Editing Uttoxeter (section)

==History==
[[File:Town Centre, Uttoxeter.jpg|thumb|Town Centre, Uttoxeter]]
Uttoxeter's name has been spelt at least 79 ways since it appeared in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as "Wotocheshede":<ref>Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP 40/555, in 1399; http://aalt.law.uh.edu/H4/CP40no555/bCP40no555dorses/IMG_0036.htm; ; sixth entry. where the Plaintiff John Passemor comes from, appearing as '' Uttoksather''.</ref> it probably came from [[Anglo-Saxon language|Anglo-Saxon]] ''Wuttuceshǣddre'', meaning "Wuttuc's homestead on the heath". Some historians have pointed to pre-[[Ancient Rome|Roman]] settlement here; axes from the [[Bronze Age]] discovered in the town are now on display in the [[Potteries Museum & Art Gallery|Potteries Museum]] in Stoke-on-Trent. It is possible that Uttoxeter was the location of some form of Roman activity, due to its strategic position on the [[River Dove, Central England|River Dove]] and its closeness to the large garrison forts at [[Rocester]] between 69 and 400 AD, and the recently discovered fort at [[Stramshall]]. However, little corroborating archaeological evidence has been found.

Uttoxeter saw the last major royalist surrender of the [[English Civil War]], on 25 August 1648, when [[James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton]] surrendered to Parliamentarian General [[John Lambert (general)|John Lambert]].

Perhaps the most famous historical event to have occurred in Uttoxeter is an act of penance by [[Samuel Johnson]]. Johnson's father ran a bookstall on Uttoxeter market, and young Samuel once refused to help out on the stall. When Johnson was older, he stood in the rain without a hat, as penance for his failure to assist his father. The event is commemorated by the Johnson Memorial, which stands in Market Place in the town centre. He is also remembered in the name of Johnson Road.

Mary Howitt, the [[Quaker]] writer of the poem "[[The Spider and the Fly (poem)|The Spider and the Fly]]", grew up in Uttoxeter. The town influenced some of her poems and novels and fuelled her love of natural history, which also featured in her books. Howitt Crescent, a residential road in the town, was named after her. The house where she lived, Howitt Place, is still standing in Balance Street.

Thomas Fradgley, Uttoxeter's own architect designed [[Uttoxeter Town Hall]] (1854), the Johnson Memorial (1854), St Michael's Church, [[Stramshall]], St Lawrence Church, [[Bramshall]] (1835), St Mary's Church, Uttoxeter, and [[Marchington]] Church. He was involved with Pugin and other architects in designs for the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury at [[Alton Towers]] including the figures of the Talbot Hounds at the entrance tower (1830), the Angel Corbels in the Lady chapel, 1833, Alton Towers Chapel with [[Joseph Potter (architect)|Joseph Potter]] (completed in 1833), [[Swiss Cottage]], and Harper's Cottage, [[Farley, Staffordshire|Farley]]. He was the architect who improved several local schools, including Uttoxeter National School, Hanbury Free School (enlarged in 1848), national schools at [[Oakamoor]], Cauldon, [[Alton, Staffordshire|Alton]], and Draycott School, [[Hanbury, Staffordshire|Hanbury]]. He married Clara Warner from Bramshall. Their only child Thomas died aged six. Thomas Fradgley died in 1883 aged 83.

Bunting's brewery had occupied a large area of the centre of the town since the Victorian era. It ceased production in the 1929 after being bought by Parkers Brewery of [[Burslem]], later part of [[Allied Breweries|Ind Coope]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/burton/uttoxeters-first-brewery-80-years-2412113 |title=This is when Uttoxeter's first brewery in 80 years will be open for business |date=11 January 2019 |newspaper=Derby Telegraph |access-date=24 September 2021}}</ref> The remains of the brewery were demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Maltings shopping precinct and car park. The turret clock from the brewery, which had been languishing in the basement of the town hall, was refurbished and installed above the entrance to the [[Costa Coffee]] shop in the Carters Square Shopping Centre shortly before the centre opened in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.somethingdigital.co.uk/portfolio/65/Carters-Square-Uttoxeter.html |title=Carters Square, Uttoxeter |publisher=Something Digital |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615142404/https://www.somethingdigital.co.uk/portfolio/65/Carters-Square-Uttoxeter.html |access-date=24 September 2021|archive-date=15 June 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web 
|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/features/history_this_week.shtml |title=History-related news Stories in Staffs, 2006 |publisher=BBC |access-date=24 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.uttoxetertowncouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/2021/04/Appendix-I-Draft-Asset-Register-Annual-Meeting-5-May-2021.pdf |title=Asset Register 2021-22 |publisher=Uttoxeter Town Council |access-date=24 September 2021}}</ref>

In 2008, Uttoxeter marked the 700th anniversary of its [[market charter]] of 1308, which underpins the markets held on Saturdays and Wednesdays and on other festival days. The 1308 charter followed a more general Royal Charter granted to the town's burgesses in 1252.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Letters |first1=Samantha |title=Staffordshire |url=https://archives.history.ac.uk/gazetteer/staffs.html |website=Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 |publisher=Centre for Metropolitan History |date=2003}}</ref>