So far, as we have seen, Stafford Castle was a royal castle. It is true that in the reign of Henry II.'s predecessor, Stephen, we find the castle again in the hands of a Robert de Stafford, who speaks of it as "castellum meum."[678] Apparently the troubles of Stephen's reign afforded an opportunity to the family of the first Norman sheriff to get the castle again into their hands. But under the stronger rule of Henry II. the crown recovered its rights, and the gift of the chapel in the castle evidently could not be made without the consent of the king. The gaol which Henry II. caused to be made in Stafford was doubtless in this castle.[679] John repaired the castle,[680] and ordered _bretasches_, or wooden towers, to be made in the forest of Arundel, and sent to Stafford:[681] a statement which gives us an insight into the nature of the castle in John's reign. But it was the tendency of sheriffdoms to become hereditary, as Dr Stubbs has pointed out,[682] and this seems to have been the case at Stafford. In the reign of Edward I. a local jury decided that Nicholas, Baron of Stafford, held the castle of Stafford from the king _in capite_, by the service of three and a half knights' fees;[683] and in 1348, Ralph, Baron of Stafford, obtained a license from Edward III. "to fortify and crenellate his _manses_ of Stafford and Madlee with a wall of stone and lime, and to make castles thereof."[684] The indenture made with the mason a year previously is still extant, and states that the castle is to be built upon the _moële_ in the manor, whereby the motte is evidently meant.[685] Besides, the deed is dated "at the Chastel of Stafford," showing that the new castle of stone and lime was on the site of an already existing castle. We might spin out further evidence of the identity of the site of William's castle with that of the present one, from the name of the manor of Castel, which grew up around it, displacing the equally suggestive name of Montville, which we find in Domesday Book.[686] Against the existence of another castle in the town we have the absence of any such castle in William Smith's plan of 1588; the silence of Speed and Leland, who only mention the present castle;[687] and the statement of Plot, who wrote about the end of the 17th century, that "he could not hear any footsteps remaining" of a castle in Stafford.[688] We may therefore safely conclude that it was only due to the fancy of some Elizabethan antiquary that in an old map of that time a spot to the south-west of the town is marked with the inscription, "The old castle, built by Edward the Elder, and in memorie fortified with reel walls."[689] The value of Stafford town had risen at the time of the Survey, as the king had 7_l._ for his share, which would make the whole revenue to king and earl 10_l._ 10_s._, as against 9_l._ before the Conquest. The property of the canons of Stafford had risen from £1 to £3.[690] The area of the bailey is 1-3/5 acres.