BURSLEM in Days gone by

IT Is difficult to Imagine old Burslem In the midst of the forest of bricks and mortar that now stands on the one-time pleasant fields - civilisation has played havoc with " Merrle England." Nor can we realise, without an effort, that but a few score years ago rabbits in plenty playfully raced In the vicinity, that there were garden plots In the back Sytch extending to St. Paul's Church, and that It was a pleasant walk down the front Sytch to Oxley Fields. But so it was.

The development of modern Burslem has been a matter of the last 70 or 80 years. Nowadays, Burslem has a population of 43,370. A hundred years ago. the number of Inhabitants was only 12,500, and when Joslah Wedgwood was born (In 1730) there were fewer than 1,800 persons living In Burslem, probably not more than 400 houses all told. Including those scattered over the countryside at Sneyd Green and Rushton Grange.

DURING the lives of the generations that have intervened between those times and now. the manners and the ideas of the people have changed. When John Wesley first came to Burslem in 1760, he referred to Burslem In his diary as " a scattered town on the top of a hill." Of the "multitude "who came to hear him speak he said that some were ¹ quite innocent of thought, five or six were laughing until I had near done, and one of them threw a clod of earth which struck me on the side of the head."

ERE one of Wesley's congregation to return, he would be amazed at the way in which Burslem has grown and developed and spread. He would be bewildered at our modern streets, at our larger population, at our omnibuses, and our buildings. But, when he had grown accustomed to the hurly-burly of modern life, he would have little difficulty in pointing out where the village greens of his day were, for the general characteristics of the old village greens are still retained In our modern squares. Our "squares" have been the centre of the town's activities for centuries. Market Sauare. before the erection of the first town hall (now demolished}, was known as Maypole Bank, and on it the village maypole was erected. St. John's Square once contained a bear pit in which the bear was imprisoned to be attacked by dogs for the amusement of the population.

BUT the most important of all the squares was Swan Square. Into It all roads led. Before the days of Waterloo Road, the highways to Hanlcy led either down Bourne's Bank (a road which now leads to Commercial Street and, at this point, still retains the appearance of a country road) or down what is now known as Nile Street. Out of Swan Square the road led down the back Sytch to Tunstall, and down Pack Horse Lane to Newcastle. Waterloo Road. Scotia Road, Newcastle Street, and Moorland Road are all comparatively modern roads. None of them existed in 1740.

Where Swan Square got Its name from we do not know, but old maps show that the square once contained a pool, and maybe swans have nested there.

Swan Square was once the centre for most of the town's activities. Here was to be found the thatched George and Dragon Inn, the celebrated posting house for stage coaches of earlier days.

ARNOLD BENNETT gives an Interesting description of Swan Square In " Clay-hanger." He calls It Duck Square, and says ^" Duck Square had watched coaches and waggons stop at and start from the Dragon Hotel for hundreds of years. It had seen the Dragon rebuilt in brick and scone, with fine bay windows on each storey, and It had seen even the new structure become old and assume the dignity of age." (It has since been demolished and a new hotel erected)

" Duck Square could pack mules driven by women 'trapesing' in zigzags and occasionally falling with awful smashes of the crockery they carried in the deep, slippery, scarce passable, mire of the first slants into the valley. Duck Square had witnessed the slow declension of these roads into mere streets, and slum streets at that, and the death of all mules, and the disappearance of all coaches and all neighing and prancing, and whlp-cracklng romance."

"The history of human manners Is crunched and embedded In the very macadam of that part of the borough, and the burgesses unheed-Ingly tread It down every day."

Within a stone's throw of Swan Square was Joslah Wedgwood's manufactory, " thatched as usual." Swan Square once contained a pig market - remembered by many who are living now. The buildings on the Inner side of Swan Square were described as " low and humble, and as it were, withdrawn from the world."

EACH generation of men has changed and altered the appearance of Swan Square. Gone is the pool and the swans. Gone Is Joslah Wedgwood's manufactory. Gone is the old George and Dragon Inn. Bourne's Bank has lost Its traffic, and is now " not noticed, save by doubtful characters, policemen, and schoolboys." New needs have created new Ideas, and change, remorselessly ever marching, has erected a new Burslem In the place of the old. The change is not yet completedÑnever will be.

IT Is In this spirit that we Introduce you to the Burslem Co-operative Society's new Store. It Is one of the signs of the times that it Is owned, not by one proprietor, but by fifty thousand - a truly democratic Institution.

In every way the new store emphasises the spirit and outlook of modern Burslem. It has replaced the " low and humble dwellings' with an imposing structure, the very architecture of which emphasises the strength and progressive nature of the great co-operative movement.