mis 26 Roman Stoke – the evidence explored.

From the early days of the workhouse, Christmas was celebrated with the prospect of additional fare of roast beef and plumb pudding with a little entertainment for the children whilst the adults had additional tobacco for the men and tea for the women. As early as 1899, pressure was placed on the Spittals Workhouse by the Local Government Board in London that children should no longer be brought up in Workhouse Institutions where they were exposed to many of the undesirables of society. It was finally accepted that individual large homes, grouped together, each under the control of a ‘house mother’ was to become the norm where children could have the experience of a home and attend local schools and churches along with other children.

Mother used to get us to write a letter to Santa with three items we would like but Mother said we might be lucky and get just one. Most would ask for writing or drawing set or perhaps a toyshop, little things like that or a game, but it was not an expensive one like today.

An insight into life in a children’s home in the 1940s. Great educational aid.

Three x A4 pages

My guess is that few in the city are aware that Hanley Town Hall has become redundant because of council services being amalgamated with better use of council stock. This prominent Hanley building became a town hall in 1886, prior to which it was the prestigious Queens Hotel. Sadly, for a combination of reasons its life as a hotel extended just less than twenty years, but no one has over the last one hundred and forty odd years explored its demise, and yet its short life is full of intrigue and wonder as to why the most attractive building in North Staffordshire closed its doors.

The need for such a hotel came about because from the late 18^th century, the combined townships of Hanley and Shelton were rapidly expanding with Hanley as the central town of the six and where most of local business was conducted and meetings were held.

In 1857, because of its growth and importance, the township of Hanley with Shelton become the first incorporated borough of the six towns leaving the other five behind. It became the prominent town of the Potteries where its leaders and influential businesspeople were set on a course for Hanley to become the central and most important town in North Staffordshire.

With its new-found status of a county borough, the town council and leading citizens came to realise that to attract new business to the town that a hotel which outshone all others was important to its growth. As a result, they came together to form the Hanley Hotel Company in July 1864 offering four thousand shares at £5 each for sale. Hanley, they declared was the centre of the Potteries and frequented by china and earthenware dealers, commercial travellers and as such there was an urgent need for public functions and superior accommodation associated with a progressive town like Hanley. Indeed it was the most impressive hotel in all of the potteries six towns.

This four page history identifies the trials and tribulations that fell onto the Queens until it was purchased by Hanley Borough Council. A further good read of how a depressed financial state of the period can loose such a building. Four Pages.

The land discussed here was Doody’s messuage comprising of all the land and other properties from between Kirkland Lane and St.Thomas Place.

A long barn stood facing Penkhull New Road. This was converted by Spode into ten small terraced houses, going by the name of Ten Row. There was another large property, standing back from the highway and facing St Thomas Place. This now forms four cottages converted from one.  Unfortunately, the records are not very conclusive. It could have been assumed that this building, long and narrow was a barn or a group of stables, but evidence from the manor court rolls point to the fact that it was more likely to have been one dwelling house owned by Thomas Doody.

A further entry then provides the necessary evidence: a dwelling house has for many years been subdivided into and occupied as four dwelling houses, which servants belonging to the family of Josiah Spode and his late father now deceased. This conversion must have taken place after 1811 and before 1827.  Further evidence of this is contained in records for November 1858 when the owner James Dean finally paid off the mortgage on the cottages: All those four several dwelling houses situate in Penkhull, lately converted out of a certain dwelling house known as Doody’s Messuage. The next record is dated June 1899 when the court records make note of the fact that Richard Nicholls, a timber merchant from Stoke had died the previous year.

The 1841 census records Richard Nicholls,  By 1851, Richard senior was listed as a grocer from Stoke who with his wife Anne, aged 53, had handed over the timber business to his son Richard. Twenty years later in 1871, Richard junior was the only son left at home living with his widowed father.  From the document dated 1899 the row of cottages was purchased at some date before then.

Three A4 pages. This illustrates how Penkhull started to develop from the early 1800s.