Where to Stay in Stafford, England

What is Stafford known for?

The Ancient High House, the Church of St Mary and St Chad's Church give the centre its older frontage, and the Staffordshire History Centre keeps the written record of the county in the same few streets. It is Staffordshire's county town, and a market town before that. The Staffordshire Yeomanry Museum and the Sandonia Theatre fill out the indoor hours.

What are the main landmarks in Stafford?

Stafford Castle is the one to walk out to. The Ancient High House holds the centre, and the churches take the rest of the list: the Church of St Mary, St Chad's Church, the Church of Holy Trinity and the Church of St Paul, with the Church Lane Evangelical Church among the later congregations. Two collections sit in town.

The Staffordshire Yeomanry Museum keeps the county regiment's record and the Staffordshire History Centre the written one, while the Sandonia Theatre, Green Hall, Rowley Hall and the Moat House fill out what else is named here.

What is the history of Stafford?

The town dates from about 700. Stafford grew as the seat of its shire, and the castle raised above it, recorded together with the medieval settlement that stood alongside, fixed a pattern the county town has kept ever since. Churches followed the shire.

The Church of St Mary, St Chad's Church and the Church of Holy Trinity carry the oldest fabric inside the centre, while the Hyde Lea moated site and fishpond survives from the medieval countryside beyond it. Timber and brick record what came next. The Ancient High House, The Colonnade Tudor House, St Bernard's House and Doxey House stand for the long stretch between the castle and the county offices, and Green Hall, Rowley Hall and the Moat House belong to the same layer of building.

Memorials gather round the churchyards. The Salt Monument stands north of the transept of the Church of Holy Trinity, the Boulton Monument close by the Church of St Mary, and a group of three ward memorials keeps the Holy Trinity ground company, with the County War Memorial and its shelter marking the county's losses. Stafford's own archive stayed at home.

The Staffordshire History Centre holds the written record, the Staffordshire Yeomanry Museum the regimental one, and the Church of St Paul and the Church Lane Evangelical Church show how the parish map went on changing.

Where is Stafford?

Stoke-on-Trent lies about 15 miles north. Wolverhampton sits the same distance the other way and Birmingham roughly 24 miles off to the south-east, so Stafford holds a middle position in Staffordshire rather than belonging to any of them. The ground here is low and inland.

Stafford Castle stands on the rise that overlooks the town, and the Borough of Stafford spreads past it to take in Hyde Lea, Doxey and the farmland between.

What is the climate of Stafford?

No coast reaches Staffordshire here. Well inland, Stafford takes the mild and damp weather of temperate England without any sea to steady it, so clear winter nights on the low ground round the town turn sharper than they do nearer the water. Rain arrives in every season.

Stafford Castle is exposed on its rise, and the Ancient High House, the Staffordshire History Centre and the Sandonia Theatre are the answers when it sets in.

How do you get to Stafford?

Birmingham is the usual approach. The 24 miles up from that city carry most arrivals, with Wolverhampton nearer at about 15 miles and Stoke-on-Trent the same distance again on the far side of Stafford. Nothing about it is far.

Hyde Lea, Doxey and the rest of the Borough of Stafford are short runs out from the centre, and Stafford Castle is reached the same way.