Catalogue

In May 1810 Spode proceeded to develop further workers’ dwellings in the village of Penkhull. He acquired two sites with existing properties owned by Thomas Chapman, a resident of Penkhull, The first site contained five old cottages described as being the inheritance of Joseph Bourne and afterwards his sister Margery Chapman. These five cottages stood in what was Farm Lane and were either demolished or converted into six cottages by Josiah Spode.

The new or converted cottages were built in a similar layout to others built by Spode, two up and two down. At the rear was a communal yard with shared privies, ash pit and one shared water pump. Even with the lack of facilities compared with other houses built by Spode, the occupants were charged the same rent at 8s 9d, per week subsequently creating a high turnover of tenants as it was a large sum to find.

Originally called Farm Lane as Penkhull Farm was almost opposite, but like many streets in the 50’s the name was changed to Garden Street as opposite were allotments.

The last cottage was converted into a Beer House, converting the front room to accommodate as many as possible. Again, a good read for anyone at college and taking Humanities. A great read of life then two pages with photographs.

Guilty or Not Guilty that is the question or does a Duel prove who is or who is not?

Searching through my archives of the Potteries Mercury for 1830, I came across a most interesting account of a duel taking place in London but what made it special was the behaviour of both parties following the outcome of the duel but also the inquest that followed.

Duelling had been the way officers and gentlemen settled matters of honour for centuries. Up until the mid-19th century there were situations where a meeting with pistols or swords was seen not just a possible response to a perceived insult, but the only honourable one. Men risked being ostracised from society for not issuing a duelling challenge in response to an insult. This is a true story. An introduction to a two page facinating artical of the once popular was of resolving and argument or a public insult. two pages.

Quite by chance I came across an article dated 26^th December 1846 which pre-dates the official published date of 1847. In the article recorded in the Potteries Mercury it first acknowledged the work of Prof Simpson, who had demonstrated chloroform for its anaesthetic properties on humans but in fact had applied numerous experiments on himself and others first which gave rise to its rapid increase by the of the medical profession in favour to that of ether. The interesting fact remains is that surgeons at Etruria had performed operations with the use of chloroform several months prior to the work of Simpson being published, such was their skill of administering the drug resulting in a number of successful operations. Two pages

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.