for its former position in the honor of Tutbury; for its markets; for the trying part it took during the civil wars; and for the number of distinguished persons to whom it has given birth. All these, with many other circumstances connected with its history give an air of importance to Uttoxeter, and invest it with a two-fold interest to those living in its neighbourhood, or who are associated with it by birth or even by less powerful ties of attachment.

Uttoxeter, sweet are thy views!

Each scene of my fond boyish days,
Past pleasure in fancy renews,
While gratitude sings in thy praise;
Here plenty with copious horn,
Dispenses her bounties around,
And rosy thy sons like the morn,

In health and in spirits abound.

Thy buildings, what though they are plain
And boast no magnificent dome,
Enough for the wise may contain,-

Enjoying true plenty at home;
How happy thy poor who enjoy

Possessions o'er want to prevail,

Whose hills daily bread can supply,

And sweet milky tribute the vale.-S. Bentley.

Uttoxeter is situated on the eastern borders of Staffordshire (derived, according to Sir Symon Degge's notes to Plott, from Stadeford, the strand shore or bank of a ford) in Totmanslow south, and in the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the See of Lichfield. It is distant fifteen miles from the county town, and about one hundred and forty from London. The parish consists of Crakemarsh, Creighton, Stramshall, the Woodlands, and the liberty of Loxley, and con

tains about 10,000 acres of land; 2,460 of which are in the township of Uttoxeter; 1,735 in Loxley; 1,066 in Crakemarsh; 1,274 in Stramshall, and 2,419 in the Woodlands.

Uttoxeter has an elevated position, to which is due its famed salubrity. The market place lies in a central part of the town, and the main streets have a direct communication with it. These are, High Street having a northern direction, from which, at Uttoxeter Heath, are branch roads to Ashbourne and the Potteries; Carter Street and Balance Street towards the west, for Stafford and Abbots Bromley; the Doveridge road on the east for Derby and Burton; and Schoolhouse Lane or Bridge Street, (in which is situated the passenger station of the North Staffordshire line of railway,) on the south, leading to Marchington and other villages. The Stone-way is reached by Smithy Lane out of High Street, and Tinker's or Susan's Lane out of Carter Street. There are two lanes taking a southward direction from Balance Street, which, although formerly but little frequented, have latterly become busy thoroughfares for traffic from the railway luggage station. These are called Pinfold Lane and Spicer's, Spiceall, or Petticoat Lane. The passenger station at Uttoxeter on the Churnet Valley line of railway is at Bull's Bank on the Doveridge road.

The derivation of the name, Uttoxeter, has never been satisfactorily ascertained, and has formed a perplexing question to the etymologist. Indeed, but few persons have attempted it, but have contented them

selves with simply acknowledging the difficulty with which it is surrounded. The Wotocheshede of Doomsday book has been supposed to be derived from Wudu (wood) and Seade (shade) (1) but then this has been asserted not to have been the name of Uttoxeter as spelt by the Saxons. There are few, perhaps not any, towns whose name has been spelt in such a variety of ways, and this of itself is sufficient to make its solution perplexing to most people. It is written Uttoxeshather, Utcester, Uttokcester, and Ulcester, besides its common form of Uttoxeter; and in converse it is pronounced as Utceter, Uxeter, and Utcheter as well as popularly, Uttoxeter. Assuming the name in Doomsday book to be incorrect,-and it is well known that great difficulties occur in correctly appropriating the names of places as they are written in that invaluable document-it is so from one of two causes, either that the Norman scribes wilfully perverted the spelling of places through their antipathy to the Saxons, or did so through their ignorance of the langauage from which, chiefly, the names of places had been derived. There would, therefore, appear to be no alternative but to accept the name as given by Leland, Camden, and Hollinshead, and which Camden states is its Saxon name; this is, Uttok-cester. The termination is of course from the Latin castrum, a camp, and the prefix has been stated to be derived from the Saxon mattock, a term significant of any place having been disforested or cleared of trees by

(1) Ward's History of Stoke-upon-Trent.

the mattock, or some similar implement of husbandry. As, however, places where such operations by such implements have been effected, are, literally, both on the Continent and in England, called field or felled place, that opinion will not be received. The Saxon word stocca, meaning the trunk or stem of a tree, appears much more likely to be its origin. If so, Uttoxeter may signify a town built of wood or on stocks, or surrounded by a stockade, where the Romans previously had a camp. The prefix has also been supposed to mean an out-take from the forest of Needwood; but this can scarcely be on the opinion that the site of Uttoxeter was a British settlement, and afterwards a Roman station before the Saxon occupation of it, for the Saxons would not have given it a name to imply an out-take from a wood unless it had been made by themselves. Neither, for the same reason, can it signify an out-take from a chase for which the word forest was anciently used. It is more agreeable to suppose that the expression means that the town was taken out of a camp, or that it is expressive of a camp from which the Romans have departed. (2) Another view, however, remains to be taken of the prefix, which is afforded in another name by which Uttoxeter is designated. That name is Tocester, (3) about the meaning of which there can be no dispute, the To evidently being a variation of Toot or Teut, and implying the

(1) Paedutes in Hogg's Instructor.

(2) Verstigan's Restitution of Decayed Intelligence.

(3) Grand Gazeteer.

Tootcester, or castra situated near the altar dedicated to Teut. I am inclined to believe that this is the meaning intended to be conveyed in the Woto in Doomsday book. The castra of the Romans is also to be seen in the cheshede in the same ancient survey, for wherever the Roman Stativæ (1) were and were so called, the word sede was understood, which meant the same thing as camp.

The neighbourhood of Uttoxeter is exceedingly pleasant, its scenery being greatly diversified and filled with sylvan beauty. Its immediate vicinity is remarkable for the number of old lanes, as well as footpaths along the fields, so primitive and rural in their character, and so tempting for a quiet stroll at almost any season and in almost any state of feeling. The High Wood, a little distance to the south of the town, (so called because of its elevation, and from its having formed part of Needwood Forest,) affords some really fine prospects of the surrounding country. From hence, Needwood Forest, extending along undulating cliffs sweeping down to the south, lifts itself into view, although its grandeur becomes more evident as it is approached, particularly in the Woodlands, at the new church, where the scene is one of the richest magnificence. It is, however, to the north from the High Wood that the view is the most extensive and varied. Uttoxeter presents itself on an eminence rising out of a vast basin, the church spire shooting high above all other surrounding buildings.

(1) Shaw's History of Staffordshire.