Clayton, Staffordshire
Coordinates: 52°59′12″N 2°13′33″W / 52.9868°N 2.2257°W
Clayton is a suburb and a ward in the south of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.
Today
Clayton lies on the boundary between urban and rural Staffordshire, not far from the Shropshire border. The older part of the village stands on top of a hill, Northwood Lane, and some of these older houses were once gardeners' cottages on the Staffordshire estates of the Dukes of Sutherland, who once had a stately home at Trentham. One famous resident of Clayton was Clarice Cliff, the potter, who lived in a house at the top of Northwood Lane for many years.
Education
Clayton has one secondary school, Clayton Hall Academy. It has been developed on the site of the 19th century Clayton Hall and has around 1000 pupils [1] from all over Newcastle-under-Lyme. It was previously named Clayton High School, until 2005, when the school became a specialist school]] in Business & Enterprise and Modern Languages and was renamed Clayton Hall Business and Language College. The school converted to academy status in 2015 and was renamed Clayton Hall Academy.
Religion
The Catholic Church in Clayton is Our Lady and St Werburgh (www.ourladyandstwerburgh.co.uk) which has over 500 regular worshippers and the primary school judged by Ofsted as 'outstanding' in every category. The parish runs three youth groups, an over 55s group, a parents and toddlers group, various parish house groups as well as running LinkLine (www.nslinkline.org.uk) LinkLine is a charity that rings up housebound elderly people for a regular weekly chat to show that they are loved and offer help in various ways. There is also, based in the Parish Hall, one of the longest running Before and After School Clubs in the area, Wise Owls Care Club, which provides Before and After School Care and a Holiday Scheme for the children who attend the school. Within Clayton is St James Church which has a blue/green roof - originally copper, over the years with weather conditions has become this natural colour. This is an Anglican church where there is a Sunday School for children of any age. The school is held in the church hall at the same time as the main service is taken. Another nearby church is the United Reformed Church (URC). Brownies and Guides are normally held in the annex and Beavers, Cubs and Scouts are held in the den along with Explorers. These are held on a week night and there are two scout groups to go to; on Monday the Spitfires and Wednesday the Harriers. They were named after planes and are used to tell the two groups apart as they are both called 79th URC Scouts. In Explorers the Duke of Edinburgh award can be taken.
Transport
Buses
Bus services are operated by First Potteries (number 72) as well as D&G Buses.
Road
The A519 runs through Clayton between Newcastle-under-Lyme and the M6 motorway at junction 15, where the A500 (located on the southern ouskirts of Clayton) runs to Stoke-on-Trent.In the nearby Parish of the Westlands the A53, runs to Market Drayton & Shrewsbury.