away from their landed estates. The modern village Penkridge in the 20th and 21st centuries has remained a thriving market village while evolving into a residential centre, but its ties to the land were weakened and those to the landed gentry broken. Residential development began even in Victorian times, with the middle-class villas of the St. Michael's Road area, close to the railway. The main Stafford-Wolverhampton road was greatly improved between the wars, reshaping both Penkridge and Gailey. The war itself prepared the way for changes. Teddesley Hall, no longer the Littleton's family home since 1930, was used to house troops and prisoners of war. The old common lands between the Penk and the Cannock Road were used as a military camp during the war years. This eased their subsequent development as a large housing estate, greatly enlarging the size and population of Penkridge in the 1950s and 1960s. Between 1951 and 1961 the population grew from 2,518 to 3,383 – a rise of over 34% in just ten years. In 1919, the 3rd Lord Hatherton had begun disinvestment in land, often selling farms to their tenants. Over went in the Penkridge area, including land in the Deanery Manor, Congreve, Lower Drayton, Upper Drayton, Gailey, Levedale and Longridge. In 1953 the 4th Lord Hatherton sold off nearly , including Teddesley Hall, which was demolished within a year. The M6 motorway came around Stafford in 1962 and connected with the M1 motorway in 1971. The only large stores are the Co-operative supermarket. Independent shops, cafés, inns and services occupy the area between the old market place to the east and Stone Cross on the A449 to the west. The area between Pinfold Lane and the river, long the site of livestock sales, has emerged as a new market place, attracting large numbers of visitors to Penkridge on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Facilities Penkridge's local market has been revived and is held on Wednesdays and Saturdays, hosting up to 100 stalls. There is also an antiques market every Thursday. The substantial tower of the Grade I listed Church of St. Michael and All Angels on the western edge of the village, parts of which date back to the early thirteenth century, is visible even to passing road and rail travellers. A smaller Methodist church is on the largest road (the A449) route through the village, and there are three short streets of buildings