Coal mining has shaped England’s villages, towns, cities and landscapes for hundreds of years.
Category: Stoke-on-Trent
Mrs McQuire’s Oatcakes
During the 1930s and 40s, the best oatcakes in Tunstall were made by an elderly couple, Mr and Mrs McQuire, who lived in Queen Street. Their home was a terraced house and they made oatcakes in the kitchen every Sunday morning.
On Sunday mornings, the front door was always open. Customers came to the house to buy oatcakes. They walked into the parlour and joined a queue that went through the living room into the kitchen, where the McQuires were making and selling oatcakes.
Mrs McQuire stood in front of a hot iron plate, called the backstone, laid across the top of the gas oven. There was a large bowl at her side, which contained oatmeal mixture. To make oatcakes, Mrs McQuire dipped her scoop into the mixture. When it was full, she ladled the mixture onto the backstone, swirling the scoop to create perfect circles. As soon as they were cooked on one side, she turned the circles over and cooked them on the other.
When the circles had browned to perfection and become oatcakes, Mrs McQuire scooped them off the backstone and threw them onto a wire tray. She wiped the backstone clean and began the process again.
Mr McQuire sold the oatcakes and wrapped them in newspaper. While serving he kept up a warm, friendly conversation with his customers.
The McQuires’ backyard gate was kept open enabling people living in John Street to come into the yard and be served at the kitchen window.
Mrs McQuire’s oatcakes cost a halfpenny each. They were delicious. Men, women and children came from all parts of Tunstall to buy them to eat with their breakfast, which was either bacon and egg or bacon, cheese and tomatoes.
Share this:
Free Local History Talk Local Groups
David Martin and Lee Wanger are writing a book, ‘The History of Tunstall Town Hall and Market’, that will be published later this year.
It will tell the story of the market founded in 1817, and the town hall opened by John Nash Peake in 1885.
To introduce local groups in Tunstall to a series of books they are writing about the town’s history, David and Lee have devised a free local history talk that includes:
- Tunstall’s two town halls and covered markets
- Tower Square and its markets
- George Thomas Robinson, the architect who designed the Market Hall
- John Nash Peake, the local politician whose vision created Tunstall’s unique Victorian Civic Centre
- Absalom Reade Wood, the architect who designed the town hall, the Jubilee Buildings and Tunstall Park
After the talk, those attending will be invited to share their memories of the town hall and the market with David and Lee. To arrange a free local history talk for your group, please email David at davidmartin227@outlook.com
Share this:
Discos in the Town Hall
Tunstall Town Hall
Did you go to the discos held in Tunstall town hall during the 1970s and 80s?
These discos were designed for young people and only light refreshments and soft drinks were sold. When they started in 1974, the discos were held on Saturday nights. The discos were popular with teenagers By 1977, they were being held on Monday and Friday nights.
David Martin and Lee Wanger who are writing a book about Tunstall Town Hall and Market would like to know more about these discos. If you were one of the teenagers who went to them and would like to share your memories, please email David at davidmartin227@outlook.com
Share this:
A Hard Winter (1946-1947)
The winter of 1946-47 was long and hard. There were heavy snowfalls and gale-force winds. Temperatures fell to below freezing, and icicles hung from the roofs of houses.
Mainline railway lines were kept open, but frozen points on branch lines prevented coal trains from leaving collieries. Instead of thawing the points, the National Coal Board stockpiled coal at the pit head creating a fuel shortage that forced British industry to introduce short-time working.
Between Sunday, February 2nd and Tuesday, February 4th, 1947 a blizzard lasting forty-eight hours swept across Staffordshire and Cheshire. More than ten inches of snow fell. Roads became impassable and motorists abandoned their vehicles.
Villages in the Staffordshire Moorlands were isolated by snowdrifts five or six feet deep. Over a hundred snowploughs and bulldozers fought to keep Staffordshire’s main roads open. German prisoners of war helped to clear the snow from roads leading into Burton-on-Trent. A working party from Stafford prison cleared snow blocking the road from Stafford to Stone.
In the Potteries, roads blocked by snowdrifts were reopened by Polish troops stationed at Keele. A bus fitted with a snowplough opened the road to Leek, but surrounding villages remained cut off.
Power stations producing electricity were running out of coal and output fell. Supplies of electricity were disrupted. Householders were asked not to use electricity between 9.00am and noon and between 2.00pm and 4.00pm. These savings were not enough to keep hospitals supplied with electricity and on February 7th the government ordered companies to stop using electricity.
Industry throughout the country was hard hit. Factories were forced to close. At Stafford, English Electric dismissed its 5,000 employees. In the Potteries 44,000 men and women were made redundant.
At a meeting in Stoke, the National Political Union condemned the Labour government for creating a fuel crisis and causing widespread unemployment.
A few shopkeepers in Stafford continued to use electric spotlights to highlight displays in their shop windows. Lights and heating were turned off at the Guildhall where the Magistrates’ Court sat. It was so cold in the courtroom that Justices of the Peace wore their overcoats.
Many shops were lit by candlelight. Old gas mantles were used to light offices throughout the region. The Midland Bank at Crewe was lit by oil lamps and hurricane lamps were used to light Stoke town hall.
Blizzards prevented rescue teams from reaching Longnor, Butterton, Grindon and Ilam, isolated villages where 3,000 people were trapped.
The Royal Air Force was asked to help. At RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, Halifax Bombers were loaded with food supplies for the villagers.
On February 12th, despite adverse weather conditions and low clouds, a bomber dropped thirteen canisters containing food near Longnor. Volunteers helped Police Sergeant Davenport carry the canisters to the village hall. They contained margarine, lard, sugar, cheese, bread and jam for the villagers and people living in neighbouring hamlets.
The next day, another Halifax, piloted by Squadron Leader McIntyre, took off from Fairford with food for Butterton. Weather conditions had deteriorated overnight. Visibility was poor. People on the ground waiting for the food canisters to be dropped heard the aircraft’s engines but they could not see it.
Squadron Leader McIntyre flew low hoping to find the dropping zone. The plane’s engines cut out. There was an explosion, and the Halifax crashed near Sheldon Farm on Grindon Moor. Eight men were on board. Only one survived the impact. He was unconscious when rescuers pulled him out of the cockpit and died shortly afterwards.
Among the dead was twenty-four-year-old Sergeant William Sherry from Clews Street, Burslem. Educated at Middleport School, he had been an army glider pilot before transferring to the Royal Air Force. While serving with the 1st Airbourne Division, William had fought at Arnhem, where he was wounded and captured by the Germans.
Note: A Hard Winter (1946-1947) is one of a series of articles written by Betty Martin before her death. Other articles from the series will be posted from time to time.
Share this:
How to Make Staffordshire Oatcakes
Share this:
Betty Being Put in the Pillory
Betty was put in the pillory when Tunstall Market celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2017. David managed to avoid being put in it. He was taking the photographs. We think Lee spent a few hours there.
Share this:
Nostalgic Views of Tunstall
Click the link below and take a stroll down Memory Lane to see Tunstall as it was in the second half of the 20th century.
Share this:
Rita Baines – Flying the Dream
A Family Historian’s Dream
“Thanks to an abundance of local clays and coal, from the mid-seventeenth century, six towns in Staffordshire emerged as the centre of the British pottery industry, and one of the foremost pottery centres in Europe. These six towns were Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Stoke-upon-Trent and Tunstall. A flip through the 1891 census shows Fenton, Hanley, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent …”
North Staffordshire Heritage 