Doug Matthews grew up in Newtown, Handsacre, before wartime service aboard HMS Brissenden took him from D-Day to the Arctic. Returning home, he combined family life and a demanding working career with an extraordinary footballing record, scoring more than 1,000 goals during a playing career that lasted into his forties.
Category: Miscellaneous
Simon de Rugeley: Edward III’s Gentleman at Hawkesyard
Long before Hawkesyard House or the Dominican Priory, the estate was home to Simon de Rugeley, one of Edward III’s most trusted Staffordshire gentlemen. Sheriff, Member of Parliament and royal commissioner, he helped govern the county, prepared it for war and secured the deer park that shaped Hawkesyard for centuries. Though later forgotten, his remarkable story can now be rediscovered.
The Hall Rediscovered
For centuries, the original Hawkesyard Hall stood beside the River Trent as the home of the Rugeley family, before vanishing beneath the cooling lake of Rugeley Power Station. Drawing on eighteenth-century descriptions, twentieth-century discoveries and modern archaeology, this article reconstructs the story of a medieval manor that was forgotten, rediscovered and ultimately lost forever.
Thomas Rugeley and the Muster Roll of 1539
In 1539, as Henry VIII prepared England against the threat of foreign invasion, Thomas Rugeley of Hawkesyard was recorded in a royal muster roll as a gentleman ready for military service. His horse, armour and weapons reveal not only the obligations of a Tudor landowner, but how one Staffordshire estate became part of the kingdom’s national defence.
The Heraldic Funeral of Richard Rugeley, 1623
When Richard Rugeley died in 1623, his burial was followed two months later by an elaborate heraldic funeral unlike anything most people in Armitage would ever have witnessed. Led by a royal herald, the procession from Hawkesyard Hall to St John’s Church celebrated not only one man’s life, but the status, lineage and enduring prestige of the Rugeley family.
The Hawkesyard Mystery: Was There Ever a Hawkesyard Family?
For more than 200 years, historians have repeated that Hawkesyard was named after a medieval family who once owned the estate. But what if that family never existed? Re-examining the evidence reveals that the story may have begun with an eighteenth-century assumption, while the true explanation lies in forgotten heraldry, Norman marriages and a Saxon place-name far older than the Hall itself.
The Deer Park of Hawkesyard
In 1337 Edward III granted Simon de Rugeley permission to create a private deer park at Hawkesyard. More than simply a place to hunt, it was a visible symbol of wealth, royal favour and social standing. This article explores how the park transformed the medieval landscape and why its location continued to shape Hawkesyard long after the original Hall had disappeared.
“We Happy Few”: William de Handsacre and the Road to Agincourt
In 1415, William de Handsacre marched to France with Henry V’s army and stood among the English men-at-arms at the Battle of Agincourt. This article follows his journey from the siege of Harfleur to one of England’s greatest military victories, before tracing the final chapter of the medieval family whose name has survived for centuries in the village of Handsacre.
Sir William de Handsacre and the battle of Crécy.
Sir William de Handsacre fought in some of the most famous campaigns of the early Hundred Years’ War, serving under Ralph, Earl of Stafford, in Gascony before taking part in Edward III’s invasion of France. From the victories at Bergerac and Auberoche to the decisive Battle of Crécy and the long siege of Calais, his military career placed a Staffordshire knight at the heart of events that reshaped medieval Europe.
William de Handsacre: Rebel Against the King
William de Handsacre chose the wrong side in one of medieval England’s greatest civil wars. After supporting Simon de Montfort against King Henry III, he lost his lands, fled to the rebel stronghold on the Isle of Axholme and became one of the “Disinherited”. Yet through royal reconciliation he eventually regained his estates and returned to public life, revealing how national events transformed the fortunes of the Lords of Handsacre.