ONECOTE
ONECOTE 1992
Onecote was formerly a township in Leek
parish and later a civil parish 4,936 a. (1,998
ha.) in area. (fn. 9) It is pasture and shares with
Bradnop the south end of Morridge, formerly
an extensive area of waste. A small village stands
on the east side of the township where the
Ipstones-Butterton road crosses the river
Hamps. The township's boundary followed the
Hamps on the east and was marked in the
north-east corner by a barrow called Merryton
Low, a name meaning in Old English a barrow
(hlaw) by a boundary lane (gemaere lone). (fn. 10) The
irregular western boundary with Bradnop and
Tittesworth townships probably reflected the
division of pasture rights on Morridge. Boundary changes in 1934 transferred 880 a., mostly
on the west side of the road running along the
top of Morridge, to neighbouring civil parishes:
433 a. to Tittesworth, 417 a. to Bradnop, and 30
a. to Heathylee. At the same time 57 a. of
Bradnop were added to Onecote in the south.
The resulting area of Onecote civil parish was
4,114 a. (1,665 ha.). (fn. 11) This article deals with the
former township.
The land lies at 804 ft. (245 m.) at the southern
tip of the township, and Onecote village to the
north stands at 920 ft. (280 m.). On top of
Morridge south-west of the village the land lies
at 1,224 ft. (373 m.), rising to 1,604 ft. (489 m.)
on the northern boundary at Merryton Low.
The underlying rock is mostly sandstone of the
Millstone Grit series, with an area of Carboniferous Limestone rising to 1,356 ft. (413 m.) at
Mixon north of Onecote village. The land is
drained by Onecote brook, which joins the
Hamps north of Onecote village. The soil on
Morridge is clay and loam with some peat; at
Mixon and around Onecote village it is more
permeable. (fn. 12)
The population of Onecote township in 1811
was 464, rising to 585 by 1821. It was 456 in
1831, 438 in 1851, 392 in 1871, and 401 in 1891.
Thereafter it fell steadily and was 389 in 1901,
364 in 1911, 337 in 1921, and 332 in 1931. The
population of the reduced civil parish was 301
in 1951, 229 in 1961, 214 in 1971, 203 in 1981,
and 247 in 1991. (fn. 13)
There is a Bronze Age barrow at Merryton
Low, another a short distance to the south, and
possibly one on the north-west side of the
township. (fn. 14) There may have been a barrow on the
western boundary near Wormlow Farm, whose
name apparently incorporates the Old English
word hlaw. (fn. 15)
The name Onecote, recorded in 1199, means
a remote cottage. (fn. 16) The original settlement was
possibly at the confluence of the Hamps and
Onecote brook, where Croxden abbey had a
grange apparently by 1223. (fn. 17) Mixon, a name
recorded in 1197 and meaning a midden or dung
hill, was originally a settlement at the north end
of the Onecote brook valley, where by 1237
Hulton abbey had a grange on or near the site
of Old Mixon Hay. (fn. 18) The valley includes Dunlea
Farm, on a site occupied by 1510 and probably
standing on land called Duncowleye in 1405, (fn. 19)
White Lea Farm, on a site occupied by the late
1530s, (fn. 20) Waterhouse Farm, dated 1639 but replacing a house recorded in 1609, (fn. 21) and Rue
Hayes Farm, which is partly of the 17th century.
Farmhouses at Harvey Gate and Westbrook are
of the 19th century but stand on sites occupied
by 1710. (fn. 22)
Onecote village grew up where a road from
Bradnop over Morridge met a road between
Ipstones and Butterton near the Hamps. Moorland
House on a site there occupied by 1634 is
probably of the later 17th century. By the later
18th century it was an inn, called the Dog and
Partridge by 1850, and it remained an inn until
c. 1930. (fn. 23) Another inn, called the Sneyd Arms
in 1818, possibly stood on the site of the present
Jervis Arms, a name used by 1834 and probably
a reference to the Jervis family of Darlaston Hall,
in Stone, which owned land in Onecote township. (fn. 24) New Hall Farm on the north-west side
of the village is of the later 19th century but
evidently replaced an earlier house: some outbuildings date from the late 18th or early 19th
century. There was a village post office by
1888. (fn. 25)
By the 17th century there were houses on the
Bradnop road north-west of Onecote village. A
cottage south of Onecote Grange Farm is dated
1677, and Onecote Lane End Farm existed
probably by 1641 and certainly by 1690. (fn. 26) Onecote
Lane Head further west was so called by 1670. (fn. 27)
New House Farm on the Ipstones road south of
the village is dated 1680, and Clough House to
the south-east stands on a site occupied by
1663. (fn. 28) Farmhouses at Upper Moorside and
Pewit Hall are probably of the early 19th century.
