Endon is a village within the Staffordshire Moorlands district of

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 southwest of

Leek A leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek (synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of Leaf sheath, leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a "s ...

and north-northeast of

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

. Endon was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in civil parish of Leek. Together with neighbouring

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

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

of Endon and Stanley. The local education consists of three schools; St. Luke's Church of England Primary School, Endon Hall Primary School and Endon High School.

Local features

The Caldon Canal, a branch of the Trent & Mersey Canal, passes around Endon.

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

, a 17th-century house, lies to the north of the village.

Railway

The Endon railway station was opened by the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a Great Britain, British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shro ...

on 1 November 1867 and operated for almost 100 years, closing in 1963 . There are ambitious plans in hand to develop passenger facilities at Endon, bringing the village station back to life after decades of disuse. The project to reconnect Endon is a joint partnership between Moorland & City Railways and Churnet Valley Railway. Volunteers working on behalf of Churnet Valley Railway, will carry out repairs on the four-mile stretch of track, supported by contractors . Reaching Endon will be a major milestone for the expansion project, and will mean that passenger trains will reconnect the outskirts of the Potteries with the Churnet Valley and Leek area for the first time since the cut backs of the Beeching Axe. It is also intended to make it possible to travel directly from Endon to Alton towers on this passenger train. Later, the intention is to reconnect Endon to Stoke-on-Trent. Large amounts of funding are required to meet this aim .

Well dressing

The village is unusual in the respect that it is one of only a few outside

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

which practises the ancient custom of

Well dressing Well dressing, also known as well flowering, is a tradition practised in some parts of rural England in which wells, springs and other water sources are decorated with designs created from materials such as flower petals. The custom is most close ...

. A weekend fair accompanies the dressing of the well at which a local girl is crowned as the Well Dressing Queen. The fair also includes a contest called "Tossing the Sheaf" where local men compete to see who can toss a bale of straw the highest over a raised bar. The fair is known for bringing the entire village together, which is a rare occasion for most modern villages .

Literary and musical associations

T. E. Hulme Thomas Ernest Hulme (; 16 September 1883 – 28 September 1917) was an English critic and poet who, through his writings on art, literature and politics, had a notable influence upon modernism. He was an aesthetic philosopher and the Imagism ...

(1883–1917), an English critic and poet, was born at Gratton Hall. Through his writings on art, literature and politics, he had a notable influence upon

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

. The opening line of the iconic 1976 Sutherland Brothers and Quiver hit " Arms of Mary": "the lights shine down the valley", was written by Iain Sutherland who was looking from a Stockton Brook farm house down over Endon.

References

External links