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Pigot & Co's 1828/9 Directory of Staffordshire
TUNSTALL is a considerable village within the
township of Tunstall Court, a liberty in the parish of Woolstanton, four miles
from Newcastle, pleasantly situated on an eminence, deriving its name from the
Saxon word, tun or ton, a town, and stall, an elevated
place, seat or station.
The grand Trunk canal is within half a mile of the village; and the Harecastle
tunnel, running nearly two miles underground, is within a short distance. A
second tunnel, parallel with the first, has lately been completed here, at a
cost of £100,000, which will much expedite the conveyance of merchandize.
Walter Sneyd, Esq. of Keel, is lord of the manor, and holds courts leet at
certain periods, when a constable is chosen for the government of the town.
There is no church in the village, but £1,000 has been subscribed by some
worthy and spirited individuals, in anticipation of being aided by government in
the erection of one, the want of which being much felt. Thursfield, or 'New
Chapel,' is a chapel of ease under Woolstanton, of which the Rev. John Lawton is
the incumbent, and the Rev. Wm. Carter, curate. In this chapel was interred the
celebrated canal engineer, James Brindley. The places of worship in the village
are three chapels for the Methodists.
In this township abounds coal, ironstone, marl and fine channel coal; and the
manufactories of earthenware are very extensive here.
The market is on Thursday, which is well supplied with provisions and
commodities, as well as with shoes, hats and other articles of wear.
Tunstall Court liberty contained, in 1821, 2,622 inhabitants, and Tunstall
township, which is in the parish of Adbaston, 102 persons exclusive."
Pigot & Co's 1841 Directory of Staffordshire
"TUNSTALL, or TUNSTALL COURT, is a market town
and liberty, forming part of the borough of Stoke, in the parish of Wolstanton,
four miles north by east from Newcastle. Considerable manufactories of
porcelain, earthenware, blue bricks and tiles, and some chymical works, afford
employment to several hundred persons; and veins of coal, fine clay, limestone,
iron ore, and other mineral strata, abound in the vicinity. The Grand Trunk
canal passes within half a mile of the town; and the Harecastle tunnels, which
run nearly two miles in length, are within a short distance.
The new church here was erected partly by means
of a grant from the commissioners for building churches, and the remainder by
subscriptions among the inhabitants; the right of presentation to the living is
vested in the perpetual curate of Wolstanton. There are three chapels for
Methodists. The market is on Saturday."
Wilson's 1870-2 Imperial
Gazetteer of England and Wales
TUNSTALL, a town, a township, a
chapelry, and a sub-district, in Wolstanton parish and district,
Stafford. The town stands near the Grand Trunk canal, and near the
Crewe, Stoke, and Uttoxeter railway, 4¼ miles N by W of
Stoke-upon-Trent; shares largely in the industry of the Potteries,
carries on manufactures of earthenware, porcelain, bricks, tiles,
chemicals, and iron; is well built and well-paved; and has a
post-office‡ under Stoke-upon-Trent, a r. station with telegraph,
three banking offices, a town hall, a market place, two churches,
several dissenting chapels, a literary institute, public schools,
and markets on Mondays and Saturdays. The township includes the
town, and is all in Stoke parliamentary borough. Real property,
£39,852; of which £12,850 are in mines, and £642 in iron-works. Pop.
in 1851, 9,566; in 1861, 11,207. Houses, 2,086. The manor belongs to
R. Sneyd, Esq.-The chapelry was constituted in 1837. Pop. in 1861,
11,150. Houses, 2,086. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of
Lichfield. Value, £260.* Patron, R. Sneyd, Esq. The head church,
called Christchurch, was built in 1832, at a cost of £4,000; and the
other church, called St. Mary's, is more recent.-The sub-district
contains eight townships. Pop. in 1851, 17,049; in 1861, 22,466.
Houses, 4,252.
Bartholomew's 1887 Gazetteer
of the British Isles
Tunstall.--
town with ry. sta., Wolstanton par.,
Staffordshire, on the Grand Trunk Canal, 2½
miles NE. and within the parliamentary
limits of Newcastle under Lyme, 690 ac.,
pop. 14,244; P.O., T.O., 3 Banks. Tunstall
shares in the industries of the Potteries.
It has rapidly risen from a village to a
considerable town, with a fine town hall in
the centre of a spacious market-place.
