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Pigot & Co's 1828/9 Directory of Staffordshire
"BURSLEM, an ancient town, with a market
held for a long period by custom, and subsequently sanctioned by an act of
parliament, is about three miles from Newcastle and two from Hanley,
entitled to the precedence of other towns in this district, as claiming to be
the mother, as it is the metropolis, of the Staffordshire Potteries. In the
Doomsday book it is noticed, and spelt therein Barker Deslem.
It stands on a rising ground, contains several streets and squares, and
extensive and admirably arranged manufactories; is well paved and lighted with
gas, under the provisions of an act of parliament, also dictating its police and
municipal government, which is vested in a chief constable, chosen annually by
the police commissioners. W. Sneyd Esq. is lord of the manor, and hold manorial
courts occasionally; and the magistrates hold petty sessions monthly.
The market house is a neat and modern structure of brick, situated near the
centre of the town; and the town hall is in the Market-place : one part of the
building is used as the public office, where the town and parish business is
transacted; over this is a large and elegant news-room, exceedingly well
supplied with the daily London and provincial papers.
The church, dedicated to St. John, is a large
modern brick edifice, with an ancient stone tower; the benefice is a rectory, in
the patronage of William Adams, Esq. of Cobridge, and the incumbency of the Rev.
Edward Whieldon, whose curates are the Rev. Samuel Jones and the Rev. John
Buxton Marsden. Another church is the building at Dale hall; and in the parish
of Burslem are no fewer than ten meeting houses for dissenters, and a Roman
catholic chapel; all these places of worship have Sunday-schools attached; the
one adjoining the Wesleyan chapel has been established forty years, and upwards
of 1,500 children are instructed under that establishment. Here are besides, a
national, catholic day and Sunday-schools, and a free grammar school for a small
number of boys.
Burslem is the place where the first clod of that
great national undertaking the Trent and Mersey canal, was cut, by the late
Josiah Wedgwood, Esq. When the 50th anniversary of this memorable event was
celebrated, which was a public dinner, various ancient specimens of earthenware
were exhibited, descriptive of the progressive state of the manufacture during
the last one hundred and fifty years, which were divided into epochs of fifty
years, from the butter pot, mentioned by Dr. Plott, down to the time at which
the excellent specimens of Queen's, or cream-coloured ware, jasper, &c, left
by the late Mr. Wedgwood, were produced.
The market days are Monday and Saturday; and the fairs are, the Saturdays before
Shrovetide, Easter and Whitsuntide, Saturday on or after June 24th, Saturday
before Ember week and December 26th.
The parish of Burslem including the township of HULTON ABBEY contained, in 1821,
10,176 inhabitants."
Pigot & Co's 1841 Directory of Staffordshire
"BURSLEM
is a market town and parish, three miles north east from Newcastle and two
from Hanley. This place appears, from the most authentic records, to have been
distinguished, at an early period, for the excellence and variety of clay with
which its vicinity abounds; and to have been noted for its manufactory of
pottery and earthenware - for which, in the 17th century, it became the
principal station in this kingdom.
It was here that the first clod of that great
undertaking, the Trent and Mersey canal, was cut by the spirited Josiah
Wedgwood, Esq.; and when the fifteenth anniversary was celebrated by a public
dinner, various ancient specimens of earthenware were exhibited, descriptive of
the progressive state of the manufacture.
The town is pleasantly situate on a rising
ground, and contains many admirably arranged manufactories, numerous dwellings
for the workmen employed therein, many good houses for the superintendents of
the works, and some handsome edifices for the proprietors: it is lighted with
gas, under the provisions of an act of parliament, which also dictates its
police and municipal government - the later being vested in a chief constable,
chosen annually by the police commissioners.
The market house, or town hall, is a neat modern
structure of brick, situated nearly in the centre of the town: one part of this
building is appropriated to the uses of a police office; and a large and elegant
news room, well supplied with the London daily and provincial papers, occupies
another portion of the edifice. Adjacent to the town hall, and of more recent
erection, is a handsome covered market, ornamented with a neat portico.
Burslem was formerly a chaperly in the parish of
Stoke, but was constituted a separate parish by act of parliament in 1807. The
old church is a brick erection, with a stone tower of greater antiquity than the
body; the living is a rectory. Another church has been erected, partly at the
expense of the church commissioners.
There are places of worship in the parish for
Baptists, independents, the primitive, Wesleyan, and new connexion of methodists,
and the Roman Catholics - all of which have Sunday schools attached. There are,
besides, a national school, and a free grammar school for a limited number of
boys. The markets are held on Monday and Saturday."
