Portal:Staffordshire

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The Staffordshire Portal

Introduction

Staffordshire (/ˈstæfərdʃɪər, -ʃər/; postal abbreviation Staffs.) 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.

The county has an area of 1,713 square kilometres (661 sq mi) 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 (72,299); the city of Lichfield has a population of 33,816. For local government purposes Staffordshire comprises a non-metropolitan county, with nine districts, and the unitary authority area of Stoke-on-Trent. The county historically included the north-west of the West Midlands county, including Walsall, West Bromwich, 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 District National Park, while the Cannock Chase AONB and part of the National Forest are in the south. The River Trent and its tributaries drain most of the county. From its source, near Biddulph, the river flows through Staffordshire in a southwesterly direction, meeting the Sow just east of Stafford; it then meets the River Tame and turns north-east, exiting into Derbyshire immediately downstream of Burton upon Trent. (Full article...)

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The Staffordshire Bull Terrier, also called the Staffy or Stafford, is a purebred dog of small to medium size in the terrier group that originated in the northern parts of Birmingham and in the Black Country of Staffordshire, for which it is named. They descended from 19th-century bull terriers that were developed by crossing bulldogs with various terriers to create a generic type of dog generally known as bull and terriers. Staffords share the same ancestry with the modern Bull Terrier, although the two breeds developed along independent lines, and do not resemble each other. Modern Staffords more closely resemble the old type of bull terrier, and were first recognised as a purebred dog breed by The Kennel Club of Great Britain in 1935.

Within the broad sweep of dog history, the story behind the modern Stafford is rather brief and somewhat confusing because of the multiple aliases attached to these dogs in centuries past, such as the "Patched Fighting Terrier", "Staffordshire Pit-dog", "Brindle Bull", and "Bull-and-Terrier". Similar crosses also had aliases such as half-and-halfs and half-breds. Blood sports such as bull-baiting and bear-baiting were outlawed with the passing of the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 by Parliament, making it illegal to bait animals but promoting the matching of dogs against each other. Dog breeders migrated away from the heavier bulldogs, and introduced terrier blood into their crosses for gameness and agility. These bull and terrier crosses produced the ancestral breeding stock that, over the course of decades, evolved into the modern conformation show dogs we know today as the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the Bull Terrier. It was shortly before the American Civil War that immigrants from Great Britain brought their bull and terrier crossbreeds into the U.S. They became the ancestral progenitors of the American Staffordshire Terrier (AmStaff), Miniature Bull Terrier, Boston Terrier, and American Pit Bull Terrier. (Full article...)

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Topics

Towns & Districts	• STAFFORDSHIRE \| PLACES \| CIVIL PARISHES \| Cannock Chase \| East Staffordshire \| Lichfield \| Newcastle-under-Lyme \| South Staffordshire \| Stafford \| Staffordshire Moorlands \| Tamworth
History	• HISTORY \| Staffordshire Hoard \| Tamworth Castle \| Stafford Castle \|Tutbury Castle \|Chartley Castle \| MILITARY HISTORY \| Battle of Hopton Heath \| South Staffordshire Regiment North Staffordshire Regiment \| Staffordshire Yeomanry
Sights	• PLACES OF INTEREST \| Drayton Manor Theme Park \| Alton Towers \| Rudyard Lake Steam Railway \| CASTLES & HISTORIC HOUSES \| Ancient High House \| Barlaston Hall \| Barlaston Hall \| Barlaston Hall \| Tixall Gatehouse \| Alton Castle \| Blithfield Hall \| Wootton Lodge \| Erasmus Darwin House \| Hospital of St John Baptist without the Barrs \| Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum \| Ford Green Hall \| Himley Hall \| GRADE I LISTED BUILDINGS \| *GRADE II LISTED BUILDINGS** \| Grade II* listed buildings in Cannock Chase (district) \| Grade II* listed buildings in Cannock Chase (district) \| Grade II* listed buildings in East Staffordshire \| Grade II* listed buildings in Lichfield (district) \| Grade II* listed buildings in Newcastle-under-Lyme (borough) \| Grade II* listed buildings in South Staffordshire \| Grade II* listed buildings in Stafford (borough) \| Grade II* listed buildings in Staffordshire Moorlands \| Grade II* listed buildings in Stoke-on-Trent \| Grade II* listed buildings in Tamworth (borough)
Sport & Recreation	• SPORTING TEAMS \| Stoke City F.C. \| Port Vale F.C. \| SPORTING VENUES \| Britannia Stadium \| Victoria Ground \| Vale Park \| SPORTING EVENTS \| Potteries derby \| RECREATION \| Scouting
Transport	• CANALS \| Caldon Canal \| Bridgewater Canal \|Trent and Mersey Canal \| Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal \| Hatherton Canal \| Lichfield Canal \| Shropshire Union Canal \| Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal \| Stourbridge Extension Canal \| Birmingham and Fazeley Canal \| RAIL \| Stoke-on-Trent railway station \| Lichfield City railway station \| Stafford railway station \| West Coast Main Line \| ROADS \| M6 \| M6 Toll \| M54 \| M64 \| A50 \| A34
Education & Services	• SCHOOLS \| List of schools in Stoke-on-Trent \| UNIVERSITIES \| Keele University \| Staffordshire University \| SERVICES \| Fire and Rescue \| Police \| Severn Trent
Culture & Media	• LITERATURE \| Arnold Bennett \| Anna of the Five Towns \| Clayhanger \| THEATRE \| Regent Theatre \| New Vic Theatre \| Lichfield Garrick Theatre \| NEWSPAPERS \| The Sentinel \| Burton Mail \| RADIO \| BBC Radio Stoke \| Signal 1 \| Signal 2 \| Stafford FM \| Windmill Broadcasting \| 6 Towns Radio
Religion	• RELIGION \| Grade I listed churches in Staffordshire \| Bishop of Lichfield \| Lichfield Cathedral \| Diocese of Lichfield \| Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham

