Staffordshire
The historic county of the Stafford knot and the Potteries.
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south-east, the West Midlands county and Worcestershire to the south, and Shropshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Stoke-on-Trent.
- area
- 1,713 square kilometres (661 sq mi)
- population_2024
- 1,177,578
- largest_settlement
- Stoke-on-Trent
- county_town
- Stafford
- established
- Early tenth century
- symbol
- Stafford knot
Lore & Background
Staffordshire contains a number of Iron Age tumuli and Roman camps, and was settled by the Angles in the sixth century; the oldest Stafford knot, the county's symbol, can be seen on an Anglian cross in the churchyard of Stoke Minster. The county was formed in the early tenth century, when Stafford became the capital of Mercia. The county was relatively settled in the following centuries, and rapidly industrialised during the Industrial Revolution, when the North Staffordshire coalfield was exploited and fuelled the iron and automobile 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.
Reader's Guide
Staffordshire is hilly to the north and south. The southern end of the Pennines is in the north, containing part of the Peak District National Park. The Cannock Chase AONB and parts of the National Forest and Kinver Edge are in the south. The River Trent and its tributaries drain most of the county. From its source, near Biddulph, the river flows through Staffordshire in a southwesterly direction, meeting the Sow just east of Stafford; it then meets the River Tame and turns north-east, exiting into Derbyshire immediately downstream of Burton upon Trent. Stoke-on-Trent is in the north of the county, and the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme immediately to the west. Stafford is in the centre, Burton upon Trent in the east, and Tamworth and the city of Lichfield in the south-east. For local government purposes Staffordshire comprises a non-metropolitan county, with eight districts, plus the unitary authority area of Stoke-on-Trent. The county historically included the north-west of the West Midlands county, including Walsall, West Bromwich, and Wolverhampton.
Did You Know?
- The Staffordshire Hoard, discovered in a field near Lichfield in July 2009, is perhaps the most important collection of Anglo-Saxon objects found in England.
- Stoke City, one of the oldest professional football clubs in existence, was founded in 1863 and was among the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888.
- Staffordshire is the most successful Minor counties cricket team, having won the Minor Counties Championship outright eleven times since 1895.
More in English Counties 1-24
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