Author: Erdeswick, Sampson.
Title: A SURVEY OF STAFFORDSHIRE: Containing the Antiquities of that County. Collated with Manuscript Copies, and With Additions and Corrections, by Wyrley, Chetwynd, Degge, Smyth, Lyttelton, Buckeridge, and Others; Illustrative of the History and Antiquities of that County. By the Reverend Thomas Harwood.
Description: Westminster: Printed by and for John Nichols and Son, 1820. New Ed. lvi + 441pp. + [i] publ. list. 4 stipple engraved portraits, 1 plate, 4 pedigrees on 2 folding sheets. Inscriptions to front f.e.p., ownership inscription to head of t.p., marginalia to pp.43, some light browning, marbled edges, contemporary half calf with marbled boards, corners scuffed, blind embossed spine, gilt tooled raised bands with gilt lettered title label to spine, sl. rubbed. ¶ First published in 1717, reissued in 1723. Sampson Erdeswick [Erdeswicke] (c.1538–1603). ODNB ‘... Sir William Dugdale described it as 'a brief but elaborate work … compiled from public records and ancient evidences' (Dugdale, Antient Usage, 4n). It perambulated the county place by place along the rivers—a method used by Camden in his Britannia—starting in the north at the source of the Trent and recording whatever was worthy of note. That meant primarily genealogy and heraldry, but the work also includes natural features, place names, and archaeological remains. Buildings are noted, especially castles and manor houses. Churches are mentioned mainly for their monuments, but there is a description of the close and cathedral at Lichfield; Erdeswick considered the cathedral 'one of the fairest and best repaired in England (being thoroughly builded and finished, which few are)' (Erdeswick, 281). There follows a list of the bishops, but for the city of Lichfield there is mention only of its topography and its government. Towns in fact are only briefly noted, mainly as market centres. For Stafford mention is made of its government, its custom of borough English, its walls, its castles, and its two friaries, but most of the section is taken up by the history of the Stafford family and a description of their arms. The account of Staffordshire ends with a discussion of early landholding, with particular reference to Domesday Book ...’

Keywords: VOYAGES AND TRAVEL; ENGLAND


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