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 areTamworth (78,646),Newcastle-under-Lyme (75,082),Burton upon Trent (72,299) and Stafford (71,673); the city ofLichfield has a population of 33,816. For local government purposes Staffordshire comprises anon-metropolitan county, with nine districts, and theunitary authority area of Stoke-on-Trent. The countyhistorically included the northwest of the West Midlands county, includingWalsall,West Bromwich, andWolverhampton.
Staffordshire is hilly to the north and south. The southern end of thePennines is in the north, containing part of thePeak DistrictNational Park, while theCannock ChaseAONB and part of theNational Forest are in the south. TheRiver Trent and its tributaries drain most of the county. From its source, nearBiddulph, the river flows through Staffordshire in a southwesterly direction, meeting theSow just east of Stafford; it then meets theRiver Tame and turns north-east, exiting intoDerbyshire immediately downstream of Burton upon Trent.
Staffordshire contains a number ofIron Agetumuli andRoman camps, and was settled by theAngles in the sixth century; the oldestStafford knot, the county's symbol, can be seen on an Anglian cross in the churchyard ofStoke Minster. The county was formed in the early tenth century, when Stafford became the capital ofMercia. The county was relatively settled in the following centuries, and rapidly industrialised during theIndustrial Revolution, when theNorth 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 andPerry Barr became part of the county borough ofBirmingham, and thusWarwickshire, in 1911 and 1928 respectively. Burton, in the east of the county, became a county borough in 1901, and was followed bySmethwick, another town in the Black Country in 1907. In 1910 the six towns of the Staffordshire Potteries, including Hanley, became the single county borough ofStoke-on-Trent.
A major reorganisation in the Black Country in 1966, under the recommendation of theLocal Government Commission for England, led to the creation of an area of contiguous county boroughs. TheCounty Borough of Warley was formed by the merger of the county borough of Smethwick and municipal borough ofRowley Regis with the Worcestershire borough ofOldbury: the resulting county borough was associated with Worcestershire. Meanwhile, the county borough ofDudley, historically adetached 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 theLocal Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974, the county boroughs of the Black Country and theAldridge-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 anunparished area in the district ofEast Staffordshire. On 1 April 1997, under a recommendation of theBanham 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 asThe Staffordshire Hoard, have tentatively been dated to the 7th or 8th centuries, placing the origin of the items in the time of theKingdom of Mercia.
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 theVictoria Ground for 119 years from 1878 until their relocation to the Britannia Stadium (now named theBet365 Stadium) in 1997. They were among the 12 founder members of theFootball League in 1888.[7] By the late 1930s, they were establishedFirst Division members and boasted arguably the finest footballer in England at the time in right-wingerStanley Matthews, who had two spells with the club between 1930 and his retirement in 1965 at the age of 50.[8] In 1972, the club finally won a major trophy when they lifted theFootball League Cup,[9] but after relegation from the First Division in 1985 they would not experience top flight football for 23 years.[10] 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 thePremier League.[11] Stoke City reached their firstFA Cup final in2011, but lost 1–0 toManchester City.[12]
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 championsSunderland from the FA Cup. Another FA Cup success came in February 1988 when they eliminated seven-time winnersTottenham Hotspur from thecompetition. Promotion to theSecond 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 toLeague 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 the2016–17 season Port Vale were relegated back to League Two.[13]
In the north and in the south, the county is hilly, with the southern foothills and uplands of thePennines in the north, with parts of it in thePeak District National Park.[18] Most of the northern upland terrain is in theStaffordshire Moorlands district.Cannock Chase, an area of natural beauty, and part of theNational Forest are in the south. In the middle regions, the landscape is low and undulating. In parts of the county are once significantcoalfields, including theSouth Staffordshire coalfield. In the southern part, there are also rich iron ore deposits. 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 1,519 ft (463 m) above sea level. This record was confirmed in 2007 by theOrdnance Survey afterWanlockhead in Scotland also claimed the record. TheBBC'sThe 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 isCheeks Hill.[19] The largest river is theRiver Trent, which drains most of the county along with its tributaries. From its source, nearBiddulph, the Trent flows through Staffordshire in a southwesterly direction and meets theRiver Sow just east of Stafford. It then meets theRiver Tame and turns north-east, exiting intoDerbyshire immediately downstream of Burton upon Trent.
Staffordshire contains sectors of threegreen belt areas, two of which surround the large conurbations ofStoke-on-Trent and theWest Midlands, and were first drawn up from the 1950s. All the county's districts contain some portion of belt.
