Little Haywood
Encyclopedia
Little Haywood is a village in Staffordshire
, England
. It lies beside a main arterial highway, the A51
(linking the English Midlands
with Liverpool
) but traffic through the village is mainly light, owing to this bypass. Nearby also is the West Coast Main Line
railway, the Trent and Mersey Canal
and beside it, the river Trent
. Little Haywood is about 125 miles (201.2 km) northwest of London
, about 25 miles (40.2 km) north of Birmingham
, 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Rugeley
and 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Stafford
.
Little Haywood is cited in the Domesday Book
of 1086. Although originally a small village, housing expansion during the 1980s has created a commuter village and most of its inhabitants have employment far outside the confines of the Haywood area.
and Sow. It lies near the northern edge of Cannock Chase
and is surrounded in the main by farmland
. Geologically, the village lies on Triassic
sandstone of the Sherwood Sandstone Group, with overlying glacial deposits from the last glaciation of Great Britain.
The village lies within the Stafford borough
of Staffordshire
and its name is derived from the Old English "haeg wadu," meaning an enclosure
in woodland.
, the River Trent
and the Trent and Mersey Canal
, which was opened in 1777. A wooden footbridge
carrying Meadow Lane
across the Trent was built in 1830. Previously the river was crossed by a ford
, which was still used by cattle and horse-drawn vehicles after the footbridge was constructed. This wooden bridge was replaced by a brick- and stone-built Weetman's Bridge in 1887. Less than 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of Little Haywood, the northeastern end of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. The Trent and Mersey Canal mile post at Little Haywood is number 37.
. This Roman Catholic
abbey is home to a community of enclosed Benedictine
nun
s and although part of the neighbouring Colwich parish
, the abbey itself and its grounds lie alongside the road that runs through Little Haywood.
The Abbey Church of Saint Mary used to cover a large amount of Little Haywood and it has been said that there are underground tunnels leading from the abbey to Lichfield Cathedral
, 10 miles (16.1 km) away, and to Shugborough Hall
, a little over 1 miles (1.6 km) away in the opposite direction. Within the village, on land owned by Shugborough Hall, there is evidence of small-scale stone quarrying in the area known to locals as "the cliffs".
s and on a day-to-day basis the social life of the village revolves around its public houses: the 'Red Lion' and the 'Lamb and Flag'. There is no church in Little Haywood, no village green and no school. There are, however, the two pubs and a general store. The nearby village of Colwich
is less than 1 miles (1.6 km) away and has a church and a primary school but no pub or general store, and so amenities are often shared.
at Haywood Manor (no longer standing) during times when there was little else to do. In order to keep the workers from being idle, Talbot would make work for them in the form of features whose purpose might best be described as decorative.
, wife of author J. R. R. Tolkien
, from March 1916 to February 1917. Tolkien stayed with his wife in Cottage 1, Gipsy Green, on the Teddesley Park Estate, near the village during the winter of 1916, whilst recuperating from trench fever
. The surrounding landscape was said to be an inspiration for his early literary works about Middle-earth
.. At the cottage he began work on what would become The Silmarillion
. The village of Norbury
lies about 14 miles (22.5 km) away and may relate to the "Norbury of the Kings" that appears in The Lord of the Rings
.
services were derailed. On 2 January 2009, a Piper Cherokee
single engine light aircraft came down at Colwich junction, killing the three people on board.
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It lies beside a main arterial highway, the A51
A51 road
The A51 is a road in England running from Kingsbury in Warwickshire to Chester. The road follows the following route:*Kingsbury*Tamworth*Lichfield*Rugeley *Little Haywood*Great Haywood*Weston*Sandon...
