Caverswall is a village and parish in

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. 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 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. 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 may date from a

manor house, but the fortifications date from a licence to crenellate (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 is based approximately half a mile away from the village and runs heritage Steam Traction along the former Branch line to

Foxfield Colliery Foxfield could refer to: Horse Racing: *Foxfield Races, a biannual steeplechase race in Albemarle County Places: *Foxfield, Colorado, United States * Foxfield, County Leitrim, Republic of Ireland *Foxfield, Cumbria, England * Foxfield, Carrickmac ...

References

External links

Caverswall Parish Home Page

Caverswall Castle

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