Around the beginning of the 13th century the village had become a town with the granting of ‘Borough’ status and by 1259 had obtained a charter to hold an annual fair at Ascensiontide.

By the time of the survey of the bishop’s estates in 1298 about five hundred people lived in the village, mainly craftsmen or engaged in agriculture.

However the ruins which exist today are those a later castle built in 1305 by Bishop William Langton, a friend of King Edward I and later Chancellor of England.

[2] Eccleshall castle briefly played a part in the War of the Roses, when it was used as a base for the Lancastrian Queen Margaret of Anjou and her troops before and after her defeat at the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459.

Manufacturing ceased around 1615, however, the site of one glass furnace has been excavated in recent times and is preserved and can be seen in Bishop's Wood.

When the Parliamentary forces finally took the castle on 30 August they found that the bishop (Robert Wright) had died of a heart attack during the siege and most of the defenders were either drunk or had gone into town drinking in the taverns.

With the development of turnpike trusts in the 18th century as a method of financing road building and improvements, coach travel throughout England had become faster and more reliable.

With its position on the main London to Chester road Eccleshall became an important stopping point for coaches on several different routes and the town prospered, the inns in particular.

Nearby Cold Meece houses a British Army training area that used to be a Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Swynnerton.

The Domesday Book details that the Eccleshall estate had been given to the Bishop of Lichfield some time before the Norman conquest, possibly as early as the 7th century.

In 1459, the castle was briefly a residence for the Queen, Margaret of Anjou, in her preparation for the Battle of Blore Heath, the site of which lies a few miles north of the town near Market Drayton.

Eagle House was originally erected to replace the old Eccleshall Poorhouse (Workhouse) and was built using construction materials from the demolished local Town Hall.

Eccleshall has been the site for an operational biofuel power station since September 2007, fuelled by elephant grass, the majority of which is grown by local farmers within a 30-mile radius.