The ‘Stafford Knot’ is the symbol of Staffordshire - as I like to point out in this blog quite frequently! The symbol is at least 500 years old (though some argue its origins go back a thousand years). Everywhere round here that a reference to the county comes up in a graphic form, you’re likely to see the Knot.
These old gates mark the entrance to a railway property in Stoke, which would have been owned by the North Staffordshire Railway Company up to the company's demise in the last century. The NSR used the Knot as a proud statement of its origins.
Link: Stafford Knot
The North Staffordshire Railway Company (NSRC) used to be known as The Knotty, or "Owd Knotty" in the Potteries dialect. There is now a new NSRC which has preserved part of the Old Knotty in the very scenic Churnet Valley and runs a preserved steam and diesel railway service between Kingsley & Froghall and Cheddleton most weekends, http://www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk/main/guidetoline.php.
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Yes, I've travelled that line; it is indeed beautiful scenery
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