Shenstone, Staffordshire | |
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![]() St John the Baptist, Shenstone | |
Location within Staffordshire | |
Population | 7,359 (2011) [1] |
OS grid reference | SK108044 |
Civil parish |
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District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Lichfield |
Postcode district | WS14 |
Dialling code | 01543 |
Police | Staffordshire |
Fire | Staffordshire |
Ambulance | West Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Shenstone is a village and civil parish [2] in The Lichfield District, Staffordshire, England, located between Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield. The parish also contains the village of Stonnall.
Shenstone is very well served with National Express West Midlands service X3 to Lichfield, Sutton Coldfield, Erdington and Birmingham along the Birmingham road. Chaserider service 36 operates through the village connecting to Walsall, Aldridge and Lichfield.
The railway station in the village is served by the Cross-City Line and offers connections to the West Coast Main Line at Lichfield Trent Valley and the Chase Line at Aston for services to Wolverhampton, Walsall, Cannock, Rugeley and Rugeley Trent Valley for the West Coast Main Line. There are also services to Redditch and Bromsgrove as well as Birmingham New Street. The village also is the only settlement in Lichfield District to have an active railway station after the two stations in Lichfield.
The village is also situated next to the M6 Toll which offers road connections to Stafford, Wolverhampton, South Staffordshire, Brownhills, Cannock, Tamworth and Coleshill. It also offers connections to the M6 Motorway and M42 Motorway. The village is also near Watling Street which connects from Holyhead in Wales to London. The village is also near the main Chester Road between Brownhills and Leamington Spa. [3]
The village is served by Greysbrooke Primary School on Barnes Road. A previous incarnation of the school was located on Birmingham Road, on the land currently occupied by the Greysbrooke cul-de-sac. Shenstone Lodge School lies on the Birmingham Road approximately 1⁄2 mile (800 metres) south of the village.
Shenstone was formerly the manufacturing home of the Norton Motorcycle. David Garside, a mechanical engineer who had developed a twin-rotor Wankel motorcycle for BSA, joined NVT to help establish production of the Norton Rotary bikes. The old factory still remains on the outskirts of the village, however has been taken over by Elbit Systems and is the site of regular protests.
The village is served by four public houses: The Fox & Hounds, The Railway, The Plough, and The Bull's Head.
The village had an estimated population of 2,234. The ethnic make-up of the village was 97% White, 2% Asian, and 1% Other ethnic. The religious makeup of the village was 62.7% Christian, 35.1% No Religion, 1% Muslim, 0.8% Sikh and 0.2% Hindu. [4]
Actress Helen Baxendale grew up in the village.
Henry Sanders, curate of Shenstone from 1755 to 1770, was author of The History and Antiquities of Shenstone, described as "a model parish history, containing elaborate accounts of the local manors, hamlets, farms, genealogies, and assessments". [5]
Shenstone is mentioned in the Domesday Book and its population described as quite large. [6]
Staffordshire is a landlocked ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south-east, the West Midlands county and Worcestershire to the south, and Shropshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and the county town is Stafford.
Aldridge is a town and civil parish in the Walsall borough, West Midlands, England. It is historically a village that was part of Staffordshire until 1974. The town is 3 miles (4.8 km) from Brownhills, 5 miles (8 km) from Walsall, 6 miles (9.7 km) from Sutton Coldfield and 7 miles (11 km) from Lichfield. The town is also the second-largest town in the Walsall Borough.
Cannock is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverhampton are also nearby.
Rugeley is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated 8 miles (13 km) north of Lichfield, 10 miles (16 km) south-east of Stafford, 5 miles (8.0 km) north-east of Hednesford and 11 miles (18 km) south-west of Uttoxeter. At the 2021 Census, the population was 26,156.
Brownhills is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. A few miles south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Walsall, a similar distance southwest of Lichfield and 13 miles (20.9 km) miles north-northwest of Birmingham. It is part of the Aldridge-Brownhills parliamentary constituency and neighbours the large suburban villages of Pelsall and Walsall Wood. It lies within the boundaries of the historic county of Staffordshire.
Burntwood is a former mining town and civil parish in the Lichfield District in Staffordshire, England, approximately 4 miles (6 km) west of Lichfield and north east of Brownhills. The town had a population of 26,049 and forms part of Lichfield district. The town forms one of the largest urbanised parishes in England. Samuel Johnson opened an academy in nearby Edial in 1736. The town is home to the smallest park in the UK, Prince's Park, which is located next to Christ Church on the junction of Farewell Lane and Church Road. The town expanded in the nineteenth century around the coal mining industry.
