Tag: Trent & Mersey Canal

Tunstall Was a Prosperous Town

The Old Wheatsheaf Inn on High Street, Tunstall

By the beginning of the 1830s, Tunstall was a prosperous industrial and market town.

Between 1821 and 1831, its population had increased from 2,622 to 3,673. By 1841, the population had risen to 6,979.

At the end of the 1830s, there were 17 firms manufacturing pottery. Twelve made earthenware. Three produced earthenware and china. Two manufactured china figures and Egyptian blackware. The Trent & Mersey Canal ran through the Chatterley Valley, where there were two brick and tile works, a factory making chemicals and a coal wharf. Coal and ironstone were mined at Furlong, Greenfields and Clanway.

The east side of Liverpool Road (now High Street) between the Highgate Inn and the Old Wheatsheaf Inn had been developed. There were shops on Liverpool Road and in the Market Place (now Tower Square) where markets were held on Mondays and Saturdays.

The markets opened early in the morning and closed late at night. They were general markets with stalls selling household goods, furniture, shoes and clothing, fruit and vegetables, dairy produce, meat, fish and poultry.

Saturday was the busiest day of the week for shopkeepers and innkeepers. The market attracted customers from Butt Lane, Kidsgrove, Mow Cop, Harriseahead, Packmoor, Biddulph, Chell and Goldenhill. The roads leading to Tunstall were crowded, with people coming to shop there.

Photograph © Copyright Dave Bevis and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Hanley and Shelton in the 18th century

During the 18th century, Hanley and Shelton became the most important towns in the Potteries.

Between 1762 and 1801, their populations increased from 2,000 to 7,940. Hanley’s first church, St. John’s, was erected in 1738 and enlarged in the 1760s. Stage coaches called at the Swan Inn. Horse-drawn wagons carried pottery to the Weaver Navigation at Winsford and returned carrying ball clay and household goods.

A covered market, designed by architect James Trubshaw, was built on Town Road in 1776.

The Trent and Mersey and the Caldon Canals stimulated economic expansion. Entrepreneurs opened factories, collieries and ironworks. Families from the surrounding countryside flocked to Hanley and Shelton looking for work, and new houses were erected to accommodate them.

In 1791, a trust was formed to manage the market and build a town hall. The trustees leased land in Market Square, where they erected a town hall. Markets were held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. A fortnightly cattle market was established at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1813, Parliament gave the trustees the power to regenerate Market Square. They demolished the town hall, replacing it with a poultry market and a lockup, where those arrested were held before being brought to court.