The village is close to the border of Shropshire, adjacent to Loggerheads, and is 4 miles (6 km) North East of Market Drayton.

The name means "land once cultivated and left fallow(Ley) in the near ash trees" Ashley Dale and Jugbank.

From medieval times men have indiscriminately hacked clearings in the forests, then linked them with tracks and lanes following no specific pattern.

The church of St John the Baptist possesses a 17th-century tower with the remainder built in 1860-62 by J. Ashdown of London in a style representative of the 13th-14th century.

The chapel was designed by the same architect priest, Fr James Egan, as Holy Trinity Church in Newcastle-under-Lyme.