History & Heritage

With an industrial heritage that has shaped the landscape, the Staffordshire Moorlands boasts a wealth of attractions offering a glimpse into the past. 

The towns and villages are steeped in history, with formerly vital transport networks now providing enjoyment for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders. 

From museums and steam railways to stunning architecture and wayside traces of times past, there are things to do for all the family. 

International exploration and local history combine at the National Trust’s Biddulph Grange Garden, where the botanical collections of James Bateman take visitors around the world, while the restored Geological Gallery showcases Roman antiquities originally forming the entrance to the gardens. 

The National Trust also manages Ilam Park in the White Peak, which offers sweeping parkland and riverside walks, with historic touchstones including the Boil Holes, a Saxon Cross and Bertram’s Well. 

From glorious gardens to soaring spires, St Giles Catholic Church in Cheadle, known as Pugin’s Gem, is considered to be the finest of all the churches built by celebrated 19th Century architect AWN Pugin. A beautiful building to explore with carefully designed glass, floor tiles, woodwork and ornaments, the church also has interesting links to the village of Alton and the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, owner of Alton Towers. 

The Churnet Valley Railway is believed to feature further examples of Pugin’s work, with the main station at Cheddleton thought to have been among those designed by the architect. 

Active from 1849 to 1923, the Churnet Valley Line, constructed by the North Staffordshire Railway Company (NSR) originally stretched from Macclesfield to Uttoxeter, via Leek, with the aim of providing a transport network for the important mineral mining sites across the Moorlands, primarily near Biddulph and Cheadle. 

In 1892-93 an additional line - The Foxfield Railway - was built to link the NSR with the Foxfield Colliery at Dilhorne. When the colliery closed in 1965, volunteers formed the Foxfield Light Railway Society to preserve the line and today, visitors can enjoy a steam railway experience, the station café and museum holding locomotives and a miniature railway for children. 

Meanwhile the track bed of an NSR line at Rudyard now forms the route of the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway a rideable miniature railway that runs for 1.5 miles along the side of Rudyard Lake, the popular attraction for which the author Rudyard Kipling is named. 

Another link to the NSR lines was the Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway, which collected milk from local dairies and deposited it at Waterhouses for onward transportation to London. Now better known as The Manifold Track, this historic route is popular with walkers, cyclists and horse-riders. 

The Caldon Canal in the Churnet Valley was once a hive of industrial activity, and now offers a serene route through the heart of the valley, with historical references embedded in the landscape, such as the Cherry Eye bridge - named after the colour of miners’ eyes! 

Along the way are traces of history such as the lime kilns at Froghall Wharf, a short distance from the former Thomas Bolton copperworks, famous for manufacturing the world’s first transatlantic telegraph cables at its works in Froghall and Oakamoor, with copper mined in the Manifold Valley at the renowned Ecton copper mines. 

Looking back to the start of industrialisation, Brindley’s Mill and the James Brindley Museum celebrates the renowned millwright and canal engineer who pioneered the canal system in Britain, forming the arteries of trade for the industrial revolution. 

And stepping back in time even further, Cheddleton Flint Mill is believed to have been the site of a water mill since the Middle Ages. The site includes a corn mill and a purpose-built mill used to grind flint for use in the pottery industry. The mill race takes water from the River Churnet and is adjacent to the Caldon Canal. 

Quarrying and aggregate extraction activities continue in some areas of the Staffordshire Moorlands to this day, and sites no longer in use are carefully restored to create nature reserves and other green spaces. 

Much of the industrial heritage and wider cultural history of the Staffordshire Moorlands is recorded at the Nicholson Museum in Leek. Items include the work of Leek Embroidery Society, known for creating a replica of the Bayeux Tapestry and silk moths gifted by textile manufacturer Thomas Wardle – who worked closely with famed designer William Morris. 

From ancient landmarks to industrial innovation, the history of the Staffordshire Moorlands is embedded in its landscape, communities and people, ready to be discovered by visitors of all ages.