an inland county, nearly in the centre, but rather to the W. of England. It is bounded on the S. by Worcestershire and a detached part of Shropshire, W. by the main body of Shropshire, N.W. by Cheshire, N.E. by Derbyshire, E. by a small portion of Leicestershire, and S.E. by Warwickshire. Its greatest length from N. to S.E. is 60 miles, and its greatest breadth 38 miles. The southern boundary is very irregular and much involved with that of Worcestershire. A portion of the latter county, including the important town of Dudley, is entirely insulated by Staffordshire, whilst a portion of Staffordshire, including the Clent Hills, lies within Worcestershire. An effort was recently made by the Right Hon. Sir John Pakington and the Worcestershire magistrates to rectify this irregularity, but it was opposed by the Staffordshire magistrates, on the ground that great expense would be incurred in increasing the county jail at Stafford to provide for the prisoners from Dudley. Staffordshire contains 1250 square miles, or 781,000 statute acres. It is the 18th county in England in superficial extent; and the 6th in population.

Its physical aspect is marked by great variety. It includes within it a part of the great watersheds of England, different portions of it draining into the German Ocean, the Irish Sea, and the Bristol Channel. The main part of the county, however, belongs to the basin of the Trent; a small portion to the W. drains into the Mersey; and a larger strip on the S. into the Severn, which crosses a narrow limb of the county. The N.E. part of the county forms the termination of the Pennine range of mountains, which, stretching southwards from the Cheviot Hills, form the backbone of that part of England. The river Dove, which separates Staffordshire from Derbyshire on the N.E., flows through a valley formed by two spurs of this range, which presents a succession of scenery of exquisite beauty. From the S. or Staffordshire slope of its basin the Dove receives the Manifold, Hamps, and Churnet. The two former streams disappear underground and flow for some miles in subterranean channels, uniting their streams before they emerge, and fall into the Dove at Ilam. The Dove enters the Trent near Burton. Extending from the basin of the Dove on the N.E. to the N.W. of the county is a continuous range of hills and moorlands of a wild and varied character, sloping gradually towards the Trent, and forming the boundary of its basin to the N. To the E. of this range, which includes the Weaver Hills, there are eminences rising to the altitude of 1200 or 1500 feet above the level of the sea. They gradually subside towards the W., but are still high enough to give a decided feature to the scenery, which is mainly moorland. To the W. much lower elevations separate the basins of the Trent and Mersey. This line of division is marked by large pools, called meres, and considerable deposits of peat, which are to be found extending to the confines of Shropshire. Aquilate (aquae latae, broad water), near Newport, in Shropshire, is one of the largest of these pools.

To the south of the county a range of hills extends from Wolverhampton to Rowley Regis, and forms at once the southern boundary of the coal-field of South Staffordshire, and of the basin of the Trent. Wolverhampton itself is on the apex of this ridge, and its streams drain partly into the Bristol Channel and partly by the Trent into the German Ocean. These hills rise at Rowley to the height of 700 feet. They have been most interestingly described by Hugh Miller in his First Impressions of England. They belong to the Silurian system, and are very rich in fossils. From the great extent to which they have been quarried for limestone, they present extensive sections, open to the observation of the geologist. Very pure basalt exists in large masses at Rowley, and is locally known as Rowley Rag. It is used very extensively for paving. "The Silurian islets," as Miller calls the principal eminences in this chain, are precipitous; and two, "The Wren's Nest" and the site of Dudley Castle, are very striking objects.

The basin of the Trent extends from the summit of these hills in the south to the rugged heights which bound it on the north; but near the centre of the county rises an elevated plateau, known as Cannock Chase, which extends from the west of Rugeley to the east of the county, rising rather abruptly on all sides, except the east. It forms a striking feature in the scenery, viewed either from the Trent Valley Railway, which it closely approaches, or from the line between Stafford and Wolverhampton, which is on its opposite side. Between this central elevation and the hills to the south of the county, lies the coal-field of South Staffordshire, which drains eastward into the Tame, a river rising to the north-west of Walsall, which town is on the edge of the Chase. The Tame enters Warwickshire near Birmingham, but sweeping north and north-east, re-enters Staffordshire at Tamworth, and falls into the Trent a few miles north of Lichfield.

Between Cannock Chase and the northern range of the Staffordshire Hills the country is generally level. Through this district runs the River Trent, the third river in England for length. It rises in the moorlands near Buddulph, in the north-west of the county, on the borders of Cheshire, flows south by Trentham, south-east by Rugeley, east to the boundary of Derbyshire, when it turns north-east, forming the boundary between the two counties, and enters Derbyshire just below Burton, its length to that point being 50 miles. It only becomes navigable at Burton. Its chief tributaries on the left bank are the Blythe and the Dove, the latter already described. On the right bank is the Sow, with its tributary the Penk, which latter stream drains the country north-west of the southern ridge of hills, terminating west of Wolverhampton. The Tame has already been described.

