Rugeley
Rugeley maps (2 available)
Map of Staffordshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
See this old map of Staffordshire
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Rugeley books (4 available)
- 6 photos on Rugeley appear in 1 Frith books - View photos of Rugeley
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Rugeley and Staffordshire
Rugeley memories
Read and share memories of Rugeley and Staffordshire inspired by Frith photos
Jackhills Toyshop
I have great memories of Jackhills toyshop on the Horsefair in the seventies. I used to love going in there and it was the first stop to spend birthday or Christmas money, (usually some Sindy clothes or once - some roller skates!) I always remember looking longingly at the bikes and prams they had parked up in the covered entrance - I never had one of those though!
Contributed by Vicky Witton
George Masons Employees
My dad informs me that my grandad ran George Mason's in Rugeley for many years. His name was Thomas Parsons and he lived in a large house with my nan, Lillian along the Armitage Road opposite the Brereton park by Thorn. A well known, well respected local gent, he had served in the war but came home after suffering a schrapnel wound. He died in 1983 and is at rest in the Wolseley Road churchyard. I was 3 when he died but I guess he would be very sad at the state of Rugeley as it is today. George Mason's became a video shop in the 1990s, then a shoe shop and is now a Cantonese restaurant. My nan (on mum's ...read more here
Staffordshire memories
George Masons Employees
My dad informs me that my grandad ran George Mason's in Rugeley for many years. His name was Thomas Parsons and he lived in a large house with my nan, Lillian along the Armitage Road opposite the Brereton park by Thorn. A well known, well respected local gent, he had served in the war but came home after suffering a schrapnel wound. He died in 1983 and is at rest in the Wolseley Road churchyard. I was 3 when he died but I guess he would be very sad at the state of Rugeley as it is today. George Mason's became a video shop in the 1990s, then a shoe shop and is now a Cantonese restaurant. My nan (on mum's ...read more here
Jackhills Toyshop
I have great memories of Jackhills toyshop on the Horsefair in the seventies. I used to love going in there and it was the first stop to spend birthday or Christmas money, (usually some Sindy clothes or once - some roller skates!) I always remember looking longingly at the bikes and prams they had parked up in the covered entrance - I never had one of those though!
A memory of Rugeley contributed by Vicky Witton
Extracts From Rugeley & Staffordshire books
For several days in June every year this street was thronged with horses
and dealers during the annual Horse Fair, when up to one thousand
animals were sold. The white building, housing a café and a confectioners,
was once a girl’s school, while Astbury’s was a butcher’s shop, which was
established in the 19th century. The whole row has now been replaced.
An extract from from"Stafford Living Memories Pocket Album".
There has been a market in Rugeley since 1259. In 1878 an indoor market
hall was built, to the right of this photograph. The two buildings which dominate
this view are of very different dates. The bank on the left was built as a private
house in 1649, and the Cabin public house was built in 1930-31.
An extract from from"Stafford Living Memories Pocket Album".
Three miles away from the Trent
and 50ft above it, this reservoir
was formed in 1953 by
damming one of its tributaries,
the River Blithe. Shown looking
across the causeway towards
Rugeley, Blithfield Reservoir
is owned by the South
Staffordshire Water Company
which, as well as catering for
leisure uses, supplies 75m
gallons of drinking water daily to
1½ million people.
An extract from from"Down the Trent Photographic Memories".
In the early 19th century, the colliery at Brereton nearby was connected
by rail to a wharf, which enabled coal to be transported along the Trent
and Mersey canal. Through the trees we can see the roof of the house
in which William Palmer was born in 1824. A new bridge now carries
traffic on the busy Station Road.
An extract from from"Stafford Living Memories Pocket Album".
This has been the home of the Bagot family since 1367, although the building
we see here dates from between the 16th and the 19th century. There is a story
that Richard II so enjoyed his hunting in the Bagot Park that he presented the
family with some black and white goats. Their descendants, known as Bagot
goats, remained in the park for many centuries, and some of them can now be
seen at Shugborough Park Farm. Much of the land in the valley nearby was
flooded in 1953 to create Blithfield Reservoir.
An extract from from"Stafford Living Memories Pocket Album".