Description:Caverswall is a distinctive village, situated just outside the Potteries to the east. It is well known for the splendid Caverswall Castle.
The name Caverswall is derived from an Old English personal name, possibly ‘Cathere’ and from the Old English ‘woell’ meaning a spring or sometimes a stream.
In the Domesday Book of 1086 it is recorded as Caureswelle. At that time the manor was part of the extensive lands of Robert de Stafford and tenanted by Ernulf. The recorded population was 12. From the information in the Domesday Book we know that there was six acres of meadow land and sufficient arable land for four plough teams. There was also woodland of a league in length and half a league in breadth.
In the Hearth Tax assessment of 1666, 29 households are listed in Caverswall. The largest property with 20 hearths, Caverswall Castle, belonged at that time to William Jolley. Jolley was a wealthy Leek mercer. No households were recorded as being too poor to pay the hearth tax.
The original Caverswall Castle was built in the 13th century. A licence to crenellate was granted by the Crown in 1275. The castle descended through a variety of ownerships and by the 16th century, it was in some decay. In 1614 the castle site was bought by Matthew Cradock, a wealthy Stafford wool merchant. Cradock was also the first mayor of Stafford. He employed Johm Smythson as his architect to build a Jacobean style house to incorporate what remained of the original castle. The house was begun in 1615 and eventually completed some 10 years later.
Following Cradock’s death, the castle and estate house again passed through a number of owners, including the Vane family during the first half of the 18th century. The extravagance of the second Lord Vane and the wanton behaviour of his wife, Lady Frances Vane, led to the sale of the Caverswall estate in 1759, although Lord Vane retained a life interest in the property.
In 1811 Caverswall Castle became the first religious house to be established in Staffordshire following the Roman Catholic revival. It was leased to a community of Benedictine nuns who had fled from Ghent in 1794, settling originally in Preston in Lancashire. They remained there until 1853, having established a convent school in the Castle. Nuns returned to Caverswall Castle in 1933 and remained there until 1965. The house is now a private property.
The parish church is dedicated to All Peter. The building dates from the late 12th century. It was re-modelled by the Cradock family in about 1630. The Roman Catholic church is dedicated to St Filomena. This was built in 1864 in the Early English style largely at the expense of the Radcliffe family who owned the Castle at this time.
Early educational provision for the children of Caverswall was made through private support from Lord Vane who paid for the teaching of 28 children in the late 18th century. By 1825 a school had been built by public subscription. A new school building was built in 1863 and was extended in 1957. This became St Peter’s CE Primary School. During the Second World War a large number of 120 evacuees from Manchester had to be accommodated at the school.
St Filomena’s Roman Catholic School was established by Sir JP Radcliffe in about 1861. The present school building was built in 1878.
The dramatist Robert William Buchanan was born in Caverswall in 1841 although his family moved to London soon afterwards. He was the author of a number of works on poetry.