(abbreviated '''Staffs''') is a landlocked
County in the
West Midlands Region of
England . The county town is
Stafford . Part of the
National Forest lies within its borders. It adjoins the
Ceremonial Counties of
Cheshire ,
Derbyshire ,
Leicestershire ,
Warwickshire ,
West Midlands ,
Worcestershire , and
Shropshire .
The largest city in ceremonial Staffordshire is
Stoke-on-Trent .
Lichfield also has
City Status , though is considerably smaller.
Wolverhampton and
Walsall used to be in Staffordshire but are now within the West Midlands. Major towns include
Burton Upon Trent ,
Newcastle-under-Lyme ,
Cannock ,
Tamworth , and Stafford itself.
Staffordshire is divided into a number of districts. These are
Cannock Chase ,
East Staffordshire ,
Lichfield ,
Newcastle-under-Lyme ,
South Staffordshire , the
Borough Of Stafford ,
Staffordshire Moorlands , and
Tamworth .
Stoke-on-Trent is administered as an independent
Unitary Authority .
See Also: History of Staffordshire
Historically, Staffordshire was divided into the five
Hundred s of
Cuttlestone ,
Offlow ,
Pirehill ,
Seisdon , and
Totmonslow .
The historic boundaries of Staffordshire cover much of what is now the
Metropolitan County of
West Midlands . An
Administrative County of Staffordshire was set up in 1889 under the
Local Government Act 1888 covering the county except the
County Borough s of
Wolverhampton ,
Walsall , and
West Bromwich in the south (the area known as the
Black Country ), and
Hanley in the north. The Act also saw the towns of
Tamworth (partly in Warwickshire) and
Burton Upon Trent (partly in Derbyshire) united entirely in Staffordshire.
town centre]]
Handsworth and
Perry Barr became part of the county borough of
Birmingham in the early
20th Century , and thus associated with
Warwickshire . Burton, in the east of the county, became a county borough in 1901, and was followed by
Smethwick , another Black Country town in 1907. In 1910 the six towns of the Staffordshire Potteries, including Hanley, became the single county borough of
Stoke-on-Trent .
A major reorganisation in the Black Country in 1966, under the recommendation of the , 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 protusion 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
April 1 ,
1974 the county boroughs of the Black Country and the Staffordshire urban district of
Aldridge-Brownhills 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
April 1 ,
1997 , under a recommendation of the
Banham Commission , Stoke-on-Trent became a unitary authority independent of Staffordshire once more.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by ''Office for National Statistics'' with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
The
Britannia Building Society is based in
Leek .
JCB are based in
Rocester near
Uttoxeter .
Alton Towers is nearby.
Alstom has a factory in Stafford, with some (power transmission) being sold in 2003 to
Areva .
Staffordshire has a completely comprehensive system with eight independent schools. Most secondary schools are from 11-16 or 16, but two in Staffordshire Moorlands and South Staffordshire are from 13-18. The percentage of pupils gaining five good GCSEs (A-C) including Maths and English in England is 45.8%. For Staffordshire it is 42.8%. In general, the rural parts of Staffordshire perform reasonably well, with the more urban areas performing quite badly. The calculation of Tamworth's GCSE results includes a school (the
Rawlett High School ) a few metres just over the boundary in the Lichfield district. If it wasn't for the inclusion of that school, Tamworth's results would be one of the worst districts in England. The best performing schools at GCSE are the
Clayton Hall Business And Language College in
Clayton , Newcastle-under-Lyme and the
John Taylor High School in
Barton-under-Needwood . East Staffordshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme have a large variation in their GCSE results, with schools either doing very well or badly. At A-level, Staffordshire does not have many high-performing schools (compared to nearby counties), although there are two that do - with the
King Edward VI School in Lichfield (the best overall school in Staffordshire) doing very well, followed by the Moorlands Sixth Form Centre (linked to three nearby schools) in
Cheadle . The John Taylor High School also does reasonably well. Nearby Stoke on Trent has a selective school that does well at A level.
- Lichfield 51.2
- Staffordshire Moorlands 49.7
- East Staffordshire 48.5
- Stafford 46.1
- South Staffordshire 44.6
- Newcastle-under-Lyme 43.7
- Cannock Chase 33.4
- (City of Stoke on Trent) 33.3
- Tamworth 32.7
Two major universities are located in the county.
Keele University is located in
Newcastle-under-Lyme . It is a research-intensive university with particular strengths in
Health and
Law .
Staffordshire University is located in
Stoke-on-Trent and in
Stafford . It has strengths in
Aerospace &
Aeronautics .
In the north and in the south the county is hilly, with wild
Moorland s in the far north and
Cannock Chase an area of natural beauty in the south. In the middle regions the surface is low and undulating. Throughout the entire county there are vast and important
Coal Field s. 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 also home to the highest village in Britain,
Flash . The village in the
Staffordshire Moorlands stands at 463m (1518ft) 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 turned out to be the highest.
is the
Local Authority for the county.
- transferred two Parish es from, and part of a township to, the county.
- lying in Warwickshire were ceded to Staffordshire.
- became part of the county borough of Birmingham and thus transferred from Staffordshire to Warwickshire by the Local Govt. Bd.'s Prov. Orders Conf. (No. 13) Act, 54 & 55 Vic. c. 161 (local act).
- became part of Birmingham, then in Warwickshire.
- was ceded to Warwickshire, also as part of Birmingham.
- and Rowley Regis became part of Worcestershire , as components of the newly-formed borough of Warley . Dudley was ceded from Worcestershire.
- , Dudley, Wolverhampton, Walsall and West Bromwich (plus Warley and Birmingham) became part of the newly-formed West Midlands County .
- circa , were acquired from the West Midlands.
''See the
List Of Places In Staffordshire and the
List Of Civil Parishes In Staffordshire ''
A type of bull terrier called the
Staffordshire Bull Terrier was bred for hunting purposes in this county. They are known affectionately as "Staffies", and "Nanny-dogs" for their good disposition with children. Staffies should not be confused with the considerably larger American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, and (English) Bull Terrier.
Staffordshire has an extensive network of canals including the
Birmingham And Fazeley Canal ,
Caldon Canal ,
Coventry Canal ,
Shropshire Union Canal and
Trent And Mersey Canal .
''See
Rail Transport In Staffordshire ''
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 has a junction in Tamworth at the south-east of the county, and heads south-west towards Birmingham. The
M6 runs north through the county and junctions 10A-16 are in the county. The
M6 Toll , the UK's first
Toll Motorway , runs through the county with junctions in Weeford near Lichfield, Cannock and joins the M6 heading north towards 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.