The new red sandstone is the prevailing geologic formation throughout the county. Gypsum is quarried in Needwood Forest, an elevated tract of land in the north-east, and in the adjacent parts of the valley of the Dove. The basalt at Rowley Regis has been noticed in defining the boundaries of the river basins. Trap-rock, apparently part of a thick vertical greenstone dyke, is found near Walsall.

The coal-fields form, however, the most important mineral feature of the county. The largest is in the south, extending from near Walsall to Rowley, and from Wolverhampton to within a few miles of Birmingham. The south part of this coal-field contains a seam of coal 30 feet thick, of excellent quality. The coal-measures in this basin have an average aggregate thickness of about 40 feet, and the ironstone of about 40 inches. Ironstone is found in strata intervening between the coal-measures in each of the coal-fields.

The Pottery coal-field, in the north-west, is triangular in shape, its greatest length from base to apex being 13 miles, and 8 or 10 miles along the base. East of this is a small insulated basin, called the Cheadle coal-field; and near Tamworth, on the east of the county, the Warwickshire coal-field just enters Staffordshire. Colliery operations are now being energetically conducted near that town. Nearly the whole of the elevated district of Cannock Chase is found to contain valuable beds of coal; and thus, hitherto a barren heath, formerly covered with timber, is rapidly becoming intersected by canals and railways, which the mining operations call into existence. Ironstone is also found, but is not yet extracted to any large extent. In the north of the county, near Froghall, valuable beds of limestone and ironstone are worked, and the minerals conveyed to the ironworks of South Staffordshire. Copper and lead are mined in the north of the county, in the neighbourhood of Oakamoor. Salt-springs occur at Shirleywitch and Weston, to the west of Colwich.

The climate is colder than in other counties in corresponding latitudes, and the fall of rain is large, averaging about 36 inches a year. The highlands, which form part of the great watershed of the county, intercept the vapours from the Atlantic, whilst the quantity of snow which falls upon them tends to reduce the temperature. The arable land forms about four-fifths of the land under cultivation. Clay and heavy loams, gravelly and sandy loams, and light gravel and sand, exist in various proportions. The meadows along the banks of the rivers are very fertile. Great progress has been made within the last few years in the improvement of the breeds of animals and the processes of agriculture. Lord Hatherton, the lord-lieutenant of the county, is a most enterprising and successful agriculturist, and at a very early period adopted steam culture, the use of the reaping machine, and other improvements. His extensive farm adjoining his residence at Teddesley, near Penkridge, is a remarkable illustration of profitable reclamation.

Staffordshire occupies an important position amongst the manufacturing counties of England. The leading branches of industry are the manufacture of iron and hardwares on the South Staffordshire, and of earthenware and iron on the Pottery coal-field. The iron manufacture has been long carried on in the former district, but has been immensely extended since coal was rendered applicable to smelting the ore instead of charcoal, and again since the hot-blast was employed. The supply of the superior qualities of ironstone in the district is now, in consequence of the vast quantities raised, unequal to the demand, and the supply of native stone is largely supplemented by the hematite ore from Cumberland, calcined stone from the Potteries, &c. The opening of the coal-mines on Cannock Chase has greatly increased the supply of fuel. The works for the manufacture of iron extend over the whole of the coal-field. In the commencement of 1860 there were 189 blast furnaces in the district, including a few in East Worcestershire, of which 135 were in and 54 out of operation. The average yield of a furnace is about 120 tons of pig-iron per week, which would give an annual production from the furnaces then in blast of 842,400 tons a year. Very little is exported in the shape of pig-iron. In 1826, there were 109 furnaces in the district, of which 90 were in blast, the annual yield being estimated at 197,280 tons. The produce per furnace has been much increased of late years. The competition of districts where the minerals can be raised at less expense, and which are nearer the seaboard, limits the manufacture of iron in South Staffordshire for export chiefly to the superior kinds. Rails are not now largely made in the district.

Almost every branch of hardware manufacture is carried on in South Staffordshire. Locks are produced to a large extent in Wolverhampton and Willenhall; tin and japan wares in Wolverhampton and Bilston—this being one of the most progressive branches in the district—cast hollow wares at Wolverhampton, West Bromwich, Sedgley, &c.; saddlers' ironmongery and saddlery at Walsall; ironwork for coach-buildings and wheels and axles for railways, at Wednesbury; chains and nails at Dudley, and the district to the south; gas-tubes, Wednesbury and Walsall; gun-locks, Wednesbury and Darlaston; and foundries abound in various parts. There is scarcely an article of ironmongery which is not produced in the district. The hardware trades are fully as flourishing as the iron trade. A large proportion of articles of hardware are got up at the houses of the workmen, in many cases the various portions of an article being collected by the factors or merchants from the separate artificers, and put together in their establishments. They are extensively exported to every part of America, Australia, the East Indies, China, the Cape, the Mediterranean, &c.