William White, Sheffield. "1851,
History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire"
"Burslem is a populous and well built market
town, which claims the honour of being 'the mother of the Staffordshire
Potteries', and holds a healthy and elevated situation in the northern division
of that extensive and celebrated seat of the china and earthenware manufactures,
being seated between Hanley and Tunstall, about a mile E of Longport Railway
Station, three miles N of Stoke, and Newcastle-under-Lyme.
The parish of Burslem now has upwards of 18,000
inhabitants, in Burslem, Rushton Grange, Sneyd, and Abbey Hulton lordship. These
four adjoining liberties comprise about 2930 acres, and include the villages and
suburbs of Brown-Hills, Dalehall, Hamill, Longport, and the greater part of
Cobridge, all lying within a mile of the town.
Burslem and Sneyd are in the manor of
Tunstall-Court, of which Ralph Sneyd, Esq, is lord of the manor, and he is also
lord of Hulton Abbey manor, but a large portion of the parish belongs to other
landowners, the largest of whom are the Earl of Macclesfield, Lady Chetwynd,
Lord Camoys, Miss Sparrow, the representatives of the late John Wood, Esq,
William Davenport, Esq, and HH Williamson, Esq.
The villages in the parish may be considered as
populous suburbs of the town, and are situated as follows: Brown-Hills, half a
mile N, Hamill, on the north side of the town, Hulton Abbey, two miles E, near
the Caldon Canal, Sneyd and Hot Lane, forming the south-eastern suburbs,
Cobridge, including Rushton Grange, and the populous southern part of Burslem,
near the top of Waterloo Road, and also a small part of Shelton, and Dalehall
and Longport, extending one mile westward to the Trent & Mersey Canal, and
Burslem Station on the North Staffordshire Railway."
Wilson's 1870-2 Imperial
Gazetteer of England and Wales
BURSLEM, a town, a township, a parish,
and a subdistrict in the district of Wolstanton, and within the
borough of Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire. The town stands on the
side of a hill, adjacent to the Grand Trunk canal and the North
Stafford railway, 3 miles NNE of Newcastle-under-Lyne. It was known
at the Conquest as Barcardeslim; it came early into notice, in
connexion with excellent clays beneath and around it, for the
manufacture of earthenware; it took the lead of all the towns and
hamlets of England in improvements in pottery; it was the birthplace
of Wedgwood, and the scene of his many achievements till his removal
to Etruria; and it has been called, both on account of its history
and on account of its occupying a central spot in the great
Staffordshire pottery tract, the "Mother of the Potteries." It is
irregularly, though substantially built; it consists of streets and
thoroughfares so confusedly aligned as. to be perplexing to
strangers; it has grown into junction with Longport, so as to be
practically one place with that town; and it displays everywhere the
murky and grotesque features of its staple manufacture. The townhall,
built in 1855, is a redeeming object. The structure is an oblong, of
100 feet by 60, in the Italian style, with plastered Corinthian
arcade, large end portico, and surmounting belfry; consists of three
stories; and contains municipal offices, newsroom, lecture-rooms,
and a spacious main hall. The Wedgwood Memorial Institute, opened in
1869, near the town hall, and near the place where Wedgwood's
manufactory stood, comprehends a school of art, a museum, and a free
library, and presents an ornamental façade decorated with terracotta
mouldings, tile mosaics, Della Robbia panels, and other products of
the ceramic art. St. John's church is a brick edifice, with a
massive stone Norman tower. St. Paul's church, in Longport, is a
handsome stone structure of 1828, built with aid of £8,000 from the
church commissioners. Christchurch, in Cobridge, is an edifice of
brick, with stone pinnacles, built in 1843. Sneyd church, in Sneyd
hamlet, is a fine stone structure of 1852. There are chapels for
Independents, Baptists, Wesleyan Methodists, and other dissenters;
and there is a school with £27 from endowment. About forty pottery
establishments are in the town and its neighbourhood, producing
every variety of porcelain and earthenware; and these, together with
glass-works, colour-mills, smelting-furnaces, and various works
connected with the potteries and the mines, employ nearly all the
inhabitants. The town has a post office‡ under Stoke-upon-Trent, a
railway station with telegraph, two banking offices, and four chief
inns; and is a seat of sessions and a polling place. Markets are
held on Monday and Saturday; and fairs on the Saturday before Shrove
Tuesday, the Saturday on or after 24 June, the Saturday before
Ember-week, and 26 Dec. The township includes Longport and
Dale-Hall. Real property, £51,264; of which £1,380 are in mines.
Pop., 17,821. Houses, 3,510.-The parish includes also the hamlet of
Sneyd, the ville of Rushton-Grange, and the lordship of Abbey-Hulton.
Acres, 2,940. Real property, £65,240; of which £8,226 are in mines.
