mis 14 Majestic Cinema Stoke-upon-Trent. A history from 1912

For those coming up the hill to Penkhull from Stoke, the question was where did Stoke end and Honeywall start?  In fact, the name of Honeywall, a rather strange name, did not start from the bottom as it does today. That area was originally called Castle Cliff- changed to Cliff Bank. The next higher section was called Upper Cliff Bank followed by Princess Street before being known the whole length by the name of Honeywall. The name of Castle Cliff is really important and yet there is no evidence to support this name of a castle at the top of the hill. Perhaps this explains why parts of what Honeywall is now went by the name of Castle Cliff. Food for thought! The area known as Honeywall commences from just about where the Beehive now stands to its junction with Penkhull Terrace and in fact refers to the hamlet of Honeywall and not the road name.

To add even further to the mystery in 1870, whilst digging near to the White Lion an ancient boulder pathway was found.  Could this have any connection with some form of early settlement? 

Rev.Aston, in his little book of 1942 suggests without any evidence to support his claim that it could mean Hole in the Wall, pointing to a possible wall around the ancient royal forest where a hole in the wall was used for game hunters!  But in saying this there is an argument presented to that part of Honeywall being the boundary of the once Iron Age Fort that capped the hill of Penkhull. Why? We have the name of Castle Cliff, and we have the evidence of a boulder pathway being uncovered outside the White Lion.  Also, the name of Honeywall could derive from the old English – ‘hill fortress’ and lastly, it’s the name given to a small hamlet not a road.  People would be known by the place where they lived (not a street name, but a district) and the name Hole in the Wall, the entrance area of the hill fort, could be just that place where a group of small traders resided. Lastly, it was recorded in the 19th century that beekeepers were resident in the area, so could the name originated from there? The Bee Hive Inn could be named following the known occupation of Bee Keepers in the area. A further conundrum. Two pages and photographs.

By the 1840s the annual Wakes festival became an intrinsic part of the Potteries calendar as each town was described as “full of jollity”.

The “wake” of the Parish of Stoke  in 1847 was, in reality a continual series of pleasure fares, and merrymaking, for the towns of Stoke, Fenton, Longton, Hanley and Shelton. Even by then Hanley had become the centre of attraction. Here were tents, sideshows, stalls, food, and drink outlets and shows with performances every thirty minutes with their own individual gimmicks to attract a person to spend just 2 pence.

It was until recently that it was fashionable for those considering themselves the ‘upper classes’ of society to speak of the sovereign people as the “unwashed”, but in the potteries save and except stray collier in his working dress it would be difficult to find a man, woman, or child, when from their employment, with an unwashed faces or unclean hands as they are all well dressed and scrupulously clean in their Sunday best as they promenaded around town centers and above all wanted to be seen as such. Four x A4 pages full of atmosphere.

Probably the most significant thing for the immediate post war years was rationing and little money. For families it must have been especially hard for mothers and hardships continued as for a decade following 1945. What is more surprising they are all within a person’s lifetime and have no relationship to present-day austerity.

As children we only had new clothes at Eastertime and these were purchased from the Co-op Emporium in Liverpool Road, Stoke, with the ‘divvy’ mother received on what we had spent at the co-op over the year. I was totally fascinated by the overhead wires carrying the Dart Cash Carriers from every corner of the store to a central elevated cashier’s desk.

Just a short part of an interesting view of life in the early 1950s. 2 pages

One of the highlights was when our landlord Mr. Bourne decided it was time to replace the ducket lavatory with actual clean fresh flushing one. The whole yard was dug-up for a water supply from the kitchen. I could not believe it; it was flushed with clean water you could drink – such wonders of the world I thought. But having water laid on brought a whole new set of problems in the winter months with freezing. Old rags were used as lagging to wrap around the pipe, but this was not sufficient. So, in addition a paraffin lamp had to be secured and placed by the pipe to keep the water from freezing ultimately leading to a burst-pipe and possibly no water for weeks.