STANLEY
Stanley was formerly a township in Leek
parish 441 a. (178 ha.) in area (fn. 62) and later part of
a civil parish which included Endon and
Longsdon until 1894. That year a new civil
parish called Endon and Stanley was formed,
excluding Longsdon. (fn. 63) There is a small village
on the west side of the township. The boundary
with Endon on the north and east sides follows
streams. (fn. 64) The boundary with Bagnall, in Stokeupon-Trent, on the west also follows a stream,
which was dammed in 1786 to form a canal
reservoir called Stanley Pool. (fn. 65)
Most of the land lies between 500 and 600 ft.
(152 and 182 m.). The underlying rock is sandstone of the Millstone Grit series. It is overlain
by Boulder Clay, except in the west part of the
township where there is alluvium. The soil is
fine loam. (fn. 66)
Seven people in Stanley were assessed for
hearth tax in 1666. (fn. 67) The population was 113 in
1821, 122 in 1841, and 108 in 1851. (fn. 68)
The Stanley family, recorded in the late 12th
century, (fn. 69) probably took their name from an
existing settlement. The name means a clearing
in stony ground (fn. 70) and is probably a reference to
the site of the present village. The oldest house
there is Lower House Farm, of c. 1700 and
probably on the site of the medieval manor
house. The village grew up in the 19th century
in connexion with flint mills. Rows of cottages
were built in the 1860s, probably for mill workers, and one row contained a beerhouse called
the Travellers Rest, a name still used in 1991 for
an inn there. Two larger houses, Tudor House
opposite the Travellers Rest and Spilsbury
House at the west end of the village, were also
built in the 1860s. (fn. 71) A post office was opened in
the earlier 1880s. (fn. 72) Several detached and semidetached houses were built in parts of the village
between the two World Wars and from the
1960s.
Clough House on the township's eastern
boundary was so called by 1602, (fn. 73) and there were
houses in that area at the Acres by 1700, (fn. 74)
Stanley Head by 1743, (fn. 75) and Newhouse by
1751. (fn. 76) From the early 1960s Stanley Head was
let as a children's outdoor education centre to
Stoke-on-Trent city council, which bought it in
1967. On the reorganization of local government
in 1974 ownership was transferred to Staffordshire
county council, which still ran the centre in
1991. (fn. 77)
STANLEY 1991
By 1750 there was a house called Coltsmoor at
Stanley Moss, low-lying ground in the northwest part of the township. The house still existed
c. 1830. (fn. 78) Houses of the 1930s on the east side
of the Endon road north of Stanley village are
an extension of the residential development in
Endon. An estate of 26 council houses there
called the Quadrangle was built in the early
1950s.
Stanley Pool was constructed in 1786 as an 8-a.
reservoir for the Caldon canal, which was
opened through Stanley probably in 1778. (fn. 79) It
was enlarged to 33 a. in 1840, when a new dam
was built to the north. (fn. 80) Still a reservoir in 1991,
it was also used for sailing and fishing.
MANOR.
There was presumably an estate at
STANLEY in the late 12th century when there
was mention of Adam of Stanley. (fn. 81) There was
certainly an estate there c. 1200 when Adam de
Audley, lord of Horton, gave Stanley to Adam
of Stanley's son William. In 1272 the estate was
held by Walter of Stanley, alive in 1282 but dead
by 1285. His heir was his son William, who was
succeeded probably in the early 1320s by his son
John (d. c. 1330). John's heir was his son
William, the forester of Wirral forest (Ches.). In
1359 the estate was styled a manor. (fn. 82) William
was succeeded in 1360 by his son, another
William (d. 1398). His heir was his son William,
knighted c. 1400, who took part in the rebellion
of Henry Percy in 1403 but was later pardoned.
Sir William was succeeded in 1428 by his grandson William Stanley (d. 1466). William's son and
heir, another William, knighted c. 1484, died in
1512 and was succeeded by his son William,
knighted in 1513. (fn. 83) That Sir William, alive in
1528-9, was succeeded by his son William (d.
