Rugeley
Encyclopedia
Rugeley is a historic market town
in the county of Staffordshire
, England. It lies on the northern edge of Cannock Chase
, and is situated roughly midway between the towns of Stafford
, Cannock
, Lichfield
and Uttoxeter
. The population as at the 2001 census was 22,724 (including the Brereton
and Etchinghill
wards).
The town was a centre of coal mining until 1991, when the Lea Hall Colliery was demolished. The Rugeley B coal-fired power station
dominates the skyline where a flue gas desulphurisation plant is currently being constructed. This will allow it to continue to generate electricity and comply with environmental legislation. The former Rugeley A station took its fuel directly from the neighbouring mine by conveyor belt. This was the first such arrangement in Britain. It is twinned with Western Springs, Illinois
in the United States.
and Rugeley Trent Valley
, which lie on the Chase Line
connecting Rugeley
, Walsall
and Birmingham. This line has not yet been electrified, and so the service is functional but slow, a typical end-to-end journey taking 54 minutes. Rugeley Trent Valley also lies on the West Coast Main Line
, and now has a regular hourly service to London via Lichfield, Nuneaton
, Rugby
and Milton Keynes
, and to Crewe
via Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent
.
The major roads into Rugeley are the A460 from Cannock, and the A51
Lichfield to Stone
. A new eastern bypass was opened in 2007 to take the A51 through traffic out of the congested town centre.
The River Trent
and the Trent and Mersey Canal
both pass through the town.
. A large number of new houses have been built recently, notably along Hednesford Road and there are concerns that these estates represent unwanted incursions into green belt
land.
Rugeley has a reasonably sized town centre which boasts an outdoor market 3 days per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. It also has an indoor market and a shopping centre of sorts called the Brewery Street Arcade. Rugeley has a number of well known high street names like Boots
, Argos
and Greggs
. It has a Morrisons
and Tesco
has been granted permission to build a supermarket in the Power Station Road area of the town and are due to start building in November, 2011.
Rugeley has a number of public house
s and takeaways and Horsefair is reputed to contain one of the densest concentrations of takeaways and public houses in Europe.
Residents of the town benefit from their proximity to Cannock Chase
and indeed there is now a heritage trail funded by the National Lottery
linking the town to Hednesford
and Cannock
with excellent disabled access. The trail is now complete and contains numerous notice boards highlighting the town's history.
Rugeley also has a state-of-the-art health centre off Sandy Lane, a replacement for its predecessor on Horsefair, there is now a modern care home on the site of the old surgery. Technically, two separate surgeries coexist there with chairs in the waiting room oriented one of two ways towards the plasma screen that informs patients of their appointment, there is also the Aelfgar Surgery in Taylors Lane.
The town also has the Rugeley Rose Theatre which is a theatre and community centre in Taylors Lane and recording studio, Abbeysound, housed in a former convent in Heron Street, which is also home to Rugeley Snooker & Poker Clubs
Rugeley is well served by sports clubs, playing home to two cricket clubs (Rugeley C.C. and Trent Valley C.C.), several football clubs and Rugeley Rugby Club, as well as Rugeley Rifle Club which offers some of the best indoor and outdoor ranges in Staffordshire, catering for .22 and air gun target shooting.
The Lea Hall Social Club experienced extensive renovation between 2005 and 2011 and serves Rugeley residents with a variety of facilities including cricket and football pitches, tennis courts and a crown bowling green. Etching Hill Tennis Club is well known in the area for producing talented young players.
. Generally speaking, Cannock Chase
and Cannock
receives significantly more snowfall than Rugeley. One culprit is elevation, much of the Chase is above 500 feet with a peak at Castle Ring
of slightly over 800 feet. Another culprit is the power station, which can warm snowfall sufficiently to create a significant snow free zone where snow is on the threshold of sticking.
Rugeley also lies in Trent Valley
which can exhibit noticeable temperature inversions on cold, clear nights. It is not uncommon for lower Etchinghill
and the town to be under frost and fog and for the estates at elevation, such as the Pear Tree Estate, to be frost free.
. This name is thought to be derived from 'Ridge lee', or 'the hill over the field'. In the mediaeval period, it thrived on iron workings and was also a site of glass manufacturing.
