Caverswall is a village and

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, to the south west of

Staffordshire Moorlands Staffordshire Moorlands is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Staffordshire, England. Its council, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, is based in Leek, Staffordshire, Leek and is located between the city of Stoke-on- ...

. In the middle of the 19th century there were about 1500 inhabitants. In the 1880s an urbanised part of the parish called East Vale was transferred to

Longton Longton may refer to several places: * Longton, Kansas, United States * Longton, Lancashire, United Kingdom * Longton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom See also * Longtan (disambiguation) * Longtown (disambiguation) Longtown may refer to several plac ...

, which was then an expanding industrial town. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 971.

Etymology

The name Caverswall is thought to have its origins in the

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

words ''Cafhere'', a personal noun, and ''Waelle'', which meant spring or well. By the time of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

the village was called ''Caureswelle''.

Around the Village

St Peter's Church, Caverswall - geograph

Near the village square are St Peter's Church of England Aided School, St. Peter's Church, St. Filumena's Catholic Church, St. Filumena's Primary School and a now disused Wesleyan Chapel. Also located on The Square is the Red House, a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. In the middle of the square there is a large tree under which is a set of

stocks Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...

Caverswall Castle Caverswall Castle is a privately owned early-17th-century English mansion built in a castellar style upon the foundations and within the walls of a 13th-century castle, in Caverswall, Staffordshire. It is a Grade I listed building. The castle i ...

may date from a

manor house, but the fortifications date from a

licence to crenellate In medieval England, Wales and the Channel Islands a licence to crenellate (or licence to fortify) granted the holder permission to fortify his property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within the ...

(royal permission to fortify) granted in November 1275, although there may have been an earlier application in 1230. The castle remains were in-filled by a house in 1615, by Matthew Craddock from Stafford, and the former

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

has been restored to encircle the castle. It is privately owned.

Foxfield Railway The Foxfield Railway is a preserved standard gauge line located south east of Stoke-on-Trent. The line was built in 1893 to serve the colliery at Dilhorne on the Cheadle Coalfield. It joined the North Staffordshire Railway line near Blythe Bri ...

is based approximately half a mile away from the village and runs heritage Steam Traction along the former Branch line to Foxfield Colliery.

References

External links

Caverswall Parish Home Page

Caverswall Castle

* Villages in Staffordshire Staffordshire Moorlands {{Staffordshire-geo-stub