Downs Banks

St Mary's Abbey, Oulton is a former Benedictine convent located in the village of Oulton near Stone in Staffordshire, England. The Abbey church is Grade II* listed, and other buildings are Grade II. The Benedictine community was founded in 1624 in Ghent, from a motherhouse established in Brussels in 1598 by Lady Mary Percy. In 1794 as a result of the French Revolution the nuns were forced to flee to England, settling initially in Preston, moving in 1811 to Caverswall Castle, Stoke on Trent.

Barlaston is a village and civil parish in the borough of Stafford in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is roughly halfway between the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the small town of Stone. According to the 2001 census the population of the parish was 2,659, rising at the 2011 Census to 2,858.

Meaford Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on the River Trent at Meaford near Stone in Staffordshire.

St Dominic's Priory School is an independent Catholic day school in the town of Stone, Staffordshire, halfway between Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford. The school buildings are set near to the grounds of St Dominic's Convent. The school was founded by the Dominican Sisters and still maintains a close affiliation with the resident community and with St Mary's Nursing Home and the Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception and St Dominic, the centre of an active Catholic community with a resident priest and deacon. It is joined onto this Convent founded by Margaret Hallahan.

Alleyne's Academy (formerly Alleyne's High School) is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status. It is located in Stone, Staffordshire, England, and is one of three schools founded in 1558 by Thomas Alleyne.

Wedgwood Memorial College was a small residential college in Barlaston, near Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. The college was owned and operated by Stoke-on-Trent City Council until it was closed down by the council in March 2012. It still houses the centre of Esperanto education at Estoril House.There is also a similarly named building in Burslem, the Wedgwood Institute, which is sometimes called the "Wedgwood Memorial Institute". This is a completely separate institution. The college, a member of the Adult Residential Colleges Association, offered short courses in literature and languages (French, German and Esperanto); political science and history; and art, art history and architectural history. Wedgwood Memorial College had a non-circulating library with 15,000 volumes available for research and private study.The buildings were also rented out for weddings, parties and small conferences, with eight rooms available that accommodated from ten to 40 people per room. One of these rooms is the Montagu C. Butler Library, located in Esperanto House on the grounds of the college.

Barlaston Hall is an English Palladian country house in the village of Barlaston in Staffordshire, on a ridge overlooking the valley of the River Trent to the west, about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Stoke-on-Trent, with the towns of Stone about 4 miles (6.4 km) to the south, and Stafford about 11 miles (18 km) south (grid reference SJ894391). It was bought by the Wedgwood pottery company in 1937, but disrepair and subsidence due to coal mining brought the hall close to demolition in the early 1980s. It was bought for £1 by a trust set up by Save Britain's Heritage and restored. It has returned to use as a private residence. The hall is a Grade I listed building.

Meaford Hall in Staffordshire, England is a 17th-century country house at Meaford, near Stone, Staffordshire. The River Trent runs through the estate's meadow. On the river was one round and one three-sided half-turret. It is a Grade II* listed building that reached as much as 156 feet long by 45 feet wide with a basement, ground floor and second floor. The hall consisted of two buildings with a chamber, work room and bedroom. The basement included a deeds room, wine cellar, two beer cellars and dispense cellar. The estate was founded in the 8th century and acquired by William Jervis of Chatcull in the late 17th century and remained the seat of the Jervis family for almost 250 years. It played a role in The 'Forty-Five' rebellion by the Young Pretender, Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Swinfen Jervis received 70 soldiers and awaited an engagement that never occurred. It was the birthplace of Admiral John Jervis, later 1st Earl St Vincent, hero of the defeat of the Spanish at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. The hall was much extended and modernised by Lady Forester, daughter of Edward Jervis Jervis, 2nd Viscount St Vincent in the late 19th century but was sold in 1943. Thereafter it was variously occupied by the United States forces, and by a school and latterly it served as the headquarters of the building company Percy Bilton Ltd. Following a period of unoccupation and neglect the hall – much reduced in size – was restored by a new owner and was reopened on 14 February 1997, the bicentenary of the Battle of Cape St Vincent. At some point it was acquired by Craig Johnson, who undertook a number of developments, including addition of a leisure suite.In April 2008 Johnson was one of 21 people to be jailed in connection with a £138 million VAT carousel fraud, with the defendants sentenced to a total of 133 years – one of the largest thefts from public funds that has been brought to court after a Customs investigation. In November 2008, Johnson was ordered to repay HMRC £26 m, with £8 m due within 12 months from the sale of Meaford Hall.

Stone railway station serves the market town of Stone, Staffordshire, England. The station is located on a junction of the Colwich to Manchester spur of the West Coast Main Line, but has platforms only on the branch from Stafford to Stoke-on-Trent.

Barlaston railway station served the village of Barlaston in Staffordshire, England. This station was opened on 17 April 1848 and is on the first line opened by the North Staffordshire Railway on that date. At some times it was called Barlaston and Tittensor after the slightly more distant village of Tittensor.

Stone Priory was a priory founded at Stone in Staffordshire, England, in about 670 AD. The priory's church was dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Wulfad, a local seventh-century martyr and supposedly a son of King Wulfhere of Mercia, who ruled from 658 until his death in 675. The mid-15th century Rimed Chronicle of Stone Priory, found at the Priory at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, records the founding legend and the names of the Stafford family patrons up to 1403, and the places of their burials.

Stone is a market town and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, situated approximately 7 miles (11 km) north of the county town of Stafford, 7 miles (11 km) south of Stoke-on-Trent, and 15 miles (24 km) north of Rugeley. As a notable canal town, Stone is recognised for its rich history, originating from the early Bronze Age and continuing through the Industrial Revolution, with the introduction of the Trent and Mersey Canal shaping the town's development and local industry. Originally governed as an urban district council and a rural district council, Stone became part of the Borough of Stafford in 1974. Over the years, the town has seen a steady growth in its population, which was recorded as 12,305 in the 1991 census, 14,555 in 2001, and 16,385 in 2011.