Pop. in 1841, 16,091; in 1861, 22,327. Houses, 4,390. The property
is much subdivided. Potter's clay forms a bed from 2 to 10 feet
thick; fire clay lies below to considerable depth; and coal lies
below the fire clay. The living is a rectory in the diocese of
Lichfield. Value, £525.* Patron, J. Morris, Esq. St. Paul,
Christchurch, and Sneyd are separate charges, with p. curates. Value
of St. Paul, £300;* of Sneyd, £150;* of Christchurch, £142.* Patron
of St. Paul and Christchurch, the Rector of Burslem; of Sneyd,
alternately the Crown and the bishop.-The sub district is
conterminate with the parish.
Bartholomew's 1887 Gazetteer
of the British Isles
Burslem, par., mun. bor., and market town, N.
Staffordshire, within the parl. bor. of Hanley, on Grand Trunk Canal, 20 miles
NE. of Stafford and 149 miles NW. of London -- par., 3121 ac., pop. 28,249;
bor., 2419 ac., pop. 26,522; 2 Banks. Market-days, Monday, Wednesday, and
Saturday; is called- the "Mother of the Potteries" and produces
porcelain, parian, encaustic tiles, &c.; birthplace of Josiah Wedgwood
(1730-1795), the great improver of the earthenware mfr. of Staffordshire. The
Wedgwood Memorial (1865) comprises a school of art, a free library, and a
museum. The town is very old. In the neighbourhood are coal mines.
1893 advertising and trade journal - A descriptive account of The Potteries
(illustrated)
"To Burslem belongs the proud
title of the "mother of the potteries." As early as the 17th century
this town was noted above all others for the production of the best classes of
pottery made in this country. Here, too, was born the greatest exponent of the
potters' art whom the world has known - Josiah Wedgwood - who was born at
Burslem in July, 1730; and was apprenticed at the Churchyard Works in this
town. It will thus be seen that Burslem is, so to speak, the aristocratic town
of the pottery district; and if, now, others have passed it in the matter of
population, none can claim so long and uninterrupted a connection with the
industry as this old borough. In the Doomsday Survey - for even in that early
date Burslem was a place of some importance - the town appears, as "Burwardeslyn;"
and frequent mention is made of it in ancient documents during the Middle
Ages.
The town has been for many years a
municipal borough; and it is largely due to its Mayor and Corporation, backed up
by the public-spirited burgesses, that the borough is one of the cleanest, best
built and healthiest devoted to industrial interests in the country. The streets
have been lighted by gas, from works situated at Longport, ever since the
introduction of that method of illumination; while there is a copious supply of
excellent water by the North Staffordshire Potteries Water Works Company. The
town is, too, admirably drained by a modern system of sewage, completed in
December, 1879, under the supervision of Mr. E. M. Richards, C.E. These works
cost the borough £30,450, and are among the most effective in the Midlands. The
streets in the town are all wide and well paved, and there are many excellent
specimens of modern architecture, bearing abundant testimony to the good taste
of the authorities - a taste displayed throughout the pottery district, as we
have stated in our introductory remarks.
Burslem was formed into a separate parish from that of Stoke (which formerly
comprised nearly the whole district) by an Act of Parliament passed in 1807. The
parish thus formed embraces the township of Burslem, the hamlet of Sneyd, and
the ville of Rushton. It is divided into four ecclesiastical districts -
St. John the Baptist; St. Paul, Longport; Christ Church, Cobridge; and Holy
Trinity, Sneyd."
1898 Cassell's 'Gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland'
"Burslem, pa., mun. bor., and mkt. to. (at. & S.), on
the Grand Prank Canal, N. Staffs., 20 N.E. of Stafford; ac. of pa. 3,121, of bor. 2,419 The church of St. John the Baptist, restored 1878 is Perp. There are mission rooms, a Roman Catholic church, and Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels. Among the charities is the Haywood Hospital for the accommodation of 12 patients.
The well-laid-out cemetery of 28 ac. has a mortuary chapel. There is also a town
hall, with large room for entertainments; and there are two covered markets, one of which (St. John’s) is for the sale of vegetables. To commemorate the
connection of Josiah Wedgwood with B., and his services to the Staffordshire potteries a public monument in the form of an Institute was opened
in 1869. The building is Pointed, and decorated with terracotta. A series of 12 panels on the outside illustrate the processes of pottery; above these, in high-relief, are life-size figures emblematic of the months; above these, again, are the signs of the zodiac. In the porch are
bas-relief portraits of Bentley, Flaxman, and Priestley; and a statue of Wedgwood is In the centre of the façade. The Interior consists of entrance hall free library, reading-room, picture gallery, and lecture-room, besides classrooms for science and art. There is also accommodation for B. Free School and for meetings, and an additional wing provides space for a free museum. The free school, founded 1794,
is for 80 boys. The B. sewage works has two intercepting sewers - one passing over, the other under, Fowlea brook, and take the sewage
to a suction well in Longport valley. Here powerful double-action pumps force it up a main two miles long to different points 200 ft. to 250 ft. high,
whence it gravitates over the corporation farm.
