Stowe in 1817

Description from A Topographical History of Staffordshire by William Pitt (1817)

STOWE

Stowe is a large parish of Pirehill South, to the north of Colwich. It includes Chartley Castle, and the villages of Hixon and Haywood. 

Chartley was, at the time of the General Survey, in the hands of the Conqueror, whose successor, William Rufus, gave it to Hugh, Earl of Chester. In this family it continued several successions, and Ranulph, Earl of Chester, built the Castle in the time of Henry III. but dying without heirs, his estate descended to his four sisters, of whom Agnes had this manor, and being then married to William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, brought it into his family. It is now the property of Earl Ferrers, and is one of the most romantic relics of antiquity in Staffordshire, being an ancient ruin similar to that of Dudley Castle. The site is on the side of a lofty eminence, and the remains of the castle consist of two round towers, partly covered with ivy, rising amid the foliage of nearly one hundred full-grown yew trees, of the age of many centuries. This ancient fortress is surrounded by a deep moat, and doubtless was considered as a place of great strength before the invention of gunpowder. It has long been uninhabited ; and Earl Ferrers, in his annual visits to Stowe, Gayton, and Weston, generally lodges at the house of one of his opulent tenants. 

At present, the ruins of Chartley Castle remind the reflecting observer of the description of the Hall of Ossian. The ancient mansion of Chartley was some years ago consumed by fire. It was surrounded by a moat on low ground, about a furlong west of the castle. 

Chartley Park consists of one thousand acres of excellent land, in a state of nature, enclosed within an ancient oak paling, with here and there an old tree, and a few modern clumps of plantations. This tract, which has never been cultivated, abounds with fern and furze. The stock is wild cattle, and deer of two species: the wild cattle are mostly white, with the nose and ears tipped with black. 

HIXON, in this parish, is a large ancient village, situated on an eminence. The houses are thatched. The post of a pillory remains, which proves the antiquity of this mode of punishment. 

The Ferrers family are said to possess 10,000 acres of land, lying nearly together in the parishes and townships of Chartley, Stowe, Gayton, Weston, Colwich, Hixon, Haywood, and Fradswell. 

The parish of Stowe contains 125 houses, 156 families; 440 males, 413 females : total of inhabitants, 853.