Stone in 1872

STONE, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Staffordshire. The town stands on the river Trent, the Grand Junction canal, and the North Staffordshire railway, at the junction of the lines from Colwich and Stafford, 7 miles NNW of Stafford; dates from very ancient times; had a canonry, founded in 670 by King Wulfhere, and made a cell in 1260 to Kenilworth; adjoins a tract on which the Duke of Cumberland drew up his army, in 1745, when pursuing Prince Charles; was the birth-place of Earl St. Vincent; is a seat of petty-sessions and a polling place; consists chiefly of one long street, with smaller diverging streets; carries on shoemaking, brewing, and transit-traffic; and has a head post-office, a railway station with telegraph, commodious wharves, two banking offices, a good hotel, two churches, two dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, a free grammar-school, an endowed school with £100 a year, a mechanics' institute, a workhouse, charities £144, a weekly market on Saturday, a great market on every alternate Tuesday, and fairs on Shrove-Tuesday, the Tuesday after Mid-Lent, Whit-Tuesday, 5 Aug., and 30 Sept.

Pop. in 1851, 3,443; in 1861, 4,509. Houses, 889. The parish contains 6 townships and a part, 5 liberties, and a hamlet; and comprises 20,030 acres. Real property, £14,960; of which £80 are in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 8,736; in 1861, 9,382. Houses, 1,867. Stone Park is the property of Earl Granville; and Meaford Hall of General Forester. The head living is a rectory in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £240. Patron, the Bishop of Lichfield. The living of Christchurch is a perpetual curacy, united with Tittensor chapelry. Value, £300. Patrons, Simeon's Trustees. The parish includes also Aston and Hilderstone chapelries, and parts of Blurton, Normacot, and Formbook chapelries. The sub-district includes all Stone parish, except Normacot township, and all Sandon and Milwich parishes. Pop., 9,528. Houses, 1,908. The district includes also Ecclesall and Trentham districts, and comprises 68,524 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £6,642. Pop. in 1851, 19,344; in 1861, 21,926. Houses, 4,456. Marriages in 1863, 164; births, 795,- of which 58 were illegitimate; deaths, 477, of which 186 were at ages under 5 years, and 9 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,541; births, 6,353; deaths, 4,176.

The places of worship, in 1851, were 25 of the Church of England, with 8,990 sittings; 2 of Independents, with 920 sittings; 4 of Wesleyans, with 338 sittings; 4 of New Connexion Methodists, with 520 sittings; 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 55 sittings; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 440 sittings. The schools were 23 public day-schools, with 1,979 scholars; 40 private day-schools, with 929 scholars; 25 Sunday schools, with 2,530 scholars; and 4 evening schools for adults, with 49 scholars.

An 1872 Gazetteer description of the following places in Stone is to be found on a supplementary page.

• Aston
• Beech
• Burston
• Darlaston
• Kibblestone
• Moddershall
• Stallington
• Stoke
• Tittensor
• Walton

[Description(s) from The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72) - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]