B., owing to the excellence of its
clays and marls, was as early as the 17th cent, the chief seat of English
earthenware production, and has been called "the Mother of the
Potteries". Josiah Wedgwood (1735-1805) was born and died here. The staple
trade is still the making of china and earthenware, parian, and porcelain,
whiteware and blackware, ironstone, china and luster. There are large coal and
ironstone works, colour works, brick and tile works, flint-mills, and a large
glass factory."
1907 Staffordshire Sentinel 'Business Reference Guide to The Potteries,
Newcastle & District'
Burslem is frequently
referred to as the Mother Town of the Potteries, because the earthenware and
china industries of North Staffordshire originated there. The population has
grown from 1,800 in 1738 to about 40,000 at the present time. Josiah Wedgwood's
factories were originally situated in Burslem (until they were removed to
Etruria), and the town to-day contains the factories of many leading firms. The
Sneyd and Grange Collieries and Parker's Brewery may also be mentioned. There
are also engineering works.
Burslem is well supplied
with shops, and possesses a handsome Town Hall (opened in January, 1857), and
admirable markets (Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday). The principal thoroughfares
are Waterloo-road (running south and north, and connecting Hanley and Tunstall)
and Moorland-road and Newcastle street, running from Smallthorne, through the
town, and on to Longport (N.S.R. main line) and Wolstanton. Burslem Station is
on the loop-line of the N.S.R.. Burslem has always been noted for the
enterprising spirit of its public representatives and its business men, and the
earnestness of its religious life; and special attention has been paid to the
development of education, particularly in the application of art teaching to the
potting trade. The Wedgwood Institute, containing the Free Library and Museum
and Science and Art Schools, was erected as a memorial to Josiah Wedgwood,
mainly through the efforts of the late Mr. William Woodall, M.P. The foundation-
stone was laid by Mr. Gladstone on October 26th, 1863. The late Mr. Thomas Hulme,
who took a great interest in the Wedgwood Institute, gave a site opposite the
Institute for a new School of Art, and this is to be opened in the present year.
The town has its own gas and electricity undertakings, Gymnasium and Volunteer
Drill Hall, a Cemetery, admirable Baths, a new Fever Hospital, a Park, a refuse
destructor at the Electricity Works, and nearly £40,000 is now being spent on
new sewage disposal works. There is also the Haywood Hospital. Water is supplied
by the Potteries Waterworks Company. Burslem supplies Tunstall with electricity,
and Wolstanton with gas and electricity, but the Wolstanton Council is about to
provide its own gas supply. The Miners' Hall, the headquarters of the N.S.
Miners' Association, and the residence of Mr. Enoch Edwards, the borough member,
is in Burslem.
John Wesleyfrequently
visited Burslem, and m addition to several churches, the Wesleyan, Primitive
Methodist, Methodist New Connexion, and Congregational bodies, amongst others,
have noteworthy places of worship.
From "time immemorial," a
fair called "Burslem Wakes" was held in the borough, consisting of shows and
stalls standing in the Market-place, " commencing on the Saturday before the
first Sunday after the 24th June, and continuing on the Sunday, Monday, and
Tuesday following the said Saturday, being originally, it is believed, the feast
of the dedication of the parish church of St. John the Baptist." On the 30th
April, 1870, the Burslem Corporation petitioned the Home Secretary to abolish
this fair, and it was abolished accordingly, the Tunstall " Wakes " being
abolished at the same time. Since then, the shows have been allowed to stand in
the Market-place of Burslem by resolution of the Council, and last year the
Council resolved that spaces in the Marketsquare should not be let for shows
again. There is a Board of Guardians for the Burslem and Wolstanton district, of
which Mr. George K. Downing is the chairman and Mr Joseph A. Lowndes is the
clerk.; the offices are in Burslem.
A new Post Office was
erected in Burslem recently, and the Corporation owns the site adjoining it,
upon which it is proposed to erect Municipal Buildings. But though the
Corporation has incurred a large expenditure during the past few years on new
undertakings, the financial position of the town is regarded as favourable, as
some old loans are being extinguished. The Burslem Association for the
Prosecution of Felons furnishes the occasion for an annual dinner, which is
attended by most of the leading townspeople - commonly called the Felons'
dinner. Captain Russell commands the local Volunteer Corps.
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