Endon is a village within the Staffordshire Moorlands district of

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 ...

, England. It is southwest of

Leek The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus ''Alli ...

and north-northeast of

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

. Endon was formerly a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

in civil parish of Leek. Together with neighbouring

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

, Endon forms the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Endon and Stanley Endon and Stanley is a civil parish in Staffordshire, England, containing the villages Endon and Stanley. The civil parish (replacing a civil parish containing Endon, Stanley and Longsdon) was formed in 1894.Endon High School Endon High School is a coeducational secondary school located in Endon in the English county of Staffordshire. Endon Hall Primary School and St Lukes CE Primary School in Endon act as the main feeder schools for Endon High School, as well as St ...

Local features

The

Caldon Canal Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal which opened in 1779. It runs from Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, to Froghall, Staffordshire. The canal has 17 locks and the Froghall Tunnel. History The first plans by the proprietors of the ...

, a branch of the Trent & Mersey Canal, passes around Endon.

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

, a 17th-century house, lies to the north of the village.

Railway

The

Endon railway station Endon railway station is a disused railway station in Staffordshire. The Stoke–Leek line was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) in 1867 and a station to serve the village of Endon was opened in November 1867. Endon marked the end ...

was opened by the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based i ...

on 1 November 1867 and operated for almost 100 years, closing in 1963 . There are ambitious plans in hand to develop passenger facilities at Endon, bringing the village station back to life after decades of disuse. The project to reconnect Endon is a joint partnership between Moorland & City Railways and

Churnet Valley Railway The Churnet Valley Railway is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway in the Staffordshire Moorlands of Staffordshire, England. It operates on part of the former Churnet Valley Line.which was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway. ...

. Volunteers working on behalf of Churnet Valley Railway, will carry out repairs on the four-mile stretch of track, supported by contractors . Reaching Endon will be a major milestone for the expansion project, and will mean that passenger trains will reconnect the outskirts of the Potteries with the Churnet Valley and Leek area for the first time since the cut backs of the Beeching Axe. It is also intended to make it possible to travel directly from Endon to Alton towers on this passenger train. Later, the intention is to reconnect Endon to Stoke-on-Trent. Large amounts of funding are required to meet this aim .

Well dressing

The village is unusual in the respect that it is one of only a few outside

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

which practises the ancient custom of

Well dressing Well dressing, also known as well flowering, is a tradition practised in some parts of rural England in which wells, springs and other water sources are decorated with designs created from flower petals. The custom is most closely associated with ...

. A weekend fair accompanies the dressing of the well at which a local girl is crowned as the Well Dressing Queen. The fair also includes a contest called "Tossing the Sheaf" where local men compete to see who can toss a bale of straw the highest over a raised bar. The fair is known for bringing the entire village together, which is a rare occasion for most modern villages .

Literary and musical associations

T. E. Hulme Thomas Ernest Hulme (; 16 September 1883 – 28 September 1917) was an English critic and poet who, through his writings on art, literature and politics, had a notable influence upon modernism. He was an aesthetic philosopher and the 'father ...

(1883–1917), an English critic and poet, was born at Gratton Hall. Through his writings on art, literature and politics, he had a notable influence upon

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. The opening line of the iconic 1976 Sutherland Brothers and Quiver hit "

Arms of Mary "Arms of Mary" is a song written by Iain Sutherland and performed by Sutherland Brothers and Quiver. It was a 1976 international hit single for the band; the ''Glasgow Herald'' in its obituary for Iain Sutherland described "Arms of Mary" as "a p ...

": "the lights shine down the valley", was written by Iain Sutherland who was looking from a Stockton Brook farm house down over Endon.

References

External links