The other principal manufacturing district is situated on the Pottery coal-field, on the north-west of the county. The manufacture of earthenware in that locality, originally confined to the commoner kind of articles, has been gradually improved, until now not only is the most exquisite china produced there, but new kinds, as encaustic tiles, parian, jasper, majolica, &c., raise the productions of the district to a distinguished position in art-manufactures. The pottery art is greatly indebted for its improvement to the genius and perseverance of Josiah Wedgwood, who founded the town of Etruria, where his descendants still carry on the manufacture. A statue of this benefactor of the Potteries is about to be erected at the railway station, Stoke; and an institute, which is to bear his name, for instruction specially in art and science applicable to the production and ornamentation of the staple manufacture, is shortly to be established in Burslem, his native town. It is worthy of remark, that the workmen engaged in the earthenware manufacture are engaged from year to year, instead of by the week or fortnight, as in other trades. The principal towns are Hanley, Burslem, Stoke, Shelton, Longton, Tunstall, Fenton, Etruria, Dresden, &c.

Within the last few years the iron trade has been rapidly extending in the Pottery district. In January 1860 there were 31 blast furnaces, of which all but 8 were in operation. The Earl Granville is the proprietor of extensive mines and ironworks in the Potteries.

The manufacture of ale and beer at Burton-on-Trent is carried on to a very large and increasing extent, and that town is rapidly rising into great importance. No branch of trade in the county is making more remarkable progress.

At Stafford and Stone the manufacture of shoes is extensively carried on, and hats are made at Newcastle-under-Lyme. Glass-works exist in various parts, and branches of cotton manufacture are prosecuted in some of the rural districts, but several of these manufactories have long been closed. At Leek, in the north-west of the county, silk goods are made to a considerable extent.

Staffordshire is admirably supplied with the means of internal communication. In addition to good roads, there is a perfect network of canals and railways, which the development of its mineral riches, and the progress of its manufactures, have rendered necessary. The Grand Trunk Canal, the work of the distinguished Brindley, connects the navigation of the Trent and Mersey. It extends from the junction of the Derwent with the Trent in Derbyshire, entering the county near Burton to Runcorn Gap, where it joins the Mersey. Of its entire length of 93 miles, about 50 are in Staffordshire. At Harecastle, west of the Potteries, it is carried through two tunnels, one of which is 2926½ yards in length. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal connects the Grand Trunk east of Stafford with the Severn, and thus the communication between the German Ocean, the Irish Sea, and the Bristol Channel is completed. The Birmingham Canal, extending from near that town, traverses the South Staffordshire coal-field, uniting with the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal south of Wolverhampton. It is thence extended to Nantwich in Cheshire, forming a direct line of communication for Birmingham and South Staffordshire with the Mersey. From the nature of the district through which the Birmingham Canal passes, it has been extended in every direction by branches. A splendid tunnel, in connection with one of these branches, recently constructed at Netherton near Dudley, pierces the lofty range of hills which intersect the thick coal-basin in that locality. By the Coventry and Oxford Canal, which joins the Grand Trunk Canal near Alrewas, the latter is connected with the Thames. Other canals in South Staffordshire connect every part of the district with the main lines, and important extensions on Cannock Chase are in progress.

The county is well supplied with railways. The Grand Junction line traverses it from Birmingham to near Crewe, where it enters Cheshire. The Trent Valley, a shorter route from Rugby to Stafford, passes by Tamworth, Lichfield, and Rugeley, south of Cannock Chase; the Stour Valley from Birmingham to Bushbury, a mile north of Wolverhampton, where it unites with the Grand Junction, was formed to obviate the original defect of the latter, which scarcely touches any of the South Staffordshire towns. The South Staffordshire Railway extends from Dudley, crossing Cannock Chase to Barton, a few miles from which it runs into the Midland. A branch from Walsall extends to Cannock, on the summit of the central tableland; and a short line, the Cannock Mineral, opened in the autumn of 1859, connects Cannock with Rugeley, where it unites with the Trent Valley. Other branches from the South Staffordshire line are in progress. The Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway, passing through Dudley, connects the South Staffordshire line with the south of England and London. The North Staffordshire, constructed specially for the convenience of the Pottery district, connects it with the Grand Junction Line at Norton Bridge, near Stafford, with the Trent Valley at Colwich, with the Midland at Burton and Willington, and extends to Macclesfield on the north-east, and thence along the north of the county, in an eastern direction, to Uttoxeter, where it unites with the Midland branch. Besides these, the Great Western Railway traverses the district between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, extending from that town by Shrewsbury to Birkenhead.

