BOTTESLOW
BOTTESLOW was a liberty of 593 acres in the ancient
parish of Stoke-upon-Trent bounded on the west by
the Trent and on the north and east by a small tributary
of the Trent; to the south lay the township of Fenton
Vivian. (fn. 1) It is an upland area lying between 400 and
500 ft. and devoted mainly to farming and coal mining.
Although the termination 'low' may indicate the
site of an early burial (fn. 2) the first known mention of
the area appears to be in 1236 when land at 'Bothes'
was part of Fenton. (fn. 3) A John of Botteslow occurs in
1327. (fn. 4) In 1666 eight persons there were assessed for
hearth tax. (fn. 5) William Bagnall had the largest assessment, six hearths, (fn. 6) and this may represent Berry
Hill Farm, the lease of which had been granted to
the Bagnalls in 1555. (fn. 7) By 1748 the farm was owned
by Godfrey Clarke of Sutton (Derb.), and was then
the scene of coal mining. It was 193 acres in extent
in 1816 (fn. 8) and is still the largest of the remaining
farms in Botteslow. (fn. 9) The farmhouse appears to have
been rebuilt in the 19th century. The Machin family,
assessed on two hearths in 1666, were evidently living at Lower Botteslow Farm by 1564 and were still
there in 1742; in the early 19th century it was held
by their descendant, William Tait, who had sold it
to Philip Broade of Fenton Vivian by the early
1840's. (fn. 10) The farmhouse had disappeared by the
late 1870's. (fn. 11) The house at Botteslow farm to the
north, which still (1960) survives, may be partly
of 17th-century date. Botteslow consisted of eight
farms c. 1840 and was then 'purely agricultural or
pasture but abounding with mines, at present little
wrought'. (fn. 12) Mining began again about this time (see
below), and in 1851 Botteslow had a population of
800. (fn. 13) A school-church was opened near Berry Hill
Farm in 1878 (see below). The area is still open
country, but the farms are disappearing, leaving the
tips and winding-gear of the Berry Hill Colliery as
the predominant feature of the landscape.
The area is crossed by tracks which presumably
used to link the various farms. The road from
Fenton Low to the Berry Hill Brickworks was originally part of the road between Fenton and Bucknall
which lost what importance it had with the opening
of Victoria Road from Fenton through the western
end of Botteslow to Joiner's Square and Hanley in
the early 1840's. (fn. 14) It was then noted that Botteslow's
'roads are neglected and founderous'. (fn. 15) The railway
between Longton, Adderley Green, and Bucknall,
a single-track mineral line opened by the North
Staffordshire Railway Company in 1875, crosses the
north-eastern corner of the area. (fn. 16)
Parochially Botteslow was part of the ancient
parish of Stoke and manorially part of Fenton
Vivian. (fn. 17) By 1679 it was represented at the Newcastle court leet by one frankpledge. Earlier it presented jointly with Fenton Vivian. (fn. 18) It lay within the
constablewick which also included Fenton Vivian,
Longton, Hanley, and other neighbouring places. (fn. 19)
Botteslow became part of the new parish of Stoke
Rural in 1894 and of the county borough of Stokeon-Trent in 1922. (fn. 20)
Industries
Mining on the Berry Hill estate
was in progress before the mid-18th century. In
1748 Godfrey Clarke of Sutton (Derb.), the owner
of the estate, leased all coal mines there to Jeremiah
Smith of Great Fenton, and reference was made in
the lease to existing workings. (fn. 21) There was evidently
little or no mining in Botteslow in the 1830's, despite
its known mineral wealth, (fn. 22) but by 1841 the Berry
Hill Colliery south-west of Berry Hill Farm was in
operation. The colliery was run by William Taylor
Copeland who was at the time also an important
member of the Fenton Park Company. (fn. 23) Some 20
years later the colliery passed from him to William
Bowers who had been working the nearby Holly
Bush Colliery south of Berry Hill Farm since at
least 1852. (fn. 24) After Bowers' death in the late 1870's
the Berry Hill and Holly Bush Collieries were taken
over by Henry Warrington, (fn. 25) and in 1891 his firm
was working four pits at Berry Hill and three (coal
and ironstone) at Holly Bush. (fn. 26) By 1894 the two
undertakings had evidently been amalgamated as the
Berry Hill Collieries, (fn. 27) and the five pits in operation
there in 1902 employed 660 men below ground and
232 above. (fn. 28) The firm of Henry Warrington and Son
was still running the Berry Hill Collieries in 1916, (fn. 29)
but by 1924 they were in the hands of Berry Hill
Collieries Ltd. (fn. 30) The four pits in operation in 1957
employed 480 men below ground and 150 above. (fn. 31)
There was an ironworks attached to the collieries
from at least 1868 until the early 20th century. (fn. 32)
The Brookhouse Colliery south of Brookhouse
Farm was being worked by Forrester and Read in
1841 (fn. 33) and by Smith and Forrester in 1854. (fn. 34) In the
early 1860's it passed to Pratt, Crewe and Knox,
who worked it with the Botteslow Colliery. (fn. 35) F. E.
Pratt was in sole control by 1868 (fn. 36) and ran both
collieries until they were closed in the early 1880's. (fn. 37)
The Lawn Colliery lay to the south-east of the
Brookhouse Colliery by the 1870's; (fn. 38) the centre of its
operations had been moved north into Bucknall by
the end of the century and the shafts in Botteslow
abandoned. (fn. 39)
There was a brick-works on the site of the existing
Berry Hill Brickworks by the early 1870's when it
was in the hands of William Bowers. (fn. 40) It now (1960)
belongs to the Berry Hill Brickworks Ltd. which has
three other works in the county. (fn. 41)
Church
Open-air services were held at Berry
Hill Farm from June 1877, (fn. 42) and in the following
year William Bowers, who was working the Berry
Hill and Holly Bush Collieries (see above), opened
a school-church to the north of the farm. (fn. 43) The
mission remained within the parish of St. Peter,
Stoke, until 1895 when it was included in the new
parish of St. Jude, Shelton; (fn. 44) c. 1914 it was transferred to the parish of All Saints, Hanley. (fn. 45) It was
closed in the late 1940's. (fn. 46)