A settlement at Ford on the Grindon side of
the Hamps south-east of Onecote village spread
into Onecote township. A bridge there made of
wood and straw was recorded in 1621. (fn. 29) Bank
Top Farm is of the late 16th or early 17th
century. Its ground floor has two main rooms
divided by a plank wall which has carved designs
on alternate planks. The original fireplace, beneath
a smoke hood, was in the southern room. Ford
Farm is of the 18th century. A house of the late
19th century called Ford Wetley probably stands
on a site occupied by 1666. (fn. 30) Two nearby farmhouses, one also called Ford Wetley and the
other Upper Ford Wetley, are probably of the
18th century.
Land called Pethills at the south end of the
township was recorded in 1251, and there was a
house there by 1539. (fn. 31) The present Pethills
Farm is dated 1799. Outbuildings dated 1793
and 1799 on the opposite side of the road
belonged to a house in existence there by 1775
but not longer standing in the late 1870s. (fn. 32) Fair
View, near the southern boundary east of the
Ipstones road and so called in 1873, (fn. 33) was the
home in 1901 of Ralph de Tunstall Sneyd (d.
1947); he built the low, crenellated wall around
the house as protection against expected enemy
attack during the First World War. A poet,
philosopher, and Arthurian enthusiast, Sneyd
converted a stable block into a sanctuary which
included Buddhist artefacts. (fn. 34)
The valley of the Hamps north of Onecote
village was probably the last part of the township
to be settled. Lower Green Farm, dated 1773,
stands on a site occupied by 1650, when the
house was called the Green or Threewall
Green. (fn. 35) The site of Upper Acre was occupied
by 1775. (fn. 36) Manor Farm (so called in 1913 but
formerly known as Lower Acre) (fn. 37) is dated 1826
and Upper Green 1830. Feltysytch Farm to the
north is also probably of the earlier 19th century.
Mixon hamlet on the east side of the Mixon spur
existed by 1775 and was occupied chiefly by
copper miners in the earlier 19th century. (fn. 38)
Blakemere House on Morridge at the north
end of the township existed by 1638 and possibly
stands on the site of a house recorded as at
Blakemere in 1348. (fn. 39) In the 18th century a
packhorse way ran past the house. Rebuilt on a
nearby site in the earlier 19th century, the house
was an inn by 1851. (fn. 40) It was known by 1863 as
the Mermaid, a name derived from a legend that
a mermaid inhabited the nearby pool which lies
to the north in Heathylee, in Alstonefield parish. (fn. 41)
A highway on Morridge mentioned in 1413
was probably the road which runs the length of
the township and which may have originated as
a prehistoric ridgeway. (fn. 42) A bridge mentioned in
1619 took the Ipstones-Butterton road over the
Hamps. (fn. 43) The road was turnpiked in 1769 as part
of a route from Cheadle to Buxton (Derb.), and
a tollgate was set up in Onecote village in the
earlier 1770s. (fn. 44) A two-arched stone bridge built
over the Hamps in 1777 was replaced by the
present single-arched bridge probably in 1831. (fn. 45)
The road was disturnpiked in 1878. (fn. 46)
A lodge of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows was established in 1866, meeting at the
Dog and Partridge. It still existed in 1992. (fn. 47) In
1925 the vicar, the Revd. Henry Johnson, built
and furnished a room in the village, primarily
for church use but also for social activities. It
still existed in 1949. (fn. 48) A Women's Institute was
formed in 1985. (fn. 49)
Staffordshire Gliding Club, established in
1962, moved from its original base at Meir
airfield in Stoke-on-Trent to a site in Onecote
south of the Mermaid inn in 1973. The rough
ground, the poor weather conditions, and the
proximity of commercial airways forced the club
to move in 1992 to the former Seighford airfield
near Stafford. (fn. 50)
A dispute in the 1840s between members of
the Cook family of Onecote Lane End Farm
provided Charles Dickens with ammunition for
his attack on the workings of Chancery in Bleak
House (1852–3). Thomas Cook (d. 1816) bequeathed £300 to his second son, Joseph, to be
paid after the death of Thomas's wife Mary. She
died in 1836, and in 1844 Joseph began a
Chancery suit to obtain his money. Four years
later the case had made virtually no progress and
costs of £800 or £900 had been incurred. William
Challinor, a Leek solicitor who was involved in
the case, published the details (but not the names
of the parties) in a pamphlet urging Chancery
reform. He sent a copy of the pamphlet to
Dickens when the first instalment of Bleak House
appeared, and the details, little altered, occur as
the case of Gridley in chapter xv of the novel. (fn. 51)
MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.
