Wootton, Staffordshire

Wootton Lodge is a privately owned 17th-century country house situated at Wootton near Ellastone, Staffordshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building.

The Weaver Hills are a small range of hills in north east Staffordshire, England.The Weaver Hills are about 15 miles (24 km) east of Stoke-on-Trent and about 5 miles (8 km) west of Ashbourne, Derbyshire, just south of the A52 road and north of the Churnet Valley. The area is often considered to be the southernmost main hills and carboniferous limestone rock strata of the Pennines. Although outside the National Park boundary, the hills are geologically in the White Peak area of the Peak District.The main peak, known as The Walk, with an Ordnance Survey trig point is 371 metres (1,217 ft) above sea level. The southern slopes are rather steep, overlooking the hamlets of Ramsor and Wootton, while the north is more gently sloped towards the Staffordshire Moorlands district. The ten or more tumuli on or around the Weaver Hills, including Cauldon Low (a peak in the same range just to the east) imply significant prehistoric settlements in the area. About a mile south of the main peak is Wootton Lodge and Wootton Hall, whose claims to fame include that Jean-Jacques Rousseau rented the Hall in 1766. He was a refugee from France, where his revolutionary ideas made life difficult for him. However, the peace and tranquility which had so attracted him to the area nearly drove him mad, because he could not leave his fears behind. Arthur Mee says, He was filled with the embittered suspicions of a hunted animal, seeing enmity and treachery in his friends and deadly foes in his neighbours

Thorswood is a nature reserve of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, situated in the Weaver Hills near the village of Stanton, in Staffordshire, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Ellastone is a village in the East Staffordshire borough of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands of England. It is on the Staffordshire side of the River Dove and is directly opposite the village of Norbury in Derbyshire. It is between Uttoxeter and Ashbourne.

Prestwood is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Denstone, in the East Staffordshire district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 41.

The tiny hamlet of Ramsor (Methodist spelling) in North Staffordshire played a significant part in the origins of Primitive Methodism. Listed in the Domesday Book as Ramshorn, this ancient hamlet is a typical example of the depopulation of the countryside. Very little now remains of this village apart from a few farms and cottages. The Primitive Methodist Chapel is the only surviving public building. Ramsor, spelling the name as it was pronounced, is the usual spelling in Primitive Methodist documents while Ramshorn is still the official spelling. The variant spellings will be used here to distinguish these. Because of the importance of Ramsor in Primitive Methodism, this article a) Sets out some background information on Ramshorn, and b) Illustrates the place of Ramsor in Primitive Methodist history.

Stanton is a small village situated at the eastern end of the Weaver Hills, Staffordshire, England. Stanton is located 146 miles (235.0 km) north-west of London and 18.4 miles (29.6 km) east of Stoke-on-Trent. It has a population of 232 according to the 2001 Census. The landscape around the village is mainly pastureland bounded by dry stone walls.

Norbury and Ellaston railway station was on a branch of the North Staffordshire Railway between Rocester and Ashbourne. The station, which had a waiting room, ticket office, and stationmaster's office, and two side platforms, opened at Norbury, Derbyshire in 1852.In 1899 the line was joined with the Ashbourne Line built by the London and North Western Railway from Buxton. Regular passenger services ended in 1954, freight finished in 1956. Occasional excursion trains and specials continued to use the station until it was officially closed in 1958. The line closed in 1963 and the track lifted.

Norbury Manor is a 15th-century Elizabethan manor house and the adjoining 13th-century stone-built medieval hall house, Norbury Hall, known as The Old Manor in Norbury near Ashbourne, Derbyshire. It is a Grade I listed building.The manor was owned by the FitzHerbert family from the 12th century, granted to William Fitz-Herbert in fee-farm by the Tutbury Priory in 1125. In 1444, Nicholas FitzHerbert and his son Ralph gave their land in Osmaston, along with other lands in Foston and Church Broughton, to the priory to purchase the manor.The manor house built by William FitzHerbert in the mid-14th century, The Old Manor, is remarkably well preserved. It is a medieval hall house, and is noted for its historic architectural features including a rare king post, medieval fireplace, a Tudor door and some 17th-century Flemish glass. The adjoining Tudor house was built by Ralph FitzHerbert in the mid-15th century and rebuilt in about 1680, but retains many of the original features. The accompanying gardens include a parterre herb garden. The Hall was badly damaged by Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War and after the death of Sir John FitzHerbert in 1649 was in a ruinous state and fell into disuse. On the death of John FitzHerbert in 1649, the estate passed to his cousin William FitzHerbert of Swynnerton Hall, Staffordshire, who rebuilt the Tudor portion of the property in about 1680. The Fitzherberts sold the estate in 1881.Norbury Hall has been owned by the National Trust since 1987 and is currently used as holiday accommodation, having previously been let to tenants. The Old Manor, however, is open to the public on Friday mornings and Saturday afternoons during the summer.Junior branches of the FitzHerbert family had seats at Tissington Hall and Somersal Herbert Hall.

Norbury with Roston is a civil parish in west Derbyshire incorporating the villages of Norbury and Roston.

Norbury is a village in Derbyshire, England. It is located 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Rocester, on the B5033 road and the River Dove (which is the traditional border for Staffordshire). The hamlet has links with George Eliot's family, the Evans. George Eliot's father, Robert Evans, was born in Roston Common and sang in the choir at Norbury church, and most of George Eliot's paternal ancestors are buried there.The ecclesiastical parish of Norbury includes Norbury, Roston, the parochial chapel and manor of Snelston, the hamlets of Birchwood and Darley Moor, and formerly included the liberty of Stydd, now in Yeaveley.A Methodist chapel stood where Chapel Farm, by the Queen Adelaide Inn, is now. Dinah Morris (based on George Eliot's aunt, Elizabeth Evans) preached here. Eliot's father Robert was a carpenter at Norbury, and became a land agent here- he moved with his employer to Arbury, where Eliot was born to his second wife. Eliot's own connections with Norbury were slight- "As to my indebtedness to facts of locale- the details which I knew as facts and have made use of for my picture were gathered from such imperfect allusion and narrative as I heard from my father in his occasional talk about old times." The carpenter's shop at Norbury was associated with the smell of pinewood and the scent of elderflower; Eliot said to Oscar Browning that the elder tree growing at the door of the workshop was an early recollection closely connected with the poetry of her life.The graveyard contains the graves of Thias and Lisbeth Bede.

Alton Towers Waterpark, previously known as Cariba Creek, is a water park at Alton Towers Resort, in Staffordshire, England. It is themed to a tropical lagoon, adjoining the Splash Landings Hotel with indoor and outdoor water features.