mis 6 Employment of Children in the 19th century potteries.

In an old cottage found in Canada Cottage, Queens Road, Penkhull Stoke-on-Trent dates from 1814 during renovation of the kitchen, unearthed as a large deep well with water running through the bottom.

The well is 9m deep and is brick-lined in a manner that I’ve seen in other examples of the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Stylistically, the bricks appear to be no earlier than the late 18^th century, but, equally, could be early 19^th century in date. The owners pointed out a small number of pottery sherds that had apparently been found above the sandstone slab used to cap the well – most of these pieces were early-mid 19^th-century in date but offer somewhat iffy dating evidence as they’re essentially unstratified finds. Since the find the current owners have made this into a feature of the house, Not only is it now flood-lit it has a plate glass top cut to size making a feature many others residents in the area would like Certainly worth a read.

Two pages with a number of photographs.

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

Stoke Market, built in 1900 still dominates the central section of Church Street. It is of red brick in the Flemish style with curly gables and a central tower. Next to this stood the former National Provincial Bank dating from the 1890’s built also of red brick in the Jacobean style. The opposite side of the road there is a mixture of properties, but mostly of the mid-late 19^th centuries for which the upper floors still retain the original architecture.

The history of Stoke-upon-Trent is interrelated with the parish church of St. Peter-ad-Vincula. It is known that there has been a church on this site from 805a.d. but probably was a firmer site for Pagan worship.

Prior to the coming of the industrial revolution Stoke was the place where the parish church, rectory and parish clerks house was situated. There were no other buildings in the immediate vicinity except an old Inn known by the sign of the Red Lion. (now demolished).  In 1296, Stoke was the joint largest parish in the country and lates there became a number of Chapels of Ease dotted around North Staffordshire but remained under the authority of the Rector of Stoke. They became separate parishes by an Act of Parliament in 1807 as the parish was becoming too burdensome for a single priest and a curate.

Stoke town formed a part of the Township of Penkhull with Boothen until it became a Borough in 1875.  From early times, the inhabitants of the township did not live in Stoke town, but in either the small hamlet of Boothen, half a mile to the South or the larger Domesday Village of Penkhull standing high above the town to the Southwest.

This article is packed with date from 1807 and follows through with details of the towns development to become a commercial success with the building of a Town Hall which still remains the base of authority but other advances such as the public market and so many other examples of early developments during the 19th century. Again, a good read but also an asset for students of all levels.