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Staffordshire

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{| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width=300 style = "margin-left: 0.5em;" |- !colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#ff9999"|Staffordshire |- |colspan=2 align=center|Image:EnglandStaffordshire.png |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Geography |- |width="45%"|Status:||Ceremonial counties of England Ceremonial & (smaller) Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England Non-metropolitan county |- |Region:||West Midlands (region) West Midlands |- |Surface area Area:
- Total
- Admin. council
- Admin. area||List of Ceremonial counties of England by Area Ranked 18th
1 E9 m² 2,713 square kilometre km²
List of Administrative shire counties of England by Area Ranked 18th
2,620 km² |- |Admin HQ:||Stafford |- |ISO 3166-2:GB ISO 3166-2:||GB-STS |- |ONS coding system ONS code:||41 |- |Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics NUTS 3:||UKG24 |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Demographics |- |Population
- Total (2004 est.)
- Density
- Admin. council
- Admin. pop. |List of ceremonial counties of England by population Ranked 14th
1,050,500
387 / km²
List of non-metropolitan counties of England by population Ranked 8th
812,500 |- |Ethnicity:||97.0% White
1.7% S.Asian |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Politics |- |colspan=2 align=center|Image:arms-staffs.jpg 200px|Arms of Staffordshire County Council
Staffordshire County Council
http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/ |- |Executive:||The Labour Party (UK) Labour |- |colspan=2 align=center|MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005 Members of Parliament |- |colspan=2| Charlotte Atkins, William Cash, Patrick Cormack, Janet Dean, Michael Fabricant, Paul Farrelly, Mark Fisher, Robert Flello, Brian Jenkins, David Kidney, Joan Walley, Anthony Wayland Wright Tony Wrig |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Districts |- |colspan=2|Image:Staffordshire_Ceremonial_Numbered.png #Tamworth #Lichfield (district) Lichfield #Cannock Chase (district) Cannock Chase #South Staffordshire #Stafford (borough) Stafford #Newcastle-under-Lyme (borough) Newcastle-under-Lyme #Staffordshire Moorlands #East Staffordshire #Stoke-on-Trent (Unitary) |} '''Staffordshire''' (abbreviated '''Staffs''') is a landlocked Counties of England county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Stafford, England Stafford. Part of the National Forest, England National Forest lies within its borders. It adjoins the Ceremonial counties of England ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, West Midlands (county) West Midlands, Worcestershire and Shropshire. The major city in Staffordshire is Stoke-on-Trent. Lichfield is also a city but is considerably smaller. 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 (district) Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield (district) Lichfield, Newcastle-under-Lyme (borough) Newcastle-under-Lyme, South Staffordshire, Stafford (borough) Stafford, Staffordshire Moorlands and Tamworth. Stoke-on-Trent is administered as a separate unitary authority.

History
''Main article History of Staffordshire.'' The historic county of Staffordshire included Wolverhampton, Walsall, and West Bromwich, these were removed in 1974 to the new county of West Midlands (county) West Midlands. The resulting administrative area of Staffordshire has a narrow southwards protrusion that runs west of West Midlands to the border of Worcestershire. Further, Stoke-on-Trent was removed in the 1990s to form a unitary authority, but is still considered part of Staffordshire for ceremonial and geographical purposes. Historically, Staffordshire was divided into the five hundred (division) hundreds of Cuttlestone, Offlow, Pirehill, Seisdon and Totmonslow.

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".