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Mow Cop Castle is a folly at Mow Cop, near Harriseahead, Staffordshire.Traces of a prehistoric camp have been found here, but in 1754, Randle Wilbraham of nearby Rode Hall built an elaborate summerhouse looking like a medieval fortress and round tower.

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The following are images from various Staffordshire-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Stoke-on-Trent railway station, built 1848. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 2Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent City Centre. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 3Moors located within the district (from Staffordshire Moorlands)
Image 4Stafford railway station (from Stafford)
Image 5Terraced housing is a common feature in the city. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 6Burslem School of Art (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 7Biddulph Grange in Biddulph, the district's second largest town. (from Staffordshire Moorlands)
Image 8Shire Hall and Market Square (from Stafford)
Image 9Hugh Bourne, founder of Primitive Methodism (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 10"CAPO" Modernist Sculpture depicting the head of Josiah Wedgwood by Vincent Woropay © Eirian Evans via Geograph. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 11Colorado Bouillons Regina and teapots, vitrified tableware by Dudson Brothers Ltd. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 12A50 close to Longton. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 13Stafford on the 14th-century Gough Map, at bottom centre. Stone is bottom left, Lichfield centre left. North is to the left (from Stafford)
Image 14Looking southeast over the Roaches and Hen Cloud (from Staffordshire Moorlands)
Image 15The author Izaak Walton was born in Stafford. Portrait by Jacob Huysmans (from Stafford)
Image 16Colclough China Longton, a factory typical of the mid 20th century (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 17Cheadle, the district's third largest town. (from Staffordshire Moorlands)
Image 18Stafford Hospital (from Stafford)
Image 19Man of Fire, a 1964 sculpture installed on Lewis's Store (later Debenhams), Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 20Victoria Park, Stafford (from Stafford)
Image 21Flag of Staffordshire (from History of Staffordshire)
Image 22Chatterley Whitfield Colliery (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 23Statue of Josiah Wedgwood by Edward Davis unveiled at its present location in 1863 (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 24Lemmy, born in Burslem (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 25Stoke City's Bet365 Stadium, opened in 1997, has a 30,089 capacity. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 26The Borough Hall (from Stafford)
Image 27Stafford CC versus the MCC in their Centenary Year 1964 (from Stafford)
Image 28Map of Stafford (from Stafford)
Image 29Stafford Castle (from Stafford)
Image 30A Man Can't Fly sculpture, Stoke-on-Trent, England. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 31Hundreds of Staffordshire (with North to the right) (from History of Staffordshire)
Image 32Ancient High House (from Stafford)
Image 33Potteries Oatcake. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 34County Buildings, Martin Street, Stafford (from Stafford)
Image 35The Golden sculpture, March 2017. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 36Miss Elizabeth is a pleasure boat that travels the length of Trentham Lake, within Trentham Gardens (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 37A diagram of local rail services in Stoke-on-Trent. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 38Leek, the district's largest town and administrative headquarters. (from Staffordshire Moorlands)
Image 39View from Stafford Castle (from Stafford)
Image 40Vale Park, home of Port Vale. Completed in 1950, at the time of its construction it was nicknamed 'The Wembley of the North'. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 41Stafford Crown Court (from Stafford)
Image 42Stafford Knot (from Stafford)
Image 43Tunstall Tower Square. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 44Arnold Bennett Statue Hanley, located on the approach to Potteries Museum and Art Gallery (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 45Canal on New Leek Road. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 46Stoke-on-Trent Town Hall (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 47Porcelain teapot by Henry and Richard Daniel, 1830 (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 48Restored bottle kilns, Stoke-on-Trent (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 49Royal Stoke University Hospital (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 50Staffordshire University Stoke campus (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 51Perseus with the Head of Medusa sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini at Trentham Gardens (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 52Arnold Bennett, raised in Hanley. (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 53Former City Central Library & Archives, Bethesda Street, Hanley (from Stoke-on-Trent)
Image 54St Chad's Church, Stafford (from Stafford)
Image 55Town Twinning Sign on Eccleshall Road (from Stafford)
Image 56Potteries Museum & Art Gallery (from Stoke-on-Trent)

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Interesting facts

Did you know...

... that British police officer Suzette Davenport was responsible for crime in Staffordshire and intelligence in the West Midlands?
... that Winton Square in Stoke-on-Trent has been described as the best example of neo-Jacobean architecture in Staffordshire?
... that the Staffordshire County League (South) was originally formed as the Walsall & District Junior League after a meeting of football club representatives at the People's Coffee House in Walsall?
... that in medieval Tutbury, Staffordshire, minstrels chased a bull that, if caught, could be eaten or exchanged for forty pennies?