Hopton Village
The village is on the north eastern outskirts of the county town of Stafford and is just 3.2 miles (5.1 km) from the town centre. The village is 18.1 miles (29.1 km) south of Stoke on Trent. The nearest railway station is 3.3 miles (5.3 km) in Stafford. The village is situate a short distance east of the B 5066. The nearest main road are the A513 which passes the village 1.1 miles (1.8 km) to the west.[4]
The genesis of the village name of Hopton is of Anglo Saxon origin and comes from the Old English word hop which means an enclosed area, which sometimes refers to remote places in marsh or moorland, or as in the case of Hopton, an enclosed valley. The second part of the name Hopton comes from tun, which in Old English has the meaning farmstead, so giving the village name the whole meaning of the farmstead in the enclosed valley.[6]
The Battle of Hopton Heath was a fought between Parliamentarian forces led by Sir John Gell and Sir William Brereton and a Royalist force under Spencer Compton, 2nd Earl of Northampton.[9][10] It took place on Sunday the 19 March 1643. The events leading to this battle centered on the concerns of King Charles I over the royalist influence in Staffordshire. The King had ordered the Earl of Northampton to lead a force north from Banbury to secure the town of Stafford.[10] Having secured Stafford, the Earl led his 1,200 troops, mostly cavalry, out to confront a Parliamentarian army of 1,500. The battle took place on Hopton Heath which at the time was a landscape of heathland with birch scrub but with enclosed grazing land around the present-day Heathyards.[10] the battle began in the middle of the afternoon ending just before nightfall. Although the Earl of Northampton was killed in the battle, the Royalists had the better of the encounter and had captured eight Parliamentary guns and claimed victory. The Royalist claim of victory remained a matter of opinion due to the fact that the Parliamentarian Foot were still in position at nightfall when, as the Royalists themselves admitted, they drew back a little; or the fact that next morning the Royalists occupied the field after the Parliamentarians retreated in the night.[10]
SOURCE: Wikipedia
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