According to the2001 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 areBritish Pakistanis.[20] 94% of the population was born in England, and those born inScotland andWales together make up 1% of the total population.[21]
Mann+Hummel UK, atFeatherstone, makeair andoil filters. Armitage Shanks (owned byIdeal Standard International) is to the east of Rugeley inArmitage with Handsacre; JCB Cab Systems was next to the A51 on the Riverside Industrial Estate. The UK headquarters of GE Grid Solutions is based atStafford as well as a factory and the UK headquarters ofBostikon Common Road, in the north of the town.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire at current basic prices byOffice for National Statistics with figures in millions of British pounds sterling.
Some nationally and internationally known companies have their base in Staffordshire. They include theBritannia Building Society which is based inLeek.JCB is based inRocester nearUttoxeter andBet365 which is based in Stoke-on-Trent. The theme parkAlton Towers is in theStaffordshire Moorlands and several of the world's largest pottery manufacturers are based in Stoke-on-Trent. The town ofBurton upon Trent is known for its beer brewing industry with several major brands such asCarling,Cobra andMarston's brewed there.
Staffordshire operates acabinet-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.[26][27]
(All cities appear in bold. Civil parishes used for population reference where applicable, otherwise the source with boundaries as accurate to the locality as possible has been chosen.) As of the 2021 UK census, the five largest settlements in the present day ceremonial county of Staffordshire, as well as both cities in the ceremonial county (Stoke-On-Trent is both the largest settlement, and constitutes one of the two cities). – Red.[28][29][30][31][32][33] What are, as of the 2021 UK census, the five largest settlements each in theCity of Wolverhampton (three listed, due to the borough having fewer places),Walsall,Dudley andSandwell boroughs of theWest Midlands county that belonged to historic Staffordshire before 1974, as well as the city of Birmingham (which was partially in historic Staffordshire before 1974). – Orange.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]
Primitive Methodism was founded in Staffordshire byHugh Bourne, a native of Stoke-on-Trent, at a public gathering in the village ofMow Cop. He originally followed theWesleyan form ofMethodism but in 1801 he reformed the Methodist service by conducting it outside. By 1811 with his brother he founded the first chapel in theTunstall area of Stoke-on-Trent.[68] Since 1932 the Primitive and Wesleyan movements have been a single organisation, theMethodist Church of Great Britain.[69] The Methodist Churches of Staffordshire fall withing three Districts: Birmingham District, Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury District and Chester & Stoke-on-Trent District.[70]
The most popular synagogue in the county is on London Road inNewcastle-Under-Lyme, which opened in 2006 and replaced the former Birch Terrace synagogue in Hanley.[71] According to the 2001 census there were 407 Jews in the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire,[72] and 83 in Stoke-on-Trent.[73]
There are 15mosques in Stoke-on-Trent, 5 inBurton-upon-Trent and 1 in both Stafford and Lichfield.[74] As of 2019 a newmosque 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.[75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82]
Staffordshire has several railways that pass through and serve settlements within the county. The most important of these is theWest 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 toBirmingham New Street, a major hub, and is predominantly served byLondon Northwestern Railway. Stoke-on-Trent railway station is the busiest station in Staffordshire[83] 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 reopened in 2008.
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. TheM42 junction 10 is in Tamworth and the motorway heads southwest towards Birmingham. TheM6 runs north–south through the county, which contains junctions 10A–16. TheM6 Toll, the UK's firsttoll motorway, runs through the county with junctions in Weeford near Lichfield, Cannock and joins the M6 south of Stafford.
TheA5 andA34 run through the county. The former has been significantly widened to a dual carriageway at several sections, although much of it remains single carriageway.
Services within the county are chiefly provided byArriva Midlands,D&G Bus andFirst Potteries. National Express coaches serve towns and cities on a daily basis.
Daily Newspapers in Staffordshire areThe Sentinel, covering Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme and theStaffordshire Moorlands,Burton Mail which covers the town of Burton-upon-Trent and theExpress & Star which has several editions covering Tamworth, Lichfield, Cannock Chase andStafford.
United Christian Broadcasters, which has facilities inBurslem and Hanchurch, has been involved in radio broadcasting since 1987. Today it is broadcast nationally in the UK through DAB digital radio.
^Neighbourhood Statistics."Religion in Staffordshire". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved4 June 2012.
^Neighbourhood Statistics."Religion in Stoke-on-Trent". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved4 June 2012.
^Neighbourhood Statistics."Horninglow Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved4 June 2012.
^Neighbourhood Statistics."Eton Park Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved4 June 2012.
^Neighbourhood Statistics."Burton Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved4 June 2012.
^Neighbourhood Statistics."Winshill Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved4 June 2012.
^Neighbourhood Statistics."Brizlincote Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved4 June 2012.
^Neighbourhood Statistics."Stapenhill Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved4 June 2012.
^Neighbourhood Statistics."Anglesey Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved4 June 2012.
^Neighbourhood Statistics."Shobnall Religion". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved4 June 2012.
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