(linking the English Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
with Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
) but traffic through the village is mainly light, owing to this bypass. Nearby also is the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
railway, the Trent and Mersey Canal
Trent and Mersey Canal
The Trent and Mersey Canal is a in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and North West of England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities—east of Burton upon Trent and west of Middlewich—it is a wide canal....
and beside it, the river Trent
Trent
-Places:* Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent* Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom* Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen* Trent, California, USA* Trent, Kentucky, USA* Trent, South Dakota, USA* Trent, Texas, USA...
. Little Haywood is about 125 miles (201.2 km) northwest of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, about 25 miles (40.2 km) north of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Rugeley
Rugeley
Rugeley is a historic market town in the county of Staffordshire, England. It lies on the northern edge of Cannock Chase, and is situated roughly midway between the towns of Stafford, Cannock, Lichfield and Uttoxeter...
and 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Stafford
Stafford
Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately north of Wolverhampton and south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14...
.
Little Haywood is cited in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086. Although originally a small village, housing expansion during the 1980s has created a commuter village and most of its inhabitants have employment far outside the confines of the Haywood area.
Location
Little Haywood is situated on the side of a hill in the system of valleys drained by the rivers TrentRiver Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
and Sow. It lies near the northern edge of Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Chase gives its name to the Cannock Chase local government district....
and is surrounded in the main by farmland
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
. Geologically, the village lies on Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
sandstone of the Sherwood Sandstone Group, with overlying glacial deposits from the last glaciation of Great Britain.
The village lies within the Stafford borough
Stafford (borough)
Stafford is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire in England. It is named after and includes the town of Stafford. It also includes the smaller town of Stone and numerous villages....
of Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
and its name is derived from the Old English "haeg wadu," meaning an enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
in woodland.
Waterways
There are three main waterways running near to Little Haywood: the River SowRiver Sow
The River Sow is a tributary of the River Trent in Staffordshire, England.The river rises to the south of Newcastle-under-Lyme and flows south to become the major river through Stafford. It also flows near Bishop's Offley and Tixall. At Baswich it is joined by the River Penk, before meeting the...
, the River Trent
River Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
and the Trent and Mersey Canal
Trent and Mersey Canal
The Trent and Mersey Canal is a in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and North West of England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities—east of Burton upon Trent and west of Middlewich—it is a wide canal....
, which was opened in 1777. A wooden footbridge
Footbridge
A footbridge or pedestrian bridge is a bridge designed for pedestrians and in some cases cyclists, animal traffic and horse riders, rather than vehicular traffic. Footbridges complement the landscape and can be used decoratively to visually link two distinct areas or to signal a transaction...
carrying Meadow Lane
Meadow Lane
Not to be confused with The Meadow, home of Southern Football League Premier Division football team Chesham UnitedThe Meadow Lane Stadium is a football stadium in Nottingham, England...
across the Trent was built in 1830. Previously the river was crossed by a ford
Ford (crossing)
A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading or in a vehicle. A ford is mostly a natural phenomenon, in contrast to a low water crossing, which is an artificial bridge that allows crossing a river or stream when water is low.The names of many towns...
, which was still used by cattle and horse-drawn vehicles after the footbridge was constructed. This wooden bridge was replaced by a brick- and stone-built Weetman's Bridge in 1887. Less than 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of Little Haywood, the northeastern end of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a narrow navigable canal in the English Midlands, passing through the counties of Staffordshire and Worcestershire....
joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. The Trent and Mersey Canal mile post at Little Haywood is number 37.
The Abbey Church of Saint Mary
The most prominent building in Little Haywood is St. Mary's AbbeySt. Mary's Abbey
-Ireland:* St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin* St. Mary's Abbey, Glencairn* St. Mary's Abbey, Trim-United Kingdom:* St Mary's Abbey, Kenilworth* St Mary's Abbey, Leiston* St Mary's Abbey, Thetford* St Mary's Abbey, West Malling* St Mary's Abbey, Winchester...
. This Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
abbey is home to a community of enclosed Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
s and although part of the neighbouring Colwich parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
, the abbey itself and its grounds lie alongside the road that runs through Little Haywood.
