This is an article compiled regarding the Penkhull Home Guard having nowhere to store their issued equipment and ammunition and subsequently it was stored in an unused bedroom at the Greyhound Inn. Great both factual and amusing account as one would expect with Dads Army. A great read with genuine people of the time.
The Beehive was formed out of three old cottages set in a row of back-to-back working class terraced houses which In all probability a row of workers cottages built by Josiah Spode at the end of the 18th or early 19th century for his workers. The location is shown on Hargreaves’ map of 1832.
Viewing the census of 1841 provides little to indicate there being any Inn at the site. By 1851 the census however does list a Thomas Howell as a greengrocer and beer seller. In simple terms, he would have had a little greengrocer’s shop, and at the same time, probably had a couple of hand pumps, one for Mild and the other for Bitter beers, both for consumption off the premises. It is from here that the residents of the nearby houses would fetch the beer in a jug after a day’s work to have with their evening meal. The owner would be unable to sell spirits only beer or ale. Thomas was born in Eccleshall, and was married to Hannah, who was recorded in 1851, aged 62, and came from Oldham. They both probably came to Stoke to find work and met locally. They employed a servant, Elizabeth Cook, a local girl, aged 21.
The route from ancient times to the town of Stoke and the Potteries was via Hanford along what is the A34 to a point where the present Rookery Lane turns off. From there the road continued up Brisley Hill, now called Trent Valley Road, through the village of Penkhull and down Honeywall – an arduous road especially for packhorses taking the products of Stokes’ potworks to the south.
In the late 1780s it was decided to create a turnpike road with toll gates from what is now the Black Lion at Trent Vale to Campbell Place in Stoke and was opened in 1791 creating new opportunities for traders. In all probability to exploit this new development probably the owner of Black Lion Farm which stood on the opposite side of the A34 to Rookery Lane built the Inn, the Black Lion on a prestigious corner of the important London to Carlisle Road, the A34, and the new Turnpike Road, London Road and subsequently erected the Black Lion c1792/3.
As soon as the Inn was established it was a location that identified other nearby properties for adverts for land and houses whereby all included the Black Lion on the Turnpike Road. As the name Trent Vale had not become established, the Black Lion was frequently advertised as near to Newcastle or Hanford or near the town of Stoke and soon became the only inn and social venue of the district.
The present Greyhound Inn, formerly known as Penkhull Hall then previously by the name of Greenhead House, (simply – head of the green) stands opposite to what is now the west door of the parish church, but before the church was built here was a large open space of common manorial waste where the village pinfold was situated. In the first place the Greyhound was an old building, originally a farmhouse, would be constructed of timber, wattle and daub with one large room – the large parlour, which was used for the Customary Court Baron and Court Leet. This section of the building now forms the public bar section of the Inn. The building still retains its original form, although largely reconstructed in 1936.
Beneath the floor was The Penkhull Lock-up often used for the confinement of drunks who were usually released the next day, or to hold people being brought before the local magistrate the following morning. A typical village lock-up is a small structure with a single door and a narrow-slit window or opening. Lock-ups were not a gaol; they were only a temporary place to secure prisoners.
A precise history is told with the aid of court rolls, Hearth Tax Record, surveys of the manor and parish records, all meticulously recorded to provide an accurate unique account of its history from the 14th century. The essay is 21 pages x A4 with many photographs which will no doubt give great pleasure to the reader, and even more help with late night conversations in the pub debating its history.
At the corner of Manor Court Street and Newcastle Lane stood for many years, The Royal Oak Inn. The premises were surrendered as a mortgagee was in default to William Bridgwood in 1860 who converted two cottages out of a row of eight into a beer house. At a copyhold court held on the 13th day of September 1866 the properties were sold to John Royal.
The 1861 census lists the property as The Royal Oak, but then recorded not in Church Street, but at the top of Newcastle Street, numbered 1 and 3. It was occupied by a direct ancestor of mine George Henry Underwood, aged thirty-six, beer seller and potter, born Penkhull. He was married to Eliza, aged thirty-eight, of Stoke. They had four children, Henry, aged sixteen, John, aged twelve, and both working as potters’ boys, followed by Frank, aged nine and James, aged two. James was my great grandfather. His daughter Eliza Ann was my grandmother who married Thomas Talbot in 1908.
The 1871 census shows that Benbow, then aged thirty-six, also worked as a potters colour maker as well as running the beer house in the evening alongside his wife. a practice not uncommon for the period. Benbow was born at Coalbrookdale and married to Jane, aged thirty-seven a widow Her son, George Willott, aged thirteen, was working as a turner. Three other children were also living at the house but also took in lodgers to make ends meet making a total of nine people living there.
Ten years later in 1881, The Royal Oak was held by Mr David Shenton, aged forty-0five, and his wife Mary, aged forty-two, together with their seven children ranging from Albert, aged twenty, to Blanch, aged one. Three years later, in May 1884, his wife Mary died and is buried in Penkhull churchyard. Her gravestone reads In Loving Memory of Mary Ann, the beloved wife of David Shenton of the Royal Oak Inn.
By 1891, David Shenton had remarried to Emma, aged thirty-four, eleven years his junior. At the time there remained four children living at home, together with Jane Bryan, a domestic servant. Shenton died on the 15th of March 1900, aged seventy-two. He is buried alongside his first wife Mary.
Shenton had already sold The Royal Oak in 1890 to Parkers Brewery although he continued to run the establishment at least until 1891 on their behalf. The court minute commences by stating that Shenton was formerly of The Royal Oak, licensed victualler but afterwards of No. 14 Church Street, grocer but at the time of the court record living at No. 191 Campbell Road Stoke.
The White Lion Inn has at various times in its history has had the name Hotel tagged on. It commenced life as a coaching inn situated near the top of a steep hill called Honeywall commencing from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent, a road which dates from prehistoric times. The inn is shown on Yates’s map of 1775, and the 1777 Duchy of Lancaster Map on which it is recorded as in the occupation of Mr Thomas Appleton. Records for the Justices of the Peace at Stafford record the issuing of a licence to sell wines and spirits from the mid-18th century.
Thomas Appleton had established himself as a property owner as early as 1762 and was involved in numerous mortgage transactions over the following years, mostly concerning three cottages and stables, two of which were rented out while he occupied the other. Although no direct name is given to the property, I think it safe to assume that these three cottages would be the origins of what is now the White Lion Inn of today. The view from the front of the inn points to the conclusion that this could originally have been three cottages later converted into one.
In 1861 it was owned by Richard Stone who sold the plot of land at the rear of the inn to Frederick Bishop to enable a new road to be built from Honeywall to Princes Road, thereby opening up the area for housing development from 1865. Note the name Stone Street.
Probably as a direct result of the development of the nearby allotments housing estate towards the end of the 18th century, The White Lion was extended as can be seen from the red brick addition. By 1914, the inn was occupied by Harvey Howell, and owned by Burton Brewers, and described as the White Lion Inn with stables and garden. The annual rent paid by Mr Harvey amounted to £60, and the rates amounted to £48. If compared with those of The Beehive, it is obvious that The White Lion was a much more substantial establishment than The Beehive just across the road.
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