Churches
By 1297 Burslem was a chapelry in
the parish of Stoke-upon-Trent (fn. 1) and retained that
status until 1809 when it was made parochial under
the Stoke Rectory Act of 1807. (fn. 2) As a chapelry it was
in the charge of a curate appointed by the Rector of
Stoke. (fn. 3) In several respects, however, it had parochial
status before 1809, and indeed from the late 16th
century it was often called a parish. (fn. 4) It organized its
own poor relief and highway maintenance, (fn. 5) and by
1553 it had its own churchwardens.
Under the Act of 1807 the living was made a rectory
and the patronage vested in the trustees of William
Robinson, rector and patron of Stoke. (fn. 6) The patronage was sold in 1809 to William Adams of Cobridge
Hall, (fn. 7) who presented in 1811. (fn. 8) It is not clear why,
on the resignation of his nominee in the same year,
the next presentation was made by Josiah Spode as
patron. (fn. 9) When William Adams died in 1831 the
patronage passed to his son Thomas and on
Thomas's death in 1835 to his sisters. (fn. 10) They had
sold it by 1850 to Charles Hebert, rector 1850–8. (fn. 11)
In 1858 John Armstrong became the rector and
patron, (fn. 12) and after his death in 1869 the patronage
passed to John Morris who presented Alfred Watton, (fn. 13) himself the patron by 1871. (fn. 14) Watton died in
1886 and his widow made the next presentation, (fn. 15)
but shortly afterwards the patronage was acquired
by Robert Heath, the younger, of Biddulph Grange. (fn. 16)
From him it passed c. 1918 to the Church of England
Trust Society, (fn. 17) which, as the Martyrs' Memorial
and Church of England Trust, still holds it. (fn. 18)
By 1738 there had been assigned to the curate the
tithes, fees, and dues arising within the chapelry. (fn. 19)
By the Act of 1807 these revenues were legally
secured to the new rectory, which was further endowed with 7½ acres of glebe in Burslem and an
annual pension of £68 out of the revenues of Stoke
rectory. (fn. 20) Much of the new parish was tithe-free,
since it had once belonged to Hulton Abbey. This
exempt area lay at Abbey Hulton and Rushton
Grange and thus included Cobridge. (fn. 21) From c. 1815
the tithe was compounded at an average rate of 5s.
an acre, (fn. 22) and in 1843 it was commuted for £400. (fn. 23)
The glebe lay across the course of the present Waterloo Road and over the two decades from 1815, the year
the construction of that road was begun, was largely
sold for building plots. The proceeds were applied
towards building the rectory-house and increasing
the endowments of the church. (fn. 24) The rector's net
annual income over the three years 1828–31 was
£530 out of which he paid £158 to an assistant
curate. (fn. 25) The pension of £68 was still being paid by
the Church Commissioners in 1958. (fn. 26)
Burslem chapel had two churchwardens in 1553, (fn. 27)
but by the mid-17th century one was appointed for
each of the townships of Burslem, Sneyd, and
Hulton, chosen from certain landholders in rotation. (fn. 28) This system of rotation was abandoned c.
1789, although one churchwarden continued to be
chosen from each township, and by the early 19th
century a fourth was appointed by the minister. (fn. 29)
In 1789 the vestry decided to create a new office for
the prevention of 'disorders and irregularities that
arise from children playing in and daubing the seats
in church on Sundays and other times' with a wage
of 2s. a week to be paid out of the church rates; an
official 'for keeping good order in the church on
Sundays' was still being appointed in 1792. (fn. 30) By the
early 19th century the organist's salary was paid out
of the market tolls, a system which received official
sanction in the Act of 1825 regulating the market (fn. 31)
and remained in force until 1851 when the Burslem
local board refused to continue the payments. (fn. 32)
One of the Audley barons, apparently in the later
15th century, gave a 20s. rent-charge to Burslem
chapel to secure prayers 'for ever'. (fn. 33)
The church of ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, lying
below the southern slope of the ridge on which
Burslem is built, consists of a nave, an apsidal chancel, and a low west tower flanked by vestries. The
tower is of stone and was almost certainly built
c. 1536. (fn. 34) It is entirely late Perpendicular in style
and, in spite of claims made to the contrary, shows
no signs of earlier work. In the west wall a low
Tudor-arched doorway has a three-light window
above it. The belfry stage is pierced by three-light
Perpendicular windows and surmounted by an embattled parapet. The body of the church is of brick
and is said to have been built in 1717 to replace an
earlier timber-framed thatched structure which was
burnt down in that year. (fn. 35) In 1788 the church,
'being too small for the number of inhabitants', was
lengthened by the addition of the present chancel
'according to Mr. Thomas Sherwin's plan'. (fn. 36) The
alterations, which appear to have been instigated by
Enoch Wood, then churchwarden, cost £700. (fn. 37) They
included the raising of the roof and probably the
insertion of additional galleries. Externally the building is very plain, the nave being lighted on both
sides by tall round-headed windows in brick reveals.