The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Walsall, but covers a larger area which also includes Aldridge, Bloxwich, Brownhills, Darlaston, Pelsall and Willenhall.
Cannock Chase is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. It is named after and covers a large part of Cannock Chase, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The council is based in the town of Cannock. The district also contains the towns of Hednesford and Rugeley, as well as a number of villages and surrounding rural areas.
The West Midlands region straddles the historic borders between the counties of Warwickshire, Staffordshire in the north, and Worcestershire in the south.
The Chase Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs from its southern terminus, Birmingham New Street, to Walsall, and then Rugeley Trent Valley in Staffordshire, where it joins the Trent Valley line. The name of the line refers to Cannock Chase which it runs through at its northern end.
Aston railway station serves the districts of Aston and Nechells in Birmingham, England. The passenger entrance is on Lichfield Road. The station is on the Cross-City Line and the Chase Line. It is one of two local stations for Aston Villa Football Club and near to the Aston Expressway and to Gravelly Hill Interchange.
Walsall railway station is the principal railway station of Walsall, West Midlands, England and situated in the heart of the town. It is operated by West Midlands Trains, with services provided by West Midlands Railway. The main entrance is situated inside the Saddlers Shopping Centre.
Great Wyrley is a village and civil parish in the South Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England. It forms a built up area with nearby Cheslyn Hay, Churchbridge, Landywood and Little Wyrley. It lies 6 miles north of Walsall and a similar distance from Wolverhampton. Cannock is directly north of the village. It had a population of 11,060 at the 2011 census.
Essington is a village and civil parish in South Staffordshire, England, located near the city of Wolverhampton and towns of Walsall, Bloxwich, Cannock and Brewood. The villages of Cheslyn Hay, Great Wyrley, Coven, Penkridge and Featherstone are also nearby. The village forms part of the Staffordshire/West Midlands border.
The South Staffordshire line is a partially mothballed and active former mainline that connects Burton-upon-Trent to Lichfield in Staffordshire and formerly then to the West Midlands towns of Walsall, Wednesbury, Dudley and Stourbridge. However, Dudley and Stourbridge were already joined to the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway's (OW&WR) line just north of Dudley Station. It in essence, continued to Stourbridge along with Wednesbury and Walsall.
Landywood is a village in the South Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England. Landywood is part of the South Staffordshire ward named "Great Wyrley Landywood", It lies 3 miles north of Bloxwich, 3 miles south from Cannock and 6 miles north of Walsall.
The South Staffordshire Railway (SSR) was authorised in 1847 to build a line from Dudley in the West Midlands of England through Walsall and Lichfield to a junction with the Midland Railway on the way to Burton upon Trent, with authorised share capital of £945,000. It was supported by the newly-formed London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and the Midland Railway, giving each company access to important areas. It completed its main line in 1849. As collieries in the Cannock region rose in importance, it built a second main line from Walsall to Rugeley, as well as numerous short spurs and connections to lines it intersected. Colliery working in the Cannock area expanded enormously, and mineral traffic carryings increased in step.
Rushall is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands, England. It is centred on the main road between Walsall and Lichfield. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book but has mostly developed since the 1920s. Rushall was historically a part of the county of Staffordshire before it was incorporated with much of the old Aldridge-Brownhills Urban District into the modern-day Walsall district.
The Midland Railway branches around Walsall were built to give the Midland Railway independent access to Wolverhampton, and to a colliery district at Brownhills. The Midland Railway had a stake in the South Staffordshire Railway giving it access to Walsall, and the Walsall and Wolverhampton Railway (W&WR) was opened in 1872. At first the W&WR was independent and neutral, but it was acquired by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), and then sold by that company to the Midland Railway.
The Cannock Chase Railways were mineral lines which served the collieries and many parts of Staffordshire. The branch lines and sidings branched off the local mainlines including the Grand Junction Railway, Chase Line, South Staffordshire Line and Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line. The main junction on the railways was Norton Junction. This junction connected the lines from Walsall and Hednesford to Wolverhampton and Rugeley Trent Valley for the local collieries and the mines in the towns of Brownhills, Burntwood, Chasetown, Penkridge and Cannock.