ROCESTER, a parish in the southern division of the hundred of TOTMONSLOW, county of STAFFORD, 4 miles (N. by E.) from Uttoxeter, containing 1037 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Stafford, and diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's books at £4, endowed with £400 private benefaction, £600 royal bounty, and £600 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of Mrs. Alsop. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, has lately received an addition of three hundred and thirty sittings, of which two hundred and seventy are free, the Incorporated Society for the enlargement of churches and chapels having granted £250 towards defraying the expense.

The rivers Churnet and Dove run through the parish, and unite a little below the village. A canal passes from Uttoxeter to the Potteries, by which coal and lime are brought for the supply of the neighbourhood, as also goods from Liverpool and Manchester. A large cotton-mill, built by the late Sir Richard Arkwright, is in active operation. Two poor children are taught for a trifling annuity, the gift of Mary Biddulph. An abbey for Black canons, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was founded here, in 1146, by Richard Bacoun, the revenue of which, at the dissolution, was valued at £111. 11. 7.