Meaford is a landmark hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

.

It lies at the junction of the A34 and A51 road

A51 road

The A51 is a road in England running from Kingsbury in Warwickshire to Chester. The road follows the following route:*Kingsbury*Tamworth*Lichfield*Rugeley *Little Haywood*Great Haywood*Weston*Sandon...

s, north of the town of Stone

Stone, Staffordshire

Stone is an old market town in Staffordshire, England, situated about seven miles north of Stafford, and around seven miles south of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. It is the second town, after Stafford itself, in the Borough of Stafford, and has long been of importance from the point of view of...

. It is on the River Trent

River Trent

The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...

, while Meaford Lock is on the Trent and Mersey Canal

Trent and Mersey Canal

The Trent and Mersey Canal is a in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and North West of England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities—east of Burton upon Trent and west of Middlewich—it is a wide canal....

. Meaford's most famous son is John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent

John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent

Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...

, the naval hero (see below).

Meaford was for the later part of the 20th Century easily identifible from the main A34 road by the coal-fired Meaford Power Station

Meaford Power Station

Meaford Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on the River Trent at Meaford near Stone in Staffordshire.-Meaford A:Work began on the new power station in 1945, and was completed in 1948. The station was to later be known as Meaford A power station...

, which were operated by the CEGB

CEGB

The Central Electricity Generating Board was the cornerstone of the British electricity industry for almost 40 years; from 1957, to privatisation in the 1990s....

 and later National Power

National Power

- History :National Power was formed following the privatisation of the UK electricity market in 1990. In England and Wales the Central Electricity Generating Board, which was responsible for the generation and transmission of electricity was split into three generating companies Powergen, National...

. Meaford 'A' of 120mw capacity opened in the late 1940's, ceased generation in 1974 and was demolished in 1982. Meaford 'B' of 260mw capacity was formally opened in 1957, generated power for the last time at 13:00 on 28th September 1990, was formally closed on 1st October 1991 and demolition was nearly complete on the 6th June 1996 when the 408' tall brick chimney was demolished.

The site and the remaining buildings are now owned by property developer St Modwen.

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