Land at
MIXON was part of an estate granted by John
Lestrange to his cousin Margery (or Margaret)
Lestrange and her husband Thomas Noel in
1197. (fn. 52) The grant appears to have ignored the
claim of Adam of Gratton that he had inherited
a carucate at Mixon from his father Ranulph,
and in 1203 Adam sued Margery and Thomas
for the land, then described as 15 bovates. He
was evidently unsuccessful, and his son Ralph
still claimed it in 1275. (fn. 53) In 1218 Margery and
her second husband, Thomas of Whitchurch,
granted what were styled the manors of Bradnop
and Mixon to Henry de Audley, and in 1223 he
gave them to the abbey which he had founded
at Hulton. (fn. 54) The abbey had established a grange
at Mixon by 1237, (fn. 55) on or near the site of Old
Mixon Hay, where there is a small farmhouse of
the 18th century or earlier.
Hulton abbey was dissolved in 1538, and
Mixon was presumably included in the Crown's
grant of Bradnop manor in 1546 to Edward
Agarde, a London speculator, and in Agarde's
grant of the manor in 1547 to Sir Edward Aston
of Tixall. (fn. 56) In 1610 Sir Walter Aston sold land
called Mixon Hay on either side of Onecote
brook to William (later Sir William) Bowyer of
Knypersley, in Biddulph. (fn. 57) Sir William died in
1641, and in 1644 his son John sold Mixon Hay
to William Jolliffe of Leek. (fn. 58) Jolliffe died in 1669,
and the land at Mixon passed to his daughter
Elizabeth, widow of Edward Ashe, a London
draper. In 1677 she charged the land with a rent
to support the almshouses which she had
founded in Leek. (fn. 59) In 1710 a 300-a. farm at
Mixon Hay (later Old Mixon Hay), together
with farms at Westbrook and Harvey Gate and
probably others in that area, were owned by
Elizabeth's grandson William Ashe, a London
merchant. (fn. 60) William was succeeded in 1742 by
his daughter Bridget. She died unmarried in
1776, and her estate was divided between William Pierce Ashe A'Court and Charles
Penruddock. (fn. 61) Both moieties were sold in 1808 to
a syndicate, (fn. 62) which broke up the estate, selling
the largest part, 200 a., in 1821 to Sir Thomas
Constable, Bt. (fn. 63) In 1843 Constable's son, also
Sir Thomas, sold the land to the Revd. John
Sneyd, from 1851 lord of Bradnop manor. (fn. 64)
Sneyd already owned 465 a. in Onecote, comprising Upper Acre and Manor farms (158 a.
and 183 a.) and Feltysytch farm (124 a.), and in
1851 he inherited Onecote Grange farm from his
father William. (fn. 65) John died in 1873, and his
Onecote estate, then 879 a., was put up for sale. (fn. 66)
Land at Mixon amounting to 243 a. was bought
by John Philips of Heybridge, in Checkley, (fn. 67)
who built New Mixon Hay farmhouse in 1879. (fn. 68)
Croxden abbey had an estate at Onecote apparently by 1223. The grange of Onecote then
mentioned in the bounds of Henry de Audley's
charter endowing Hulton abbey with land at
Mixon was evidently not Hulton's; (fn. 69) Croxden
certainly owned land in Onecote in 1251, and
it had a grange there by 1291. (fn. 70) Croxden
abbey was dissolved in 1538, and in 1543 the
Crown granted its Onecote estate to Sir
Edward Aston of Tixall. Aston acquired Bradnop
manor in 1547, and what became ONECOTE
GRANGE FARM, 210 a. in 1839, descended
with the manor until 1873 when it was offered
for sale. (fn. 71) The owner from the earlier 1930s
was George Critchlow. He was succeeded in
1990 by his daughter Janet, wife of John Stone. (fn. 72)
The present farmhouse is dated 1884 and was
built for William Finney, presumably the
owner. (fn. 73) It stands on the site of an earlier
house, (fn. 74) which was probably of the later 17th
century and was of two storeys with end stacks
and gabled attic dormers. (fn. 75) A date stone of 1654
on an outbuilding possibly comes from a still
earlier house.
