Staffordshire
Locator map for the English administrative region of Staffordshire.
County of west central England (from April 1997 Stoke-on-Trent has been a separate unitary authority).
Area
2,720 sq km/1,050 sq mi
Towns Stafford (administrative headquarters), Newcastle-under-Lyme, Lichfield, Tamworth, Leek, Uttoxeter |
Physical
largely flat, with hilly regions in the north (part of the Peak district) and southwest; River Trent and its tributaries (the Churnet, Dove, Penk, Sow, and Tame); Cannock Chase (a large open area in the middle of the county)
Features
ruined castles at Chartley (1220), Tamworth (1180), and Tutbury (1270); Lichfield Cathedral (1195); Keele University (1962); Shugborough Hall (17th century), seat of the earls of Lichfield; Staffordshire bull terriers
Agriculture
dairy farming
Industries
breweries; china and earthenware in the Potteries and the upper Trent basin; tractors and agricultural equipment; tyres; electrical engineering; electronics
Population
(2001) 806,750
Famous people
Arnold Bennett (novelist), Clarice Cliff (potter), David Garrick (actor), John Jervis (admiral), Samuel Johnson (lexicographer and writer), Robert Peel (politician), Josiah Wedgwood (potter)
Topography Staffordshire is bounded on the northeast by Derbyshire; on the southeast by Warwickshire; on the south by the West Midlands and Worcestershire; on the west by Shropshire; and on the northwest by Cheshire. It contains Stoke-on-Trent. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal crosses the county. |
History There is evidence of pre-Roman and Roman occupation of the county, and Wall (Letocetum) was a Roman station on Watling Street near Lichfield. In Anglo-Saxon times, Staffordshire formed part of the kingdom of Mercia; the Mercian kings had their residence at Tamworth; Stoke-on-Trent, heart of the Potteries manufacturing district, used to be part of Staffordshire but in 1997 became a separate unitary authority. |
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