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Pigot & Co's 1828/9 Directory of Staffordshire
"STOKE-UPON-TRENT, as its name implies, is
pleasantly situated upon that river, in an extensive and populous parish, to
which it gives name, about one mile and a half east of Newcastle, upon the sides
of the Grand Trunk canal. The town contains many handsome houses, wharfs,
warehouses and earthenware manufactories, and is deemed the parish town of the
potteries.
The church, which is and ancient building of stone, will be taken down when the
new edifice, which is erecting under the auspices of the parliamentary
commissioners, shall be perfected. The church contains a handsome monument to
the memory of the late Josiah Wedgwood who was interred here in 1795. In 1815 a
very handsomer and commodious national school, for the education of five hundred
children was erected at this place, at the cost of nearly £1,000, chiefly
raised by subscription. Here are also two meeting houses for dissenters.
The first steam engine for grinding burned flint for the use of the potters was
established here.
About mid-way between Stoke and Newcastle is 'Cliffe vill' the seat of John
Tomlinson, Esq; and at Penkhull is 'the Mount,' the seat of Josiah Spode, Esq.
The market is Saturday and a wake is held the first Sunday in August annually.
The whole parish of Stoke, by the returns for 1821, contained 29,223
inhabitants; and the parish, exclusive of its several extensive dependencies,
3,969 of that number."
Pigot & Co's 1841 Directory of Staffordshire
"STOKE-UPON-TRENT is a market town, and by
the reform bill created a borough, entitled to return two members to parliament,
in the extensive parish of its name, about one mile and a half east from
Newcastle-under-Lyme; situate, as it's name implies, upon the river Trent, and
upon the banks of the Grand Trunk Canal. This parish, at present including a
district of more than seventeen square miles, and originally of much greater
extent, owes its increase in population and opulence to the establishment of
numerous potteries, for which its situation, on a navigable river and a great
canal, renders it favourable, and for which it has for many years been
distinguished.
The town contains many handsome houses,
commodious wharfs and warehouse, and extensive china and earthenware
manufactories, - and is deemed the parish town of the Potteries. The first
steam-engine for grinding burnt flint, for the use of the potters, was erected
in Stoke. The parish is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, and
the police is under the superintendence of commissioners appointed by an act of
parliament - under the provision of which, also, a chief bailiff is elected, who
convenes and presides at all meetings of the inhabitants.
The old church, dedicated to St Peter, has given
place to a handsome new one, erected in 1826; it is in the later style of
English architecture, and contains one thousand six hundred sittings. The
handsome monument erected in the old church to the memory of the highly
respected Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., where he was interred in 1795, has been put up
in the new church. The benefice is a rectory. Throughout the parish there are
places of worship for the various classes of dissenters; and in the town is a
handsome and commodious school, in which upwards of five hundred children are
instructed upon the national plan. The market is held on Saturday, and an annual
wake on the first Monday in August."
William White, Sheffield. "1851,
History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire"
"The parish of Stoke-upon-Trent comprises about
two thirds of the populous district called the Staffordshire Potteries,
including all the towns and villages lying south of Burslem and east of
Newcastle-under-Lyme. Though now containing upwards of 55,000 inhabitants and
about 12,000 acres of land, it was formerly of much greater extent, until it was
reduced by an Act of Parliament, passed in 1807, entitled 'An Act for separating
the Chapelries and Chapels of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Burslem, Whitmore,
Bucknall-cum-Bagnall, and Norton-in-the-Moors from the Rectory and Parish Church
of Stoke-upon-Trent, and for making them five distinct rectories'.
Stoke-upon-Trent, the capital, although not the largest town of the borough and
parish to which it gives name, is pleasantly situated in the township or liberty
of Penkhull-with-Boothen, in a picturesque valley, on the banks of the River
Trent and the Trent & Mersey Canal, one and a half miles E of
Newcastle-under-Lyme.
What was properly called Stoke, until about 70
years ago, consisted of only five houses, but the name is now applied to the
town, situate at a short distance to the west, under the lofty hill on which
stands the large village of Penkhull, which appears to be one of the oldest
seats of the earthenware manufacture, for it had three brown ware potteries in
1600. Here are several of the largest porcelain and earthenware manufacturies in
the Potteries, and a commodious range of warehouses and wharfs on the Trent
& Mersey Canal. Here also are the head offices and station of the North
Staffordshire Railway
The other principal villages in the township of
Penkhull-with-Boothen, and their distances from Stoke are:
Boothen, one mile S, belonging chiefly to Sir Thomas FF Boughey, Bart.
