The sketch above shows William Adams’ Greengates Pottery in Tunstall. The factory built between 1779 and 1781 was one of the largest in the Potteries. It manufactured tableware, stoneware and jasper ornaments for the luxury market. William Chaffer, the author of ‘Marks and Monograms on Pottery and Porcelain’, said some of the jasper made at Greengates was ‘equal to, if not superior’ to that produced by Josiah Wedgwood at Etruria.
A Description of the Country From Thirty to Forty Miles Round Manchester, a book published in 1795, was compiled by Dr John Aikin. The book tells us about Newcastle-under-Lyme and North Staffordshire’s pottery towns and villages in the 1790s.
This edited extract from the book describes Tunstall as it was in the 1790s.
Tunstall is the pleasantest village in the Potteries. It stands on high ground, commanding extensive views of the surrounding countryside. Pottery manufacturers in the village produce good-quality ware and do considerable business. There was a church here, and human bones have been dug up. But such is the effect of time that no trace of either the church or the bones remains today. A small chapel has recently been built here. There is a considerable number of brick and tile works. They use local clay to make blue bricks, which look as well on the roofs of houses as moderate slate. Tunstall is four miles from Newcastle-under-Lyme and nine miles from Congleton. The turnpike road from Lawton to Newcastle-under-Lyme runs through Tunstall, where the turnpike road to Bosley in Cheshire begins [near the Wheatsheaf Inn].
Something had indeed gone badly wrong. High in the sky above North Staffordshire, a scene of high drama was unfolding. It was away from the eyes of the assembled spectators. Even the excitement and danger of a normal parachute drop paled in comparison.
The Big Feast is NOT a Food Festival. It’s a weekend of amazing arts, curious culture and outdoor spectacle. Visitors to the Feast will see some of the UK’s best artists performing on Hanley’s streets. The two-day event takes place in Hanley/City centre on Friday 22 and Saturday 23rd August.
Regeneration experts in the Potteries are delighted that the Heritage at Risk Fund has given £1.5 million to help save Burslem’s Indoor Heritage Market and historic Bethesda Church in the City Centre.
The money will be used to repair the buildings.
If these buildings can be saved, they will make a significant contribution to the growth of North Staffordshire’s heritage tourist economy.
In the 1820s, married men living in Hanley who spent their time drinking in ale houses feared Molly Albin.
Molly, who lived in Tontine Street, was Hanley’s town crier. She used her job to publicly shame men who went drinking during working hours or neglected their families.
Men who frequented ale houses were terrified when they heard Molly ringing her bell and calling out their names. Large crowds gathered to listen to what she had to say about them.
She told the crowd everything she knew about a man she had named.
Molly pulled no punches when she described a man’s character. She listed all his defects. She told the crowd how much he earned each week and how much he spent on drinks. It heard how much money he gave his wife to buy food and clothing for herself and the children. All aspects of his life were made public. If a man had borrowed money that he hadn’t repaid, she gave details of the amount he owed.
Sometimes, a man whose lifestyle she was describing threatened her with violence. Molly was not afraid. It was unlikely that he would assault her. She was physically fit and capable of defending herself.
She knew that a man who attacked her would be arrested and brought before the Petty Sessions (Magistrates’ Court). The court sat in a room at the Swan Inn. It had the power to fine him, put him in the stocks or send him to prison. Men who attacked women were usually sentenced to two or three weeks’ imprisonment with hard labour.
During the week, we began learning how to use our new portable photocopier. This will allow us to visit people at home to copy their treasured photographs from bygone days.
A new series of posts tracing Tunstall’s history and architectural heritage will start in the autumn. The series is based on images in the film strip The Township of Tunstall, made by Highgate School in 1960. Posts in the series will trace the history of Tunstall from Anglo-Saxon times to the 21st century. These posts will introduce you to Tunstall’s heritage buildings. They will tell you about its unique Victorian Civic Centre, which includes the former Town Hall, Tower Square, Market Hall, the Jubilee Buildings, Tunstall Pool, the Drill Hall and the Memorial Gardens.
Have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend. Take care, and we’ll see you again on Monday.
This engraving of the Fowlea Brook Valley looking towards Burslem was made in the 1860s. Note the sheaves of corn and the Trent & Mersey Canal in the foreground. In the background, you can see Burslem and St. Paul’s Church, Dalehall, where John Ward, who published The Borough of Stoke-upon-Trent in 1843, was churchwarden.
Smithfield Hall, which is shown above, was built in 1791 by Burslem pottery manufacturer, Theophilus Smith. In 1793, he built an industrial hamlet called Smithfield near the hall. Theophilus was declared bankrupt in 1800. He attempted to murder John Wainwright and was remanded to Stafford prison to await trial. When his wife and daughter visited him there, he murdered them and committed suicide. In 1801, the hall was bought by Jesse Breeze, who renamed it Greenfield Hall.
A Description of the Country From Thirty to Forty Miles Round Manchester, is a book published in 1795, compiled by Dr John Aikin. It describes Newcastle-under-Lyme and North Staffordshire’s pottery towns and villages as they were in the 1790s.
