Norton in Hales

Norton-in-Hales railway station was a station on the North Staffordshire Railway between Stoke-on-Trent and Market Drayton. The station was opened in 1870 and was closed in 1956. The station building and trackbed is now a private residence including the station masters house.

Oakley Hall is an early 18th century 14,929 sf mansion house at Mucklestone, Staffordshire near to the Shropshire town of Market Drayton. It is a Grade II* listed building.The Chetwode family who from about the 13th century owned the Chetwode Manor estate in Buckinghamshire also held the manor of Oakley. There was a substantial manor house at Oakley in the 16th century. In about 1710 Sir John Chetwode, Baronet, (High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1691 and 1698) replaced the old house with a two-storey mansion. The house is built of brick on a sandstone plinth with a balustraded entrance front of eleven bays, the central three of which were pedimented. Two sphinx-like statues with female heads flank the main entrance. The 1881 census discloses the 6th Baronet and his family in residence with a staff of fifteen servants. The Chetwodes sold the estate in 1919. It was already by then in the family of Cyril Charles Dennis, High Sheriff of Staffordshire (wife Mary Scott Dennis [nee Macfie], who kept 21 members of staff and was responsible for putting ventral heating throughout the hall. He had sons: Ian and Lance (grandsons: Hon Professor Dr Roger L H Dennis BA, PhD, DSc (Dunelm) FLS, FRSB, FRSG, FRES [Internationally recognised butterfly biologist] and Cyril T H Dennis Esq.,BSc, BA, MA, VetMB, MRCVS (Camb) [Veterinary Surgeon and Oriental ceramics expert]), daughters Mary [grandson: Martin Peel Esq. and Primrose) until 1948 when he retired to the dower house, Park House Villa in the grounds where he died in 1964). The family holds two coats of Arms, the Dennis Family reflecting their link with the Norman landing and being bestowed lands by William I; and his wife a descendant of the Kings of Dalriada. Her great great grandfather, Provost of Leith, was the first person to greet a Georgian king (George IV) to Scotland. Her family motto is 'Pro Rege' though he respectfully turned down a baronetcy. The family built their fortunes in the 18th and 19th centuries in the chemical industry (Bordeaux Mixture and sugar industry).

Oakley is a hamlet in Staffordshire, England. It is within Mucklestone ward of Loggerheads Parish. Oakley Hall, a former seat of the Chetwode family, is a well known attraction.

Betton is a hamlet in the civil parish of Norton in Hales, in the Shropshire district, in the county of Shropshire, England.

Bearstone is a hamlet in Shropshire, England. For population details as taken at the 2011 census see Woore (Shropshire).

Mucklestone is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Loggerheads, in the Newcastle-under-Lyme district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is about nine miles (14 km) northwest of Eccleshall, and four and a half miles northeast of Market Drayton in Shropshire. In 1961 the parish had a population of 409. On 1 April 1984 the parish was abolished to form Loggerheads. It is notable for its associations with the Battle of Blore Heath. According to legend, Queen Margaret of Anjou is said to have watched the defeat of her forces from the church tower, before fleeing on horse-back. It is said that Margaret employed the local blacksmith, William Skelhorn, to reverse the shoes on her horse to disguise her getaway. An anvil said to have belonged to Skelhorn stands in the churchyard to commemorate the event.The ancient parish of Mucklestone was about six miles (10 km) in length, and from one to two miles (3 km) in breadth, extending along the borders of the counties of Shropshire and Staffordshire. Five of traditional townships, Aston, Knighton, Mucklestone, Oakley and Winnington are in Staffordshire and the other four, Bearstone, Dorrington, Gravenhunger and Woore, are in Shropshire. This parish originally comprised 8,120 acres (33 km2), of which 4,362 acres (18 km2) were in Staffordshire. Mucklestone township contains about 1,100 acres (4 km2). Aston, a village and township, three and a half miles north-east of Mucklestone, and eight miles (13 km) south-west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, contains 912 acres (3.7 km2). Knighton is a small township, one mile (1.6 km) south-west of Aston, bounded on three sides by Shropshire. Oakley township at the south end of the parish, two miles (3 km) south-west of Mucklestone, contains Oakley Hall, in a beautiful park of 300 acres (1.2 km2), on the east bank of the River Tern, which locally divides Staffordshire from Shropshire. Winnington township, has a small village one mile (1.6 km) north of Mucklestone.The church of Saint Mary at Mucklestone, which originally served the whole of the ancient parish, is in the decorated style. Except for the tower, it was rebuilt according to church records in 1789 and again in 1883 by Lynam and Rickman in keeping with the surviving medieval tower. It contains stained glass windows, designed by Charles Kempe in the 19th century including commemorations of the Battle of Blore Heath. Other local structures of merit include a Georgian Folly; an important house of earlier date known as Willoughbridge Lodge; warm springs (discovered in the 17th century) and known, together with the ruined bath house c1682, as Willoughbridge wells; and also Oakley Hall built about 1710.A neolithic monument sits along the western perimeter of the great park of Oakley Hall at Mucklestone. Possibly the remains of a burial-mound, it comprises two big stones. One is round with a 20-inch-diameter (510 mm) hole in the middle. The other is six feet tall and slender. Locally the stones are known as the "devil's ring and finger".

Audley's Cross is a cross sited in Blore Heath, Staffordshire to mark the spot on which James Touchet, Lord Audley was killed at the battle of Blore Heath in 1459. A cross was erected on the spot where Audley was reported to have been killed after the battle, and replaced with the current stone cross in 1765, which was renovated in 1959 on the 500th anniversary of the battle. The inscription on the cross reads: On this spot was fought the Battle of Blore Heath 1459. Lord Audley, who commanded the Lancastrian forces was defeated and slain. This monument was restored by Tyrley Parish Council to mark the 500th anniversary of the battle

Ridgwardine is a small hamlet in Shropshire in the civil parish of Norton in Hales. It is made up of Ridgwardine Manor, Upper Farm, and Manor Farm.

The Battle of Blore Heath was a battle in the English Wars of the Roses. It was fought on 23 September 1459, at Blore Heath in Staffordshire. Blore Heath is a sparsely populated area of farmland, two miles east of the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire, and close to the village of Loggerheads, Staffordshire.

Dorrington Lane is a hamlet near the village of Woore in northeast Shropshire, England. There are around 12 former council houses and two larger houses called Norley and Oakley cottage. There is a large mansion house called Dorrington Old Hall which is about 700 years old. The hamlet contains several farms, including one of the biggest stud farms outside Newmarket. The main nearby towns are Market Drayton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Nantwich and Crewe. The nearest city is Stoke on Trent. Dorrington Lane used to be home to the Woore Hunt Races where Dick Francis supposedly ran his first race. Dorrington Old Hall is listed in the Domesday Book and a past Lord Mayor of London, John Boydell was born there.

Knighton is a hamlet in north west Staffordshire, England, located in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is surrounded to the west, north and east by Shropshire and can only be accessed by vehicle by passing through Shropshire. A public footpath running southwards, across fields, is the only way to access the settlement from the rest of Staffordshire without crossing into Shropshire. The B5026 road runs through Knighton.There is a public house - the White Lion.

Blore Heath was a rural district in Staffordshire, England from 1894 to 1932. It was created under the Local Government Act 1894 from that part of the Market Drayton rural sanitary district which was in Staffordshire (the Shropshire part becoming Drayton Rural District). It covered the parishes of Ashley, Mucklestone and Tyrley. It was abolished by a County Review Order in 1932, and was added to the Newcastle-under-Lyme Rural District.