Rugeley has recently had some new, modern pubs including the Glass Works (Brewery Street) and the Plaza, the old town cinema converted by Wetherspoon's. There is a charter fair that occurs during the first weekend in June, which is a huge attraction with most people from the town joining in the street parade. The town council also puts on a fireworks display during the last weekend of the school summer holidays, known as "Back to School with a Bang". There is a Christmas lights switch-on during December, which also includes a market and late night opening of shops with the local traders association joining in the organising of street entertainment.
St. Augustine's Church in Rugeley has memorials to the Levett
family, who live at nearby Milford Hall
and who established the Rugeley Home and Cottage Hospital on Church Street in 1866.
site situated on the former ground of the colliery. In August 2011, Amazon.co.uk opened a 700,000 sq ft fulfillment centre on the Towers Park, creating 750 new jobs.
, was accused of murdering an acquaintance, John Parsons Cook (who is buried in a still visible grave in the local St Augustine's churchyard). It was claimed that Cook had been poisoned, and in the months that followed, Palmer was implicated in the deaths of several other persons, including his own wife and brother, and possibly even some of his own children. He was put on trial for the murder of Cook in 1856, and an Act of Parliament
was passed to allow the trial to be held at the Old Bailey
, London, as it was felt that a fair jury could not be found in Staffordshire. Palmer was found guilty of murder, and hanged publicly outside Stafford Gaol on 14 June 1856.
Local legend has is that, on being instructed to step on to the gallows trap-door he asked the now famous question "Is it safe?". Furthermore, following the uproar surrounding the discovery of Palmer's activities, the town put in a special request to the Prime Minister requesting that they be permitted to change the name of the town to disassociate themselves from the murders. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister at the time was Lord Palmerston, who agreed to the request only on the condition that the town be named after him. For obvious reasons the locals declined this offer. The story of Palmer was told in The Life and Crimes of William Palmer
(1998), starring Keith Allen in the role of the infamous doctor.
being some eight-and-a-half miles south of Rugeley, south of the Cannock Chase district
and north of Walsall
) but cleared as the result of an investigation by Arthur Conan Doyle
. Julian Barnes' 2005 novel Arthur & George
recounts the entire episode in great detail, though it does not always stick to the historical record (see Roger Oldfield's book 'Outrage: The Edalji Five and the Shadow of Sherlock Holmes', Vanguard Press). Edalji was educated at a Rugeley grammar school in the 1880s.
to London to join her husband. The steps which she was carried up are still known as the 'bloody steps' to this day. Although, as they are made from sandstone, the steps have no doubt been replaced several times, local legend has it that they sometimes ooze blood and her ghost appears upon them. Christina's grave can still be seen today in the churchyard at St Augustine's. Three of the four bargemen were charged with her murder. The story of her murder was the inspiration for an Inspector Morse
mystery first broadcast in 1998, entitled The Wench is Dead
.
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
in the 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...
, England. It lies on the northern edge of Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Chase gives its name to the Cannock Chase local government district....
, and is situated roughly midway between the towns of Stafford
Stafford
Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately north of Wolverhampton and south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14...
, Cannock
Cannock
Cannock is the most populous of three towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the central southern part of the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England....
, Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
and Uttoxeter
Uttoxeter
Uttoxeter is a historic market town in Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. The current population is approximately 13,711, though new developments in the town will increase this figure. Uttoxeter lies close to the River Dove and is near the cities of Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and...
. The population as at the 2001 census was 22,724 (including the Brereton
Brereton
-Places:* Brereton, Barbados* Brereton and Ravenhill, a civil parish in Staffordshire, England* Brereton, Cheshire-People:* Alexander Picton Brereton , a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross* Cuthbert A...
and Etchinghill
Etchinghill, Staffordshire
Etchinghill, also known as Etching Hill, was once a singular village, until it was engulfed by the simultaneous growth of Rugeley, Staffordshire. It is now an electoral district/ward. Etching Hill is situated just over one mile from the actual town centre. Its name historically derives from the...
wards).