Near both ends of the south wall and near the east
end of the north wall are shorter windows with stone
doorways below them. The chancel has an apsidal
east end in which there is a stone Venetian window.
It is possible that some of the original features were
reinstated when the chancel was extended in 1788;
the two pedimented doorways near the east end
appear to belong to the early, rather than the late,
18th century. The doors give access to two vestibules
flanking the chancel, which at one time contained
gallery staircases. (fn. 38) It is known that there was formerly a gallery at the east end of the church on
which an organ, erected by subscription in 1792, was
mounted. (fn. 39) A west gallery, which still exists, is probably of the same period, and there may also have
been side galleries. A new pulpit, a desk, and a
'singers' table' were installed c. 1789. (fn. 40) Under a
vestry resolution of 1793 a brick vestry was added
on the south side of the tower in the following year. (fn. 41)
In 1878 the nave was restored and refitted at a cost
of £2,000. (fn. 42) A new organ was installed in the west
gallery and the east gallery was probably cleared
away at the same time. Alterations to the fittings at
the east end were made in 1919. (fn. 43) The north-west
vestry was added in the 1930's. (fn. 44)
The chancel contains a modern tablet commemorating various members of the Adams family
who lived between the 15th and 17th centuries. Also
in the chancel are two terra-cotta plaques, a figure
of Christ and a Descent from the Cross, which were
modelled by Enoch Wood (d. 1840), the first when
he was fifteen years old and the second when he was
eighteen. These, together with a bust of John Wesley
and other ornaments (now in the vestry), had originally been placed in the Wood family vault. (fn. 45)
In the churchyard is a medieval stone coffin, said
to have been brought from Hulton Abbey. (fn. 46) Near it
stands a table-tomb set with its axis north and south.
This is reputed to be the grave of Margaret Leigh
(d. 1748). According to local legend she was a witch
whose ghost could be laid only after her body had
been exhumed and her grave reorientated. (fn. 47)
Because of 'the great increase of inhabitants' in the
parish the churchyard had to be extended in 1804. (fn. 48)
It was further extended in 1847 (fn. 49) and 'improved' in
1878. (fn. 50) The older part of the churchyard is still surrounded by brick walls dating from the late 18th or
early 19th century. Iron gates of the same period
stand at the north and east entrances, the latter being
the more elaborate and having an ironwork overthrow incorporating a lamp bracket.
The plate in 1553 included a silver chalice and
paten. (fn. 51) It now includes a silver flagon of 1718, a
silver chalice of 1723, and a silver paten of 1724, all
the gift of Katherine Egerton of the Overhouse (d.
1756), and a silver chalice and paten of 1848, given
by Mary, widow of John Wood of Brownhills, in
1850. (fn. 52) There were three bells and a sacring bell in
1553. (fn. 53) Four new bells were installed in 1720. (fn. 54)
These were recast in 1827 when two more were
added, (fn. 55) and all six were rehung in 1911. (fn. 56)
The surviving registers date from 1636; the earlier
book, dating from 1578, was burnt in the fire of 1717
but there is a transcript of it made in 1701. (fn. 57) The
registers from 1578 to 1812 have been printed. (fn. 58)
There is also a book of churchwardens' and overseers' accounts dating from 1700 to 1795, with some
vestry minutes.