Basford, one mile NW where there are extensive brick and tile works.
Hartshill, one mile W where there is a handsome new church.
Oak Hill, one mile S, the seat of MD Hollins, Esq.
Trent Vale, one and a half miles S, which has several handsome villas, and
extends to Hanford Bridge, and was formerly called Black Lion.
Cliffe Ville, half a mile W, the seat of FW Tomlinson, Esq.
Fenton, in the two manors and liberties of Fenton Culvert and Fenton Vivian,
forms a populous suburb, extending from Stoke to Longton, with many neat houses
and large china and earthenware manufactories, and the hamlets of Lane Delph,
Foley, and Sideaway.
Botteslow, is a small liberty, about two miles SE of Hanley, with a number of
scattered farmhouses and three collieries."
Wilson's 1870-2 Imperial
Gazetteer of England and Wales
STOKE-UPON-TRENT, a town, a parish, and
a district, in Stafford. The town stands on the river Trent, the
Grand Junction canal, and the North Staffordshire railway, at or
near junctions of four branch railways, 2 miles ESE of
Newcastle-under-Lyne; grew around the pottery-works established by
Wedgewood; was made a parliamentary borough by the reform act of
1832; consists, as a town, of the townships of Penkhull, Boothen,
Clayton, and Seabridge; comprehends, as a borough, most of Penkhull
township, all Boothen, Burslem, Fentons, Hanley, Longton and
Lane-End, Shelton, and Tunstall townships, Rushton-Grange ville, and
Sneyd hamlet; sends two members to parliament; may be regarded, in
its borough capacity, as mainly identical with the Potteries region;
and, as a town, has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with
telegraph, a banking office, six chief inns, a town hall and market
house of 1834, a bronze statue of Wedgewood set up in 1863, a church
rebuilt in 1826, six dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, an
endowed school, the North Staffordshire infirmary built in 1866, a
workhouse, and charities £110. The r. station is in the Tudor style,
and was built at a cost of £150,000. The amount of property and
income tax charged for the borough in 1863 was £29,375. Electors in
1833, 1,349; in 1863, 2,591. Pop. of the town proper, in 1851,
9,649; in 1861, 11,390. Houses, 2,240. Pop. of the borough, in 1851,
84,027; in 1861, 101,207. Houses, 19,855. The parish contains the
town-proper and the townships of Shelton, Hanley, Bucknall, Bucknall-Eaves,
Bagnell, Fentons, Botteslow, and Longton and Lane-End; and is cut
ecclesiastically into the sections of Stoke, Fenton, Hartshill,
Penkhull, Trent-Vale, Hanley, Northwood, and Wellington. Acres,
10,490. Pop. in 1851, 57,942; in 1861, 71,308. Houses, 14,078. The
head-living is a rectory in the diocese of Lichfield. Value,
£2,717.* Patron, F. W. Tomlinson, Esq. The other livings are
separately noticed. The district is conterminate with the parish;
and is cut into the sub-districts of Stoke, Shelton, Han1ey, Fenton,
and Longton. Poor rates in 1863, £22,700. Marriages in 1863, 836;
births, 3,178, -of which 212 were illegitimate; deaths, 1,981,-of
which 1,638 were at ages under 5 years, and 22 at ages above 85.
Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 7,404: births, 26,680; deaths,
16,940. The places of worship, in 1851, were 16 of the Church of
England, with 13,562 sittings; 1 of English Presbyterians, with 450
s.; 6 of Independents, with 2,545 s.; 3 of Baptists, with 485 s.; 2
of Quakers, with 400 s.; 8 of Wesleyans, with 4,197 s.; 9 of New
Connexion Methodists, with 5,516 s.; 3 of Primitive Methodists, with
488 s.; 1 of the Wesleyan Association, with 75 s.; 1 of the New
Church, with 35 s.; 1 of Brethren, with 125 s.; 1 undefined, with 50
s.; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 645 s. The schools were 29 public
day-schools, with 3,539 scholars; 98 private day-schools, with 2,517
s.; 43 Sunday schools, with 8,777 s.; and 10 evening schools for
adults, with 220 s.
