Pall Mall, Hanley
Lost and forgotten roads of Stoke-on-Trent

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Pall Mall, Hanley

As early as 1818 Pall Mall existed as New Street, Shelton.

Although now a desolated street at one time it was a busy place with a large number of public buildings.......The Free Library, the North Staffs. Technical and Art Museum, the Government School of Art, the Potteries Mechanics’ Institution, and the Theatre Royal were all situated in Pall Mall.

 

This picture looks up Pall Mall towards Albion Street
This picture looks up Pall Mall towards Albion Street
the Town Hall can be seen on the left of the picture at the very end of Pall Mall


On the right the first large imposing building was the Museum and further up the road was the free public library. Both these buildings were demolished in the early 1970's.

 

 

The 'London' streets of Hanley

"In Whites Directory of 1834 for Staffordshire, Hanley was described as a large modern town, the largest in the Potteries and second in Staffordshire only to Wolverhampton, its streets were spacious and well-paved, its houses were neat and some of them were, like the public edifices, elegant. Small wonder then that this capital town of the whole Fowlea Valley should name a little group of its new streets after those of London. So we have Cheapside, Piccadilly, and Pall Mall, in a naive apeing of a foppish. distant area by people who have rarely understood just how proud they ought to be of themselves."

"Portrait of the Potteries" Bill Morland  

 

 

 

Pall Mall & Piccadilly lay in Shelton.....

The dividing line between Shelton & Hanley:

Stafford Street was the dividing line between the townships of Hanley & Shelton, so Pall Mall & Piccadilly lay in Shelton as did large and important buildings such as the town hall in Albion Street, Bethesda Methodist chapel and the library & Museum. 

In the first third of the 19th century the ground plan of the present town-centre, including the area round Piccadilly and Pall Mall (in Shelton Township), was completed.

Townships of Hanley & Shelton in 1842
Townships of Hanley & Shelton in 1842
- click map for larger view -

Pall Mall and Piccadilly can be located by the X shaped streets
in the lower section of the map

 

Hanley town centre from an 1842 map
Hanley town centre from an 1842 map
The red cross marks the position of Piccadilly and Pall Mall
Blue line is Stafford Street.
Purple line is Bryan Street.
Green Line is Hope Street.
The yellow oval locates the main squares and open areas.

Everything to the left of Stafford Street was in Shelton and to the right in Hanley.
 

 

From: A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 8 (1963)

 


next: The Mechanics Institution and public library

27 April 2008