Located around 4 miles southeast of Stafford, it is an affluent village, with many large homes but few local amenities (except for a post office which opens on Tuesdays and Thursdays).

The majority of commuting from the village takes place to the areas of southern Staffordshire, eastern Shropshire and the West Midlands conurbation.

[2] In shape a rough parallelogram, this parish is bounded on the west by the River Penk, and to the east it extends to the uncultivated upland of Cannock Chase.

On the north lies Baswich, and the southern boundary abuts on the formerly extraparochial area of Teddesley Hay.

[3] The name 'Acton' is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Āctūn meaning oak (āc) + town (tūn); the Trussells were a Norman family who were early lords of the manor.

[citation needed] The oldest part of the present house is on the east side and probably dates from the early 16th century.

Two large external chimneys with stone bases and later brick stacks may be contemporary or additions of the early 17th century.

In 1752 Edward Dickenson was the plaintiff in an action against his neighbour whom he accused of diverting the stream, thus causing his moat, in which he kept fish, to become stagnant [10] In May 1985 the semi-hexagonal wing of a Roman villa was discovered in the churchyard.

[11] The wing of a Roman villa was discovered in 1985 outside the east boundary of the churchyard; excavations have been ongoing since then, carried out by Penk Valley Archaeological Group.