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Pigot & Co's 1828/9 Directory of Staffordshire
"LANE DELPH may be considered as suburbs to
Lane End, possessing nothing remarkably distinct from that place."
Pigot & Co's 1841 Directory of Staffordshire
"LANE DELPH and FENTON are situate between
Stoke and Lane End, and Cobridge between Hanley and Burslem; - they are small
places, but contain some extensive pottery works, employing a considerable
population, which are included in the returns for the townships to which they
severally belong."
Wilson's 1870-2 Imperial Gazetteer of
England and Wales
FENTON, a chapelry and a sub-district
in Stoke-upon-Trent parish and district, Stafford. The chapelry lies
on the Hanley branch of the North Staffordshire railway, near the
Grand Trunk canal. 1 mile SE of Stoke-upon-Trent; and has a station
on the railway, and a post office‡ under Stoke-upon-Trent. It was
constituted in 1841. Pop., 5, 348. Houses, 1, 062. The property in
it is not much divided. Fenton Hall is a principal residence. Many
of the inhabitants are employed in the potteries, and many in mines.
The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £240.*
Patron, the Rev. R. B. Baker. The church is very good.-The
sub-district is conterminate with the conjoint township of
Fenton-Culvert and Fenton-Vivian. Real property, £31, 772; of which
£12, 042 are in mines. Pop. in 1851, 5, 767; in 1861, 7, 882.
Houses, 1, 573. The increase of pop. arose from the establishment of
railway engineering works, the erection of two large iron furnaces,
and the operations of a building society.
Bartholomew's 1887 Gazetteer of the British
Isles
Fenton,
local govt. dist. and ry. sta., Stoke upon Trent par.,
Staffordshire, 1390 ac., pop. 13,830: eccl. dist., pop. 8837.
1898 Cassell's 'Gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland'
"Fenton, eccl. pa., pa. of
Stoke-upon-Trent, N.W.Staffs., 3 E.S.E. of Newcastle-under-Lyme. F. lies immediately
to the east of the town of Stoke.
Christ Church (1839), rebuilt 1890,
is a brick building in Dec. style. The church of St. Michael and All Angels
(1887) is in E. Eng. style. F. contains Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and
Methodist New Connexion chapels. The townhall
was erected in 1889.
Earthenware article are manufactured
on a large scale, and the population is rapidly increasing. F. Manor House commands
and extensive view."
1907 Staffordshire Sentinel 'Business Reference Guide to The Potteries,
Newcastle & District'
Fenton separates Stoke and
Longton, and also adjoins Hanley. It has a population of over 25,000, and a
rateable value of nearly £100,000. It is growing fairly rapidly, especially at
the Longton end, to which, it is claimed, many people have migrated from Longton
owing to Fenton's lower rates. These, at present, are 7s. 4d. in the pound.
Apart from Stoke, Fenton has one of the best railway stations on the N.S.
Railway system, and both the N.S. main line and loop line trains pass through
it. All the loop line trains halt there, but many of the main line trains run
through - a standing grievance with the business men of Fenton. The main line of
the Potteries Electric Traction Company passes through the town, and there is
direct tramway communication with Hanley, via Victoria Road.
Fenton is a purely industrial
place. Within its boundaries there are numerous china and earthenware
manufactories, the locomotive and waggon works of the N.S. Railway Company, the
large engineering works of Messrs. Kerr, Stuart, and Co., a tram depot, the
Great Fenton coalpits, furnaces, and chemical works, the Glebe colliery, and
several other engineering works, while the Berryhill pits and forges are not far
away.
Along the entire length of
High-street and King-street (its continuation towards Longton), except for
stretches here and there, are numerous shops. Fenton has some excellent and wide
thoroughfares. It is governed by an Urban District Council, of which Mr. Philip
Elliott is Chairman. Until lately, the Town Hall belonged to a private owner,
Mr. W. M. Baker, but the Council decided to acquire it at a cost of £7,750.
Close to this building, on land given by Mr. Baker, stands a fine Free Library,
for the erection of which Mr. Andrew Carnegie gave £5,000.
The Council have their own
gasworks - a valuable asset to the town - and they are now engaged in
constructing new sewage works on the bacteria principle, estimated to cost
£33,000. The land at present used for sewage treatment is farmed by the Council.
The town possesses a large cemetery, a fire brigade, mortuary, two town yards,
and two valuable sites – one that of a playground at Fenton Manor, and the other
that of a future school in Duke Street. Negotiations are now in progress with a
view to the supply of electricity to Fenton from the municipal generating
station at Stoke.
Fenton manages its own
educational affairs. There are several admirable schools, and an excellent
Cookery Centre belonging to the Education Committee, besides Voluntary schools.
The School of Art is rented from private owners, and the science, commercial,
and technical classes (as distinct from the Evening Continuation Schools) are at
present chiefly conducted in the Library buildings.
A penny rate in Fenton produces
at the present time £357 7s. 7d.
Religious work is pursued with
much vigour in Fenton. The Parish Church is the centre of much activity; the
Roman Catholics have a school-chapel; while Nonconformity is strong in the town
- the Methodist New Connexion and Wesleyan bodies especially .
The Fenton Cricket Club is a
most popular sports organisation. At the time of going to press, a Local
Government Beard Inquiry was being held at Stoke into the application of the
Stoke and Longton Councils to form Stoke, Fenton, and Longton into one county
borough.
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