A 90–a. estate which Croxden abbey acquired
from Hulton abbey c. 1330 may have been
centred on WHITE LEA FARM: in the late
1530s Croxden had two houses at Whitelee. (fn. 76)
The land was included in the Crown's grant of
Croxden's Onecote estate to Sir Edward Aston
in 1543. (fn. 77) The present house is dated 1786.
ECONOMIC HISTORY.
Agriculture.
In
1237, after a dispute between Hulton abbey and
Dieulacres abbey over pasture rights on Morridge, Dieulacres confirmed Hulton's possession
of Mixon, along with a sheepfold around which
Hulton was allowed to inclose 240 a. Half of that
land was to be brought into cultivation within
three years, and tithe from it was to be paid to
Dieulacres, as rector of Leek, even if Hulton did
not in fact cultivate the land. Tithe was also due
from the other half, but only if Hulton decided
to cultivate it. Dieulacres reserved the right to
pasture its cattle on the entire 240 a. once any
corn or hay had been removed. (fn. 78) When the
agreement was renewed in 1252, presumably
after a further dispute, Hulton was required to
give Dieulacres a yearly goodwill offering of ½
mark for as long as the 240 a. remained inclosed. (fn. 79) There was a large herd of cattle at
Mixon in the earlier 1260s, when the sheriff
illegally took 40 head and drove them to Chartley
castle, in Stowe. (fn. 80) In 1291 Hulton's grange at
Mixon consisted of 1 carucate. At the same date
Croxden abbey's grange at Onecote, together with
a grange at Caldon, consisted of 3 carucates. (fn. 81)
A complaint made in 1373 related to damage
done to pasture and crops in a 'spacious field' at
Onecote adjoining Morridge. (fn. 82) Much of the
extensive waste of Morridge, however, remained
common until 1769. (fn. 83)
Of the 1,315.7 ha. of farmland returned for the
civil parish in 1988, grassland covered 1,258.8
ha. and there were 51.2 ha. of rough grazing.
The farming was dairy and sheep, with 1,634
head of cattle and 3,775 sheep and lambs. Of the
43 farms returned, 37 were under 50 ha. in size,
5 were between 50 and 99 ha., and 1 was between
100 and 199 ha. (fn. 84)
Mills.
Hulton abbey's grange at Mixon included a mill in 1291. (fn. 85) A mill at Onecote in 1743
probably stood on Onecote brook near Onecote
Grange Farm, where there was a mill in 1775. (fn. 86)
By the later 1870s the mill stood to the east on
the river Hamps. It was disused by 1898. (fn. 87)
Industry.
A 'stonegetter' was living at Mixon
in 1639, and when John Bowyer sold Mixon Hay
to William Jolliffe in 1644 the sale included stone
and other mines. (fn. 88) Limekilns mentioned in the
Morridge area in 1683 and 1701 were presumably at Mixon, where the underlying rock is
limestone. (fn. 89) In the early 1770s the limestone was
used to build walls along parts of the turnpike
road through Onecote. It was probably as a
favour to the manorial lord, John Sneyd, that in
1774 the trustees of the turnpike road decided
to charge him a reduced toll when his men used
the road to carry lime between Onecote village
and the Leek-Ashbourne road at Bottom House,
in Ipstones. (fn. 90) Limestone was still quarried at
Mixon Hay and elsewhere in the township in the
early 19th century, and a limekiln east of Westbrook farmhouse was apparently still in use in
the late 1870s. (fn. 91)
In 1718 Walter, Lord Aston, the lord of the
manor, granted six gentlemen a 21-year lease to
exploit a deposit of lead ore which had been
found in the manor, probably at Mixon. Aston
was to receive either 1/8 of the ore or 10s. 6d. per
ton. Within the first three years of the lease the
contractors were also allowed to dig for copper
ore and coal. (fn. 92) In 1730 Ann Bosvile, who held
land at Mixon possibly as a mortgagee, licensed
Robert Bill of Stone and Thomas Gilbert of
Cotton, in Alton, to dig for lead or copper ore
at Mixon for a term of 21 years. She was to
receive 1/7 of all the ore, or its value in money,
month by month. To insure that she received
her share and that the mines were worked
properly, the contractors had to employ someone
of her choosing to oversee operations. (fn. 93) In 1771
Bridget Ashe licensed Hugh Serjeant of Wetley
Rocks, in Cheddleton, to dig for lead and copper
ore on her land at Mixon Hay for a term of 21
years, giving her 1/9 of the ore every three months.
