Tunstall (Wolstanton), Staffordshire

Historical Description

Tunstall, a market-town, a township, and two ecclesiastical parishes, in Wolstanton parish, Staffordshire. The town stands on the Trent and Mersey Canal, 1½ mile NW of Burslem, and 4 miles N by W of Stoke-upon-Trent. It has a station on the loop line of the North Staffordshire railway, and another at Chatterley on the Crewe and Derby section of the same railway, and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Stoke-upon-Trent It is a well-built modern town, and shares largely in the industry of the Potteries. It carries on manufactures of earthenware, porcelain, bricks, tiles, chemicals, and iron. The town-hall, erected in 1885, is a handsome building in the Dutch Renaissance style, and comprises a capacious assembly-room, a court-room and offices, &c. The Victoria Institute, a block of buildings erected in 1887-91 in the Renaissance style, comprises a free library, schools of science and art, public baths, and a fire-engine station, and there is a recreation ground of about 2 acres in front of the building. The Regent Hall in the High Street, erected in 1884, is used for concerts. Petty sessions and county courts are held in the town-hall. Markets are held on Saturdays and .Mondays in a spacious market-place erected in 1858. There are two banks. Christ Church was built in 1831, and was enlarged in 1886. The church of St St Mary the Virgin was erected in 1859. There are Roman Catholic, Congregational, Free, Primitive, and New Connexion Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, and a cemetery at Clay Hills. In 1893 a handsome clock tower in terracotta was erected in the Market Square, the cost being defrayed by public subscription, as a memorial to Sir Smith Child, a native and a generous benefactor to the district. The town is governed by an urban district council. Acreage, 831; population, 15,730. It is in the parliamentary borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. The ecclesiastical parish of Christ Church was constituted in 1837. Population, 10,687. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; net value, £250 with residence. Patron, the Bishop. The ecclesiastical parish of St Mary the Virgin was constituted in 1881, and is partly in the parish of Burslem. Population, 6416. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; gross value, £200 with residence. Patron, the Bishop.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Tunstall (Wolstanton) from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Tunstall)