Description:Tutbury, a large village dominated by its castle, is situated in the east of Staffordshire on the River Dove bordering the county of Derbyshire. Once a mediaeval borough and later home to a variety of industries, it is now a largely residential village.
Tutbury was an important site in the early Middle Ages and also in the Anglo-Saxon period, when it was a centre of Mercian authority. In the Domesday Survey of 1086, ‘Totberie’ was one of only three boroughs recorded in the county with a castle belonging to Henry de Ferrers, which was built after the Norman Conquest by Hugh d’ Avranches. 42 men were earning their trade in the borough by 1086, suggesting an active urban economy. In the early Middle Ages too a Benedictine priory was founded and sited below the castle. So Tutbury became the centre of the feudal ‘honor’ or large lordship of the Ferrers family. In 1266 the honor was acquired by the Earls (later the Dukes) of Lancaster and John of Gaunt visited Tutbury frequently.
An important development in Tutbury during the 14th century was the establishment of the minstrels’ court. Itinerant minstrels were attracted annually to Tutbury by its local fair held at the time of the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August. The minstrels appear to have been formally licensed by the officers of the Earls of Lancaster at this feast time and met as a trade guild. John of Gaunt gave them further status by ordering that the ‘king of the minstrels’ should arrest any minstrel in the honor of Tutbury who failed to attend and perform at the feast. The custom persisted until the early 19th century by which time it was in decline.
In the later Middle Ages, Tutbury saw some decline as the Lancasters, once they became Kings of England, shifted their focus away from the area. In the Middle Ages, alabaster was quarried near Tutbury and was of such fine quality that John of Gaunt ordered it to be used for the tomb of his first wife in St Paul’s Cathedral. Tutbury alabaster continued to be used in many important buildings locally until well into the 20th century.
Tutbury Priory was dissolved in 1538. The west end of the church was retained following the demolition of the rest of the priory buildings and became the parish church. Dedicated to St Mary, it is notable for the splendid west front which dates from the mid 12th century. The lintel of the south door, also Norman, depicts a boar hunt.
Although Tutbury was in some economic decline by the 16th century, the Duchy of Lancaster continued to maintain the castle. It was used four times as a prison for Mary Queen of Scots in 1569-1570 and during the mid 1580s. During the Civil War the castle was garrisoned by royalist troops. The garrison held out against repeated onslaughts from the parliamentary troops between 1643 and 1646 but eventually surrendered to Sir William Brereton in April 1646. Following the surrender of the castle, the fortifications were dismantled. The castle remained as a ruin throughout the next three centuries but by the 19th century was beginning to attract tourists, a trend which has increased steadily throughout the 20th and into the 21st century.
The town saw something of a revival in the 18th century. In 1730 a school was founded, the Richard Wakefield Endowed School, now the Richard Wakefield Church of England (Controlled) Primary School. There are well-built houses also dating from the 18th century. Cotton milling began here in 1782, followed by glass making from 1810. It was the development of these industries which saw the growth of population here in the 19th century. Glassmaking had largely ceased in Tutbury by 2005 and the glassworks was demolished in 2006.
As with many other places in Staffordshire, it was industrialisation which encouraged the establishment of nonconformity in Tutbury. An Independent chapel was established in 1799 by one of the partners of the cotton mill, Francis Greasley, and the Wesleyan Methodists registered a chapel in Castle Street in the same year. A Primitive Methodist chapel was registered in 1818. Both Methodist chapels have now closed but the Independent chapel, now the Congregationalist chapel, remains.
To find out much more information about Tutbury, see A History of the County of Stafford, Volume X, Tutbury and Needwood Forest, published 2007.