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| Potteries Conurbation Districts: Wolstanton |
Wolstanton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.
Originally Wolstanton was a large administrative parish and so often old wills, birth & death certificates and census records refer to Wolstanton even when the person involved did not live in Wolstanton village itself.
Below is a list of the main towns & village in the Wolstanton parish area.
Townships & Villages in the parish of Wolstanton:
Tunstall, a modern, well-built, and rapidly improving market town, is the most northerly town in the Staffordshire Potteries, pleasantly seated on the declivity of a bold eminence, overlooking the vale of the Trent, about two miles N by W of Burslem. Its township contains about 800 acres, and has risen during the present century from the rank of a small village to that of a town with about 10,000 inhabitants. In its vicinity are many extensive potteries, and several coal and iron works. Greenfield and Sandyford are two hamlets, about half a mile north of the town.
Brerehurst, or Brieryhurst, is a liberty of 922 acres, and 1518 inhabitants, from four to six miles N by W of Burslem. The land belongs to T Kinnersley Esq, Mr Lawton, and a number of smaller owners. It includes Dales Green, Oldry Lane, and part of Kidsgrove and Mow Cop.
Chatterley liberty, from two to four miles NW of Newcastle-under-Lyme, has 1563 acres and 374 souls. It includes Red Street and High Car, and belongs chiefly to R Sneyd, Esq.
Great & Little Chell form a liberty of 740 acres, and 737 souls. Great Chell is on an eminence two and a half miles N by E of Burslem, and is occupied chiefly by potters.
Chesterton is a large village, on a pleasant declivity three miles N by W of Newcastle-under-Lyme. Its township comprises about 1090 acres of land, belonging to T Kinnersley, Esq, and several smaller owners. Here are several extensive brick and tile yards, and at Apedale are large iron furnaces.
Golden Hill, about a mile N of Tunstall, is a village in the township of Oldcott, which contains 714 acres and 1295 inhabitants. Here is a large colliery, belonging to Rt Williamson, Esq, and two potteries.
Kidsgrove, or Kidgrew, is a considerable village on the high road, two miles N of Tunstall, in the townships of Ranscliff, Brerehurst and Oldcott. Many of the inhabitants are employed in the collieries belonging to Thomas Kinnersly, Esq, of Clough Hall, and J Sutton & Co, of Trubshaw.
Knutton, one mile NW of Newcastle-under-Lyme, is a township of scattered houses, with 1388 inhabitants, and about 1700 acres of land, including an enclosed and fertile heath, where Newcastle Races were formerly held.
Mow Cop, or Mole-Cop, a mountainous ridge, extending more than three miles along the borders of Staffordshire and Cheshire, and rising in one part to 1090 feet above sea level, gives name to a church district which comprises parts of the townships of Brerehurst and Stadmoreslow, and part of Biddulph parish. This district comprises many scattered houses on the picturesque declivities of the hill, extending from three to five miles N of Tunstall.
Ranscliff, or Rainscliff township is about four miles N of Newcastle, and contains 375 acres, 967 souls, and the greater part of Kidsgrove village. T Kinnersly, Esq, owns most of the soil.
Red Street, three and a half miles N by W of Newcastle-under-Lyme, has a number of scattered houses on a commanding eminence, extending into the twonships of Chesterton, Chatterley, and Talk-on-the-Hill. It is one of the oldest seats of the earthenware manufacture, and probably has its name from the red pottery formerly made here, though some authors think it had it from a bloody conflict between the Saxons and Danes. The last pottery in Red Street was deserted some years ago.
Stadmoreslow, or Stadmereslow, four miles NNE of Burslem, is a township of 309 souls, and about 600 acres of land, including part of Mow Cop, and a number of scattered houses.
Wedgwood township or liberty, three miles NNE of Burslem, has only about 430 acres, and 132 inhabitants, and is probably the place where the Wedgwood family was seated at an early period.
Newchapel formed a chapelry to Wolstanton parish "Newchapel, a straggling village, from two to three miles N of Tunstall, gives name to a chapelry district (of Wolstanton parish), comprising Thursfield township, Chell, Wedgewood, and parts of Stadmoreslow, and Brerehurst townships. "History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851
more on Wolstanton
questions / comments / contributions? email: Steve Birks
8 January 2006