The town was a centre of coal mining until 1991, when the Lea Hall Colliery was demolished. The Rugeley B coal-fired power station
Rugeley Power Station
The Rugeley power stations are a series of two coal-fired power stations located on the River Trent at Rugeley in Staffordshire. The first power station on the site, Rugeley A power station was opened in 1961, but has since been closed and demolished. Rugeley B power station was commissioned in...
dominates the skyline where a flue gas desulphurisation plant is currently being constructed. This will allow it to continue to generate electricity and comply with environmental legislation. The former Rugeley A station took its fuel directly from the neighbouring mine by conveyor belt. This was the first such arrangement in Britain. It is twinned with Western Springs, Illinois
Western Springs, Illinois
Western Springs is a suburb of Chicago located in Cook County, Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 12,493. It is twinned with Rugeley, United Kingdom....
in the United States.
Transport
Rugeley has two railway stations, Rugeley TownRugeley Town railway station
Rugeley Town railway station serves the town of Rugeley in Staffordshire, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by London Midland.-History:...
and Rugeley Trent Valley
Rugeley Trent Valley railway station
Rugeley Trent Valley is a railway station located on the outskirts of Rugeley in Staffordshire, England. It is one of two stations in Rugeley, the other being Rugeley Town...
, which lie on the Chase Line
Chase Line
The Chase Line is the railway line from Birmingham New Street to Walsall and Rugeley.-Overview:The line from Birmingham to Walsall has two alternative routes, both of which are electrified at 25 kV AC overhead...
connecting Rugeley
Rugeley Trent Valley railway station
Rugeley Trent Valley is a railway station located on the outskirts of Rugeley in Staffordshire, England. It is one of two stations in Rugeley, the other being Rugeley Town...
, Walsall
Walsall railway station
Walsall railway station is the principal railway station of Walsall, West Midlands, England and situated in the heart of the town. It is operated by London Midland, who run all of its train services...
and Birmingham. This line has not yet been electrified, and so the service is functional but slow, a typical end-to-end journey taking 54 minutes. Rugeley Trent Valley also lies on the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
, and now has a regular hourly service to London via Lichfield, Nuneaton
Nuneaton
Nuneaton is the largest town in the Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth and in the English county of Warwickshire.Nuneaton is most famous for its associations with the 19th century author George Eliot, who was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for...
, Rugby
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
and Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, and to Crewe
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...
via Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
.
The major roads into Rugeley are the A460 from Cannock, and the A51
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...
Lichfield to 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...
. A new eastern bypass was opened in 2007 to take the A51 through traffic out of the congested town centre.
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...
and 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....
both pass through the town.
Demographics
Rugeley is a former mining town and, as such, suffers from a moderate level of social deprivation. Parts of the town consist of council or ex council house stock. However, on the fringes of Rugeley housing can be considerably more expensive, particularly in EtchinghillEtchinghill, Staffordshire
Etchinghill, also known as Etching Hill, was once a singular village, until it was engulfed by the simultaneous growth of Rugeley, Staffordshire. It is now an electoral district/ward. Etching Hill is situated just over one mile from the actual town centre. Its name historically derives from the...
. A large number of new houses have been built recently, notably along Hednesford Road and there are concerns that these estates represent unwanted incursions into green belt
Green belt
A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an...
land.
Amenities
Rugeley has a modern swimming pool and leisure centre, opened 2006 on Burnthill Lane. Rugeley has also benefitted from a skate park being built in Hagley Park.Rugeley has a reasonably sized town centre which boasts an outdoor market 3 days per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. It also has an indoor market and a shopping centre of sorts called the Brewery Street Arcade. Rugeley has a number of well known high street names like Boots
Boots UK
Boots UK Limited , is a leading pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom, with outlets in most high streets throughout the country...
, Argos
Argos
Argos is a city and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Argos-Mykines, of which it is a municipal unit. It is 11 kilometres from Nafplion, which was its historic harbour...
and Greggs
Greggs
Greggs plc is the largest specialist retail bakery chain in the United Kingdom. It was established in the 1930s as a single shop but has approximately 1,500 outlets....
. It has a Morrisons
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...
and Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
has been granted permission to build a supermarket in the Power Station Road area of the town and are due to start building in November, 2011.
Rugeley has a number of public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s and takeaways and Horsefair is reputed to contain one of the densest concentrations of takeaways and public houses in Europe.
Residents of the town benefit from their proximity to Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Chase gives its name to the Cannock Chase local government district....
and indeed there is now a heritage trail funded by the National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
linking the town to Hednesford
Hednesford
Hednesford is a small town and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, within Cannock Chase District. It adjoins Cannock Chase to the north, and the town of Cannock to the south. It had a 2010 mid-year estimated population of 16,928.-History:...
and Cannock
Cannock
Cannock is the most populous of three towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the central southern part of the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England....
with excellent disabled access. The trail is now complete and contains numerous notice boards highlighting the town's history.
Rugeley also has a state-of-the-art health centre off Sandy Lane, a replacement for its predecessor on Horsefair, there is now a modern care home on the site of the old surgery. Technically, two separate surgeries coexist there with chairs in the waiting room oriented one of two ways towards the plasma screen that informs patients of their appointment, there is also the Aelfgar Surgery in Taylors Lane.
The town also has the Rugeley Rose Theatre which is a theatre and community centre in Taylors Lane and recording studio, Abbeysound, housed in a former convent in Heron Street, which is also home to Rugeley Snooker & Poker Clubs
Rugeley is well served by sports clubs, playing home to two cricket clubs (Rugeley C.C. and Trent Valley C.C.), several football clubs and Rugeley Rugby Club, as well as Rugeley Rifle Club which offers some of the best indoor and outdoor ranges in Staffordshire, catering for .22 and air gun target shooting.
The Lea Hall Social Club experienced extensive renovation between 2005 and 2011 and serves Rugeley residents with a variety of facilities including cricket and football pitches, tennis courts and a crown bowling green. Etching Hill Tennis Club is well known in the area for producing talented young players.
Microclimates
It is well known in the Rugeley area that snowfall amounts can vary considerably between the town and nearby Cannock ChaseCannock Chase
Cannock Chase is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Chase gives its name to the Cannock Chase local government district....
. Generally speaking, Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Chase gives its name to the Cannock Chase local government district....
and Cannock
Cannock
Cannock is the most populous of three towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the central southern part of the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England....
receives significantly more snowfall than Rugeley. One culprit is elevation, much of the Chase is above 500 feet with a peak at Castle Ring
Castle Ring
Castle Ring is an Iron Age hill fort, situated high up on the southern edge of Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, in the village of Cannock Wood, England. Castle Ring was thought to have been occupied around AD 50, by the Celtic Cornovii tribe....
of slightly over 800 feet. Another culprit is the power station, which can warm snowfall sufficiently to create a significant snow free zone where snow is on the threshold of sticking.
Rugeley also lies in Trent Valley
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...
which can exhibit noticeable temperature inversions on cold, clear nights. It is not uncommon for lower Etchinghill
Etchinghill
Etchinghill may refer to* Etchinghill, Kent* Etchinghill, Staffordshire...
and the town to be under frost and fog and for the estates at elevation, such as the Pear Tree Estate, to be frost free.
History
The town, historically known as Rudgeley, is listed in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
. This name is thought to be derived from 'Ridge lee', or 'the hill over the field'. In the mediaeval period, it thrived on iron workings and was also a site of glass manufacturing.
Rugeley has recently had some new, modern pubs including the Glass Works (Brewery Street) and the Plaza, the old town cinema converted by Wetherspoon's. There is a charter fair that occurs during the first weekend in June, which is a huge attraction with most people from the town joining in the street parade. The town council also puts on a fireworks display during the last weekend of the school summer holidays, known as "Back to School with a Bang". There is a Christmas lights switch-on during December, which also includes a market and late night opening of shops with the local traders association joining in the organising of street entertainment.
St. Augustine's Church in Rugeley has memorials to the Levett
Levett
Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of...
family, who live at nearby Milford Hall
Milford Hall
Milford Hall is a privately owned 18th-century country mansion house at Milford, near Stafford. It is the home of the Levett Haszard family and is a Grade II listed building....
and who established the Rugeley Home and Cottage Hospital on Church Street in 1866.
Future
Rugeley suffered a lack of employment when Lea Hall Colliery closed in the 1980s. However, a number of large industrial units have, and are still being built on the Towers Business Park, a brownfieldBrownfield land
Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. Expansion or redevelopment of such a facility may be complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations. Cf. Waste...
site situated on the former ground of the colliery. In August 2011, Amazon.co.uk opened a 700,000 sq ft fulfillment centre on the Towers Park, creating 750 new jobs.
William Palmer
In 1855, the town gained notoriety when a local doctor, William PalmerWilliam Palmer (murderer)
William Palmer was an English doctor who was convicted of murder in one of the most notorious cases of the 19th century.-Early life:...
, was accused of murdering an acquaintance, John Parsons Cook (who is buried in a still visible grave in the local St Augustine's churchyard). It was claimed that Cook had been poisoned, and in the months that followed, Palmer was implicated in the deaths of several other persons, including his own wife and brother, and possibly even some of his own children. He was put on trial for the murder of Cook in 1856, and an Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
was passed to allow the trial to be held at the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
, London, as it was felt that a fair jury could not be found in Staffordshire. Palmer was found guilty of murder, and hanged publicly outside Stafford Gaol on 14 June 1856.
Local legend has is that, on being instructed to step on to the gallows trap-door he asked the now famous question "Is it safe?". Furthermore, following the uproar surrounding the discovery of Palmer's activities, the town put in a special request to the Prime Minister requesting that they be permitted to change the name of the town to disassociate themselves from the murders. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister at the time was Lord Palmerston, who agreed to the request only on the condition that the town be named after him. For obvious reasons the locals declined this offer. The story of Palmer was told in The Life and Crimes of William Palmer
The Life and Crimes of William Palmer
The Life and Crimes of William Palmer is a British film made in 1998 about the Victorian poisonerWilliam Palmer....
(1998), starring Keith Allen in the role of the infamous doctor.
George Edalji
George Ernest Thompson Edalji (March 1876 – 17 June 1953) was famously and wrongly convicted of one of the 'Great Wyrley Outrages,' (the village of Great WyrleyGreat Wyrley
Great Wyrley is a parish and town in South Staffordshire, England, with a population of 11,236 at the 2001 census.-Etymology:The word "Wyrley" derives from two Old English words: wir and leah. Wir meant "bog myrtle," and leah meant "woodland clearing," suggesting that Great Wyrley was, at genesis,...
being some eight-and-a-half miles south of Rugeley, south of the Cannock Chase district
Cannock Chase (district)
Cannock Chase is a local government district in England. It covers a large part of Cannock Chase forest and the towns of Cannock, Rugeley and Hednesford.There are several parish and town councils in the district:* Rugeley* Hednesford...
and north of Walsall
Walsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
) but cleared as the result of an investigation by Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
. Julian Barnes' 2005 novel Arthur & George
Arthur & George
Arthur & George is the tenth novel by English author Julian Barnes which takes as its basis the true story of the 'Great Wyrley Outrages.'-Plot introduction:...
recounts the entire episode in great detail, though it does not always stick to the historical record (see Roger Oldfield's book 'Outrage: The Edalji Five and the Shadow of Sherlock Holmes', Vanguard Press). Edalji was educated at a Rugeley grammar school in the 1880s.
Christina Collins
The body of Christina Collins was discovered in the Trent and Mersey Canal in Rugeley on 17 June 1839. She was believed to have been raped and murdered by Shale who had agreed to transport her from LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
to London to join her husband. The steps which she was carried up are still known as the 'bloody steps' to this day. Although, as they are made from sandstone, the steps have no doubt been replaced several times, local legend has it that they sometimes ooze blood and her ghost appears upon them. Christina's grave can still be seen today in the churchyard at St Augustine's. Three of the four bargemen were charged with her murder. The story of her murder was the inspiration for an Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse (TV series)
Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. Dexter makes a cameo appearance in all but three of the episodes....
mystery first broadcast in 1998, entitled The Wench is Dead
The Wench is Dead
The Wench is Dead is a historical crime novel by Colin Dexter, the eighth novel in the Inspector Morse series. The novel received the Gold Dagger Award in 1989.-Plot introduction:...
.
