Staffordshire

Staffordshire (abbreviated Staffs) is a landlocked in the  of. The county town is. Part of the lies within its borders. It adjoins the of, , , , , , and.

The largest city in ceremonial Staffordshire is. also has, though is considerably smaller. and used to be in Staffordshire but are now within the West Midlands. Major towns include, , , , and Stafford itself.

Staffordshire is divided into a number of districts. These are, , , , , the , , and. is administered as an independent.

History
Historically, Staffordshire was divided into the five s of, , , , and.

The historic boundaries of Staffordshire cover much of what is now the of. An of Staffordshire was set up in 1889 under the  covering the county except the s of, , and  in the south (the area known as the ), and  in the north. The Act also saw the towns of (partly in Warwickshire) and  (partly in Derbyshire) united entirely in Staffordshire. and became part of the county borough of  in the early 20th century, and thus associated with. Burton, in the east of the county, became a county borough in 1901, and was followed by, another Black Country town in 1907. In 1910 the six towns of the Staffordshire Potteries, including Hanley, became the single county borough of.

A major reorganisation in the Black Country in 1966, under the recommendation of the led to the creation of an area of contiguous county boroughs. The was formed by the merger of the county borough of  and municipal borough of  with the Worcestershire borough of  : the resulting county borough was associated with Worcestershire. Meanwhile, the county borough of, historically a 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, on , the county boroughs of the Black Country and the Staffordshire urban district of  became, along with Birmingham, Solihull, and Coventry and other districts, a new metropolitan county of. County boroughs were abolished, with Stoke becoming a non-metropolitan district in Staffordshire, and Burton forming an in the district of. On, , under a recommendation of the , Stoke-on-Trent became a unitary authority independent of Staffordshire once more.

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.

The is based in. are based in near. is nearby. has a factory in Stafford, with some (power transmission) being sold in 2003 to.

Education
Staffordshire has a completely comprehensive system with eight independent schools. Most secondary schools are from 11-16 or 16, but two in Staffordshire Moorlands and South Staffordshire are from 13-18. The percentage of pupils gaining five good GCSEs (A-C) including Maths and English in England is 45.8%. For Staffordshire it is 42.8%. In general, the rural parts of Staffordshire perform reasonably well, with the more urban areas performing quite badly. The calculation of Tamworth's GCSE results includes a school (the ) a few metres just over the boundary in the Lichfield district. If it wasn't for the inclusion of that school, Tamworth's results would be one of the worst districts in England. The best performing schools at GCSE are the in, Newcastle-under-Lyme and the  in. East Staffordshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme have a large variation in their GCSE results, with schools either doing very well or badly. At A-level, Staffordshire does not have many high-performing schools (compared to nearby counties), although there are two that do - with the in Lichfield (the best overall school in Staffordshire) doing very well, followed by the Moorlands Sixth Form Centre (linked to three nearby schools) in. The John Taylor High School also does reasonably well. Nearby Stoke on Trent has a selective school that does well at A level.

GCSE results by council district (%)

 * Lichfield 51.2
 * Staffordshire Moorlands 49.7
 * East Staffordshire 48.5
 * Stafford 46.1
 * South Staffordshire 44.6
 * Newcastle-under-Lyme 43.7
 * Cannock Chase 33.4
 * (City of Stoke on Trent) 33.3
 * Tamworth 32.7

Two major universities are located in the county. is located in. It is a research-intensive university with particular strengths in and. is located in and in. It has strengths in &.

Geography
In the north and in the south the county is hilly, with wild s in the far north and 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 s. In the southern part there are also rich iron ore deposits. The largest river is the. The soil is chiefly clay and agriculture was not highly developed until the mechanisation of farms.

Staffordshire is also home to the highest village in Britain,. The village in the stands at 463 m (1518ft) above sea level. This record was confirmed in 2007 by the after  in  also claimed the record. The 's '' investigated the case in a bid to settle the argument and Flash turned out to be the highest.

Government
Staffordshire County Council is the for the county.

