DRAYTON, or MARKET DRAYTON, is a market town, in the parish of Drayton in Hales—which latter is partly in the hundred of Bradford North, in the county of Salop, and partly in the northern division of the hundred of Pirehill, county of Stafford; 151 miles N.W. by N. from London, 19 N.E. by N. from Shrewsbury, 20 N.W. from Stafford, 9 W.S.W. from Whitmore, a first class station on the London and North-Western Railway, and 18 S.W. from Newcastle-under-Lyme, which town is about a mile and a half from the line of the North Staffordshire Railway; situated on the north-western bank of the river Tern. In Domesday book this place is called _Druitune_; and the manor belonged successively to the abbot of St. Ebrulph, in Normandy, and the abbot of Combermere in Cheshire; and it was from the latter that it received the grant of a market and fair. Blore heath, about two miles from the town, was the scene of a sanguinary battle between the houses of York and Lancaster; the latter, with a force of ten thousand men, being defeated by the Yorkists, with only half that number. At one period, the town enjoyed considerable business, and had one of the best markets in this district, but in consequence of the construction of the Grand Trunk canal its trade declined. Under the head of manufactures, all that can be mentioned is that for hair-cloth; there are several corn mills and maltings, and two iron foundries, one of which, Messrs. William and John Rodenhurst, employ upwards of one hundred hands. The petty sessions for the Drayton division of the hundred are held here monthly, and the town is included in the twenty-seventh circuit of County Court towns, under the acts for the recovery of debts to any amount, not exceeding £50. The inhabitants of the Staffordshire portion of the parish have the privilege of proving wills before a steward or judge, appointed by the lord of the manor, which custom is recorded to have existed prior to the year 1680.