Staffordshire

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Staffordshire

Geography
Status	Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county <tr><th>Origin</th><td>Historic</td></tr>
Region	West Midlands
Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 18th 2,713 km² Ranked 18th 2,620 km ² <tr><th>Admin HQ</th><td>Stafford</td></tr><tr><th>ISO 3166-2</th><td>GB-STS</td></tr>
ONS code	41
NUTS 3	UKG24
Demographics
Population - Total (2005 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 14th 1,055,000 388 / km² Ranked 8th 816,700
Ethnicity	97.0% White 1.7% S.Asian
Politics
Staffordshire County Council http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk <tr><th>Executive</th><td>Labour</td></tr>
Members of Parliament	Charlotte Atkins William Cash Patrick Cormack Janet Dean Michael Fabricant Paul Farrelly Mark Fisher Robert Flello Brian Jenkins David Kidney Joan Walley Tony Wright
Districts
Tamworth Lichfield Cannock Chase South Staffordshire Stafford Newcastle-under-Lyme Staffordshire Moorlands East Staffordshire Stoke-on-Trent (Unitary)

Staffordshire (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 used to be in Staffordshire but is 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.

1 History
2 Economy
3 Geography
4 Towns and villages
5 Education
6 Dogs
7 Railways
8 Places of interest
9 Local Groups
10 See also
11 External links

[edit] History

Main article History of Staffordshire.

Historically, Staffordshire was divided into the five hundreds 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 boroughs 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.

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 Local Government Commission for England led to the creation of an area of contigous county boroughs. The County Borough of Warley was formed by the merger of the county borough of Smethwick and municipal borough of Rowley Regis with the Worcestershire borough of Oldbury : the resulting county borough was associated with Worcestershire. Meanwhile, the county borough of Dudley, 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.

[edit] Economy

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.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added<ref>Components may not sum to totals due to rounding</ref>	Agriculture<ref>includes hunting and forestry</ref>	Industry<ref>includes energy and construction</ref>	Services<ref>includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured</ref>
1995	6,447	209	2,349	3,889
2000	8,621	150	2,986	5,485
2003	10,169	169	3,164	6,835

[edit] Geography

In the north and in the south the county is hilly, with wild moorlands 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 fields. 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.

[edit] Towns and villages

See the list of places in Staffordshire and the List of civil parishes in Staffordshire

[edit] Education

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.

[edit] Dogs

A type of bull terrier called the Staffordshire Bull Terrier was bred for hunting purposes in this county. Later, a fighting dog was created called the Staffordshire pit bull. They are known affectionately as "Staffies".

[edit] Railways

See Railways in Staffordshire

[edit] Places of interest

Churches

Lichfield Cathedral [1]

Historic buildings

Lakes, rivers and canals

Museums

Watermill housing Brindley Water Museum, Leek
Izaak Walton Cottage Museum

Parks

Railways

Theme parks

Walks

[edit] Local Groups

[edit] See also

The Stafford knot - as on the coat of arms above
Tamworth Pig

[edit] External links

[9] - Staffordshire Tourism website
[10] - Staffordshire County Council
Staffordshire Past Track - Historical archive about the county
North Staffordshire Railway
The story of a Staffordshire Home Guard Battalion, 1940-1944

Ceremonial county of Staffordshire
Unitary authorities:	Stoke-on-Trent
Boroughs/Districts:	Cannock Chase • East Staffordshire • Lichfield • Newcastle-under-Lyme • South Staffordshire • Stafford • Staffordshire Moorlands • Tamworth
Cities/Towns:	Biddulph • Burntwood • Burton upon Trent • Cannock • Cheadle • Eccleshall • Hednesford • Kidsgrove • Leek • Lichfield • Newcastle-under-Lyme • Penkridge • Rugeley • Stafford • Stoke-on-Trent (Burslem • Fenton • Hanley • Longton • Stoke • Tunstall) • Stone • Tamworth • Uttoxeter See also: List of civil parishes in Staffordshire

Districts of the West Midlands	Image:Flag of England.svg
Birmingham \| Bridgnorth \| Bromsgrove \| Cannock Chase \| Coventry \| Dudley \| East Staffordshire \| Herefordshire \| Lichfield \| Malvern Hills \| Newcastle-under-Lyme \| North Shropshire \| North Warwickshire \| Nuneaton and Bedworth \| Oswestry \| Redditch \| Rugby \| Sandwell \| Shrewsbury and Atcham \| Solihull \| South Shropshire \| South Staffordshire \| Stafford \| Staffordshire Moorlands \| Stoke-on-Trent \| Stratford-on-Avon \| Tamworth \| Telford and Wrekin \| Walsall \| Warwick \| Wolverhampton \| Worcester \| Wychavon \| Wyre Forest
Counties with multiple districts: Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire