The Royal Progress

The early account book of Stafford Borough was compiled retrospectively in about 1611, and includes a report of the visit of Queen Elizabeth I to Stafford in 1575. Advance preparations included pointing houses, gravelling the streets, and repairing the old town cross. When she arrived she was met at the East Gate by the town bailiffs who presented her with a tall cup worth £30: "(Alas poor soul other towns give us of their wealth and you give us of your want)".

She then progressed to the market place, where she "commended the situation of the town, and asked what was the cause of the decay of the same". The answer was partly the decay of capping, and partly the loss of the Stafford Assizes. "Her Majesty most lovingly answered that she would renew and establish better the said statute for Capping, and for the Assizes she gave her promise that the same should ever after be kept at Stafford."

"And so after many most sweet and gracious words to the great comfort of the poor inhabitants of Stafford she passed along through the market place, and so in at the Crabbery Lane to the Broad Eye and over at the new bridge where the bailiffs left her majesty, her highness going directly to Stafford Castle where she stayed to dinner and so parted thence."

©  Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service

Staffordshire Record Office: D1323/E/1
Copyright reserved, Stafford Borough Council

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II paid a visit to Stafford 31 March 2006 as part of Stafford 800, the celebrations of the granting of the first charter to Stafford Borough in 1206.

Last Modified: 13/09/2007 10:34:23
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