Dunston, Staffordshire

Dunston is a small village in England lying on the west side of the A449 trunk road about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Stafford, close to Junction 13 of the M6 motorway. The population of the village at the 2011 census was 281. It lies at roughly 300 feet (98 m) above sea level.

Dunston was formerly part of the ancient parish of Penkridge. In the Middle Ages it formed a member of the manor of Penkridge and at Domesday in 1066 this was a royal manor. However, by 1166, Robert de Stafford was recognised as lord and Hervey de Stretton was his tenant at Dunston, although the de Staffords retained land at Dunston at least until the 16th century. The lordship and the bulk of the land descended in the de Stretton family for several generations but, by 1285, they were renting most of their land to the Pickstock family, and in 1316 John Pickstock was named as lord of Dunston. The Pickstocks's were actually business people, burgesses of the county town of Stafford. The lordship passed through their hands for several generations, uninterrupted even by the Black Death, until John Pickstock granted most of his lands to members of the Derrington family in 1437. They held it for more than two centuries and sold it to Thomas Adshed in 1638. After only a decade it returned to the Pickstocks, as one Henry Pickstock bought the estate.

The history of the remainder of Dunston, retained by the de Staffords, is complex. A considerable part passed by inheritance to Greville Verney, 7th Baron Willoughby de Broke in 1634 and stayed with his descendants until the 20th century. Other lands were being rented in the early 15th century by Sir Fulke Pembrugge, who became the owner of Tong Castle. In 1577 Thomas Fowke, a London businessman and Merchant of the Staple, bought what was now described as the Manor of Dunston from Edward Stafford, 3rd Baron Stafford. This he later divided in two with John Barbour, another businessman. After Fowkes's death, his share was sold by his son to William Anson, a City lawyer. The Ansons held land at Dunston as they rose up the social ladder. George Anson, a prominent Whig politician, was able to buy the other half of the manor. George's son became Viscount Anson in 1806 and his grandson the first Earl of Lichfield in 1831.

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