantries of St. Mary and the Holy Trinity were endowed with houses and lands in the neighbourhood. There is also a district church at Stramshall, the living of which is a perpetual curacy, value £127. The parochial charities produce about £332 per annum, besides some almshouses. There is a free grammar school founded by the Rev. Thomas Alleyne in the 16th century, also National and infant schools. The Independents, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, Roman Catholics, and Society of Friends have each a chapel.
The Poor-law Union comprises 16 parishes or places, 12 in Staffordshire, and 4 in Derbyshire. The land near the town and in the vicinity of the Dove is fertile, being chiefly rich pasturage, and the numerous rivers and brooks abound in trout, grayling, and other kinds of fish. Sir Simeon Degge, the antiquary, Admiral Lord Gardner, and Thomas Alleyne, the mathematician, were natives of this town. The market-place is celebrated as the place where Dr. Johnson stood bare-headed for a whole day, as a kind of penance for disobedience to his father. Market day is on Wednesday. Fairs are held on 6th May, 19th September, 11th and 27th November, and 1st September, chiefly for cattle; and on the Thursday after the second Tuesday in March, the first Thursday in September, and the second Thursday in November for cheese.
[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]
