The village is recognised for its association with the University and its position astride the M6. But during the middle ages, Keele was a major route from the North-West to London for laden packhorses and caravans alike. Keele Preceptory was granted to the Knights Templar sometime between 1168-69 by King Henry II. The Knights Templars, a military order and later rivals Knights Hospitallers, would charge incoming traffic to pass through their lands. This would supplement rental income from farming tenants. Little remains today of the Templar's heritage and less so of the Hospitallers. Erected during the 1992 bypass between Newcastle-under Lyme and Madeley to improve circulation in the village, an iron sculpture celebrates the arrival of the former at Keele. Additionally, one University hall of residence, Holly Cross, located on the estate and shaped in a Templar Cross, commemorates their presence. The parish church is named after the patron saint of the Hospitallers, St John the Baptist.
Keele Estate & the Sneyd Family
From the mid 15th Century until the 1940s, the Sneyd family owned much of the village, dominating local life architecturally as well as socially and receiving rents from villagers and tenants. The inhabitants were principally employed in collieries and iron works, notably in Silverdale, also belonging to the Sneyd. During the Second World War the estate was requisitioned by the British government for the British Army. Various training activities were carried out until the arrival of American servicemen in 1944. They occupied over 100 temporary buildings and Nissen Huts. General Patton visited during this period. Some prisoners of war were held locally during the war and after the war it became a camp for Polish servicemen and displaced persons.
In 1948, with accumulated gambling debts amassed by the late Ralph Sneyd and high tax duties, the estate was sold off by remaining relatives to Stoke-on-Trent Corporation. The land was earmarked for the development of the new University College of North Staffordshire, which was founded in 1949, opened in 1950 and received its Royal Charter as Keele University in 1962. In the village, a collection of buildings, collectively known as the Hawthorns, named after a 19th Century medieval farmhouse were erected and became home to students. The first students took up residence in Hawthorns House in 1957 and the expanded residential complex was discontinued in 2017. The Sneyd Arms remains popular with the student community. Keele is featured on the UK 'Here and Now' edition of the board game Monopoly, released in September 2007, It takes the place of Fleet Street in the traditional version.
