The county is a mix of rural and urban,with an area of 1,713 square kilometres (661sqmi) and a population of 1,131,052. After Stoke-on-Trent (258,366),the largest settlements are Tamworth (78,646),Newcastle-under-Lyme (75,082) and Burton upon Trent (also spelled Burton-upon-Trent,72,299). Lichfield (33,816) is also a city. The county contains nine districts:eight are part of a two-tier non-metropolitan county also called Staffordshire,whereas the district of Stoke-on-Trent is a unitary area. The county historically included the northwest of the West Midlands county,including Dudley,Walsall and Wolverhampton.
Staffordshire is hilly to the north and south. The southern end of the Pennines is in the north,containing part of the Peak DistrictNational Park,while the Cannock ChaseAONB and part of the National Forest are in the south. The River Trent and its tributaries drain most of the county. The river has its source near Biddulph and flows through Staffordshire in a southwesterly direction,meeting the Sow just east of Stafford before turning north-east at its confluence with the River Tame and exiting into Derbyshire immediately after Burton-upon-Trent.
Staffordshire contains a number of Iron Agetumuli and Roman camps,and was settled by the Angles in the sixth century;the oldest Stafford knot,the county's symbol,can be seen on an Anglian cross in the churchyard of Stoke Minster. The county was formed in the early tenth century,when Stafford became the capital of Mercia. The county was relatively settled in the following centuries,and rapidly industrialised during the Industrial Revolution,when the North Staffordshire coalfield was exploited and fuelled the iron and automobilie industries in the south of the county. Pottery is the county's most famous export;a limited amount is still produced in Stoke-on-Trent.
Handsworth and Perry Barr became part of the county borough of Birmingham, and thus Warwickshire, in 1911 and 1928 respectively. Burton, in the east of the county, became a county borough in 1901, and was followed by Smethwick, another town in the Black Country in 1907. In 1910 the six towns of the Staffordshire Potteries, including Hanley, became the single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent.
The Staffordshire Hoard, discovered in a field near Lichfield in July 2009, is perhaps the most important collection of Anglo-Saxon objects found in England.
A major reorganisation in the Black Country in 1966, under the recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England, led to the creation of an area of contiguous county boroughs. The County Borough of Warley was formed by the merger of the county borough of Smethwick and municipal borough of Rowley Regis with the Worcestershire borough of Oldbury: the resulting county borough was associated with Worcestershire. Meanwhile, the county borough of Dudley, historically a detached part of Worcestershire, expanded and became associated with Staffordshire instead. This reorganisation led to the administrative county of Staffordshire having a thin protrusion passing between the county boroughs (to the east) and Shropshire, to the west, to form a short border with Worcestershire.
Under the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974, the county boroughs of the Black Country and the Aldridge-Brownhills Urban District of Staffordshire became, along with Birmingham, Solihull, and Coventry and other districts, a new metropolitan county of West Midlands. County boroughs were abolished, with Stoke becoming a non-metropolitan district in Staffordshire, and Burton forming an unparished area in the district of East Staffordshire. On 1 April 1997, under a recommendation of the Banham Commission, Stoke-on-Trent became a unitary authority independent of Staffordshire once more.
In July 2009, the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found in Britain was discovered in a field near Lichfield. The artefacts, known as The Staffordshire Hoard, have tentatively been dated to the 7th or 8th centuries, placing the origin of the items in the time of the Kingdom of Mercia.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire at current basic prices publishedArchived 22 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine (pp.240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British pounds sterling.
Some nationally and internationally known companies have their base in Staffordshire. They include the Britannia Building Society which is based in Leek. JCB is based in Rocester near Uttoxeter and Bet365 which is based in Stoke-on-Trent. The theme park Alton Towers is in the Staffordshire Moorlands and several of the world's largest pottery manufacturers are based in Stoke-on-Trent. The town of Burton upon Trent is known for its beer brewing industry with several major brands such as Carling, Cobra and Marston's brewed there.
Staffordshire has a completely comprehensive system with eight independent schools. Most secondary schools are from 11 to 16 or 18, but two in Staffordshire Moorlands and South Staffordshire are from 13 to 18. Resources are shared where appropriate.