About the mid-16th century the curate of Burslem,
Thomas Asbury, occupied a room in the Churchyard
House known as the Priest's Chamber, but it passed
with the rest of the estate to his sister and her
family. (fn. 59) The inhabitants of Burslem petitioned
William Primrose, Rector of Stoke 1618–33, to secure the room for the curate or schoolmaster of
Burslem but without success. (fn. 60) Katherine Egerton
(d. 1756) left £200 for the purchase of a house and
land for the curate of Burslem, and the property
acquired, a house next to the Crown Inn, was occupied by two successive curates. The estate was then
secured by Thomas Wedgwood of the Overhouse
(d. 1787), Katherine's residuary legatee, since the
property was not legally settled and the bequest was
void. (fn. 61) Despite the provision in the Act of 1807 that
a parsonage house should be erected as soon as
possible, (fn. 62) it was not until 1827 that a house was
built on land called Wilberstones given by the patron,
William Adams, who also contributed £250 towards
the cost. After years of neglect the house fell into
decay and was sold and demolished in or soon after
1903, the grounds being used to form Middleport
Park in 1908. A house in Waterloo Road was bought
instead for the rector by the patron, Robert Heath, (fn. 63)
and this is still the rectory house.
Three mission centres have been opened from St.
John's: St. John the Baptist Mission Room c. 1901–
c. 1902, evidently replaced by the mission chapel at
St. John's National school c. 1902-c. 1927; (fn. 64) and
the Rectory Room c. 1905-c. 1927. (fn. 65)
The church of ST. PAUL, Dale Hall, was built
in 1828–31 as a chapel of ease to St. John's. The site,
to the north of Newcastle Street, was given by William Adams of Cobridge, patron of the mother
church, and at that time it lay in almost open
country. The cost of erection was met by a parliamentary grant of £8,000 and subscriptions and
parish rates amounting to £4,000. The Burslem
Market Trustees voted £1,000 out of their future
income for the purchase of another 2 acres and the
laying out of this and the rest of the site as the
churchyard. (fn. 66) A parish covering Dale Hall and
Longport was created out of St. John's parish in
1845. (fn. 67) The patronage of the living, a perpetual
curacy until 1868 when it became a vicarage, has
remained in the hands of the Rector of Burslem. (fn. 68)
The rector's net annual income in 1831 was £109, (fn. 69)
but the benefice was augmented from Queen Anne's
Bounty in 1832 (£400) and 1833 (£200). (fn. 70)
The church, which provided some 2,000 sittings,
was built of Hollington stone and was designed by
Lewis Vulliamy (1791–1871) in the Perpendicular
style. (fn. 71) It consists of an aisled and clerestoried nave
of six bays, a shallow projecting chancel, and a west
tower, 115 feet in height. The tower, which was
provided with one bell, (fn. 72) rises in four stages, the
belfry stage having paired Perpendicular windows
and being surmounted by tall angle pinnacles. The
base of the tower and the area below the west gallery
form a vestibule with a staircase at each end. The
aisles are occupied by side galleries and there was
originally a second west gallery above the present
one. This was removed in 1835 to make room for
an organ, erected in the lower gallery in that year and
still in position. The pulpit, font, and choir stalls are
of later date but the church retains its original box
pews 'of good deal, wainscot . . . painted to resemble
oak', as well as the gallery fronts 'of stucco, but painted
in oil, in resemblance of pannelled Gothic wainscot'. (fn. 73)
The mural tablets include one to Henry Davenport
(d. 1835). The open space surrounding the church
and its position on rising ground contribute to an
impressive exterior view, but the condition of the
fabric and of the churchyard had deteriorated by 1960.
A house on the north side of Newcastle Street
west of Ellgreave Street erected by John Brindley
c. 1773 was bought as the parsonage house, William
Adams and the trustees of Queen Anne's Bounty
contributing towards the cost. (fn. 74) It was sold in 1858
and a new house was built on the south side of Newcastle Street with the proceeds of the sale. (fn. 75) This
has been sold to the Heath Filtration Co. Ltd., and
the present vicarage house, purchased in 1958, is on
Porthill Bank on the Wolstanton side of the Fowlea
valley. (fn. 76)
Three mission chapels have been opened from St.
Paul's: the present Sytch Mission Chapel, Bodley
Street, in 1879; (fn. 77) St. John's Mission Chapel c. 1883,
evidently closed within a year; (fn. 78) and Hope Mission
Chapel opened in 1886 in the former Congregational
chapel in Newcastle Street and replaced in 1897 by a
mission chapel in Shirley Street which was closed c.
