History of Rowley Park
In the 13th Century, four or five families settled on uncultivated land between Burton Manor and Stafford and created a hamlet around a green called Rowlowe (rough land).
In 1529 a tenant of Rowlowe called Thomas Stanford was elected MP for Stafford and over a period of years the Stanfords began to acquire all of the land and the hamlet that was now known as Rowley.
After leasing Stafford Castle for a number of years from Lord Stafford, he built Rowley Hall and by the mid 16th Century, the Rowley Estate ran from Forebridge Green to Rising Brook and as far as what is now Friars Terrace.
In 1808, the Rowley Hall estate was auctioned at the Swan Hotel and bought by a prominent local solicitor William Keen demolished the old, dilapidated hall and built a new Regency style Hall in its place. He bought back land and established grand landscaped gardens before he died suddenly from a riding injury.
The estate was inherited by his brother and in turn his son in law Robert Hand who needed capital if he was to continue to develop the estate.
Unable to attain a good price through auction, he devised a plan to continue living in the Hall by dividing the estate into small plots, selling it to his own development company and then raising capital by selling shares in the company.
In 1867 the Staffordshire Land and Building and Improvement Company Ltd started building in Rowley Park with local shareholders as diverse as Michael Bass (the Burton Brewer), Maria Butler (a laundry maid at Tixall Hall) and many Stafford businessmen.