Boundary changes

 * 1844: The transferred two es from, and part of a township to, the county.
 * 1888: Those parts of the town of lying in  were ceded to Staffordshire.
 * 1891: became part of the county borough of  and thus transferred from Staffordshire to  by the Local Govt. Bd.'s Prov. Orders Conf. (No. 13) Act, 54 & 55 Vic. c. 161 (local act).
 * 1895: a small section containing the villages of Shatterford and Upper Arley was transferred to Worcestershire.
 * 1911: became part of Birmingham, then in Warwickshire.
 * 1928: was ceded to Warwickshire, also as part of Birmingham.
 * 1966: and  became part of, as components of the newly-formed borough of .  was ceded from Worcestershire.
 * 1974: Under The, Dudley, Wolverhampton, Walsall and (plus  and Birmingham) became part of the newly-formed.
 * circa 1994: The western/southern shores of, were acquired from the West Midlands.

Towns and villages
See the and the 

Dogs
A type of bull terrier called the was bred for hunting purposes in this county. They are known affectionately as "Staffs", "Staffies", and "Nanny-dogs". Staffies should not be confused with the considerably larger American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, and (English) Bull Terrier.

Canals
Staffordshire has an extensive network of canals including the, , , and.

Railways
See 

Roads
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.

The has a junction in Tamworth at the south-east of the county, and heads south-west towards Birmingham. The runs north through the county and junctions 10A-16 are in the county. The, the UK's first , runs through the county with junctions in Weeford near Lichfield, Cannock and joins the M6 heading north towards Stafford.

The and  run through the county. The former has been significantly widened to a dual carriageway at several sections, although much of it remains single carriageway.

Places of interest

 * [[Image:Themepark uk icon.JPG|15px|Theme Park]]
 * [[Image:HH icon.png]] [[Image:Museum icon.png]]
 * [[Image:NTE icon.png]]
 * [[Image:Museum icon (red).png]]
 * [[Image:UKAL icon.png]]
 * [[Image:HR icon.png]]
 * [[Image:Museum icon.png]]
 * [[Image:HR icon.png]]
 * [[Image:EH icon.png]] [[Image:AP_Icon.PNG]]
 * [[Image:NTE icon.png]]
 * [[Image:Themepark uk icon.JPG|15px|Theme Park]]
 * [[Image:CL_icon.PNG]]
 * [[Image:UKAL icon.png]]
 * [[Image:HH icon.png]]
 * [[Image:HR icon.png]]
 * (Apedale) [[Image:HR icon.png]] [[Image:Museum icon.png]] [[Image:CP icon.png]]
 * [[Image:Themepark uk icon.JPG|15px|Theme Park]]
 * [[Image:CL_icon.PNG]]
 * [[Image:UKAL icon.png]]
 * [[Image:HH icon.png]]
 * [[Image:HR icon.png]]
 * (Apedale) [[Image:HR icon.png]] [[Image:Museum icon.png]] [[Image:CP icon.png]]
 * (Apedale) [[Image:HR icon.png]] [[Image:Museum icon.png]] [[Image:CP icon.png]]


 * [[Image:NTE icon.png]]
 * [[Image:Museum icon.png]]
 * "The Manifold way" following the route of the former
 * [[Image:AP_Icon.PNG]]
 * [[Image:HH icon.png]]
 * [[Image:NTE icon.png]]
 * [[Image:CL_icon.PNG]]
 * [[Image:HR icon.png]]
 * [[Image:NTE icon.png]]
 * [[Image:CL_icon.PNG]]
 * [[Image:CL_icon.PNG]]
 * [[Image:CL_icon.PNG]]
 * [[Image:UKAL icon.png]]
 * [[Image:HH icon.png]]
 * [[Image:HH icon.png]]
 * [[Image:CP icon.png]] [[Image:Museum icon.png]] [[Image:HR icon.png]]
 * [[Image:CL_icon.PNG]]
 * [[Image:UKAL icon.png]]
 * [[Image:HH icon.png]]
 * [[Image:HH icon.png]]
 * [[Image:CP icon.png]] [[Image:Museum icon.png]] [[Image:HR icon.png]]