Places in Wolstanton in 1859

WOLSTANTON

CHATTERLEY, a township, in the parish of WOLSTANTON, union of WOLSTANTON and BURSLEM, N. division of the hundred of PIREHILL, and of the county of STAFFORD, 2 miles (N.) from Newcastle; containing 374 inhabitants. It includes the ancient vills of Dimsdale and Bradwell, and comprises 1563 acres. 

CHESTERTON, a township, in the parish of WOLSTANTON, union of WOLSTANTON and BURSLEM, N. division of the hundred of PIREHILL, and of the county of STAFFORD, 2 miles (N. by W.) from Newcastle-under-Lyme; containing 1207 inhabitants. The name of this 
place evidently has reference to the ancient Roman fortress situate here, the Mediolanum of Antonine; the site is still clearly marked out, and a large fosse exists along the north side of the station. Camden calls it Chesterton-under-Lyme. The township contains nearly 1100 acres on the south side of the parish: considerable quantities of blue bricks, tiles, and pipes for drains and conduits, of superior hardness, are manufactured here; and potteries have been established at Red-street, in the northern part of the township, for a long period. Several blast furnaces for smelting iron-stone are worked at Apedale, on the western confines. In the village is a place of worship for Wesleyans; also a small free school, erected from the rents of some land, left by John Cowell, and producing £4 per annum for its maintenance. 

GOLDEN-HILL, a village, in the township of Oldcott, parish of Wolstanton, union of Wolstanton and Burslem, hundred of PlREHILL, county of Stafford, 2 miles (N.N.W.) from Burslem. This place is situated at the northern extremity of the Potteries, on the main road to Manchester and Liverpool; and the population is chiefly employed in the coal and iron mines which abound in the district. A church was consecrated by the Bishop of Lichfield in 1841; it stands on elevated ground, and is built of blue brick, in the Norman style, with a spire: patron of the living, Smith Child, Esq., of Rownall Hall, by whom it is endowed. A national school accommodates 300 children. 

KIDSGROVE, or Kidcrew, a considerable village, in the townships of Brieryhurst and Ranscliffe, parish of Wolstanton, union of Wolstanton and Burslem, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford, 2 miles (N. by W.) from Tunstall, on the main road to Liverpool and .Manchester. This place is occupied almost wholly by the numerous workmen employed by Thomas Kinnersly, Esq., in his colliery and iron-works here, connected with which latter he has recently erected several blast-furnaces for smelting the ore, in which the neighbourhood abounds: in a mill and forge the iron is manufactured into a finished state. A short distance from Kidsgrove is Clough Hall, the seat of Mr. Kinnersly, in the avenue leading to which, and in the peaceful seclusion of surrounding woods, that gentleman has erected a church for the accommodation of his family, and numerous truants and dependants, as also the neighbouring population.

The church is a brick edifice, with a tower furnished with six bells and a clock: the inside is chaste and elegant, having a west gallery in which is an organ; there are 600 sittings. Near it, on the south side, is a handsome parsonage-house, and on the north-east side a large building in the cottage style, for a Sunday school, where 500 children are instructed; these buildings have been completed at the expense of the founder of the church, by whom the school is supported. In the vicinity of Kidsgrove, the tunnels of Harecastle, by which the Grand Trunk canal is carried in two collateral channels a distance of 2880 yards, terminate northwards under Harecastle Hill. 

KNUTTON, a township, in the parish of Wolstanton, union of Wolstanton and Burslem, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford, 1 mile (N.E.) from the town of Newcastle; containing 1388 inhabitants. The township comprises 1713 acres, including Knutton Heath, lately an open common, but now inclosed, and on the outskirts of which the Newcastle races are held. Numerous cottages have been erected within the last few years, and there is a silk-mill adjacent to Knutton Heath. The Primitive Methodists have a meeting-house. 

OLDCOTT, a township, in the parish of WOLSTANTON, union of WOLSTANTON and BURSLEM, N., division of the hundred of PIREHILL and of the county of STAFFORD, 2 miles (N.) from Burslem; containing 1295 inhabitants. The township is ecclesiastically annexed 
to the district parish of Tunstall, and contains 714 acres, abounding with mines of coal and iron-stone, which are extensively wrought, and give employment to the principal part of the population, who reside at a village called Golden Hill, on the road from the Potteries to Manchester and Liverpool. Here is a place of worship for Wesleyans. 

TUNSTALL-COURT, a considerable modern town, and ecclesiastical district, consisting of the townships of Oldcott, Tunstall, and Rainscliff, in the parish of WOLSTANTON, parliamentary borough of STOKE, union of WOLSTANTON and BURSLEM, N. division of the hundred of PIREHILL and of the county of STAFFORD, 4 miles (N. by E.) from Newcastle; containing altogether 9240 inhabitants, of whom 6978 are in the town. The population is chiefly employed in the china and earthenware manufactures, of which there are nearly 20 establishments, and in collieries and brick and tile works, the latter being extensively carried on, and producing articles of superior hardness and quality, in great demand in Lancashire and the northern parts. Goods are forwarded by the Grand Trunk canal, which passes on its summit level near the west side of the town, and is conducted into Cheshire in two collateral tunnels under Harecastle-hill, within half a mile north-west of the town: these tunnels are 2888 yards in length.

The town has very much increased and improved within the present century, the population in 1811 having been 1677 only: in 1816, a market-place was set out, and a town-hall erected by shares, a neat building of brick in the centre of the market-place; and a market has since been established, which is held on Saturday and Monday. The township of Tunstall contains 795 acres, but the manor, of which Ralph Sneyd, Esq., of Keele Hall, is lord, comprehends also 12 contiguous townships, including Burslem. A church was erected in 1831, on a site given by Mr. Sneyd, by the Parliamentary Commissioners, at an expense of £4000, including £1000 raised by subscription; it is a plain building of stone, with a spire, and a vicarage-house has been erected by aid from Queen Anne's Bounty and private subscription. There are places of worship for Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists. 

 

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