Woodseaves is a village in Staffordshire, England. It lies in 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 authorit ...

of High Offley and is situated on the A519 ( Newport- Newcastle-under-Lyme) road and lies at the south-west end of the B5405 road, which leads to Great Bridgeford. Nearby are the villages of

Gnosall Gnosall is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Stafford, Staffordshire, England, with a population of 4,736 across 2,048 households (2011 census). It lies on the A518, approximately halfway between the towns of Newport (in Shropshir ...

and

Norbury Norbury is an area of south London. It shares the postcode London SW16 with neighbouring Streatham. Norbury is south of Charing Cross. Etymology The name Norbury derives from ''North Burh'', (North Borough). Some local histories note that ...

, the hamlets of Knightley and High Offley, and the small town of

Eccleshall Eccleshall is a town and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is located seven miles northwest of Stafford, and six miles west-southwest of Stone. Eccleshall is twinned with Sancerre in France. His ...

. The

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of the village is between and above sea level. The centre of the village is the top of a small hill, relative to the adjacent countryside, and the roads into and out of the village are almost all sloping away from the village.

Amenities and features

The village contains a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

, a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

, a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

which is linked to a snooker club with two full size and well maintained snooker tables, and a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

which had 83 pupils in 2007-8.Woodseaves Primary School
/ref> The village hall is home to a number of evening events, such as "keep fit" classes, a craft club, an "over 55s" club,

t'ai chi Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called " shadowboxing", is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and meditation. ...

, and a fortnightly

whist drive Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play. History Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of ''trump'' ...

. The village is represented by one snooker and two billiards teams competing in the Stafford and District Billiards and Snooker League. A Sunday league football team also represent the village, playing their home games at Knighton Social Club. The village has had three

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 wa ...

s — ''The Plough'' (now closed, converted to residential) and ''The Cock Inn'', both of which are situated along the A519 road. A third, ''The Reform Tavern'', which also lay on the main road, between the other two pubs, closed soon after the Millennium and is now a private residence. The southern part of the village, on the A519, is known as Littleworth. Formerly a separate

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

, it is now part of Woodseaves. ''The Plough'' is situated in Littleworth.

Canal

One kilometre southwest of the village is the Shropshire Union Canal. A deep

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

on the canal has the name of Woodseaves but this is not taken from the name of the village but from another Woodseaves, a hamlet about two miles to the south of

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and electoral ward in the north of Shropshire, England, close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is on the River Tern, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" (c. 1868) and earlier simply as "D ...

in Shropshire. There are deep cuttings however near to Woodseaves (Staffordshire) at

Loynton Loynton is a hamlet on the A519 near the villages of Norbury, and Woodseaves in Staffordshire, England. It lies in the civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territ ...

and

Grub Street Until the early 19th century, Grub Street was a street close to London's impoverished Moorfields district that ran from Fore Street east of St Giles-without-Cripplegate north to Chiswell Street. It was pierced along its length with narrow ent ...

. Underneath a nearby canal bridge, over which the A519 road passes, on the Newport side of Woodseaves, stands possibly the world's, and certainly Britain's smallest

telegraph pole A utility pole is a column or post typically made out of wood used to support overhead power lines and various other public utilities, such as electrical cable, fiber optic cable, and related equipment such as transformers and street lights. It c ...

, its presence goes unnoticed by people crossing the bridge, but it is visible via the towpath that runs under the bridge on the south side of the canal.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Staffordshire Borough of Stafford

Amenities and features

Canal

See also

References

External links