Mining was to stop if her share of the ore each
year was not worth at least 10 guineas more than
the money which she had paid to her tenants to
recompense them for damage done to their
land. (fn. 94)
John Sneyd, the owner of land at Mixon as
part of his purchase of Bradnop manor in 1770,
evidently had a mine at Mixon by 1775: that year
mining equipment was borrowed from the
nearby copper mine at Ecton, in Wetton, for use
at 'Snead's mine'. (fn. 95) In 1780 there was a copper
mine east of Mixon Grange Farm. Still productive in 1817, it was closed c. 1824. Attempts to
resume profitable exploitation were made by
Sneyd's sons in the later 1820s and early 1830s,
but without success. Mining equipment at
Mixon was offered for sale in 1834, although ore
was apparently still being extracted in 1841.
Nine copper miners were then living at Mixon,
with another near Onecote village. There were
10 at Mixon in 1851, even though production
had probably stopped by then; possibly they
travelled to work at Ecton. (fn. 96) A company called
Mixon Great Consols Copper Mine Co. was
established in 1853 to resume digging at Mixon;
it failed in 1858.
A kiln at Onecote mill in 1743 was evidently
used for smelting iron: the millowner, Ralph
Hall, had 77 bars of iron worth £26. (fn. 97) By 1758
George Critchlow, a whitesmith, had built a
forge near the river Hamps east of Pethills Farm:
he made a weathercock for Leek church that
year. He died in 1780, and the forge was continued by his son, also George (d. 1782). (fn. 98) Worked
by Francis Gosling in 1793, it apparently no
longer existed by 1820. (fn. 99)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Onecote was probably a tithing in Bradnop manor in the Middle
Ages. (fn. 1) It was part of the Bradnop quarter of
Leek parish, and by the 1660s its poor were
relieved by the quarter's overseer. (fn. 2) The township had its own overseer by 1743, and in 1766
he was a signatory to an agreement to open a
workhouse in Ipstones. (fn. 3) The township became
part of Leek poor-law union in 1837. (fn. 4)
CHURCH.
There was a chapel at Onecote by
1524. (fn. 5) In 1553 it had a chapelwarden, and the
church goods included a bell in a steeple, a
sacring bell, and a silver chalice and paten. In
1604 the chapel was stated to be in Grindon
parish, and it probably stood near Onecote Old
Hall on the Grindon side of the boundary north
of Onecote village: land there was called Chapel
Yard in the early 20th century. (fn. 6) In 1604 the
chapel was served by Ralph Salt, described as
no preacher and a lewd young man who 'out of
all good order wears a feather in his hat'.
Thomas Miles was appointed minister by the
committee for plundered ministers in 1648 with
a grant of £20 a year from the sequestrated
rectory of Ellastone. (fn. 7) Nothing further is known
about the chapel.
The present church in Onecote village was
built in the earlier 1750s, the cost being met by
subscription. (fn. 8) The chapelry, which covered
Onecote and Bradnop townships, became a
parish in 1862 with the vicar of Leek as patron, (fn. 9)
and the perpetual curacy was styled a vicarage
from 1868. (fn. 10) The church retained its own vicar
until 1976 and was later served by the vicar of
Ipstones as a priest-in-charge. The benefice was
united with that of Ipstones in 1983, but the
parishes remained separate. The patronage was
vested jointly in the bishop of Lichfield as patron
of Ipstones and the team rector of Leek. (fn. 11)
Queen Anne's Bounty endowed the living with
four grants of £200 in 1783, 1784, 1789, and
1797. It made a further grant of £1,400 in 1824. (fn. 12)
The living was worth £99 a year c. 1830, (fn. 13) and
the endowments comprised the churchyard (4
a.), a smallholding called Ten Acres south-west
of Ford Wetley (18 a.), Pethillshead farm (17 a.),
a farm at Moorside (10 a.), and land called
Chapel field (7 or 8 a.). By 1845 the endowment
also included 27 a. at Pill Will in the north-west
part of the township. (fn. 14) In 1862 Queen Anne's
Bounty gave £200 to meet a benefaction of £200
raised by subscription and a grant of £200 from
the Lichfield Diocesan Church Extension Society. (fn. 15)
There was glebe of 82 a. in 1887, with an
estimated rental of £90 10s. (fn. 16) In 1899 the Bounty
gave £360 to meet a benefaction of £600, comprising £300 from diocesan societies, £200 from
subscriptions, and a donation of £100. (fn. 17)
In 1830 the incumbent apparently served Onecote
himself though he lived at Butterton, of which
