Audley in 1859

AUDLEY (ST. JAMES), a parish, in the union of NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYNE, N. division of the hundred of PIREHILL, and of the county of STAFFORD, 5 miles (N. W.) from Newcastle; containing 4474 inhabitants, and consisting of the townships of Audley, Bignall End, Eardley-End, Halmer-End, Knowl-End, Park-End, and Talk-o'-th'-Hill. This place was originally given by Hervey de Stafford to the barons of Aldeleigh, or Audley, who erected the baronial residence called Heyley Castle, of which there are still some remains, occupying the summit of a steep rock near the south- western boundary of the parish, and commanding extensive views over the surrounding country. The parish, which comprises upwards of 1200 acres, and is almost entirely appropriated to dairy farming, abounds with excellent iron-stone and coal, the latter of which is sent in large quantities by the Trent and Mersey canal to Cheshire, and to other parts.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6,13.4;: the vicarial tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £430, and the impropriate, belonging to George Tollet, Esq., the patron, for one of £664. The church is in the early style of English architecture, with an .embattled tower crowned with pinnacles. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. 

The free grammar school, founded in 1622 by Edward Vernon, Esq., has an endowment in land producing £125.18. per annum  and a free school at Talk-o'-th'-Hill, in which writing and arithmetic are taught, is endowed with land yielding a rent of £13. A national school has also been erected. Near the village are vestiges of an intrenchment, and on the western boundary of the parish are situated, on a lofty rock, the remains of the ancient and strong castle of Heyley, or Heleigh, the ascent to which, on the south side, is more than 100 yards in height. Audley gives the title of Baron to the family of Touchet. 

An 1859 Gazetteer description of the following places in Audley is to be found on a supplementary page.

• Bignall End
• Eardley End
• Halmer End
• Park End
• Talk o' th' Hill

[Description(s) from The Topographical Dictionary of England (1859) by Samuel Lewis - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]