Leekfrith | |
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St Matthew's Church, Meerbrook | |
Location within Staffordshire | |
Population | 363 (2011 census) |
Civil parish |
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District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Leekfrith is a civil parish in the Staffordshire Moorlands, in Staffordshire, England, north of the town of Leek. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 363. [1]
It is an area between the River Churnet which is near Leek, and the River Dane (the boundary with Cheshire) and its tributary Black Brook. The civil parishes of Heaton and Tittesworth are to the west and east.
The civil parish includes the village of Meerbrook, the Roaches (a rocky ridge in the north-east) and most of Tittesworth Reservoir. A chasm known as Lud's Church is near the River Dane. A hill named Gun is at the western boundary, and the village of Upper Hulme is near the eastern boundary. [2]
The ground is of boulder clay, and the underlying rock is millstone grit. The soil is loam and clay. The land is used mostly as pasture.
The word frith means a wood; much of the area was wooded countryside in medieval times, and some survives north-east of Abbey Green.
Leekfrith was historically a township in the large ancient parish of Leek. It became a separate civil parish in 1866. Until 1934 the township included the village of Abbey Green, but in that year Abbey Green and an area immediately north of the River Churnet was transferred to Leek. [3]
Dieulacres Abbey, near the present Abbey Green, was founded by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, lord of the manor of Leek. Around 1220 the Earl granted the monks an area known as the Rudyard Estate, in the south-west of Leekfrith, where the abbey was built. The village of Abbey Green probably began as an open space at the abbey gate. The abbey owned monastic granges in Leekfrith at Roche Grange, Wetwood and Foker.
Dieulacres Abbey was surrendered in 1538 at the dissolution of the monasteries, and the present Abbey Farm stands on part of the site.
In December 2016 four Iron Age gold torcs were found in a field, by two metal detectorists. [4]
Staffordshire is a landlocked ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands county and Worcestershire to the south, as well as Shropshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Stoke-on-Trent; the county town is Stafford.
Leek is a market town and civil parish in the county of Staffordshire, England, on the River Churnet. It is situated about 10 miles (16 km) north east of Stoke-on-Trent. It is an ancient borough and was granted its royal charter in 1214.
Endon is a village within the Staffordshire Moorlands district of Staffordshire, England. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Leek and 6 miles (9.7 km) north-northeast of Stoke-on-Trent. Endon was formerly a township in civil parish of Leek.
The River Churnet is a river in Staffordshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Dove.
Staffordshire Moorlands is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. Its council, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, is based in Leek, between the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the Peak District National Park. The 2001 census recorded the population as 94,489.
The Churnet Valley Railway is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway in the Staffordshire Moorlands of Staffordshire, England. It operates on part of the former Churnet Valley Line which was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway. The railway is roughly 10.5 miles (16.9 km) long from Kingsley and Froghall to Ipstones. The land from Leek Brook Junction to Ipstones was opened by Moorland & City Railways (MCR) in 2010 after they took a lease out from Network Rail. This has subsequently been purchased by the Churnet Valley Railway. The main stations along the line are Kingsley and Froghall, Consall, Cheddleton and Leek Brook. Work has begun to extend the line to the town of Leek which will act as the northern terminus of the line. The line between Leek and Waterhouses has also been reopened as part of the heritage railway as far as Ipstones.
Tittesworth Reservoir is a water storage reservoir near Leek, Staffordshire, England, fed by the River Churnet. The reservoir and associated water treatment works are owned and operated by Severn Trent Water. The reservoir was built in 1858 and extended in 1963. Tittesworth is the second largest reservoir by volume in the county of Staffordshire. The Peak District Boundary Walk runs past the reservoir.
Staffordshire Moorlands is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Karen Bradley, a Conservative who served as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport between 2016 and 2018, before she became Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2018 to 2019. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years. This seat has seen a swing to the Conservatives at the past four elections.
Abbey Green is a village near Leek in the English county of Staffordshire.
Waterhouses is a village in the south of the Staffordshire Peak District in England. It is around 8 miles from Leek and Ashbourne, being nearly the halfway point between the two towns on the A523 road, which roughly follows the southern boundary of the Peak District National Park. Waterhouses is also a civil parish, created in 1934 when the parishes of Calton, Cauldon, Waterfall and part of Ilam were merged; previously the village of Waterhouses was on the boundary of Waterfall and Cauldon parishes. The hamlet of Winkhill is also in the parish. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,134.
Bradnop is a village in Staffordshire, England, located just a few miles to the southeast of the market town of Leek. The name Bradnop was first recorded in 1197, and gets its name from the Old English words "bradan", meaning broad, and "hop", meaning enclosed valley. Historically Bradnop was a township of the parish of Leek, and later became a civil parish in its own right, with an area 3,568 acres.
Meerbrook is a small village in North Staffordshire, on the River Churnet at the edge of the Peak District National Park. It is situated four miles north of the town of Leek, in the parish of Leekfrith. The Roaches and Hen Cloud, popular walking and climbing locations, are very nearby.
Totmonslow is a hundred in the county of Staffordshire, England. The hundred is located in the north-east of Staffordshire, named after the hamlet of the same name, which is a half mile east of Draycott in the Moors. The hamlet was the seat of the hundred court.
Rushton is a civil parish in Staffordshire, England. The village within the civil parish, usually known as Rushton Spencer, is about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Leek and 7 miles (11 km) south of Macclesfield, on the A523 road which runs between these towns.
Heaton is a small village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Leek and about 7 miles (11 km) south of Macclesfield.
Tittesworth is a civil parish in the Staffordshire Moorlands, in Staffordshire, England. It extends from the edge of the town of Leek in the south-west to Blackshaw Moor in the north-east. In the east is the village of Thorncliffe. To the west is the civil parish of Leekfrith, where the boundary is the River Churnet.To the east is the civil parish of Onecote. Tittesworth Brook runs westwards through the area from Thorncliffe, and flows into the Churnet.
Leek railway station is the proposed and future terminus of the Churnet Valley Railway and is currently awaiting construction. It will be the second railway station in Leek.
Stanley is a small village in the Staffordshire Moorlands district of Staffordshire, England, about 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Leek. The village of Bagnall is about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south.
Longsdon is a village and civil parish in the Staffordshire Moorlands district of Staffordshire, England, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of Leek, on the A53 road.
Heathylee is a civil parish in the district of Staffordshire Moorlands in north-east Staffordshire, England.