Audley

Audley is a pleasant village located in the west midlands region of the United Kingdom. It is a former mining village located outside Newcastle-Under-Lyme surrounded by beautiful green fields.

Audley is also a village with interesting history which could be traced back to the time of King William I. The first mention of Audley is in the Doomsday Book of 1086, it was then called as Aldidelege. The lands were then held by a Saxon called Gamel. At this point of time, there were very few settlements in Staffordshire and most of these settlements were situated either on hills or near rivers.

One very little known fact about Audley is that it has its very own forgotten castle. The monument was built by the Normans in the area which is now referred to as the 'Castle Hill'.

The iron and coal industries can be considered as the two main industries which have influenced the lives of people in Audley.

Population

The Audley Parish Registers are rather special as very few parishes have records dating back to the time since registration began in England in 1538. These registers provide a continuous record except for the possible under-registration during the time of the Civil War and Commonwealth.

From 1801 onwards, with the publication of official census, it was possible to record the population of Audley in much more detail. Between 1801 and 1901, the population of Audley increased six-fold from 2246 to 13918. After 1911, the population of Audley began to decline, mainly because of people leaving the district to seek employment elsewhere.

Audley's parish today has a population of 5770 and about 8100 acres of land, divided into seven townships, Audley, Bignall-End, Halmer-End, Knowl-End, Park-End and Talk-on-the Hill.

Photogallery

We have a collection of some old photographs of Audley. Most of these photographs were take about a hundred years ago. These photographs give us a unique insight about the place in the past.

Click Here to visit the photogallery