Milford is a village in the county 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 lies at the edge of

Cannock Chase Cannock Chase (), often referred to locally as The Chase, is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is managed by Forestry En ...

, on the A513 road between

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

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 ...

. Just to the north of the village is the

River Sow The River Sow is a tributary of the River Trent in Staffordshire, England, and is the river that flows through Stafford. Course The river rises to the south of Loggerheads, near Broughton and flows south-east beside the villages of Fairoak, ...

History

Milford was described as a "pleasant

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 ...

" by the 1851 ''History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire'', it then being part of

Baswich Baswich is an estate on the south eastern side of Stafford. It is part of the civil parish of Berkswich and is in Staffordshire, England. It is situated next to Weeping Cross, which is also part of the civil parish. Baswich amenities are a local ...

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 ...

. There is no church, the church at

Walton-on-the-Hill, Staffordshire Walton-on-the-Hill is a village in the Borough of Stafford in Staffordshire, England. It is about 5 km east of the centre of Stafford, and lies on the A513 road. The population in the 2011 census was included under the Berkswich ward. The vil ...

being less than a mile away.

Administration

Milford forms part of 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 ...

Berkswich Berkswich ( ) is a civil parish in the borough of Stafford in Staffordshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,528, being recalculated as 2,010 at the 2011 Census. Berkswich Civil Parish should not be confused with B ...

which, in turn, forms part of the

borough of Stafford The Borough of Stafford is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire, England. It is named after the town of Stafford. It also includes the towns of Stone and Eccleshall, as well as numerous villages such as Weston, Hixon, ...

Leisure activities

Milford Common () is a popular recreation spot for local people, and has traditionally been the site of many travelling fairs. The open space and quiet roads around the Common have made it a popular gathering point for horse riders from surrounding areas. The entrance to the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Shugborough Shugborough Hall is a stately home near Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England. The hall is situated on the edge of Cannock Chase, about east of Stafford and from Rugeley. The estate was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield until the dissolu ...

estate faces the common. Shugborough houses the county's official museum. Canal and Railway at Milford, Staffordshire - geograph

AONB An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...

is nearby. Its borders extend to about a mile south of the village, and the extensive Chase area offers a variety of outdoor activities including several leisure cycling routes.

Milford Hall Milford Hall is a privately owned 18th-century English country house at Milford, near Stafford. It is the family seat of the Levett Haszard family and is a Grade II listed building. Association with Levett family The estate passed to the Levett f ...

is a privately owned 18th-century country mansion house at Milford. It is the home of the

Levett Levett is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from eLivet, which is held particularly by families and individuals resident in England and British Commonwealth territories. Origins This surname comes from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, no ...

Haszard family and is a Grade II listed building. The

Staffordshire Way The Staffordshire Way is a long-distance walk in Staffordshire, England. The path links with the Cheshire Gritstone Trail, the Heart of England Way and the North Worcestershire Path. The Way was opened in three stages by Staffordshire Cou ...

long-distance footpath A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents exce ...

passes very near Milford, to the south-east. It also lies on the

Heart of England Way The Heart of England Way is a long-distance walk of around through the Midlands of England. The walk starts from Milford Common on Cannock Chase and ends at Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds linking south Staffordshire through Warwickshi ...

Access

The nearest railway station is in the town of

, about four miles from Milford. Stafford station currently serves most inter-city services running on the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

route, as well as offering local services. Road access is by way of the A513 road. Milford is accessible by canal

narrowboat A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commerc ...

, along the

Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is long, linking the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywoo ...

. There is a

cycle path A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

along the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal towpath, leading to the

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

National Route 5 that currently ends at Walton-on-the-Hill, but will be extended southwards to Birmingham.

Provisional IRA attack

On 18 September 1990, the former governor of

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, Sir Peter Terry was shot at his home in Milford by the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

. Terry, then aged 64, survived the shooting, but his face had to be surgically reconstructed. It was said that the shooting took place as a revenge for his role in Operation Flavius in 1988, in which three IRA operatives were killed.IRA gun attack on ex-Governor
/ref>

Famous people

Nearby

Shugborough Hall Shugborough Hall is a stately home near Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England. The hall is situated on the edge of Cannock Chase, about east of Stafford and from Rugeley. The estate was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield until the dissolutio ...

was the home of the late photographer

Lord Lichfield Earl of Lichfield is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England (1645 and 1674) and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (1831). The third creation is extant and is held by a member of the Anson family. ...

and numerous members of the

family are from

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Staffordshire Borough of Stafford