he was also curate. In 1831, however, he employed an assistant curate at Onecote with a
salary of £35. (fn. 18) In 1851 the assistant, Harling
Richardson, lived at Golden Farm in Bradnop
village, and he continued to live there after he
became the incumbent in 1859. (fn. 19) A house was
built in Onecote village for the newly appointed
incumbent in 1864, the cost being met by the
vicar of Leek. (fn. 20) When the benefice was united
with that of Ipstones in 1983, the vicarage house
at Ipstones was designated the place of residence. The house at Onecote was sold and
converted in 1984 into a home for the elderly. (fn. 21)
There was one Sunday service in 1830, and
Communion was celebrated four times a year. (fn. 22)
In 1851 the average Sunday attendance was 20
when the service was held in the morning and
70 when it was held in the evening. (fn. 23)
The church of ST. LUKE, which is built of
ashlar, was originally a single cell building with
a wooden bellcot. In 1837 it was given a chancel,
probably reusing a Venetian window from the
original east end, a south-west porch, and a west
tower. (fn. 24) Also in 1837 a west gallery replaced one
on the north side. (fn. 25) The organ in the west gallery
dates from 1904. (fn. 26) The box pews were removed
during a restoration in 1906–7, the panelling
being used to make the present benches. (fn. 27)
The furnishings include royal arms of 1754 and
a commandments board of 1755; both hang on
the west wall. There is a single undated bell. (fn. 28)
The registers date from 1755. (fn. 29)
Burials took place from 1782. (fn. 30) Small additions
to the churchyard were made in 1897 and 1979. (fn. 31)
NONCONFORMITY.
John Forde of Onecote,
a blacksmith, and his wife were recorded as
papists in 1706. (fn. 32)
In 1815 Hugh Bourne, the founder of Primitive Methodism, registered a room in Onecote
for preaching, and a Primitive Methodist chapel
was opened in the village in 1822. (fn. 33) On Census
Sunday 1851 there was an evening congregation
of 54. (fn. 34) A porch was added in 1934, and the
chapel was enlarged in 1955. (fn. 35) It was known as
Onecote Methodist church in 1992. Primitive
Methodists also held services at Mixon from
1863 until 1904. (fn. 36)
By 1823 there was a Wesleyan Methodist
society in Onecote. The room registered there
for worship by protestant dissenters in 1826 was
probably for that society, and in 1829 a Wesleyan
service was held at Onecote every Sunday. (fn. 37) The
society still existed in 1843 but apparently not
in 1844. (fn. 38)
EDUCATION.
A Wesleyan Methodist Sunday
school was established in Onecote in 1827, and
it had 25 boys and 23 girls in the earlier 1830s. (fn. 39)
In 1839 it was said that few parents could afford
to pay for their children's education, and it was
proposed to raise £10 or £12 a year by subscription to hire a master who would teach 10 or 12
poor children free. (fn. 40) A school seems to have been
opened, but in 1861 what was called Onecote
school house was occupied by a labourer. (fn. 41) The
only teacher recorded in the township in 1851
was the woman tollgate keeper, who presumably
ran a dame school, (fn. 42) but there was a Primitive
Methodist Sunday school which had an attendance of 18 pupils on Census Sunday that year. (fn. 43)
A National school was built in 1872, and there
were 46 children on its books in 1875. (fn. 44) A school
board was formed voluntarily in 1878. (fn. 45) A
teacher's house was built in 1880. (fn. 46) Until 1909
a few children from Butterton and Grindon
attended the school, but when those parishes
refused to contribute towards the cost of an
extension, the school was restricted to children
from Onecote. (fn. 47)
The decision in 1930 that Onecote council
school, then an all-age school with 47 children on
its books, should become a junior school took effect
in the earlier 1940s, the senior children being
transferred chiefly to Leek. (fn. 48) As Onecote county
primary school it was closed in 1984, and most of
the children were transferred to Leek. (fn. 49) In 1992
the school building was used as a village hall.
CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.
In 1788 Joan
Adsetts of Mayfield left the interest on £30 to
poor widows in Onecote, and in 1794 the money
was used to buy 1½ a. near Ford. The income
was £1 in 1839, when it was distributed at
Christmas among five widows. (fn. 50) The poor of
Onecote shared with those of Bradnop in the
charity of John Stanley, established by will of
1693. In 1928 the two charities were amalgamated, and a distribution was still made in
1976. (fn. 51)