The county is divided into five hundreds, each of which is subdivided into north and south. They do not include the city of Lichfield, which is a county of itself. For parliamentary purposes it is divided into North and South Staffordshire, each of which returns two members. The population in 1851 was 608,716, having doubled in forty years. The following are the numbers of the population at each of the decennial periods named:—1801, 254,084; 1811, 308,129; 1821, 361,859; 1831, 425,140; and 1841, 520,867.

The population of the principal towns is as follows:—Wolverhampton, 49,985; Walsall, 25,650; Wednesbury, 11,914; Stafford, 11,829; Newcastle-under-Lyme, 10,569; Leek, 8,877; Burton-on-Trent, 7,934.

The parliamentary boroughs, with their population in 1851, are as follow:—Wolverhampton, including Bilston, Willenhall, Wednesfield, and Sedgley, 119,748; Stoke-upon-Trent, including the Pottery towns, 84,027; Walsall, 25,650; Stafford, 11,829; Newcastle-under-Lyme, 10,569; Tamworth, 8,656; and Lichfield, 7,012. Except Walsall, which only returns one member, all these boroughs return two each, making 17 members for the whole county.

The rapid collection of large populations on the coal-fields in the north and south of the county, earning high wages, has had its usual effect in occasioning much sensual depravity. This is increased by the influence on the physical aspect of these districts of the mining and manufacturing pursuits. The former cover the surface with the refuse matter raised from the mines; whilst the volumes of smoke emitted by the works darken the whole atmosphere, causing the South Staffordshire district to be locally termed “the Black Country,” and destroy vegetation. Hence garden culture, and the enjoyment of natural scenery, are prohibited to the residents; cleanliness is very difficult; and the higher classes usually live at a distance beyond the smoke, thus depriving the working-classes of much of the influence they would otherwise exert over them. In the recollection of many persons, bull-baiting and cock-fighting on Sunday were common in South Staffordshire. Great improvement is, however, manifest. Schools have been extensively established for the artisans and labourers. Their influence is greatly diminished by the temptation which high wages offer to parents to send their children to work at an early age; and prizes, contributed by proprietors of the mines and ironworks in South and North Staffordshire, are given to encourage protracted attendance at school. At an early period the active efforts of the Methodists and Dissenters did much to keep alive religious and moral sentiments; and within the last twenty years the Church of England has made extraordinary exertions to provide for the religious and educational wants of the population. The census of 1851 showed that there were then 863 places of worship within the county, containing 304,292 sittings. Of these, 317 places of worship and 163,856 sittings belonged to the Established Church. The proportion of sittings to population was 50 per cent., of which 26.9 were connected with the Church of England. As an indication of the progress made lately, it may be mentioned that the present Bishop of Lichfield has consecrated 121 new churches since his elevation to the see in 1843, and very much the greater part of these were in Staffordshire. The building of churches in the diocese is assisted by a society; and the present bishop (Lonsdale) has on three several occasions of appealing for its support, headed the subscription list with £1,1000. The census of 1851 showed that there were in the county 1318 day schools, attended by 66,187 scholars, of which 44,489 were at public, and 21,698 at private schools.

An efficient police force has for many years been established in the county, Wolverhampton, Walsall, and one or two of the smaller boroughs, having separate forces. The towns of Wolverhampton and Hanley have been incorporated under the Municipal Reform Act of 1835—the former directly after its passing, the latter in 1859. The other municipal boroughs are Stafford, Lichfield, Tamworth, Walsall, and Newcastle-under-Lyme. Most of the towns now possess local boards of health, under the Public Health Act of 1848, or of Commissioners; and paving, lighting, and sewerage are better attended to than they were. In both the south and north coal-fields, the sinking of the ground, and the destruction of buildings, roads, &c., from the mining excavations, is common. South Staffordshire was last year supplied with water by works intercepting streams and springs at Lichfield, whence the water is raised to the summit of Cannock Chase. Wolverhampton is supplied mainly from surface water from the south, and by borings into the red sandstone, the water having to be pumped to the level of the town. There is also a waterwork in North Staffordshire.

In the Roman period Staffordshire was inhabited by the Cornovii. The Roman roads, Watling Street, Rykiend Street, and Via Devana (Chester Road), crossed the county. At Wall (Ectocetum) Roman remains are extensively found, and at Rowley Regis and other places. In the Saxon period the county formed a part of Mercia; and Tamworth was the place of residence, and of the death, of the celebrated Ethelfleda. The beautiful cathedral at Lichfield occupies the site of a church erected as early as the seventh century. A part of its south side has been admirably restored in stone within the last fifteen years; and the interior of the choir is now being restored, at a cost of about £10,000, under the direction of Mr G. G. Scott. Croxden Abbey, in a small valley between Cheadle and Uttoxeter, is a fine old ruin.