Norton-on-the-Moors (St. Bartholomew)

NORTON-ON-THE-MOORS (St. Bartholomew), a parish, in the union of Leek, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford, 5 miles (N. E.) from Newcastle-under-Lyme; comprising the townships of Bemersley and Norton, and the hamlets of Baddeley-Green, Ball-Green, Brown-Edge, Ford-Green, Milton, Norton-Green, Smallthorn, and Whitfield Ville; and containing about 4000 inhabitants. The parish consists of 3828 acres of inclosed land, with 250 acres of common. The scenery is very bold and picturesque, and is remarkable for three hills, running parallel from north to south, one passing through the village of Smallthorn, another through Norton, and the third through Brown-Edge, being at about equal distances from east to west: the valleys contain land of good quality, but the soil generally is of a cold clayey nature. Two streams of the river Trent pass through the parish, one of them at Ford-Green, and the other at Norton-Green; and it has been a matter of controversy which of the two is the source of the Trent: that at Norton-Green rises furthest to the north, at or near Lask-Edge, in the parish of Horton, and passing by Knypersley, and through the parish of Norton, joins the Ford-Green stream at or near the Abbey Farm, in the parish of Stoke-upon-Trent. There is an abundance of coal, varying in quality, suitable for works and household purposes, and which is obtained at different depths in beds from four to seven feet thick. The road from Newcastle to Leek, and the Caldon canal (a branch of the Trent and Mersey canal), pass through the centre of the parish.

Norton was separated from the parish of Stoke by act of parliament in 1807. The living is a rectory not in charge, in the patronage of C. B. Adderley, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. George B. Wildig: the tithes have been commuted for £550; and there is a substantial parsonage-house, built by the present incumbent in 1826, of stone obtained in the parish. The church, erected in 1738, stands on the summit of Norton Hill, and on the site of a former edifice; it is a plain commodious structure of brick, with a tower at the west end containing six excellent bells. At Brown-Edge is a district church, dedicated to St. Anne: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Bishop of Lichfield, with an income of £100. There are several places of worship for dissenters. Some small sums have been left for instruction, and for the poor.