Essington is a village and

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 authorit ...

South Staffordshire South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. The district lies to the north and west of the West Midlands county, bordering Shropshire to the west and Worcestershire to the south. It contains notable settlements ...

, England, located near the city of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

and towns of

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

Bloxwich Bloxwich is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It is located between the towns of Walsall, Cannock, Willenhall and Brownhills. Early history Bloxwich has its origins at least as early as th ...

Cannock Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverh ...

and

Brewood Brewood is an ancient market town in the civil parish of Brewood and Coven, in the South Staffordshire district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. Located around , Brewood lies near the River Penk, eight miles north of Wolverhampton cit ...

. The villages of

Cheslyn Hay Cheslyn Hay is a former mining village and civil parish which is contiguous with Great Wyrley and Landywood in Staffordshire, England. It is situated within the South Staffordshire district some 3 miles south of Cannock, 7 miles north of Walsall ...

Great Wyrley Great Wyrley is a large village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is coterminous with the villages of Landywood and Cheslyn Hay in the South Staffordshire district. It lies 5.5 miles north of Walsall, West Midlands. It had a popu ...

Coven A coven () is a group or gathering of witches. The word "coven" (from Anglo-Norman ''covent, cuvent'', from Old French ''covent'', from Latin ''conventum'' = convention) remained largely unused in English until 1921 when Margaret Murray promote ...

Penkridge Penkridge ( ) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Staffordshire, South Staffordshire District in Staffordshire, England. It is to the south of Stafford, north of Wolverhampton, west of Cannock and east of Telford. ...

and

Featherstone Featherstone is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, two miles south-west of Pontefract. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 2011 ...

are also nearby. The village forms part of the

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 ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

border.

History

In 1870-1872 the '' Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' described Essington as 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 the parish of

Bushbury Bushbury is a suburban village and ward in the City of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, England. It lies two miles north-east of Wolverhampton city centre, divided between the Bushbury North and Bushbury South and Low Hill wards. Bushbury ...

, with a post office and 187 houses. The population had risen from 644 in 1851 to 976 in 1861, "from the extension of mining operations", and an iron church with room for 260 people had been built in 1858–1859.

Village

The village of Essington is small and of comparatively recent build, although there are the remains of several moated farmsteads, possibly of iron-age origin, on the land adjacent to the village's current boundaries. There is a public park called Brownshore Lakes (known locally as the pools), which is the site of two adjacent lakes. They are the remains of three coal mining tailing and settling ponds. The lakes are surrounded by woodland and it is a local recreational meeting place. It is also home to

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which in ...

and there is also an abundance of other wildlife around the lakes and the woods.

Transport

The village has direct connections with 2 main major roads: the A462, which runs from Junction 11 of the M6 to

Wednesbury Wednesbury () is a market town in Sandwell in the county of West Midlands, England. It is located near the source of the River Tame. Historically part of Staffordshire in the Hundred of Offlow, at the 2011 Census the town had a population of ...

, and the A460 that links

with

and

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...

. The M6 and M54 motorways meet just northeast of the village, and are both accessible via the A460. While the village was once served by several bus routes, the only service to Essington is route 71. Operating between

and

, the service runs hourly Monday to Saturdays off-peak. Service 71 is operated by Chaserider. The nearest railway station is Bloxwich North, a 35-minute walk away.

Essington Parish

The Parish of Essington is quite large encompassing a village a number of recreational, industrial and farming areas and several hamlets and is part of

district in

. It borders the county of

(

and

). Services to the parish can appear confusing: the Post Office have assigned the WV Wolverhampton Post-Code for mail to the area, British Telecom have given it a Walsall 01922 Telephone prefix, the Health Authority is South Staffordshire, the Ambulance Service is West Midlands, Social Services are South Staffordshire in Codsall. All property taxes (rates) are collected by South Staffordshire at Codsall. Essington Parish Council is the lowest tier of local government.

School

The main school in Essington is St Johns Primary Academy. Located on Hobnock Road, it was built in 1846 and became known as St John's Church of England School from 1968. Brownshore Pre-School Play Group is located opposite St John's Primary School on Hobnock Road. Essington is a main catchment area for Cheslyn Hay Academy students.

Sports

There are rugby and football facilities in several locations around the parish located in Bognop Road, Essington and High Hill, Essington.

Recreation

A walking group meets most Fridays at about 11 am outside the Minerva Public House in Wolverhampton Road and undertakes walks using some of the many public footpaths around the central village.

Places of worship

St John's Anglican church is in the village and has many activities during the day and sometimes in the evening. It was built in 1932 and has an extension at the west end, completed in 2015. Outside the village, Essington Wood Methodist Chapel is Bursnips Road (A462).

Notable people

Ealhswith Ealhswith or Ealswitha (died 5 December 902) was the wife of King Alfred the Great. Her father was a Mercian nobleman, Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini, which is thought to be an old Mercian tribal group. Her mother was Eadburh, a member o ...

, queen consort and wife of

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...

, the self-styled first King of England. *

Ralph Sweet-Escott Ralph Bond Sweet-Escott (11 January 1869 – 11 November 1907) was an English-born international rugby union half back who played club rugby for Cardiff and was capped three times for Wales. Sweet-Escott also played cricket for Glamorgan repre ...

(1869 in Essington – 1907) an English-born international rugby union player, he also played cricket for Glamorgan *

Meera Syal Meera Syal FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is a English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, ...

CBE (born 1961) comedian and author; her debut novel ''

Anita and Me ''Anita and Me'' is Meera Syal's debut novel, and was first published in 1996. It is a semi-autobiographical novel, based on Syal's childhood in the mining village of Essington, Staffordshire, which won the Betty Trask Award. The story revolves ...

'' was set in the fictional village of Tollington, which was based on Essington in the early 1970s, where she grew up.

References

External links

Essington Parish Council website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Essington Villages in Staffordshire South Staffordshire District