1957. (fn. 79)
CHRIST CHURCH, Cobridge, was built in
1839–41 as a chapel of ease to St. John's at a cost of
some £1,500, about half of which was met by the
Incorporated Society and the Lichfield Diocesan
Church Extension Society and the rest by subscription. (fn. 80) The Rector of Burslem, Edward
Whieldon, who for some years had been trying to
found a church in the area, contributed generously
out of the revenues of his rectory. (fn. 81) A parish consisting of Cobridge, Sneyd Green, and Abbey
Hulton was created out of St. John's parish in
1844. (fn. 82) The living, a perpetual curacy at first and a
vicarage from 1868, has remained in the gift of the
Rector of Burslem. (fn. 83) The church is built of yellow
brick in a simple Gothic style and was designed by
Lewis Vulliamy. (fn. 84) It consists of nave, chancel, and
west tower and has an open wood roof and lancet
windows. It was enlarged and 'beautified' in
1845–6, (fn. 85) and the chancel was extended in 1900. (fn. 86)
There is an organ gallery at the west end with a
vestry in the south-west corner under the gallery.
The vicarage house to the west was built in 1851. (fn. 87)
Four mission chapels have been opened from
Christ Church: Cobridge Schoolroom c. 1873–c.
1893; (fn. 88) Cottage Lecture Room, Adams Square, c.
1893, evidently closed within a year; (fn. 89) Granville
Mission Room c. 1897–c. 1900; (fn. 90) and St. Andrew's,
Sneyd Street, Sneyd Green, built in 1908–9 in
memory of George Bates, a pottery manufacturer of
the Prospect Works in Sneyd Street, who had contributed towards the cost. (fn. 91) In 1955 St. Andrew's
became the centre of a statutory district. (fn. 92) It benefits
under a gift of £500 left by Harriet Bates of Endon
by will proved in 1912. (fn. 93) It is a low-built brick
structure with a bell-cote containing one bell. Extensions at the east end started in 1958 (fn. 94) were still in
progress in 1960. The minister's house to the southwest was built in 1946 and extended in 1956. (fn. 95)
A parish covering the Sneyd area was created out
of St. John's parish in 1844. (fn. 96) Services were held in a
room in Nile Street until the building of the church
of HOLY TRINITY in the same road in 1851–2. (fn. 97)
The cost was met partly by grants from the Incorporated Society, the Diocesan Church Extension
Society, and the Peel Memorial Fund, and partly by
subscription. (fn. 98) The church became unsafe through
mining subsidence, and in 1956 the congregation
and furnishings were transferred to St. Werburgh's
in Hamil Road, which was reconsecrated as the
church of Holy Trinity, Sneyd, in 1958. (fn. 99) The building in Nile Street was demolished in 1959. The
patronage of the living, a perpetual curacy at first
and a vicarage from 1868, was vested in the Crown
and the Bishop of Lichfield, who present alternately. (fn. 100)
The living is at present held jointly with that of St.
Werburgh. (fn. 101) The former church of Holy Trinity was
built in Gothic style to the designs of G. T. Robinson (fn. 102) and consisted of nave, chancel, aisles, and northeast tower with spire. A side-chapel and vestries were
added in 1895. (fn. 103) The vicarage house in Waterloo
Road has been occupied by the Rector of St. John's,
Hanley, since 1958. (fn. 104)
The church of ST. WERBURGH, a red-brick
building in Hamil Road, was erected in 1895 (fn. 105) on
land said to have been given by the Wood family. (fn. 106)
At first a mission chapel within the parish of Holy
Trinity, it became the centre of a conventional
district in 1929 (fn. 107) and a parish church in 1939 under
a perpetual curate presented by the bishop. (fn. 108) A new
church was built in 1953 (fn. 109) on the corner of High
Lane and Haywood Road. It is a large building of
brown brick with stone dressings, consisting of wide
nave with passage aisles and a projecting chancel.
The west end of the nave serves as a baptistery and is
lit by a tall lancet window. Externally this window
is contained within a recessed panel of red brick,
surmounted by a stone cross which rises above the
low-pitched west gable. There is a bell in a bell-cote
on the south face of the building. The vicarage house
was built on an adjoining site in 1951, replacing the
house in Minster Street (formerly York Street) sold
in 1952. (fn. 110) The building in Hamil Road was used
only as a Sunday school from 1953 until 1956 (fn. 111) when
the church of Holy Trinity, Sneyd, was transferred
there.
The Good Shepherd Mission Room in the parish of
Holy Trinity was opened c. 1895 and closed c. 1898. (fn. 112)