1546). William's heir was his brother Roland,
knighted in 1553. (fn. 84) Sir Roland was succeeded in
1613 by his great-grandson William Stanley, and
William in 1644 or 1645 by his son William. In
1652 William leased the manor, probably as part
of an arrangement which led to its sale to
Thomas Fernihaugh in 1660. (fn. 85)
Fernihaugh was living at Stanley in 1666 but
no longer by 1688, when his house there was
bought by John Shaw, rector of Swettenham
(Ches.). (fn. 86) Shaw was succeeded in 1715 by his
son Richard, an Anglican clergyman who died
unmarried in or shortly before 1754. In 1760, in
accordance with Richard's wishes, the house,
then known as Lower House, and 70 a. were
settled on trustees to endow a charity for the
poor of the township. The estate had been sold
by 1963. (fn. 87) The present Lower House Farm is of
c. 1700 and has an outbuilding dated 1776.
Stanley Mill
ECONOMIC HISTORY.
There was a mill in
Stanley in the earlier 16th and in the later 17th
century. (fn. 88) It probably stood on the stream on
west side of the village, north of the Bagnall
road, where there was a corn mill in 1816. (fn. 89) In
1865 that mill was both a corn mill and a flint
mill. (fn. 90) Stanley mill was rebuilt in 1887 as Hercules
mills by Harrison & Son, who used it for
grinding potters' materials, notably black manganese, until its closure c. 1970. In 1991 the mill
and associated buildings were occupied by small
commercial enterprises, including a stone-cutting
business, Corinthian Stone Ltd., established in
1990. (fn. 91)
A flint mill was built upstream from the corn
mill, probably in the late 1770s. (fn. 92) Powered
later by Stanley Pool, it still existed as a flint
mill in 1835, but its site was submerged when
the reservoir was extended in 1840. In 1835
there was another mill, worked as a flint, glaze,
and colour mill, between the corn mill and the
flint mill. (fn. 93) Still a flint mill in the late 1870s,
it had been turned into a gelatine works by the
late 1890s. The works was disused by the early
1920s, and the building was converted into a
house. (fn. 94)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Stanley was subject
to the Audleys' court at Horton, sending a
frankpledge to the twice-yearly view by 1351. (fn. 95)
It was still part of Horton manor in 1795. (fn. 96)
Stocks in Stanley were mentioned in 1722 and
1731. (fn. 97)
The township was part of the Endon quarter
of Leek parish, and in the 1660s its poor were
relieved jointly with those of Endon and
Longsdon by the quarter's overseer. (fn. 98) The poor
were still relieved jointly in 1834, but separate
assessments for each township were made by
1750. (fn. 99) Stanley became part of Leek poor-law
union in 1837. (fn. 1)
CHURCH.
Stanley was part of Endon chapelry
and later of Endon parish. By 1851 an evening
service or lecture was occasionally held at Stanley, where a mission room was opened in the
village in 1868. (fn. 2) The room was known as St.
Agnes's mission by 1872. (fn. 3) Services were still
held there in 1991.
NONCONFORMITY.
Mary Dunnell, a Methodist preacher, took a service at Stanley in 1810.
A society was formed for which the Primitive
Methodists took responsibility, the Wesleyans
having refused to accept it. It had been disbanded by 1814. (fn. 4)
EDUCATION.
There was a dame school at
Stanley in the earlier 1820s, and some children
from Stanley were supported with charity
money to attend school at Endon. (fn. 5)
CHARITY FOR THE POOR.
In 1760 the
70-a. estate centred on Lower House Farm was
settled on trustees in accordance with the wishes
of the late owner, the Revd. Richard Shaw. The
trustees, after repairing the farm buildings, were
to use the profit for the benefit of poor householders in Stanley not in receipt of parish relief
and in apprenticing poor children from Stanley.
The income was £36 in the later 1780s. In the
earlier 1820s, when the income was £73 10s., a
weekly dole of 11s. 6d. was divided among four
poor people and £13 10s. was used to support
an apprentice. The trustees also paid £10 or £11
to the schoolmaster at Endon for teaching
poor children from Stanley. (fn. 6) The estate had
been sold by 1963 and the money invested.
In 1994 a distribution of £78 was made to
four needy people, together with £60 in
Christmas gifts. (fn. 7)