Winnington, Staffordshire

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".

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

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.

Pipe Gate was a railway station on the North Staffordshire Railway's Stoke to Market Drayton Line.

Loggerheads is a village and civil parish in north-west Staffordshire, England, on the A53 between Market Drayton and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Ireland's Cross is a small hamlet in the civil parish of Woore in Shropshire, England.

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.

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.

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

Blore is a hamlet in the civil parish of Loggerheads, in the Newcastle-under-Lyme district, in north west Staffordshire, England. It lies 3 miles east of Market Drayton in Shropshire. Blore was first recorded in 1194. The name is of uncertain origin, but may be related to Middle English blura "blister", used metaphorically for a small hill. The Battle of Blore Heath was fought west of the hamlet in 1459, during the Wars of the Roses.

Norton in Hales is a village and parish in Shropshire, England. It lies on the A53 between the town of Market Drayton and Woore, Shropshire's most northeasterly village and parish. Staffordshire is to the east of the parish and Cheshire to the west. Also within the parish is the village of Betton and hamlet of Ridgwardine. The parish church is Saint Chad's. Also within the village are Norton in Hales Church of England Primary School, the Hind's Head Inn, and a large playing field. The monument to Frances, Lady Cotton (d. 1606) in St Chad's was designed by Inigo Jones around the year 1611. Her husband Rowland Cotton, who commissioned the tomb, was associated with the court of Prince Henry, as was Jones. The tomb is the earliest known work of Inigo Jones.Tunstall Hall is a Grade II* listed building, built in about 1732, formerly a girls' school, and now a residential home offering specialist care in dementia.The engineer Samuel Owen, who later emigrated to Sweden where he became an industrialist, was born at Norton in 1774.

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.