Category: Tunstall

John Wesley Comes to Tunstall

John Wesley

In a pamphlet, called ‘Introduction and Progress of Wesleyan Methodism in Tunstall’ published in 1842, Thomas Leese and Thomas Mores describe John Wesley’s visit to the town’s first Wesleyan Chapel in America Street.

“On March 29th, 1790, Mr Wesley preached in the new chapel at Tunstall, at nine o’clock in the morning, for the first and last time. He was then in his 87th year and died 11 months later, aged 88 years.

“His text on that occasion was ‘Let us go on to perfection.’ There was something very remarkable in his appearance that was calculated to impress the beholder with awe and veneration. Wesley seemed like a messenger from heaven. His pale heavenly countenance and penetrating eye, made him appear as if he was about to be ushered into the company of ‘angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect.’

“Wesley’s voice was weak and feeble, but his expression was clear and distinct. His hearing was remarkable, for although he knew, in general, all the hymns, there were times when he was at a loss for a starting word or two. On these occasions, Mr Joseph Bradford, who travelled with him, whispered the required word to him, which he would immediately catch, and proceed without it being observed by the generality of the congregation.

“He did not use glasses, and it would have been easy for him to have gone through the whole service without either a bible or hymn book.”

Edited by David Martin

Tunstall’s 18th Century Pottery Industry

Some jasper made at Adams’ Greengates Pottery in Tunstall was equal to, if not superior to, jasper made by Wedgwood at Etruria

William Adams’ Greengates Pottery in Tunstall.

During the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution changed the face of Britain, making it the ‘workshop of the world’. 

Earthenware factories were built in Tunstall, a township that included Sandyford, Newfield and Furlong. At the end of the 18th century, there were seven factories making pottery. Small coal and ironstone mines were scattered throughout the district. Blue bricks and tiles were made in the Chatterley Valley. 

As early as 1735, William Simpson was making earthenware in the township. By 1750, Enoch Booth had a factory near a field called Stony Croft. The factory made cream coloured ware glazed with a mixture of lead ore and ground flint. 

In 1763, Admiral Smith Child built Newfield Pottery, where he produced earthenware. By the 1780s, two brothers, Samuel and Thomas Cartlich, were making pottery and mining coal at Sandyford. There were brick kilns, coal mines, a flint mill and a crate maker’s workshop at Furlong. 

During the 1740s, George Booth and his son Thomas leased a pottery factory. on an estate called Will Flats, next to Furlong Lane. In 1779, Burslem pottery manufacturer William Adams rented the factory and part of the estate.

On 1 March 1784, William purchased the factory and the land he had been renting. He changed the estate’s name from Will Flats to Greengates and demolished the old factory.

William built Greengates Pottery (shown above), where he made high-quality stoneware and jasper ornaments for the luxury market. He employed Swiss modeller Joseph Mongolot. Joseph helped him create models for moulds to produce the bas-reliefs for jasper and stoneware. 

Pottery produced by William was sold to wealthy customers. Some purchased ware from his showrooms in Fleet Street, London. Others visited the Greengates factory’s showrooms where they bought tea sets, dinner services, jasper, and stoneware ornaments.  

In his book, Marks and Monograms on Pottery and Porcelain, William Chaffer mentioned the quality of Adams’ jasper. He said some of it was “equal to, if not superior to” jasper made at Etruria by Wedgwood.

Revised: July 2025

St. John’s Church, Goldenhill

Mrs McGuire’s Oatcakes

During the 1930s and 40s, the best oatcakes in Tunstall were made by an elderly couple, Mr and Mrs McGuire, 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 McGuires were making and selling oatcakes.

Mrs McGuire stood in front of a hot iron plate, called the backstone, that was laid across the top of the gas oven. There was a large bowl at her side, which contained oatmeal mixture. To make oatcakes, Mrs McGuire 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 McGuire scooped them off the backstone and threw them onto a wire tray. She wiped the backstone clean and began the process again.

Mr McGuire sold the oatcakes and wrapped them in newspaper. While serving he kept up a warm, friendly conversation with his customers.

The McGuires’ backyard gate was kept open enabling people living in John Street to come into the yard and be served at the kitchen window.

Mrs McGuire’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.

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; only light refreshments and soft drinks were sold. When they started in 1974, 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 are writing a book about Tunstall Town Hall and Market. They would like to know more about these discos. If you went to the discos, share your memories with David and Lee. You can email David at davidmartin227@outlook.com

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.

