The English folk legend of a shire oak, under the spreading limbs of which the ancient Anglo-Saxon open-air folkmoots and things were held, [1] is a feature of Merry England:
"In olden times the rude hustings, with its noisy surging crowds, was the old popular mode of appeal to the people, voter and voteless, a remnant of Saxon times when men gathered under the shire-oak..." [2]
The Shire Oak legendarium has resulted in a number of toponyms in present-day England. Oaks were often markers where three shires came together, as "Three-shire Oaks" at some of the tripoints of England.
In Essex, a venerable "shire oak" was identified at Kelvedon. [3] Shire Oak is a section of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in which county the Shire-Oak Colliery was excavated near Worksop.
Shire Oak is a suburban area within the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, recognised by the Ordnance Survey. [4] Shire Oak School is in Walsall Wood, West Midlands, where there is a Shire Oak Quarry and a Shire Oak Reservoir, [5] and there are numerous examples in England of a "Shire Oak Road" or "Shire Oak Street".
Providing a suitably Anglophone toponym, Shire Oak is a neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas and Shireoak Drive is a road in Houston.
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in what is now Northern Germany.
The historic counties of England are areas that were established for administration by the Normans, in many cases based on earlier kingdoms and shires created by the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Celts and others. They are alternatively known as ancient counties, traditional counties, former counties or simply as counties. In the centuries that followed their establishment, as well as their administrative function, the counties also helped define local culture and identity. This role continued even after the counties ceased to be used for administration after the creation of administrative counties in 1889, which were themselves amended by further local government reforms in the years following.
Bilston is a market town in the City of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshire, three wards of Wolverhampton City Council now cover the town: Bilston East and Bilston North, which almost entirely comprise parts of the historic Borough of Bilston, and Ettingshall, which comprises a part of Bilston and parts of Wolverhampton. The town had a population 34,639 at the 2021 Census.
Willenhall is a market town in the Walsall district, in the county of the West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2021 Census of 49,587. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of Staffordshire. It lies upon the River Tame, and is contiguous with both Wolverhampton and parts of South Staffordshire. The M6 motorway at Junction 10 separates it from Walsall.
Brownhills is a historic market and industrial town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall of the West Midlands, England. The town is located 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 village of Pelsall and the suburban area of Walsall Wood. It lies within the boundaries of the historic county of Staffordshire.
Darlaston is an industrial and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands of England. It is located near Bilston, Walsall, Wednesbury, West Bromwich, Willenhall and Wolverhampton. It was historically part of Staffordshire.
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands of England. It adjoins Cheshire to the north west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south east, West Midlands and Worcestershire to the south, and Shropshire to the west. The historic county of Staffordshire includes Wolverhampton, Walsall, and West Bromwich, these three being removed for administrative purposes in 1974 to the new West Midlands authority. The resulting administrative area of Staffordshire has a narrow southwards protrusion that runs west of West Midlands to the border of Worcestershire. The city of Stoke-on-Trent was removed from the admin area in the 1990s to form a unitary authority, but is still part of Staffordshire for ceremonial and traditional purposes.
Aston railway station serves the districts of Aston and Nechells in Birmingham, England. The passenger entrance is on Lichfield Road and accessible via the staircase or lifts to take you to the platform which is raised. 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.
Duddeston railway station serves the Duddeston area of Birmingham, England. It is sited on the Cross-City Line between Bromsgrove and Redditch in the south and Four Oaks and Lichfield Trent Valley in the north and the Chase Line between Birmingham International and Rugeley Trent Valley. Both lines run towards Birmingham New Street in the southbound direction.
Chadwell St Mary is an area of the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England. It is one of the traditional parishes in Thurrock and a former civil parish. Grays is 2 miles (3.2 km) to the west and 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south is Tilbury. The area is sometimes referred to simply as Chadwell, particularly before the 19th century.
Walsall Wood Football Club is an association football club based in Walsall Wood, near Walsall in the West Midlands, England. The club's first team began the 2024–25 season in the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands, which sits at level 8 of the English football league system, but withdrew in October 2024. The team play their home games at Oak Park and are nicknamed "The Wood".
Rushall is a historic village and suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands county of 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 Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN), a network of narrow canals in the industrial midlands of England, is built on various water levels. The three longest are the Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Walsall levels. Locks allow boats to move from one level to another.
Walsall Wood is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the county of the West Midlands, England. It is located middway between the towns of Aldridge and Brownhills. As well as Walsall and Lichfield.
The Bradley Branch or Bradley Locks Branch was a short canal of the Birmingham Canal Navigations in the West Midlands, England. Completed in 1849, it included nine locks, and had a number of basins which enabled it to service local collieries and industrial sites. The locks were unusual, as they had a single gate at both ends, rather than double gates at the bottom end. The route closed in the 1950s, and the top seven locks were covered over and landscaped.
The Shire Oak Academy is a coeducational academy school in Walsall Wood, West Midlands, England. More recently, the name was changed to Shire Oak Academy.
Walsall Council, formally Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands, England. The town of Walsall had been a borough from medieval times, which was reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 the council has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the majority of local government services in the borough. The council has been a member of the West Midlands Combined Authority since 2016.
Essex is a ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the south, Greater London to the south-west, and Hertfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is Southend-on-Sea, and the county town is Chelmsford.
The Four Shire Stone is a boundary marker that marks the point where the English counties of Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire once met. Since 1931, when the Worcestershire exclave of Evenlode was transferred to Gloucestershire, only three counties have met at the stone.
The Roman River is a river that flows entirely through the English county of Essex. It is a tributary of the River Colne, flowing into its tidal estuary below Colchester. The lower end of the Roman River is also tidal, with tidal water flowing upstream to just above Fingringhoe.