Stoke-on-Trent Local History

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Tunstall - Gazetteers and Directories

TUNSTALL

Pigot & Co's 1828/9 Directory of Staffordshire
Pigot & Co's 1841 Directory of Staffordshire
Wilson's 1870-2 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
Bartholomew's 1887 Gazetteer of the British Isles
1898 Cassell's 'Gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland'
1907 Staffordshire Sentinel 'Business Reference Guide to The Potteries, Newcastle & District'


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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.

 


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