Bartholomew's 1887 Gazetteer
of the British Isles
Stoke upon Trent, parl. and mun. bor., market
town, and par., Staffordshire, on river Trent and on the Trent and Mersey Canal,
14 miles N. of Stafford by rail - par., 12,818 ac., pop. 104,313; parl. bor.,
pop. 64,091; mun. bor., 1660 ac., pop. 19,261; 2 Banks. Market-day, Saturday.
Stoke upon Trent grew around the pottery works erected by Josiah Wedgwood
(1730-1795), and is a seat of the china and earthenware mfr. Encaustic tiles and
tesselated pavements are extensively made. Stoke upon Trent was made a parl.
bor. (with limits including the mun. bors. of Burslem, Hanley, and Longton, and
other parts of the Potteries district) in 1832, and a mun. bor. in 1874. It
returns 1 member to Parliament; it returned 2 members until 1885, when its
parliamentary limits were reduced by the extension of the parliamentary limits
of Newcastle under Lyme, and the formation of the new parl. bor. of Hanley.
1893 advertising and trade journal - A descriptive account of The Potteries
(illustrated)
"If Burslem can claim to be the
mother of the Potteries, and Hanley the capital, Stoke-on-Trent has certainly
the right to be considered the parent of the civil and political divisions
into which this busy and populous region is now portioned. In fact, in all
relating to Municipal and Parliamentary matters, Stoke has always shown the
way to the whole of North Staffordshire, and would, no doubt, in the opinion
of the outside world, be ranked before these towns, which, in the immediate
district, are regarded as standing at the head of the Potteries.
Under the Reform Act of 1832 the Parliamentary Borough of Stoke was made to
embrace the townships of Burslem, Hanley, Fenton, Tunstall, and Longton, as
well as many others; and, although at the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885,
the district, coveted by its representation, was considerably curtailed, Stoke
still exercises a very widespread influence upon the political opinion of the
neighbourhood. As a seat of the pottery industry also, the town, as we shall
see, enjoys a reputation second to none in the district; while, for general
commercial importance, it may certainly claim to be at the head of the north
division of the county.
The admirable railway facilities possessed by the town have, no doubt,
contributed largely to the development of the neighbourhood. Here are situated
the principal station and head offices of the North Staffordshire Railway
Company, which comprise a long range of buildings, including a spacious hotel,
all in the Elizabethan style, and forming an attractive feature of
architectural interest to the town. By various branch lines the town is
brought into communication with the leading railway systems of England, and is
in the centre of a network of lines connecting all the town of the pottery
district. Steam tramways ply between the town and Longton, Hanley, and
Burslem, a total distance of five and three-quarter miles; while a branch line
has been laid down to Oak Hill, a distance of one mile.
In 1874, Stoke-on-Trent, whose parish includes
nearly the whole of the pottery district, was made a municipal borough by Royal
Charter, and is now governed by a Corporation consisting of the Mayor, six
Aldermen, and eighteen councilors. This body also acts as the Urban Sanitary
Authority and the Burial Board. The Corporation has done much to improve the
district under its control, and few towns in the kingdom of its size contain so
many wide and well-paved streets and handsome public buildings as
Stoke-on-Trent. The town is admirably lighted by gas, from works the property of
the Corporation; while there is also a copious supply of excellent water by a
private company."
1898 Cassell's 'Gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland'
"Stoke-upon-Trent, mun. and
parl. bor., U. and mkt, to, (s.), and head of Co. Co. dis., and large and populous pa. (which presents the very uncommon instance of a country pa. without a tp. of the same name) on the Trent, N.W. Staffs., 2 E of Newcastle-under-Lyme Ac. 12,607 and 121 water.
The church of St. Peter ad
Vincula was rebuilt 1826-29 in E. Eng. style It contains monuments
to Josiah Wedgwood (d. 1796), with bust by Flaxman, and Sarah, his wife (d. 1815). There are also
eccl. pas. with modern churches, a Catholic church, and places of worship for various Nonconformist bodies. The town hall consists of
a centre and two wings, and includes a large hall, used as an assembly room and theatre;
it contains a council chamber, with mayor’s parlor and municipal offices, and the Keary Law Library. A portion of the building is set apart as an art gallery, and contains
a loan collection from the National Art Gallery at South Kensington. The market ball (1888), In the centre of the to., is a building of red brick, In Late
Tudor style, surrounding three sides of a square, and has on the south side a tower with clock. The quadrangle, covered with a glass roof, forms an outside market. The School of Science and Art, situated in Eldon Place, London Road, was erected in 1856 as a memorial to the late Herbert Minton. The Tree Library and Museum, in the London Road, was opened
in 1878, the Athenaeum Committee making a free gift to the to. of their library of about 3,000 volumes,
together with an extensive museum, rich in entomological and geological specimens; there is, besides, a loan collection from the South Kensington Museum.