This edited extract from the book tells us what Newfield and Smithfield, two hamlets in the Township of Tunstall, were like in the 1790s.Newfield
Newfield is well situated for manufacturing purposes because there is plenty of coal nearby.
The hamlet belongs to Admiral Smith Child. He has a handsome estate there and lives at Newfield Hall. Smith Child owns Newfield Pottery. He is unlikely to allow more factories to be built in the hamlet in the foreseeable future.
Smithfield is the best place in the Potteries to manufacture earthenware. There are several strata of coal and clay, which are needed to make pottery. Smithfield belongs to Theophilus Smith. He owns a pottery and coal mines there. It is unlikely that there will be further industrial development in the hamlet.
This delightful child’s tea service was made in the 1950s at the Staffordshire Tea Set Company’s Plex Street Pottery in Tunstall. We discovered this factory while researching the history of education in the Potteries.
Tunstall Town Hall is part of Tunstall’s unique late Victorian Civic Centre. It was designed by Absalom Reade Wood and opened by John Nash Peake on 29 October 1885.
John Nash Peake, after whom Nash Peake Street is named, was one of Tunstall’s most flamboyant characters. Born in Tunstall on 13 April 1837, he was the son of Thomas Peake.
Thomas owned Tunstall Tileries, in Watergate Street. He was the town’s Chief Bailiff (Chief Constable) and Chairman of the Board of Health from 1858 to 1861.
John, whose Christian names were John and Nash, was educated at the North London Collegiate School. At school, he showed considerable artistic ability. When he left school, John became a student at the Royal Academy, where he studied under Millais, one of England’s leading artists.
One of John’s paintings, Alpine Monks Restoring a Traveller, was exhibited at Burlington House when he was 18 years old. A year later, he showed another painting, The Last Hours of the Condemned, which portrayed a soldier awaiting execution.
Although he could have stayed in London and become a professional artist, John returned to Tunstall in the 1850s. He joined his father’s company, which made bricks, tiles, water pipes and ornamental garden pottery. John managed the firm after Thomas’s death in 1881. Under his management, the works doubled in size. It became one of the largest tileries in the world. There were 35 ovens producing more than 250,000 tiles a week.
John had a strong personality. He was a man with a keen intellect and a commanding presence, who was eloquent, versatile and persevering.
A devout Christian, John was an evangelist and a member of the Church of England. He opposed the Oxford Movement’s attack on the Reformation and its plan to make the Pope head of the Church of England.
His views on the activities of the Oxford Movement were shared by Sir Smith Child and Tunstall’s leading Methodists.
John spoke out against the movement’s growing influence and the introduction of Roman Catholic dogma and rites into Potteries’ churches. The Wesleyan Methodists invited him to lay one of King Street Methodist Church’s* four foundation stones.
The stones were laid on 20 October 1873. During the ceremony, John said he was sure that the Wesleyan Methodist Church would defend the Protestant faith. He was grieved to see the Church of England abandoning its traditions and embracing the doctrines of Roman Catholicism. John advised the Wesleyans to adhere to their faith and not allow anyone to interfere with it. He told them that the doctrines being introduced into the established church would destroy the Reformation.
John was a member of the Liberal Party. In 1869, he became a member of Tunstall’s Board of Health. His energy and determination led to the creation of the town’s Victorian civic centre. This centre included a new town hall and a public library as well as a school of art and science, a museum, a fire station, public baths, a drill hall and a recreation ground.
Despite his busy commercial and political life, John retained his interest in art. He painted portraits of Queen Victoria, Lord Roberts, and his father (Thomas Peake). He also painted Sir Smith Child and civic leaders, including Alfred Meakin, George Wilks, Henry Smallman, and Thomas Booth. These portraits hung in the town hall. A self-portrait which he painted was hung in the museum. Other examples of his work displayed there included Bosley Reservoir and Cloud End, The Fishing Fleet at Tenby, Menai Suspension Bridge, The Isle of Arran and The Matterhorn.
He designed the Free Library sign that hangs outside the Jubilee Building and Victoria Park’s main gates, which were erected in memory of his father.
On 15 October 1903, John gave Tunstall a mahogany cabinet with drawers to store the town’s records. One of his portraits of Queen Victoria is incorporated into the cabinet. The cabinet remains in the council chamber of the former town hall. Its doors open to reveal a list of the main events in the town’s history. There are also photographs of the chief bailiffs (Chief Constables), clerks, and surveyors from 1855 to 1909.
A bronze portrait bust of John was unveiled in the council chamber. He was given an illuminated address to thank him for his services to the town.
John, who was 66 years old, said: “I know well that day by day, I come nearer to a time when I shall be forever absent from the council chamber and the streets. Think, then, what it means to me this surprising tribute of yours that I shall not be forgotten: that I shall be with you, dwelling among my own people in imperishable bronze.”
He died three years later on 29 April 1905. The bronze bust disappeared many years ago. So far, all attempts to trace it have failed.
*King Street is now Madison Street.The church was demolished in the 1970s.
Note: John Nash Peake (1837-1905) is one of a series of articles Betty Martin wrote before she died in 2023. More articles from this series will be posted periodically.
North Staffordshire Heritage 