Longton, Staffordshire
Historical Description
Longton, a market-town, a municipal borough, and three ecclesiastical parishes in Stoke-upon-Trent parish, Staffordshire. The town is situated at the southern extremity of the Pottery District, 2½ miles SE of Stoke-upon-Trent, 4 SE of Newcastle-under-Lyme, 6 SE of Burslem, and 147 by rail from London. It was in the 18th century an obscure village, and has risen to be one of the most populous and flourishing of the seats of the pottery manufacture. It has a station on the North Staffordshire railway, and a post, money order, and telegraph office. The Town-hall is a handsome edifice, erected in 1863, with a large covered market at the rear. The Court House is a well-built edifice, includes a police office, and is used for municipal offices, petty sessions, and county courts. There is a free library in one wing of the town-hall. There are also public baths, a theatre, and a cottage hospital. The manufacture of earthenware and china is the staple industry; brewing, mailing, and brick-making are also carried on, and employment is afforded by the neighbouring collieries and ironstone mines. The market is held on Saturdays, and in the summer there is a market for fruit and vegetables on Wednesdays. Fairs are held on Shrove-Tuesday, Easter-Tuesday, Whit-Tuesday, and Martinmas-Tuesday. The church of St James the Less is a stone edifice in the Perpendicular style, and was erected in 1833. The church of St John the Baptist, in Church Street, was rebuilt in 1792' and enlarged in 1828. St Paul's Church, Edensor, is a stone edifice in the Gothic style. Holy Trinity Church was built in 1891, and the chancel was added in 1894. There are Roman Catholic, Baptist, Congregational, Wesleyan, Primitive, New Connexion, Free Methodist, Unitarian, and Swedenborgian chapels, and a cemetery. The municipal borough is divided into five wards, and includes the two-suburbs of Dresden and Florence, both in Trentham parish, also Normacot in Stowe parish, and Eastvale in Caverswall parish. Acreage, 1934: population, 34,327. It is governed by a mayor, 10 aldermen, and 30 councillors, and has a commission of the peace. The ecclesiastical parish of St James, Longton, was constituted in 1839. Population, 7089. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Lichfield; net value, £403. Patron, the Bishop of Lichfield. The ecclesiastical parish of St John the Baptist, Lane End, was constituted in 1866. Population, 8383. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Lichfield; net value, £500 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Lichfield. The ecclesiastical parish of St Paul, Edensor, was constituted in 1846. Population, 6228. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; gross value, £268. Patron, alternately the Crown and the Bishop of Lichfield.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Staffordshire | |
| Hundred | Pirehill | |
| Poor Law union | Stoke-upon-Trent |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast, in association with the Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent Archive Service have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Longton
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Longton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Longton, with Lane-End)
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Staffordshire is online.
Maps
Online maps of Longton are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Staffordshire newspapers online: