Somerford Hall

Cannock was a rural district in Staffordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It was created by the Local Government Act 1894, based on the Cannock rural sanitary district, and had the town of Cannock on its eastern border. In 1934 it was expanded by a County Review Order, gaining the civil parishes of Blymhill and Weston under Lizard, which had been administered by the Shifnal Rural District mainly in Shropshire. The district was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, going on to form part of the South Staffordshire district.

St Paul's Church, Coven is a Grade II listed parish church in the Church of England in Coven, Staffordshire

Four Ashes is a village in the district of South Staffordshire in Staffordshire, England, located about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Cannock. The village was served by a station on the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line of the Grand Junction Railway. The station closed in 1959 although the railway line still runs past the village. Four Ashes Hall is a 17th-century house in the village. It is open for conferences and weddings and has been in the same family for 350 years. It is still privately owned.

Coven is a village in the district of South Staffordshire, England, near to the border with Wolverhampton. Together with Brewood it forms part of the parish of Brewood & Coven.

Pennocrucium was a Romano-British settlement and military complex located at present day Water Eaton, just south of Penkridge, Staffordshire, with evidence of occupation from the mid-1st century until the 4th century.The settlement was mentioned in the 2nd century Antonine Itinerary, which described it as lying 12 miles from Uxacona (near present-day Oakengates) and 12 miles from Letocetum (Wall, near Lichfield). The exact site of Pennocrucium was identified only after aerial photography revealed cropmarks in 1946, and excavations were conducted by Kenneth St Joseph over subsequent years.Pennocrucium was an important road junction on Watling Street – the main Roman road across the Midlands to Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter) – and was situated 700 metres east of its crossing of the River Penk, with roads leading north to Mediolanum (Whitchurch) and south in the direction of Greensforge near Kinver and Metchley Fort in Birmingham.The main civilian defensive site or burgi was a rectangular enclosure approximately 450 feet (140 m) from north to south and 700 feet (210 m) from east to west, lying astride Watling Street and surrounded by three ditches. There may have been a civilian vicus around the defended settlement, possibly forming a ribbon development along Watling Street. 800 metres (2,600 ft) to the north east of the civilian settlement lay a large double-ditched enclosure identified as a possible Vexillation fortress, with two smaller forts lying 700 feet (210 m) south east of the settlement and 200 feet (60 m) north of Watling Street on the opposite bank of the Penk. Five single-ditched enclosures in the vicinity have been identified as temporary marching camps.

Four Ashes railway station was a railway station built by the Grand Junction Railway in 1837.: 28  It served the small village of Four Ashes, Staffordshire, 6 miles north of Wolverhampton City Centre, and was located near to the A449 road, on Station Drive. It was also the closest station to the villages of Coven and Featherstone as well as the town of Brewood. The station closed in 1959, although the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line loop from the West Coast Main Line still runs through the site of the station today.

Brewood (listen) is an ancient market town in the civil parish of Brewood and Coven, in the South Staffordshire district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. Located around grid reference SJ883088, Brewood lies near the River Penk, eight miles north of Wolverhampton city centre and eleven miles south of the county town of Stafford. A few miles to the west of Brewood is the border with the county of Shropshire.

Speedwell Castle is a mid-18th-century house at the centre of Brewood, Staffordshire, between Wolverhampton and Stafford. Described by Pevsner as a "peach" and a "delectable folly", it stands beside the village market place, at the head of a T-junction on Bargate Street, facing onto Stafford Street. The house is an interesting combination of "Gothick" and Classical architecture: the symmetrical brick façade has two canted bays, each of three storeys, either side of a pillared entrance with ogee portico and octagonal-panelled door. There are five windows around each bay on each floor, and a single window on the two floors above the entrance, with decorative plasterwork arranged in tiers of round-headed arches with keystones and ogee arches rising to pinnacles surmounted by acorns. The glazing is arranged in a delicate tracery, originally of hexagons (although the glazing bars are not original on the ground and first floors). The façade is finished by a modillion cornice and parapet, concealing a hipped slate roof with brick chimney stacks. The interior includes one surviving decorative plaster ceiling and a Chinese Chippendale staircase with fretted balustrade. The house became a grade II listed building in 1953. The designer is unknown but some sources suggest Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, who worked nearby in Shropshire. The house has some similarities with Sandhurst House in Stourbridge, and Shenstone Hall near Lichfield. The design may have been inspired by the books published in the 1740s by Batty Langley, who attempted to improve Gothic forms by giving them classical proportions. Speedwell Castle was reputedly built by a local apothecary William Rock, using the winnings from betting on the Duke of Bolton's racehorse, Speedwell. (An alternate story is that the builder owned an unsuccessful racehorse, and said that he would build a castle to celebrate if it ever won). After a period as the home of the classics master at Brewood Grammar School in the second half of the 19th century, it became a reading room in the late 19th century. It was then used as shops and storage until the 1930s, when it was converted to residential flats.

Brewood Grammar School was a boys' school in the village of Brewood in South Staffordshire, England. Founded in the mid 15th century by the Bishop of Lichfield as a chantry school it was closed by the Dissolution of Chantries Act 1547. It was re-founded by Matthew Knightley and Sir Thomas Gifford in 1553 and survived as a grammar school until 1975 when its last headmaster, Roy Leafe, retired. It then became a mixed-sex middle school in 1977. As a 20th-century grammar school it took a number of boarders who lived at Wheaton Aston Hall, and taught agricultural science. The school had a small attached farm with cattle and poultry. The original building does not survive. The earliest part of the remaining buildings, originally two houses donated to the school, dates from 1778. In 1799 these were enclosed in the school grounds by moving the road. They were rebuilt in 1856 as Rushall House (now Grade II listed) and used as a schoolroom and dormitories. In 1863 the headmaster's house was rebuilt, and further extensions to the school were made in 1898, 1926, 1935, and 1952. The school is commemorated in a recent memorial window in the nearby parish church, St Mary and St Chad.

St Dominic's Grammar School (formerly St Dominic's Brewood and St Dominic's High School For Girls and boys ) is a private day school for girls and boys aged 4 to 18 in the village of Brewood, Staffordshire, England. The school is centered on a large Victorian brick building in rural Staffordshire, just north of Wolverhampton. Founded in 1920 by the Dominican Order resident in Staffordshire, it is now an inter-denominational school but retains its Christian ethos and the historic logo featuring the cross from the order's seal.

Gailey railway station was a railway station built by the Grand Junction Railway in 1837.: 29  It served the small village of Gailey, Staffordshire, 7 miles north of Wolverhampton City Centre, and was located near to the junction of the A5 and A449 roads. The original name of the station was Spread Eagle railway station, and was named after a nearby pub. It was renamed Gailey in 1881. The station closed in 1951, although the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line loop from the West Coast Main Line still runs through the site of the station today.

Gailey is a small village in Staffordshire, England. It is at the junction of the A5 and A449 roads, and is on the boundary of the parishes of Brewood and Coven (formerly Brewood) and Penkridge, in South Staffordshire. The village was in existence at the time of the Domesday Book (1086) when it was referred to as Gragelie. In the 19th century, Gailey was also known as Spread Eagle, from the name of the pub adjacent to the road junction.In 1837, the Grand Junction Railway built a railway station in the village. The Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line still passes through the site, although the station at Gailey closed in 1951. Today the village is served by Select Bus service 877/878 which operates between Wolverhampton and Stafford.