Featherstone is a village in the district of South Staffordshire in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

England. It is near to the border with

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

History

Originally a farming community consisting of a few scattered farms, it is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 and was owned by the clergy of Wolverhampton Church. It is possible that the population numbers were fairly static until the opening of a new mine, Hilton Main, in the 1920s, it closed in 1969. The Duke of Cleveland was lord of the manor of this small township of 550 acres and just 34 souls in 1851. This was once the residence of John Huntbach, the noted antiquary. The principal inhabitants were Joshua Price and Edward Tunycliffe, farmers, John Perry the lock manufacturer and Thomas Hill a vermin killer. The village's population at the time of the 1851 census was 35. By 1921 this had risen to 39. By the time of the 2001 census it was 3,948.

Today

The village has one primary school, Featherstone Academy and a pub, the Red, White and Blue. The latter has recently been closed down and is now available to be rented by new investors. Recently, controversy was sparked over the proposed building of 1,500 houses on green belt land, although many people believed the extra facilities proposed would make the village a better place to live. After much public opposition, this plan was rejected in early 2009. Featherstone also has a Methodist church and some small shops. There are three off licences, a hairdresser and a chemist. In 2008 there was some concern over the future of the post office, but it was not one of those closed. On the outskirts of the village are three prisons; HM Prison Featherstone, HM Prison Oakwood and HM Prison Brinsford, which is also a Youth Offender Institution (YOI). Nearby is the site of the former Brinsford Lodge Teachers' Training College and Polytechnic Hall of Residence. The site of the old college, which stood near Oakwood Prison, is rich in history. There are traces of several old

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

shelters and tiles from the kitchens.

Schools

Featherstone Academy, the Avenue (formerly Whitgreave Primary School)

Churches

Featherstone is part of the ecclesiastical Parish of Shareshill, where the Parish Church of St Mary & St Luke is situated. There is a Methodist chapel sited at the junction of the Avenue and the A460.

Transport links

The village has a regular hourly bus service (service 70, Mon-Sat) to

and Cannock. The bus service is run by D&G Bus trading as Chaserider. In addition Select Bus service 67 runs three times daily Mon-Fri between

and Cannock via Wedge Mills and Bushbury. This latter service also serves Featherstone Prison. The nearest active railway station to Featherstone is Landywood on the Chase Line and

on the West Coast Main Line.

Political representation

Featherstone has a parish council with two wards. *Brinsford Ward, two councillors. *Featherstone Ward, nine councillors. Featherstone is represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

by Member of Parliament Gavin Williamson, Conservative member for South Staffordshire.

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central. Television signals are received from either the Wrekin or

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield ( ), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of L ...

TV transmitters. Radio stations are served by BBC Radio WM, Heart West Midlands, Smooth West Midlands, Greatest Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire, Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire, and WCR FM, a community based station which broadcast from nearby

. The town is served by the local newspaper, '' Express & Star''.

Notable people

* Andy Thompson (born 1967 in Featherstone) an English former footballer, played 533 professional games, of which 376 were for Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.SoccerBase Database
retrieved 12 August 2018 * Glen McGrandle (born 1965 in Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire) is a Scottish semi-professional darts player who resides in Featherstone and notably qualified for the 2016 UK Open.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Featherstone Villages in Staffordshire South Staffordshire District