IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Izaak Walton Close, STAFFORD, ST16 1HU

National Cycle Route 5 runs from Reading to Holyhead. Parts of it remain unspecified. The Isabel Trail is on the track bed of the former Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway between Doxey Road and Beaconside, Stafford which closed in 1975. The trail is named for Isabel, a narrow gauge locomotive built by Bagnalls of Stafford in 1897 and displayed on a plinth outside Stafford railway station from 1963. After restoration she is now in operation on the Amerton Railway

Taken on the Stone Road, looking towards Stafford. I was standing beside a grassy area which I am told is Stafford Common, although that name does not appear on the map. It is used for enormous car-boot sales, amongst other things.

Bridge carrying A5013 road over the former GNR Stafford - Uttoxeter line, west of Stafford Common Station, closed to Passengers on 4th December 1939. The line survived for freight and for special servicemens trains until final closure to all regular traffic on 5th March 1951, the last train over the line being an SLS special in March 1957. The line east of Stafford Common Station was lifted in 1959 but the remainder was retained for use by engineers in connection with electrification work on the West Coast Main Line. This stub was finally taken out of use in December 1975.

The image shows the southernmost part of Stafford Common. The Common is owned by the Stafford Common Land Trustees. It is used for car boot sales, horse and cattle grazing and recreation. Behind the line of trees on the right in a shallow cutting is the route of the former Uttoxeter-Stafford railway line opened in 1867 and closed in sections between 1939 and 1975. The final section between Stafford and the RAF Stafford supply depot was closed in March 1975, There was a station called Stafford Common in the far corner of the Common. Common Road runs at the eastern side of the Common where the industrial buildings can be seen.

One of the two chapels shown in Image can be seen on the right.

Stafford Cemetery has two almost identical Chapels of Rest.

The C19th cemetery includes this group of War graves from WW2. They are mainly Allied airmen, including some Poles and Canadians, but the graves nearest the camera, to judge by the names appear, to be German. United in death. There are also a number of graves from WW1, presumably of those who died of wounds after being re-patriated to 'Blighty', but these are scattered across the cemetery rather than grouped together

The Antelope Inn was closed in 2011. A planning application was approved by Stafford Borough Council in 2014 for a private motorcycle museum on the ground floor with the first floor remaining as private residential accommodation. The building is on the junction of Stone Road and Charles Cotton Street.