Villages
- Abbots BromleyAbbots BromleyAbbots Bromley is a village in Staffordshire, England. It is famous for the annual Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. It is also the home of one of the Woodard Schools, Abbots Bromley School for Girls...
- AdmastonAdmaston, StaffordshireAdmaston is a small hamlet in Staffordshire, England near to Abbots Bromley....
- ArmitageArmitageArmitage is a village in Staffordshire, England on the south side of the Trent and Mersey Canal between Lichfield and Rugeley. Together with the adjacent village of Handsacre, it forms the parish of Armitage with Handsacre.-Village Amenities:...
- BlithburyBlithburyBlithbury is a small village in Lichfield District, Staffordshire, England. Part of the civil parish of Mavesyn Ridware, it lies near the River Blithe, about north of Handsacre, 3 miles north-east of Rugeley, and 3 miles south of Abbots Bromley....
- Brereton
- Cannock WoodCannock WoodCannock Wood is a village and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District of Staffordshire, England. Situated near Cannock and Lichfield and north of Burntwood. It is approximately north of Birmingham and 14 miles north-east of Wolverhampton...
- ColtonColton, StaffordshireColton is a village and civil parish in Lichfield District, Staffordshire, England. It is situated just outside the town of Rugeley.Colton is the home to Border Collie Trust GB, a registered charity rescuing and rehoming Border Collies and Collie crosses throughout the UK.There is also a village...
- ColwichColwich, StaffordshireColwich is a civil parish and village in Staffordshire, England. It is situated off the A51 road, about 3 miles north west of Rugeley, and 7 miles south east of Stafford...
- Cheslyn HayCheslyn HayCheslyn Hay is a former mining village in south Staffordshire, between Cannock and Walsall.Station Street is the main street with some small shops.A major employer in the village is B.S. Eaton Ltd, a manufacturer of concrete products...
- EtchinghillEtchinghillEtchinghill may refer to* Etchinghill, Kent* Etchinghill, Staffordshire...
- Great HaywoodGreat HaywoodGreat Haywood is a village in central Staffordshire, England, just off the A51 about four miles from Rugeley.Great Haywood lies on the River Trent, where the Trent is met by its tributary, the River Sow...
- Hamstall RidwareHamstall RidwareHamstall Ridware is a village and civil parish in the district of Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. It is in the Trent Valley, and lies close to the villages of Hill Ridware, Mavesyn Ridware and Pipe Ridware...
- HandsacreHandsacreHandsacre is a village in Staffordshire, England. It is adjacent to the larger village of Armitage.It is roughly five miles north of the city of Lichfield and 3 miles south of the town of Rugeley.-Village Services:...
- Hill RidwareHill RidwareHill Ridware is a small village situated in the Lichfield district of Staffordshire, England. It is the largest settlement in the civil parish of Mavesyn Ridware....
- Kings BromleyKings BromleyKings Bromley is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England on the junction of the A515 and the A513 roads. The village lies in Lichfield District, and the council ward of Kings Bromley had a population of 1,651 at the time of the 2001 census, Kings Bromley is a village and civil parish...
- Little HaywoodLittle HaywoodLittle Haywood is a village in Staffordshire, England. It lies beside a main arterial highway, the A51 but traffic through the village is mainly light, owing to this bypass. Nearby also is the West Coast Main Line railway, the Trent and Mersey Canal and beside it, the river Trent...
- LongdonLongdon, StaffordshireLongdon is a village and civil parish in the District of Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, situated midway between the towns of Rugeley and Lichfield. The parish also includes the nearby villages of Upper Longdon, Longdon Green and Gentleshaw....
- Mavesyn RidwareMavesyn RidwareMavesyn Ridware is a small village and civil parish in Lichfield District, Staffordshire, England. The parish also includes the villages of Hill Ridware, Rake End, Pipe Ridware and Blithbury, all of which lie between the River Trent and a small tributary, the River Blithe...
- Slitting MillSlitting MillSlitting Mill is a small village on the outskirts of Rugeley, Staffordshire, on the edge of Cannock Chase. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 265....
- Upper LongdonUpper LongdonUpper Longdon is a village in the civil parish of Longdon, in the District of Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It lies about west of Longdon, and just over south of Rugeley, on the borders of Cannock Chase....