Stoke City, one of the oldest professional football clubs in existence, were founded in 1863 and played at the Victoria Ground for 119 years from 1878 until their relocation to the Britannia Stadium (now named the Bet365 Stadium) in 1997. They were among the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888.[9] By the late 1930s, they were established First Division members and boasted arguably the finest footballer in England at the time in right-winger Stanley Matthews, who had two spells with the club between 1930 and his retirement in 1965 at the age of 50.[10] In 1972, the club finally won a major trophy when they lifted the Football League Cup,[11] but after relegation from the First Division in 1985 they would not experience top flight football for 23 years.[12] After spending some two decades bouncing between the second and third tiers of the English league, they finally reclaimed their top flight status in 2008 by securing promotion to the Premier League.[13] Stoke City reached their first FA Cup final in 2011, but lost to Manchester City.[14]
Port Vale, who like Stoke City play in Stoke-on-Trent, were formed in 1876 and became members of the Football League in 1892. After more than 70 years at various stadiums around the city, the club moved to its present home, Vale Park, in 1950. In early 1936, they had eliminated First Division champions Sunderland from the FA Cup. Another FA Cup success came in February 1988 when they eliminated seven-time winners Tottenham Hotspur from the competition. Promotion to the Second Division for the first time since the 1960s was secured in 1989, and Vale would spend nine of the next 11 years at this level. However, the club has been less successful since the turn of the 21st century, and suffered relegation to League Two – the fourth tier of the English league – in 2008. The club has seen an upturn in its fortunes as the club was promoted to League One in the 2012–13 season. In the 2016-17 season Port Vale were relegated back to League Two.[15]
In the north and in the south, the county is hilly, with the southern foothills and uplands of the Pennines in the north, with parts of it in the Peak District National Park,[20] and Cannock Chase an area of natural beauty in the south. Most of the northern upland terrain is in the Staffordshire Moorlands district. In the middle regions, the landscape is low and undulating. Throughout the entire county there are vast and important coalfields. In the southern part, there are also rich iron ore deposits. The largest river is the Trent. The soil is chiefly clay and agriculture was not highly developed until the mechanisation of farms.
Staffordshire is home to the highest village in Britain, Flash. The village, in the Staffordshire Moorlands, stands at 1,519ft (463m) above sea level. This record was confirmed in 2007 by the Ordnance Survey after Wanlockhead in Scotland also claimed the record. The BBC's The One Show investigated the case in a bid to settle the argument and Flash was confirmed as the higher of the two. The highest point in Staffordshire is Cheeks Hill.[21]
Staffordshire contains sectors of three green belt areas, two of which surround the large conurbations of Stoke-on-Trent and the West Midlands, and were first drawn up from the 1950s. All the county's districts contain some portion of belt.
Demographics
According to the 2001 Census the population of the Non-metropolitan Staffordshire is 806,744 and the population of Stoke-on-Trent was 240,636 making a total population of 1,047,380. In non-metropolitan Staffordshire, White British is the largest ethnicity, making up 96% of the population. This is followed by Irish, making up 0.6%. Non-White citizens make up 2% of the population. The largest Non-White ethnic group are British Pakistanis.[22] 94% of the population was born in England, and those born in Scotland and Wales together make up 1% of the total population.[23]
Mann+Hummel UK, at Featherstone, make air and oil filters. Armitage Shanks (owned by Ideal Standard International) is to the east of Rugeley in Armitage with Handsacre; JCB Cab Systems was next to the A51 on the Riverside Industrial Estate. The UK headquarters of GE Grid Solutions is based at Stafford as well as a factory and the UK headquarters of Bostikon Common Road, in the north of the town.
Staffordshire operates a cabinet-style council. There are 62 councillors for Staffordshire. The Full Council elects a cabinet of 10 councillors, including the council leader, from the majority party. Each cabinet member has their own portfolio about which they make the "day to day" decisions.[25][26]
Primitive Methodism was founded in Staffordshire by Hugh Bourne, a native of Stoke-on-Trent, at a public gathering in the village of Mow Cop. He originally followed the Wesleyan form of Methodism but in 1801 he reformed the Methodist service by conducting it outside. By 1811 with his brother he founded the first chapel in the Tunstall area of Stoke-on-Trent.[29]
Judaism
The most popular synagogue in the county is on London Road in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, which opened in 2006 and replaced the former Birch Terrace synagogue in Hanley.[30] According to the 2001 census there were 407 Jews in the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire,[31] and 83 in Stoke-on-Trent.[32]
Islam
There are 15 mosques in Stoke-on-Trent, 5 in Burton-upon-Trent and 1 in both Stafford and Lichfield.[33] As of 2019 a new mosque has finished construction in the Hanley area of Stoke-on-Trent and is the first purpose-built mosque in the area. At the 2001 census there were 7,658 Muslims in Stoke-on-Trent and 6,081 in the rest of Staffordshire, with a total of 13,739 making up 1.3% of the population. 62.9% (3823) of the Muslims in the rest of Staffordshire are from the town of Burton-upon-Trent.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]
Staffordshire has several railways that pass through and serve settlements within the county. The most important of these is the West Coast Main Line, which facilitates through services between London and Scotland. Few, if any, of these stop inside the county's borders. Stafford railway station is at a junction with the line to Birmingham New Street, a major hub, and is predominantly served by London Northwestern Railway. Stoke-on-Trent railway station is the busiest station in Staffordshire [42] and is served by long-distance CrossCountry and Avanti West Coast trains to Manchester. This station is also the terminus of the North Staffordshire line to Derby via Uttoxeter, which narrowly avoided closure in the 1960s. Stone railway station opened in 2008.
Roads
The county has relatively good links to the national roads network. Several major roads intersect the county, making it a popular location for commuters working in Birmingham. The M42 junction 10 is in Tamworth and the motorway heads southwest towards Birmingham. The M6 runs north–south through the county, which contains junctions 10A–16. The M6 Toll, the UK's first toll motorway, runs through the county with junctions in Weeford near Lichfield, Cannock and joins the M6 south of Stafford.
