Staffordshire (pop. 876,104) is the Midlands county of England that includes the great industrial area around Stoke-on-Trent called the Potteries. But not all the county is industrial. Many people visit the lovely Dovedale area, on the border of Staffordshire and Derbyshire. Also popular is the open country of Cannock Chase, in southern Staffordshire. A belt of farmland stretches across the county to the south of Cannock Chase. This area has many attractive villages and the old cathedral city of Lichfield. Staffordshire covers an area of 1,012 square miles (2,620 square kilometers). Its administrative center is Stafford.
Staffordshire was reduced in size in 1974, when the new county of West Midlands was created. Much of southern Staffordshire became part of West Midlands, including the towns of Aldridge, Brownhills, Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, and Wolverhampton. These changes removed a small but densely populated land area and almost halved the county’s population.
People and government
Local customs.
Abbots Bromley is the scene every September of the ancient ceremony of the Horn Dance. A team of twelve men, six of them wearing antlers, dances through the village. Many experts believe that this custom began in pre-Christian times in honor of a Celtic god. Some people believe that the dance celebrates the villagers’ right to hunt in a local forest.
Recreation.
Association football is the most popular game, and the number of amateur players has increased considerably during the last few years. Stoke City, a professional football club, is based in Stoke. In cricket, Staffordshire’s county team plays in the minor counties league. Hockey is a popular sport. Many anglers use Staffordshire’s waterways for fishing. Uttoxeter has a race course used for National Hunt horse racing.
Local government.
The county of Staffordshire is divided into eight local government districts: Cannock Chase; East Staffordshire, which includes Burton upon Trent; Lichfield; Newcastle-under-Lyme; South Staffordshire; Stafford; Staffordshire Moorlands, which includes Leek; and Tamworth. Stoke-on-Trent is a separate unitary authority with all the local government powers within its boundaries. The crown court meets at Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent. The county’s police force is the Staffordshire Constabulary.
Economy
Manufacturing.
Stoke-on-Trent is the greatest pottery manufacturing center in the United Kingdom. The town was formed in the 1900’s from Stoke and the five towns of Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, and Tunstall. Workers in the town, called the Potteries, produce bricks, electrical insulators, sanitary ware, and tiles, as well as pottery. The workers use kaolin (china clay) from Devon and Cornwall, and clay and flint from Dorset.
Stoke-on-Trent has many other industries. Manufacturers there produce glass, machine tools, plastics, rubber, steel goods, and textiles. Another industrial center is Burton upon Trent, an important brewery town in eastern Staffordshire. The town also produces foodstuffs, hosiery, knitting machines, and steel goods.
Cannock, the center of the Cannock Chase coalfield, has light engineering works. Manufacturers produce brushes, electrical equipment, hosiery, and jewelry. Workers at Newcastle-under-Lyme produce bricks and tiles, cables, cotton goods, and electrical equipment. Stafford is an old town that developed around a shoe industry. The town still has a thriving tanning industry.
Mining.
Coal mining is an old industry and is still important, despite some decline. The main mining areas are the North Staffordshire coalfield and the Cannock Chase coalfield. Littleton Colliery at Cannock is one of the biggest in the Midlands.
Agriculture.
Farming in Staffordshire is mainly dairy farming. Pasture land forms two-thirds of the farming land. Farmers also raise sheep on the poorer pasture land of the Pennines. Some farmers keep poultry. Farmers in the southern part of the county grow crops.
Transport and communications.
The M6 motorway leads through the middle of the county, passing close to Cannock, Stafford, and Stoke-on-Trent. In southern Staffordshire, the M54 links the M6 with Telford in Shropshire, and the A5 runs across the county from east to west. The main line of the Midland Region of British Rail links Tamworth and Stafford with the great railway junction at Crewe in Cheshire East. A branch line serves Stoke-on-Trent.
Daily newspapers are published at Burton upon Trent and Stoke-on-Trent. Stoke-on-Trent also has a local BBC radio station and an independent station, Signal Radio. The county has about 10 local weekly newspapers.
Land
Location and size.
Staffordshire is an inland county. It borders Cheshire East on the north; Derbyshire and Leicestershire on the east; West Midlands, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire on the south; and Shropshire, and Telford and Wrekin on the west. The county measures 55 miles (89 kilometers) from north to south and 38 miles (61 kilometers) from east to west.
Land regions.
North Staffordshire contains the highest ground. This area, the extreme southwestern end of the Pennine range of hills, rises to 1,509 feet (460 meters). The North Staffordshire coalfield, which is centered on Stoke-on-Trent, forms part of the region.
South Staffordshire is a plain containing hilly ground. Cannock Chase is a large area of unspoilt countryside. It consists of nearly 54 square miles (140 square kilometers) of moorland, most of which rises more than 492 feet (150 meters) above sea level. Woodlands that once formed part of a royal hunting forest grow among the bracken on the hills. Cannock Chase also includes the northern tip of the Cannock Chase coalfield.
Rivers
include the Trent, which rises on Biddulph Moor, in northeast Staffordshire. Other rivers, the Tame, Sow, Blithe, and Dove, are tributaries of the Trent. The Trent flows eastwards across the Midlands before turning north to join the Humber. The River Stour flows southwards to the Severn.
Climate.
The annual rainfall generally averages between 25 and 30 inches (635 and 760 millimeters). In the north, the average is 40 inches (1,020 millimeters), because of the higher ground of the Pennine Hills. Temperatures in January average 39 °F (4 °C), except in the Pennines and on Cannock Chase. In these areas, January temperatures average 39 °F (3 °C). In July, temperatures average 63 °F (17 °C) in most areas. But the weather is sometimes colder on the higher ground.
History
The Romans settled near Lichfield. During the A.D. 600’s and 700’s, Tamworth, in the southeast, became a royal residence of the Kingdom of Mercia. Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Tutbury Castle, near Burton upon Trent, during the late 1500’s.
Josiah Wedgwood, a famous industrialist, developed the local pottery industry. He built his famous factory at Etruria, now part of Stoke-on-Trent. Today, workers produce pottery at the Wedgwood pottery at Barlaston, near Stoke-on-Trent.
Izaak Walton was born at Stafford and fished in the Dove. Samuel Johnson and David Garrick were educated at Lichfield Grammar School. They left Staffordshire together for London, where Johnson gained fame as a writer and Garrick as an actor. Another writer, Arnold Bennett, set some of his novels in the Potteries.