The Abbey Church of Saint Mary used to cover a large amount of Little Haywood and it has been said that there are underground tunnels leading from the abbey to Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is situated in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The Diocese of Lichfield covers all of Staffordshire, much of Shropshire and part of the Black Country and West Midlands...
, 10 miles (16.1 km) away, and to Shugborough Hall
Shugborough Hall
Shugborough is a country estate in Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England, 4 miles from Stafford on the edge of Cannock Chase. It comprises a country house, kitchen garden, and model farm...
, a little over 1 miles (1.6 km) away in the opposite direction. Within the village, on land owned by Shugborough Hall, there is evidence of small-scale stone quarrying in the area known to locals as "the cliffs".
Pubs and shops
The village and its outlying neighbours have an active parish community; the parish council organises events such as village feteFête
Fête is a French word meaning festival, celebration or party, which has passed into English as a label that may be given to certain events.-Description:It is widely used in England and Australia in the context of a village fête,...
s and on a day-to-day basis the social life of the village revolves around its public houses: the 'Red Lion' and the 'Lamb and Flag'. There is no church in Little Haywood, no village green and no school. There are, however, the two pubs and a general store. The nearby village of Colwich
Colwich, Staffordshire
Colwich is a civil parish and village in Staffordshire, England. It is situated off the A51 road, about 3 miles north west of Rugeley, and 7 miles south east of Stafford...
is less than 1 miles (1.6 km) away and has a church and a primary school but no pub or general store, and so amenities are often shared.
Wall
At the side of the road that runs from Little Haywood towards the village of Great Haywood, 1 miles (1.6 km) away, is an example of a "make work wall", built by employees of Earl TalbotEarl Talbot
Earl Talbot is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. This branch of the Talbot family descends from the Hon. Sir Gilbert Talbot , third son of John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury. His great-great-great-grandson the Right Reverend William Talbot was Bishop of Oxford,...
at Haywood Manor (no longer standing) during times when there was little else to do. In order to keep the workers from being idle, Talbot would make work for them in the form of features whose purpose might best be described as decorative.
J. R. R. Tolkien
The village was home to the newly-married Edith TolkienEdith Tolkien
Edith Mary Tolkien , was the wife and muse of novelist J. R. R. Tolkien. She is best known as the inspiration for his fictional characters Lúthien Tinúviel and Arwen Evenstar.- Early life :...
, wife of author J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
, from March 1916 to February 1917. Tolkien stayed with his wife in Cottage 1, Gipsy Green, on the Teddesley Park Estate, near the village during the winter of 1916, whilst recuperating from trench fever
Trench fever
Trench fever is a moderately serious disease transmitted by body lice. It infected armies in Flanders, France, Poland, Galicia, Italy, Salonika, Macedonia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt in World War I Trench fever (also known as "Five day fever", "Quintan fever" (febris Quintana in Latin), "Urban trench...
. The surrounding landscape was said to be an inspiration for his early literary works about Middle-earth
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
.. At the cottage he began work on what would become The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
. The village of Norbury
Norbury, Staffordshire
Norbury is a village in the Borough of Stafford, in south-west Staffordshire, England.It is situated approximately north-east of Newport, just south of the A519 Newport to Newcastle-under-Lyme road, and two miles south-east of Woodseaves....
lies about 14 miles (22.5 km) away and may relate to the "Norbury of the Kings" that appears in The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
.
Tragic accidents at Colwich Junction
On September 18, 1986, two passenger trains collided at Colwich Junction, less than half a mile from Little Haywood, killing the driver of one of the trains and injuring 75 passengers. Several carriages of the crowded InterCityInterCity (British Rail)
InterCity was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services ....
services were derailed. On 2 January 2009, a Piper Cherokee
Piper Cherokee
The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of light aircraft designed for flight training, air taxi, and personal use. It is built by Piper Aircraft....
single engine light aircraft came down at Colwich junction, killing the three people on board.