Cannock Rural District

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.

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.

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.

Somerford Hall is an 18th-century Palladian style mansion house at Brewood, Staffordshire, which now serves as a wedding venue. It is a Grade II* listed building. Somerford is a name of Anglo-Saxon origin and the interpretation is obvious: "summer river-crossing". This probably means that the River Penk near this point was only fordable in the summer. The manor of Somerford was held from the 1120s, when Henry I granted land there to Richard de Somerford, until 1705 by the Somerford family, named after their place of residence. The old house, estate and attached manors were owned from 1696 by Sir Walter Wrottesley, 3rd Baronet (died 1712), who had bought the mortgages of John Somerford, after which all properties passed to Wrottesley's second wife Dame Anne who died in 1732. In 1734 the house was sold in trust by Dame Anne's brother Thomas, her daughter Anne, and Peter Meyrick of the Bank of England, to the lawyer Robert Barbor of the Inner Temple for £5400.Barbor replaced the old manor house with the present mansion. The central seven-bayed three-storey block is flanked by single-storey pavilions with pedimented gables and ball finials. In 1744 Barbor bought the neighbouring Coven estate, uniting it with the manor of Somerford. However, his successors seem to have got into financial difficulties and several times came close to losing the hall to creditors before finally deciding to sell it.The estate was purchased in 1779 by Hon Edward Monckton, (a younger son of Viscount Galway and half brother of General Robert Monckton), a nabob who had made his fortune in India. Monckton carried out alterations to the house including the provision of an entrance porch and application of stucco, making the frontage a startling white. The dining room was rebuilt to a design and by Robert Adam, with an impressive fireplace. Monckton also brought water from the River Penk to a rooftop reservoir and installed a system which allowed waste and surplus water to be used on the plants and vegetables in the garden. The grounds were laid out by Humphrey Repton. Monckton went on to purchase Engleton Hall, also on the Penk, to the north, and its estate, in two stages, as well as leasing the deanery estate in Brewood. In 1832, on Monckton's death, the hall and estates passed to his eldest son, also Edward, who died unmarried and without issue in 1848. The estates, therefore, passed to his younger brother George. Meanwhile, a still younger brother, General Henry Monckton (1780–1854) purchased Stretton Hall, a substantial house a short distance north, and its estate in about 1845. Henry died in 1854 and George four years later. Francis Monckton, Henry's son, thus inherited both estates in rapid succession. He promptly moved the family seat permanently from Somerford to Stretton, renting out Somerford Hall. In about 1945 the property was converted to residential flats. During the 1970s and 1980s the house was again a single large residence with the ground floor housing a sports therapy and physiotherapy clinic. The reconversion was because of a number of apartment fires; the fire service insisting that, to remain as apartments, an exterior fire escape had to be built. This was refused because of the listed building status. During the late 1980s the owners of the clinic relocated to smaller premises and the house was converted to a conference and wedding venue.

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.

Penkridge weather station is a weather station at Penkridge in Staffordshire, England, operated by the Met Office. It is situated on the site of Rodbaston College. The station is 101 m above mean sea level. Below are the 1981-2010 averages.

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.

The Rural Enterprise Academy is a coeducational high school and sixth form located in Penkridge, Staffordshire, UK. It was the first dedicated land-based free school in England, and its aim is to develop rural entrepreneurs and business leaders.Free schools were introduced in England in 2010 to pioneer innovative approaches to education, but analysis in 2018 by the National Foundation for Educational Research and the Sutton Trust found that only a third had achieved this; in their report, the Rural Enterprise Academy was highlighted as a particularly successful example of genuine novelty in their curriculum in catering for an area with a significant local farming community. The Academy was rated "Good" in full inspections by Ofsted in 2014 and 2018.The Rural Enterprise Academy is sponsored by South Staffordshire College, Veolia and the National Farmers Union.

Rodbaston is a village in Staffordshire, England. The population as taken at the 2011 census can be found under Penkridge. It is the location of a campus of South Staffordshire College.

Stretton Hall is an early 18th-century mansion house at Stretton, South Staffordshire. It is the home of a branch of the Monckton family descended from John Monckton 1st Viscount Galway. It is a privately owned Grade II* listed building, not open to the public.The house built by John Congreve in about 1700 was originally two-storeyed with dormers above, a three-bay pedimented central block and two-bayed wings with a central pedimented entrance door. General Henry Monckton (1780–1854), a son of Edward Monckton and Sophia Pigot of Somerford Hall, purchased the estate in about 1845. He died in 1854, passing the estate on to his son, Francis Monckton. Four years later, Francis inherited Somerford, which had passed through the hands of two childless uncles, Edward and George. The Somerford inheritance included Coven and Engleton, two large neighbouring estates. Francis already resided at Stretton and moved the family seat there permanently, renting out Somerford Hall. In the 1860s he carried out extensive alterations at Stretton including a third storey and a new entrance front. Several members of the family have served as High Sheriff of Staffordshire, the latest being Mrs Joanna Bird Monckton in 1995.

Stretton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lapley, Stretton and Wheaton Aston, in the South Staffordshire district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is just north of the A5 road. In 1961 the parish had a population of 176.The A5 is Watling Street, a notable Roman road, and another Roman road passes through Stretton from Mediolanum (Whitchurch), forming a junction with Watling Street near the bridge over the River Penk. On the other side of the river was the now-deserted Roman settlement of Pennocrucium. The village's position on the road from Mediolanum gives it its name, the Old English for "street town" ("street" meaning a paved or Roman road). Stretton Bridge today carries Watling Street over the Penk.Stretton Hall is in the village. The Church of England parish church of St John's Church, Stretton has a 12th-century chancel. The Shropshire Union Canal passes to the west of the village, and there is a Stretton Wharf. The Stretton Aqueduct carries the canal over the A5 road. Vernon Lodge Preparatory School was a small coeducational non-selective private school in Stretton for children aged 2 to 11. It was founded in 1981 and closed in March 2015.

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