Betley 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire, England. It is named after the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme, where the council is based. The borough also includes the town of Kidsgrove ...

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, about halfway between the town of

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is adjacent to the city of Stoke-on-Trent. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the population ...

and

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture ...

. Betley forms a continual linear settlement with Wrinehill.

School

Betley School

Transport

Betley lies on the A531 from Madeley to

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

. There is an hourly bus service, run by D&G Bus (route 85 D & G Bus, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Area Timetables
retrieved 6 March 2018) which runs through Betley from

Hanley Hanley is one of the Federation of Stoke-on-Trent, six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke- ...

and

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...

and

History

Betley – meaning the 'clearing in the woods' of Bette (a

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

woman's name) – is an ancient settlement. It is mentioned in the

Domesday 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 ...

Book. It is one of several local villages – including Buddileigh, Audley, and Madeley – which seem to be named after women. It had a major market, the charter for which was granted in the thirteenth century. At Betley Hall, a now-demolished country house,

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

conducted some of his zoological observations and

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...

visited. At another country house in the village,

Betley Court Betley Court is an 18th-century country house in the ancient village of Betley, Staffordshire, Betley, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. It is a Grade II* listed building. The house was built for John Cradock in 1716 and was later altere ...

(which is still standing), lived the Romantic poet Elizabeth Tollet. The church, dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch, is a beautiful medieval building (reasonably well-restored by

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...

), with oak beams and a cricket ground to the rear.

Nearby places

Twin towns

Betley is twinned with: *

Agny Agny () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. Geography A farming village located 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Arras, at the D3 and D60 road junction. History World War I 1914–1918. War broke out in August 191 ...

, France

References

Sources

*''Betley: A Village of Contrasts'', ed. Robert Speake (Keele University, 1980).

External links

Betley Local History SocietyBetley Local History InformationParish Council Community WebsiteBetley Village Hall WebsiteSt Margaret's Church Website
{{authority control Villages in Staffordshire Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme