Staffordshire (stăf`ərdshĭr), county (1991 pop. 1,020,300), 1,157 sq mi (2,997 sq km), W central England. The county seat is Stafford Stafford, city (1991 pop. 60,915) and district, Staffordshire, W central England, on the Sow River, above its junction with the Trent. Stafford's chief industry is the manufacture of electrical goods; other products are concrete, shoes and shoe-repairing machinery,
..... Click the link for more information. . The terrain is gently undulating except for a district of rugged moorlands in the north. The principal river is the Trent, which has various tributaries. Much of the land is devoted to cattle pasturage, but the county is primarily industrial. In the north the Potteries Potteries, the, area, c.9 mi (15 km) long and 3 mi (4.8 km) wide, Staffordshire, W central England, extending northwest-southeast in the upper Trent valley. The area includes Stoke-on-Trent and part of Newcastle-under-Lyme .
..... Click the link for more information. district, centered at Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent, city (1991 pop. 272,446) and district, Staffordshire, W central England. Stoke-on-Trent forms the bulk of the area known as the Potteries . Situated in a coal field, the city is the center of the Staffordshire pottery-making industry.
..... Click the link for more information. , is known for its manufacture of fine china (Wedgwood and Spode), glass, bricks, and clay pottery. In the south is the Black Country Black Country, highly industrialized region, mostly in Staffordshire but partly in Worcestershire and Warwickshire, W central England. It includes the cities of Dudley , Rowley Regis (see Warley ), Tipton, Walsall , Wednesbury, West Bromwich , and Wolverhampton .
..... Click the link for more information. , with its formerly extensive coal fields, foundries, and iron and steel mills. Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, urban area (1991 pop. 47,930), Staffordshire, W central England, on the Trent River and the Grand Trunk Canal. Brewing, begun there by Benedictine monks, is the most famous industry. From the 11th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. is famous for its breweries, and Lichfield Lichfield, town (1991 pop. 25,408) and district, Staffordshire, W central England. Lichfield is a market town with light industries, famous for its three-spired cathedral and its close associations with Dr. Samuel Johnson , who was born there in 1709.
..... Click the link for more information. for its cathedral. The Univ. of Keele is at Keele. The region was once a part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia Mercia (mûr`shə), one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, consisting generally of the region of the Midlands.
..... Click the link for more information. . In 1974, Staffordshire was reorganized as a nonmetropolitan county.

Staffordshire

Administrative (pop., 2001: 806,737), geographic, and historic county, west-central England. Staffordshire's northern moorlands form the southern tip of the Pennines, and it encompasses the coalfield region known as The Potteries. Traces of Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age settlements remain. The Romans built roads through the area; it was the centre of the kingdom of Mercia in the 7th–9th centuries. The Danes ravaged it at the end of the 9th century. Staffordshire has mined coal and iron since the 13th century. Its pottery industry became famous in the 18th century with the innovations of Josiah Wedgwood. The seat of the administrative county of Staffordshire is Stafford.