Railways
"""""section needs checking, correcting and verifying""""" Due to Wedgewood's pottery being moved increasingly by road transport, and both the decline in mining, qarrying and farming in general, several once-busy stations were shut down. Staffordshire's railways were reduced by the Beeching report in the 1960s, and several stations, like Uttoxeter and Norton Bridge passinger station, only narrowly missed closure. Both Stone, Barlaston and Titensor, Norton Bridge and Wedgwood all closed in 2003, but may re-open due to heavy local campaigning around the town of Stone. Etruria closed in 2005. *Cold Meece works - Closed by 1900. *Keele and Norton Bridge freight station- Closed by 1955. *Great Bridgeford, Whitmore, Black Bull and Standon moor - Freight-only by 1955 and closed by 1970. *Littelton colliery, Nettel park and Hume end - Closed by 1946. *Madeley- Freight-only by 1955 and closed by 2000. *Trentham Gardens - Opened by 1946, freight-only by 1970 and closed by 2000. *Leek, Cheadle, Oakamore, Froghall, Silverdale and Brownhills - All freight - only by 1970 and closed by 2000. *Caldon Lowe- Station closed by 1946. A quarry-worker's halt was opened by 1970, but – like the quarry itself – closed by 2000. *Trentham colliery- Closed by 2000. *Florence colliery- Opened by 1970 and closed by 2000. *Stafford common- The station had closed by 1946 and the goods department closed by 2000. *Kingsley and Frognal goods depot, Alton (Alton towers), Consall and Arewas- All closed by 1970. The collieries handle mostly freight along with a few workers trains. Stoke-on-Trent's goods yard had closed by 2000 due to increased competition from road haulage. Note: The Alton towers amusement park is planning to re-open the former station at Alton. A steam preservation movement has saved Cheddleton, Consall and Froghall stations along with the track running between them. At Rudyard a narrow gauge railway is operated by the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway. At both Brownhills, Oakamore, Caldon Lowe and Whitmore the lines are over-grown and/or the stations neglected; but they may re-open for freight trains or for use by railway enthusiasts.

References
Ian alan books - British railways atlas 1947, Complete atlas of railway station names (U.K., 2002 edition), Rail Atlas 1970, British railway atlas 1955. A few recent newspaper articles.

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 River Trent Trent. The soil is chiefly clay and agriculture was not highly developed until the mechanisation of farms.

Towns and villages
''See the list of places in Staffordshire and the List of civil parishes in Staffordshire''

Places of interest
*Alton Towers *Lichfield Cathedral [http://www.lichfield-cathedral.org/] *Shugborough Hall [http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/live/welcome.asp?id=24] *Blithfield Hall *Dovecliff Hall *Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival Festival Park *Ford Green Hall, Smallthorne *Madeley Old Hall *Moseley Old Hall, Featherstone,_Staffordshire *Sandon Hall *Whitmore Hall *Biddulph Grange *Eccleshall Castle *Mow Cop Castle *Stafford Castle *Tamworth Castle *Tutbury Castle *Croxden Abbey *Broad Eye Windmill, Stafford *Cheddleton Flint Mill, watermill *Watermill housing Brindley Water Museum, Leek, Staffordshire Leek *Izaak Walton Cottage Museum *Weston Park *Cannock Chase *Hazel Slade Reserve *RSPB Coombes Valley *National Memorial Arboretum [http://www.lichfield.anglican.org/arboretum/] *Trentham Gardens *Rudyard Lake *Tittesworth Reservoir [http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/staffs/tittesworth/] *Chasewater [http://www.chasewater.org.uk/] *River Trent *River Blythe *River Churnet *Birmingham and Fazeley Canal *Caldon Canal *Coventry Canal *Shropshire Union Canal *Trent and Mersey Canal, Harecastle Tunnel *Heritage railways: Chasewater Railway, Foxfield Steam Railway, Manifold Valley Railway *Rudyard Lake Steam Railway Railway's website [http://www.rlsr.org] *Churnet Valley Railway [http://www.churnetvalleyrailway.co.uk] *Long distance footpaths: Heart of England Way, Staffordshire Way

Local Groups
*Lichfield Cricket Club *Port Vale F.C. *Stoke City F.C. *Tipton Harriers *West Midland Bird Club

See also
*Stafford#The Stafford knot The Stafford knot - as on the coat of arms above

External links

- Staffordshire Past Track - Historical archive about the county {{West Midlands}} {{England ceremonial counties}} {{England traditional counties}} Category:Staffordshire * de:Staffordshire es:Staffordshire eo:Staffordshire fr:Staffordshire nl:Staffordshire no:Staffordshire ru:Стаффордшир sk:Staffordshire sv:Staffordshire {{catmore}} Category:Counties of England

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