Author: David Martin

Lost Film Strips

Can You Help Trace Them?

North Staffordshire Heritage would like to celebrate the City of Stoke-on-Trent’s Centenary by showing a series of film strips.

The film strips were made by local schools in 1960. They celebrated the 50th anniversary of the amalgamation of the six towns, which created the County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent.

We have the film strip, The Township of Tunstall, made by Highgate Secondary School. The filmstrips about Burslem, Hanley, Stoke-upon-Trent, Fenton and Longton are missing.

If you can help us trace them, please get in touch with northstaffordshireheritage@outlook.com

Victory from home

A Date for Your Diary

Victory From Home, How We Helped Win The War is a new exhibition at Newcastle’s Brampton Museum. The exhibition in the Spotlight Gallery marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 1945. It explores the contributions local people made to the Allies’ victory over the Axis powers. The exhibition remains open until September 16th. Admission is free.

When the Romans Left

Do you know what happened when the Romans left Britain?

The centuries after the Romans left Britain were once called the Dark Ages by historians. These centuries are some of the most mysterious in English history. They are also the most fascinating.

What Happened After the End of Roman Rule in Britain?

Lost Film Strips

Can You Help Us Find Them?

We hope to show a series of film strips during 2025, Stoke-on-Trent’s Centenary Year. In 1960, schools in the six towns created these film strips. They were made to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent’s creation.

North Staffordshire Heritage has the scripts for all these film strips. Unfortunately, we only have one film strip, the Township of Tunstall, which was made by Highgate Secondary School.

The film strips about Burslem, Hanley, Stoke-upon-Trent, Fenton and Longton have been lost. If you can help us find them, please email northstaffordshireheritage@outlook.com

A Polluted Stream at Birchenwood

Showing a stream polluted by water from old coal and iron stone mines and fly tipping next to the route followed by the North Staffordshire Railway's 'loop line' at Birchenwood nr. Kidsgrove (1994).

This image was taken at Birchenwood near Kidsgrove in 1994. It shows a polluted stream. The stream ran next to the route followed by the North Staffordshire Railway Company’s ‘loop line’. The line closed in the 1960s. It ran from Etruria to Kidsgrove. There were stations at Hanley, Waterloo Road, Cobridge, Burslem, Tunstall, Pitts Hill and Goldenhill.

Tunstall Market in the 1850s

A 19th Century Meat Market

In his book, Old Times in the Potteries, published in 1906, William Scarratt describes the scene in Tunstall‘s Market Square. These scenes occur on Saturday nights during the 1850s.

Pottery workers worked a six-day week and were paid their wages at five o’clock on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night was the busiest time in the market.

A score or two of butchers had stalls in the market square. Their tent-like stalls were lit by naphtha lamps. They were chopping up meat and haggling over prices with customers. These fat and smiling butchers seemed content. I do not think they liked covered markets. They were used to trading in the open air.

In the lower part of the square, in front of the town hall, were the hucksters and the poultry dealers. Stalls sold green groceries, fruit, and vegetables. A higgler from Cheshire was nicknamed ‘Cabbage’. His cry ‘Cabbage and cou’d (cold) lard’ was so loud that it was heard by customers at other stalls.

Between the higglers and the High Street were the fishmongers.

On Saturdays and Mondays, a quack doctor had a stall outside the Sneyd Arms. He sold patent medicines and displayed extracted teeth, charts and physic bottles on his stall. A real doctor who frequented the Sneyd Arms enjoyed teasing the quack. He sent notes to him asking difficult medical questions. These questions puzzled the quack, who couldn’t answer them.

Edited by The History Factory (2025)

 

The Chatterley Valley in the 1850s

William Scarratt’s book Old Times in the Potteries, published in 1906, describes the Chatterley Valley in the 1850s. 

Ironworks sprang up rapidly in North Staffordshire during the 1850s. I recall a workingman who was a forgeman. He predicted that all the land in the valley would be covered by industrial buildings of one kind or another. I have often thought of that visionary’s foresight when I look at the industries there today. 

It was a pretty valley. The Fowlea Brook, surrounded by meadows, ran through it. Willow trees called Osiers grew on its banks. Osiers were small willows with long, flexible shoots used to make baskets. They were grown commercially in damp, marshy fields near the brook.  

A shepherd looked after a flock of sheep in a field by the railway line. People in the valley heard the leading sheep’s bell tinkling. 

Men working on the night shift in local industries would leave work briefly to smoke their pipes. They would go into the valley to catch a breath of spring. Sometimes, they lingered there for a few minutes in the long twilight of a summer’s evening. 

Edited by The History Factory (2025) 

Stagecoaches, Coaching Inns and Snow

This repost comes from The Old Roads of Derbyshire, a site everyone interested in Derbyshire’s history should visit at http://oldroadsofderbyshire.com/ We enjoy reading the posts on this site. You will, too.
The image is a snow scene showing a stagecoach on a winter's day outside a coaching inn.
A cold coming

Can You Help Trace These Film Strips

We hope to show a series of film strips during Stoke-on-Trent’s Centenary Year. Schools in the six towns made these film strips in 1960 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent’s creation.

North Staffordshire Heritage has the scripts for all these film strips. But we only have one film strip, the Township of Tunstall, made by Highgate Secondary School.

The film strips about Burslem, Hanley, Stoke-upon-Trent, Fenton and Longton are missing. If you can help us trace them, please email northstaffordshireheritage@outlook.com

Dog Fighting in Tunstall

Fighting dogs were aggressive. When they fought, there was no stopping them.

In his book Old Times in the Potteries, published in 1906, William Scarratt shares his memories of a dog fight.

Although dog fighting declined in the 1840s and 50s, there were still dog fights in Tunstall.

Bull terriers, or fighting dogs, had large yellow and white patches. They also had brindle and white patches on their bodies, over their eyes and on their ears. Their coats were course, and their tails were thick.

Fighting dogs were aggressive, although they were quiet and affectionate at home. They had to be forced to fight, and when they fought, there was no stopping them.

I saw a dog fight when I was a schoolboy. It was between two dogs and took place at dinnertime. One dog was a white bullterrier that weighed 24 lbs. The other was a cross-breed that weighed 28 lbs.

The struggle continued for several rounds until both dogs were exhausted. When the next round started, the dogs had to crawl to each other before starting to fight again.

At the end of each round, the dogs were picked up and taken out of the arena. The hairs caught in their mouths were removed before the next round.

The fight lasted a long time. The dogs continued to fight. To end the contest, their owners reached a compromise. They agreed that the dog entering the arena first would be the winner when the next round started.

The dogs fought for about an hour. When it ended, both dogs were too weak to walk. The men picked them up and carried them to the Grapes Inn. They took the dogs to an outhouse and weighed them.

Edited by North Staffordshire Heritage 2024