Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/567

Rh STOKE- WAKE. 555 STONE. thn newly-created municipal borough of Hanley, con- taining 31,953 inhabitants, and the tnshps. or libs, of Boothen, Botteslow, Bucknall, Edensor, Fenton Culvert, or Great Fenton, Fentoa Vivian, or Little Fenton, Hartshill, Northwood, Lane End, Longton, Penkhull, Shelton, Trent Vale, and "Wellington. Previous to 1807, it also included the market towns of Newcastle- under-Lyne, Burslem, Norton-on-the-Moors, and Whit- more. The town, which is built on a regular plan, contains some good houses, and numerous wharves and warehouses. The streets have their footpaths paved with brick, and are lighted with gas ; and the houses are well supplied with water. The townhall and market-house was erected in 1834, the N. wing serving as the townhall and station of the county con- stabulary, and the centre being occupied by the meat market, below, and by the Stoke Athenaeum, above, with a museum, library, and laboratory. Another conspicuous building is the railway station and hotel, built in the Tudor style, at a cost of 150,000. It is laid with Min- ton's tesselated pavement, and is the head office of the North Staffordshire Railway Company. There are also the union poor-house, a branch bank, gas and water works, and extensive factories for porcelain and pottery, including the firms of Minton and Alderman Copeland, once Spode. A large portion of the population are engaged in the several processes connected with the manufacture of china, earthenware, porcelain, statuary, and ornamental and encaustic tiles, for which this parish is famous ; there are also a considerable number of engravers, makers of crates from the hazel-wood cut in the neighbourhood, workers in iron and steel, engineers, and coal and iron miners. The popula- tion of the parish in 1861 was 71,308; but of the parliamentary borough, which includes, besides the greater part of the parish, parts of Penkhull, Tunstall, Rushton Grange, Sneyd, and other adjoining hamlets, 101,207, having increased in the decennial period from 1851, by 17,180 inhabitants. The borough returns two members to parliament, the returning officer being chosen by the sheriff of the county. The town 01 Stoke, not being incorporated, is governed by commis- sioners, who elect annually a chief bailiff. It gives name to a deanery in the archdeaconry of Stafford. The living is a rect.* in the dioc. of Lichfield, val. 2,907. The church, dedicated to St. Peter ad Vincula, is a modern Gothic structure, with a tower 112 feet high, containing a peal of eight bells. It has tombs of Wedgwood, who died in 1795, at Etruria, and of Spode, of " The Mount," also a celebrated potter. In addition to the parish church, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have within the last few years established the following district churches, viz., Fenton, Hartshill, Edensor, Penkhull, Trent Vale, Etruria, Northwood, Welling- ton, or St: Luke's, Hanley, and Hope, the livings of which are all perpet. curs.,* varying in val. from 220 to 100. Several of these churches have been noticed more fully under the head of the townships where they are situated. There are chapels for the Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, New Connexion Methodists, and other Dissenting communions in various parts of the parish; also many National and other schools, including Lane End school, which has an endowment of 70 per annum, and Allen's school, with an endowment of 12. The parochial charities pro- duce about 110 per annum. In the vicinity of the town are Trentham Hall, a seat of the Duke of Sutherland ; Etruria, the seat of the Wedgwood family ; 1 House, of the Fentons, of which family was the Fenton, born hero in 1683. Dr. Lightfoot, the Hebrew scholar, was also born here in 1602. Stoke Heath is a meet for the North Staffordshire hounds. The Stoke Poor-law Union consists mainly of the parish of Stoke, which also forms a superintendent registry district. It is divided between the Hanley and New- castle county courts. Market day is on Saturday. STOKE- WAKE, a par. in the hund of Whiteway, co. Dorset, 8J miles W. of Blanford-Forum, its post town, and 12 S.E. of Sherborne. The living is a rect. VOL. ui. in the dioc. of Sarum, val. 156. The church, dedicated to All Saints, has recently been restored. H. K. Sey- mer, Esq., is lord of the manor. STOKE, WEST, a par. in the hund. of Bosham, rape of Chichester, co. Sussex, 3J miles N.W. of Chi- chester, and 2 N.E. of Arundel railway station, its post town. The village is situated on the river Arun, at the spot where an oak canoe, 34J feet in length, was dis- covered in 1834, now in the British Museum. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture. In this parish is the valley of Kingsley Bottom, where is a grove of yew trees. The living is a rect. * in the dioc. of Chichester, val. 170. The church, situated in Stoko Park, contains a monument to the Stoughton family. STOKE WITH NEWTOWN, a tnshp. in the par. of Stokesay, co. Salop, 6 miles N.W. of Ludlow, on the river Onny. STONAR, a par. in the hund. of Ringslow, or Isle of Thanet, lathe of St. Augustine, co. Kent, three quarters of a mile N.E. of Sandwich. It is supposed to have been under water in the Roman period, but on the sea retiring from Ebbs-fleet it was left dry, and in the llth century became the site of a town and port of considerable importance, but again declined, owing to the ravages of the Danes and the inundations of the sea, and is now only a small hamlet. Leland describes it as "some time a pretty town, but then" (in the reign of Henry VIII.) "having only the ruin of the church, which some people call Old Sandwich." The living is a rect. in the dioc of Canterbury, in the patron, of the Crown by lapse. The church has long been destroyed, and no restoration has lately been made. Near the site of the church are works for the production of bay-salt. STONDON, LOWER, a hmlt. in the par. of Shilling- ton, hund. of Clifton, co. Beds, half a mile S.E. of Upper Stondon, and 3 miles S.E. of Shefford. STONDON-MASSEY, a par. in the hund. of Ongar, co. Essex, 6 miles N.W. of Brentwood, its post town, and 3 S.E. of Ongar. The village, which is small and irregularly built, is situated near the river Roding, and is wholly agricultural. The living is a rect.* in the dioc. of Rochester, val. 461. The church is dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul. The parochial charities produce about 17 per annum. There is a National school. STONDON, UPPER, a par. in the hund. of Clifton, co. Beds, 2| miles S. of Shefford. There is no village, only a few farmhouses. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Ely, val. 125. The church is an ancient struc- ture, dedicated to All Saints. STONE, a par. and market town in the S. div. of Pirehill hund., co. Stafford, 6 miles S. of Stoke-upon- Trent, and 7 N.E. of Stafford. It is a station on the North Staffordshire railway, and a branch line goes to Norton-Bridge, where it joins the main line of the London and North- Western railway, 3 miles distant from the town of Eccleshall. The par. consists of 17,000 acres, and a population of nearly 10,000 souls, and contains the tnshps. of Stone, Walton, Darlaston, Meaford-Oulton, Tittensor, Beech iloddershall, Hilder- stone, Fulford, Stallington, Normicott, Aston, Burstone and Stoke, and Little Aston. The land is chiefly arable and pasture, and the soil fertile. The town stands on the left bank of the river Trent, here crossed by a bridge, connecting it with the suburb of Walton, and at a short distance from the North Staffordshire section of the Grand Trunk canal, which runs parallel with the High- street through the entire length of the town. The prin- cipal street forms part of the great road from London to Liverpool, with lesser streets branching off from it. It is well built, paved, and lighted with gas. The only public institutions are the mechanics' insti- tute, a savings-bank, and the union poor-house. The staple manufacture of the place is that of shoes, principally women's boots, and on the Scotch brook which here falls into the Trent are several corn and flour mills. There are also in the town and its vicinity an extensive brewery, malting establishments, tan - nerics and brickfields. In the neighbourhood are several noblemen's and gentlemen's seats. Stone is a polling 4 o