1898 Cassell's 'Gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland'
Tunstall (Q), mkt. and manufacturing to.
rapidly increasing in importance pa. of Wolstanton (q.v.), N.W. Staffs., now included within the parl. bor. of Newcastle-under-Lyme (q.v.). There are eccl. pas. with modern churches, a Catholic chapel, and places of worship for various Nonconformist bodies. The old court-house, a plain building formerly in the centre of the Market Square, has been removed. The town
hall (1885) which occupies part of the site formerly devoted to market purposes, is a structure of red brick and stone in the Renaissance style; it includes an assembly room,
board room, court room, committee rooms, local board office and lock-up; a portion of the building is used as a bank, and there are a few shops. The Victoria Institute (1889) is also in Renaissance style; it comprises on the ground. floor public lecture rooms and free library; on the first floor a. school of art, and on the second floor a. school of science. An open space at the end of
the Institute has been laid out for public recreation.
The Public Library, inaugurated in the old town hall in 1885 was removed to the Institute in
1891.
There is a spacious market, erected in 1858. The market clays are Saturday and Monday, the former being the principal. There are no fairs., In the Market Square is a clock-tower (1893) commemorating Sir Smith Child, of Stallington Hall, a great
benefactor to the to. The chief manufacture of the to. is earthenware; there are also extensive iron work for the manufacture of pig, bar, and sheet iron. The raising of coal for the use of the manufacturers is extensively carried on in the
to. and its immediate neighbourhood, as well as the raising and calcining of ironstone. Bricks and tiles are also largely manufactured The charities are devoted to educational purposes.
1907 Staffordshire Sentinel 'Business Reference Guide to The Potteries,
Newcastle & District'
Tunstall is the youngest of the
“five towns” which go to make up the Staffordshire Potteries, but it is
one of the most vigorous and flourishing of them. Ward, in his history, so far
back as 1843, states that “Tunstall from being a small village of scattered
inhabitants had become a large and populous town, and had furthermore exhibited
such an extraordinary increase within the present century as could scarcely be
paralleled” If this was true of the Tunstall of more than half a century ago, it
is more than ever true of the Tunstall of to-day.
In 1851, eight years after the
historian wrote, the population was 9,566; to-day it is estimated at 27,850. In
1851, the rateable value was £18,788; in 1906, it was £67,284. The chief
manufacture of the town is earthenware, and the products of many of the local
firms are of world-wide reputation. Coal and iron are largely raised in the town
and its immediate neighbourhood. The Chatterley-Whitfield Collieries, one of the
largest and best on the local coalfield, are close to the town, and the huge
collieries and ironworks of Messrs. Robert Heath and Sons are situated only a
short distance away. There is also a considerable manufacture of bricks and
tiles.
The town has a station on the
Loop Line of the North Staffordshire Railway, and also a station on the main
line (from Stoke to Manchester) on the same railway, at Chatterley. The
Trent and Mersey Canal passes it. The town has had the benefit of good and
enlightened government for many years past, and there are few modern
institutions which it lacks. The Chairman of the Urban Council goes by the name
of the Chief Bailiff, or Chief Constable, a title borne by the principal
townsman in the early part of the last century. In 1837, the Lighting and
Watching Act was adopted; in 1847, the Tunstall Improvement Act (under which the
market was bought) came into operation; in 1855, a Local Board of Health was set
up; and in 1894, the present Urban Council came into being. The town was divided
into two wards, but owing to extensions of boundary, the additional wards of
Chell and Goldenhill have been created.
An application for the
incorporation of the town is talked of. The Town Hall, a structure of red brick
and stone in the Renaissance style, was erected in 1885 at a cost of about
£14,000, and faces the Market-square. A fine block of public buildings stands in
Station road. Of these, the chief is the Victoria Institute, built to
commemorate the Jubilee of Queen Victoria, which comprises School of Science,
Art, and Technology, public library, and museum. A splendid work is carried on
in this building. The study of art has been co-ordinated in the town, and the
students are engaging in the application of art to pottery with ever-increasing
success. The other buildings are public baths, fire brigade station, and drill
hall, with armoury adjoining. The recreation ground is close by. A handsome park
is in course of construction. In the Market-place stands a clock tower, erected
to the memory of Sir Smith Child, Bart., a benefactor of the town and district.
The Marketplace is open every day (except Sunday) for the sale by wholesale of
marketable commodities, and a spacious market hall is open on Mondays and
Saturdays, on which days cheap market return tickets are issued on both main and
loop lines in the surrounding towns.
Water and gas are supplied by
companies. Burslem Corporation supplies electricity, and the two towns combine
in an infectious diseases hospital. There is a cemetery at Clayhills. The Church
of England, the Roman Catholic Church, and most of the Free Churches have places
of worship in the town.Tunstall is the birthplace of Primitive Methodism, and
William Clowes and Hugh Bourne, the founders of the denomination, carried on
their spiritual labours in the town and district. The town has many admirable
business premises. A go-ahead spirit is manifested on all sides, and there is
every sign of continued prosperity.