The A5 and A34 run through the county. The former has been significantly widened to a dual carriageway at several sections, although much of it remains single carriageway.
Air
There are currently no airports with scheduled flights in the county, with the nearest ones being Birmingham, East Midlands and Manchester. Depending on the location, there is, however, Wolverhampton Airport in Bobbington and Tatenhill Airfield near Burton-upon-Trent, both of which are small airports catering for general aviation.
Bus
Services within the county are chiefly provided by Arriva Midlands, D&G Bus and First Potteries. National Express coaches serve towns and cities on a daily basis.
Media
Newspapers
Daily Newspapers in Staffordshire are The Sentinel, covering Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Staffordshire Moorlands, Burton Mail which covers the town of Burton-upon-Trent and the Express & Star which has several editions covering Tamworth, Lichfield, Cannock Chase and Stafford.
United Christian Broadcasters, which has facilities in Burslem and Hanchurch, has been involved in radio broadcasting since 1987. Today it is broadcast nationally in the UK through DAB digital radio.
Tamworth is a market town and borough in Staffordshire, England, 14 miles (23 km) north-east of Birmingham. The town borders North Warwickshire to the east and north, Lichfield to the north, south-west and west. The town takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through it. The population of Tamworth borough (2021) was 78,838. The wider urban area had a population of 81,964.
Lichfield is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated 18 miles (29 km) south-east of Stafford, 9 miles (14 km) north-east of Walsall, 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Tamworth and 13 miles (21 km) south-west of Burton Upon Trent. At the time of the 2021 Census, the population was 34,738 and the population of the wider Lichfield District was 106,400.
The Midlands is the central part of England, bordered by Wales, Northern England, Southern England and the North Sea. The Midlands were important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries and are split into the West Midlands and East Midlands. The biggest city, Birmingham, is the second-largest in the United Kingdom. Other important cities include Coventry, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, and Worcester
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2021, it had a population of 76,270. The demonym for residents of the town is Burtonian. Burton is located 11 miles (18 km) south-west of Derby, 27 miles (43 km) north-west of Leicester, 28 miles (45 km) west-south-west of Nottingham and 20 miles (32 km) south of the southern entrance to the Peak District National Park.
Stafford is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about 15 miles (24 km) north of Wolverhampton, 15 miles (24 km) south of Stoke-on-Trent and 24 miles (39 km) northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 in the 2021 census, It is the main settlement within the larger borough of Stafford which had a population of 136,837 (2021).
The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of International Territorial Level for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. The region consists of the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. The region has seven cities; Birmingham, Coventry, Hereford, Lichfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Worcester.
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 24,386.
East Staffordshire is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire, England. Its two main towns are Burton upon Trent and Uttoxeter.
The Birmingham Metropolitan Area is an urban agglomeration located in the West Midlands region of England with a population of around 4.3 million people, making it the second largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom. It comprises the three cities and four metropolitan boroughs which make up the Metropolitan county of the West Midlands, along with its commuter zones, which extend into the neighbouring district authorities of Bromsgrove and Redditch in Worcestershire; Cannock Chase, Lichfield, South Staffordshire and Tamworth in Staffordshire; and all five district authorities of Warwickshire, including the towns of Bedworth, Coleshill, Nuneaton, Royal Leamington Spa, and Warwick itself.
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.
Shenstone is a village and civil parish in The Lichfield District, Staffordshire, England, located between Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield. The parish also contains the village of Stonnall.
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service responsible for fire protection, prevention, intervention and emergency rescue in the county of Staffordshire and unitary authority of Stoke-on-Trent. The county has a population of 1,126,200 and covers a total area of 2,260 km2. Staffordshire shares the majority of its border with Derbyshire, Cheshire, West Midlands (County) and Shropshire; although, in much shorter stretches, the county also butts up against Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire.
Kingstone is a village and civil parish within the English county of Staffordshire.
The county of Staffordshire is divided into nine districts: Tamworth, Lichfield, Cannock Chase, South Staffordshire, Stafford, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire Moorlands, East Staffordshire, and Stoke-on-Trent.
The West Midlands Green Belt is a statutory green belt environmental and planning policy that regulates the rural space within the West Midlands region of England. It is contained within the counties of the West Midlands, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Essentially, the function of the green belt is to more rigorously manage development around the cities, towns and villages in the large West Midlands conurbations centred around Birmingham and Coventry, discouraging convergence. It is managed by local planning authorities on guidance from central government.
↑ Neighbourhood Statistics. "Religion in Staffordshire". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
↑ Neighbourhood Statistics. "Religion in Stoke-on-Trent". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
↑ Neighbourhood Statistics. "Horninglow Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
↑ Neighbourhood Statistics. "Eton Park Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
↑ Neighbourhood Statistics. "Burton Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
↑ Neighbourhood Statistics. "Winshill Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
↑ Neighbourhood Statistics. "Brizlincote Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
↑ Neighbourhood Statistics. "Stapenhill Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
↑ Neighbourhood Statistics. "Anglesey Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
↑ Neighbourhood Statistics. "Shobnall Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
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