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/gallery/27-nostalgic-photographs-tunstall-look-4151630?utm_source=linkCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar#12345685

Tunstall in the 1960s

David and Lee Need Your Help

Tunstall Town Hall

Before she died in 2023, North Staffordshire Heritage’s historical geographer, Betty Martin, planned to publish her extensive original research into Stoke-on-Trent’s history and architectural heritage.

Betty went to Brownhills High School and Tunstall always had a special place in her heart. A not-for-profit foundation is being set up to publish a series of books based on her research. The first books are about Tunstall. They are being written by Betty’s husband, David, and Lee Wanger.

David and Lee are working on the first book, The History of Tunstall Town Hall and Market. Other books in the series include The History of the Jubilee Buildings and The Life of Sir Smith Child.

Senior citizens remember the town hall and market as they were before they closed for regeneration in the 1990s. They can recall social activities they went to in the town hall and going shopping in the market. Amateur photographers and students from Stoke-on-Trent College and Staffordshire University photographed the market and the town hall before they were regenerated.

David and Lee need your help to trace these photographs.

If you have photographs of the town hall or market please email davidmartin227@outlook.comm

The Mystery of Simeon Shaw

Simeon Ackroyd Shaw was born in Salford on April 17th, 1785. He became the Potteries’ leading intellectual in the first half of the 19th century.

Simeon came to North Staffordshire, where he worked as a printer and compositor for the Potteries Gazette and Newcastle-under-Lyme Advertiser.

Simeon Aykroyd Shaw

In 1985, Keele University’s Department of Adult Education published People of the Potteries. The book says that by 1818, Simeon was “running an academy for young gentlemen in Northwood, Hanley”. According to People of the Potteries, in 1822, Simeon owned a commercial academy in Piccadilly, Hanley. By 1834, he had a large academy in the town’s Market Place.

When he was writing By-gone Tunstall (Published in 1913), William J. Harper was given notes called Tunstall Reminiscences written by Simeon’s grandson, Mr W. S. Shaw. In these reminiscences, Mr Shaw says his grandfather lived in Piccadilly Street, Tunstall. He had one of North Staffordshire’s largest and most influential academies in the Market Place (Tower Square).

White’s Directory of Staffordshire, published in 1834, shows that Simeon owned an academy in Market Place, Tunstall. Official records prove that he lived in Piccadilly Street, which ran from Market Place to Sneyd Street (Ladywell Road).

Simeon was still living in Piccadilly Street in 1851. He died on April 8th, 1859 and was buried in Bethesda churchyard Hanley.

Stagecoaches and Coaching Inns

When they left the Sneyd Arms in Tunstall, stagecoaches going to London followed the Old Lane through the Potteries, stopping at coaching inns in Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton.
A Red Rover Stagecoach

During the 1830s, two firms, the Red Rover Company and the Royal Express Company, ran mainline stagecoaches between London and Liverpool.

Between Warrington and the Potteries, the coaches were driven along the Old Lane (the A50) that linked London and the East Midlands with Merseyside and the Northwest. These coaches stopped at the Sneyd Arms in Tunstall to pick up passengers. When they left the Sneyd Arms, the coaches followed the Old Lane through the Potteries, stopping at coaching inns in Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton.

On leaving Longton, coaches owned by the Royal Express Company left the Old Lane and went to London via Stone, Rugeley, Lichfield, Birmingham and Warwick. Coaches owned by the Red Rover Company followed the Old Lane to Hockcliffe in Bedfordshire, where it joined the London to Holyhead Road (the A5).

Two Stoke-on-Trent firms, the Hark Forward Company and the Independent Potter Company, ran day return stagecoach services that stopped to pick up passengers at the Sneyd Arms.

The Hark Forward Company’s coach went to Birmingham via Stone, Stafford and Wolverhampton. The Independent Potter Company’s coach ran to Manchester, Congleton, Macclesfield and Stockport. These two coaches left the Potteries early in the morning and returned late at night.

Stagecoaches were pulled by teams of four or six horses and could travel at a speed of eight to ten miles an hour. Travelling by stagecoach was expensive, and tickets had to be booked in advance. Coaches carried first and second class passengers. First class passengers travelled in the coach, and second class passengers sat on wooden seats on the roof.

The cost of the journey depended on its length. First-class passengers were charged threepence per mile, and second-class passengers were charged one and a half pence per mile.

NSH.2023