The Castle of Adventure

I'd love to report that Stafford Castle is a majestic ruin, but alas, it is a more homely sort of ruin, if indeed a ruined castle can be described in such a manner.

It was rather more majestic in stature right up to the 1970s, but when some idiot teenager fell from the battlements, the local council invited the army in to blow it up! Can you believe that? My theory is that this child was destined to fall from something, as dare-devil kids always will, and are you going to blow up every tall building in town?

The army, being in the blowing up business, were no doubt glad to oblige. As a result, no stately battlements remain to remind us of the castle's glorious past.

It occupies a wonderful position high above the town of Stafford, and on a clear day you can probably see some Welsh cattle grazing on a distant hillside.

There are two routes to the castle: straight up the front path, as it were, or the long way round reading the signboards as you go and picturing the mighty fortification in its hey-day.

The first castle on the site was built by Robert de Tosny, a high ranking Norman and a buddy of William the Conqueror, on land pilfered from the defeated Saxons.

These early timber structures fell into disrepair over the following 200 or so years and were in a ruinous condition when Ralph Stafford inherited the estate 1323. The stone castle was built by Ralph in 1348. He was one of the founding members of the Order of the Garter, and became the first Earl of Stafford in 1351.

It was constructed much like a classic sand-castle with towers on each corner and a rectangular bit in the middle. At a later stage someone thought it need just one more tower and so a fifth was added.

It stood looking down from its high mound over the surrounding countryside for the best part of 300 years until the time of the Civil War. At that stage it was described by a diarist of the time as being “somewhat ruined”. But a feisty old bird by the name of Lady Isabel Stafford, a supporter of the Royalists, was still in residence, and put up a good fight after the town of Stafford had fallen to the Parliamentarians. All to no avail of course and the local Parliamentary Committee ordered that “Stafford Castle be forthwith demolished”.

Fifty or so years later, in the 1780s, the owner of the time had what was left of the old castle cleared away. As is the way of things, his son decided in 1813 to rebuild it. It was constructed this time in the Gothic manner on the old medieval foundations.

Time moves on and by the middle of the 20th century it was crumbling once more. Lord Stafford had a bright idea to put an end to his worries about this pile of rubble, and donated it to the Borough.

We have seen a little earlier in this epistle how much the Borough appreciated the gift. But in the 1980s someone with a bit of foresight determined that it could be a valuable tourist attraction, the army's efforts in the 1970s having left quite a substantial amount still upright.

And so it is that the 'Friends of Stafford Castle' are dedicated to its preservation and to adding their little piece to the jigsaw puzzle that is the history of Britain.