Facing the railway station is a bronze statue of the late Josiah
Wedgwood, erected by subscription In 1883, and considered to be a faithful likeness of this distinguished potter. The to., which is regarded as the centre of the Potteries, contains some
good modern houses, and various wharves and warehouses; and though the number
of china and other manufactories is not great, it includes some of the most
important, as well as the largest in the district.
Most of the materials are brought
from a distance: china clay and stone, or decomposed granite from Cornwall,
clay from Dorset, bones, borax, etc., the only necessary found in abundance on
the spot being coal. The hovel, or oven, in which the wares are fired is a
conspicuous feature in the various works.
The North Staffordshire Infirmary
was founded at Etruria in 1815, and removed to its present site in 1868. Near
the infirmary is another detached building, used as a children's hospital. There
is also an institution for nurses."
1907 Staffordshire Sentinel 'Business Reference Guide to The Potteries,
Newcastle & District'
Though its population does not
exceed 35,000, Stoke-on-Trent is known by name all over the world, and it is a
town of -considerable importance in the Potteries. It owes its wide reputation
principally to- the fact that some of the finest pottery obtainable is made
within its borders.
Its local importance is due to
many circumstances. It is the railway centre of the whole North Staffordshire
district. The N.S. Railway Company have here their headquarters, and while all
local trains radiate from Stoke, the London and North Western expresses from
London to Manchester call at its busy station. Then it is also the centre of the
extensive postal district of Stoke-on-Trent. It gives its name to the
Parliamentary borough which also embraces Longton and Fenton; and to the Poor
Law Union in which Hanley and the two towns already mentioned are comprised;
while organisations covering the whole of North Staffordshire, such as the
Chamber of Commerce, the Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, &c,
generally meet at the N.S. Hotel, which is probably the principal hotel in the
Potteries.
Again, Stoke is a place of
prominence in connection with ecclesiastical matters, and in this respect has an
interesting history. It formed the centre of a huge parish which embraced
practically all North Staffordshire and out of which a very large number of
parishes have been created. The parish church is an imposing building standing
in a spacious churchyard (which is no longer used for burials, and forms a
valuable open space). It was erected in the reign of Geo. IV. at an expense of
£14,000. Contributions to this large sum were received from all classes, from
the Sovereign down to the workingman. The living is a rectory, and has been held
by some noble churchmen, to whom Preb. H. V. Stuart, the present holder, is a
worthy successor.
The business part of Stoke is
very compact, but can only be reached from the Railway Station by rather
circuitous routes. There is direct tramway communication from this part of the
borough with Hanley in one direction; Fenton and Longton in another; Newcastle
in another; and Trentham in another. At the spot where these lines meet –
Campbell Place - there is a statue of Colin Minton Campbell, who was a honoured
citizen of Stoke; and the town possesses two other monuments - a statue in the
Station Square of Josiah Wedgwood, the great potter, whose remains are buried in
Stoke Churchyard; and a monument on the canal side down London Road to the
memory of a tramway employee who lost his life in attempting to rescue a child
from drowning.
Stoke has pleasant suburbs.
Hartshill, Basford and Penkhull (all within the borough) have lofty situations
and are residential districts; Oakhill is rapidly assuming the same character.
At Hartshill the N.S. Infirmary and The Mount Blind and Deaf School are located.
Amongst the possessions of the
Corporation are an excellent Town Hall, where the municipal business is
conducted; several elementary schools, a Science and Art Institute, and
education offices; a Free Library and Museum; Public Baths; a couple of
Recreation Grounds (not yet laid out); a beautiful Cemetery; remunerative
Markets (where business is principally done on Saturdays); valuable Gas
Works; and an Electrical Undertaking which is worked in conjunction with a
Refuse Destructor and promises to become a very valuable property.
Stoke is the sports centre of
the Potteries. It runs a, First League football team; the Staffordshire
County Cricket ground
is to all intents and purposes within the borough; while the principal athletic
organisation of the district – the Victoria Athletic Club - holds its meetings
at Stoke. The Hippodrome is a pretty and cosy music-hall. Captain Goss commands
the Stoke Volunteers.
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