About
Redfern's Cottage is a compact community museum housed in a historic town-centre building in Uttoxeter, a market town in eastern Staffordshire that has been documented since Domesday and whose weekly cattle market remains one of the oldest continuously operating markets in England. The museum takes its name from John Redfern, a nineteenth-century Uttoxeter solicitor and antiquarian who assembled one of the most significant collections of local historical material in Staffordshire, much of it now preserved in the county archives.
The museum documents Uttoxeter's long history as an agricultural market town — its medieval charter markets, its Georgian coaching trade on the London-Manchester road, the local industries of pottery and brick-making that exploited the area's clay geology — alongside several remarkable stories that give Uttoxeter an unexpected place in British cultural history.
The most celebrated concerns Samuel Johnson, the great eighteenth-century lexicographer and man of letters, who as a young man refused to help his father Michael Johnson at the Uttoxeter market bookstall on a day of illness. Decades later, in 1781, the elderly Johnson — one of the most famous men in England — returned to Uttoxeter market place and stood bareheaded in the rain for an hour as a public act of penance for this act of filial disobedience.
James Boswell recorded the story in his Life of Johnson (1791), and a stone plinth still marks the spot in Uttoxeter market place where Johnson stood.
The museum also documents Uttoxeter's association with horse racing: Uttoxeter Racecourse, established in the eighteenth century, is one of the most popular National Hunt courses in the Midlands and the site of several major races including the Midlands Grand National.
The town's Georgian and Victorian commercial life, its role in the agricultural economy of the Dove and Tean valleys, and its twentieth-century history are all preserved in the museum's collections.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- After visiting the museum, walk to the Market Place and find the Samuel Johnson penance stone — it marks the exact spot where Johnson stood in the rain in expiation of refusing to help his father
- The museum is a 7-minute walk from Uttoxeter railway station on the Crewe-Derby line — an easy day trip from Derby (30 minutes) or Stoke-on-Trent (25 minutes)
- Check the Uttoxeter Racecourse website before visiting — the town is extremely busy and parking is difficult on race days, but a race day visit adds a lively dimension to the town's heritage
- The Wednesday market in the Market Place is the best day to experience Uttoxeter's eight-century market tradition in its working state
- The museum's small shop is one of the few places to find books specifically about Uttoxeter's local history — worth browsing even if you don't buy
- Alton Towers is only 8 miles north if you're visiting with children — the museum makes a quieter alternative or a morning addition before the theme park
- Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler (1653) describes fishing on the nearby River Dove — the river itself is accessible from Uttoxeter and remains excellent trout fishing country
Highlights
Samuel Johnson's Act of Penance
In 1779 or 1781 — Boswell's dating is uncertain — Samuel Johnson, then the most celebrated literary figure in England and author of the Dictionary (1755) and Lives of the Poets, made an extraordinary pilgrimage to Uttoxeter market place. As a young man of around twenty, Johnson had refused to staff his father Michael's book stall at the market when the elder Johnson was ill — an act of what he later described as 'pride and vanity.
' Fifty years later Johnson returned to the exact spot and stood bareheaded in the rain for an hour in public expiation of this filial disobedience.
The act became one of the most celebrated episodes in Boswell's Life of Johnson (1791), a monument to filial duty and the courage to perform a private act of conscience publicly. A stone plinth in Uttoxeter Market Place marks the spot.
Uttoxeter Market: Eight Centuries of Trade
Uttoxeter's weekly market has operated continuously since it received its royal charter in 1251 from Henry III, making it one of the oldest continuously functioning markets in England. The museum documents this extraordinary longevity: the medieval market's role in distributing agricultural produce from the Dove and Tean valleys, the Georgian heyday when drovers brought Welsh and Irish cattle through the town on their way to Midland markets, the Victorian cattle market that became one of the most important livestock sales in Staffordshire, and the modern general and farmers' market that still operates on the original site.
Market tools, weighing equipment, drovers' records, and photographs from the market's Victorian heyday complete the picture.
Uttoxeter Racecourse Heritage
Uttoxeter Racecourse, established on its current site at Wood Lane in the eighteenth century, is one of the most popular National Hunt racing venues in the Midlands, hosting over fifteen race meetings annually including the prestigious Midlands Grand National in March. The museum documents the racecourse's history from its origins as a local agricultural show racing ground through its development into a professional venue with a full card of National Hunt fixtures.
Racing memorabilia, jockeys' silks, winning owners' trophies, and photographs from significant races — including the dramatic Midlands Grand National finishes that have made Uttoxeter a favourite with jump racing fans — tell the story of a venue that brings tens of thousands of visitors to this small Staffordshire market town each year.
Georgian Coaching Town
Uttoxeter's position on the main coaching road between London and Manchester made it a prosperous staging post throughout the Georgian era. The town's coaching inns — the White Hart, the Red Lion, and others — provided horses, accommodation, and refreshment for travellers making the long journey north before the railways transformed inter-city travel.
The museum documents this coaching era through inn records, travellers' diaries, and artefacts from the posting trade: horn signals, ostlers' equipment, carriage lamps, and the timetables of the major coach services that passed through Uttoxeter on the London-Manchester-Liverpool route.
The Georgian prosperity generated by the coaching trade is visible in the handsome brick frontages that still characterise Uttoxeter's High Street.
Collections
Redfern's Cottage Museum holds collections documenting the social, commercial, and natural history of Uttoxeter and the surrounding Dove and Tean valleys from medieval times to the late twentieth century. Core holdings include market town heritage material — market records, auction documents, trade directories, and photographs of the weekly market from the Victorian era onwards; Georgian coaching paraphernalia; racing memorabilia from Uttoxeter Racecourse spanning two centuries; and material relating to Samuel Johnson's connection with the town.
Industrial holdings include pottery wasters, brick samples, and tools from the local clay industries.
Agricultural material includes farming tools, estate maps, tithe documents, and oral history recordings from farming families. The museum holds the John Redfern Collection — material assembled by the Victorian antiquarian — alongside its own growing photographic and documentary archive.
Wartime collections include personal papers and photographs from Uttoxeter families who served in both World Wars.
Johnson and Uttoxeter: A Story of Penance
The remarkable story of Samuel Johnson's return to Uttoxeter Market Place in his old age to make public penance for a youthful act of filial disobedience
Market Town Through the Centuries
Eight centuries of Uttoxeter's market charter, its Georgian coaching prosperity, its Victorian cattle market, and its racing heritage at Uttoxeter Racecourse
Dove and Tean: The Agricultural Landscape
The pastoral farming country around Uttoxeter, its clay industries, and the rural heritage of the Staffordshire moorland fringe
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.