TITTESWORTH
Tittesworth was formerly a township in Leek
parish and later a civil parish. (fn. 8) The area was
originally 1,659 a. (671 ha.). That was reduced
by the transfer of a 9-a. detached portion at
Blackshaw Moor north-east of the township to
Leekfrith under the Divided Parishes Act, 1882,
although at the same time a 1-a. detached portion of Leek and Lowe at Blackshaw Moor was
added to Tittesworth. (fn. 9) In 1894 much of the
south-west part of the township was transferred
to Leek urban district, and the part of Blackshaw
Moor which was a detached part of Leek and
Lowe was added to Tittesworth; the area of
Tittesworth was reduced to 1,514 a. (613 ha.). (fn. 10)
In 1934 a detached portion of Bradnop, 53 a. in
area and including part of Thorncliffe village,
was added to Tittesworth, along with 433 a.
from Onecote; at the same time 146 a. at Haregate in the south-west part of Tittesworth were
transferred to Leek urban district. As a result of
the changes the area of the civil parish was
increased to 1,854 a. (750 ha.). (fn. 11) The present
article covers the former township together with
the added parts of Blackshaw Moor and Thorncliffe. For certain topics the more recent history
of the parts of Tittesworth added to Leek urban
district is treated in the article on Leek and
Lowe.
The boundary of the township followed the
river Churnet on the west and a tributary, Ball
Haye brook, on the south-west. Cartledge brook,
recorded as Easing brook in 1223, (fn. 12) formed the
south-east boundary. The irregular boundary
with Onecote on the east was probably the result
of the division of pasture rights on Morridge. A
tributary of the Churnet forms the north-east
boundary of the part of Blackshaw Moor added
in 1894. Tittesworth brook, a tributary of the
Churnet, runs west through the middle of the
former township. The ground reaches 1,298 ft.
(395 m.) on Morridge on the eastern boundary,
while what was formerly the south-west corner
of the township lies at 515 ft. (160 m.) by the
Churnet. The underlying rock is sandstone of
the Millstone Grit series, and it is overlain by
Boulder Clay at Blackshaw Moor and south of
Thorncliffe. The soil is mostly fine loam over clay. (fn. 13)
In 1542 there were 10 tenants holding 10
houses in Tittesworth, two in Thorncliffe holding
two houses, and two in Easing holding three
houses. (fn. 14) Twenty-nine people in Tittesworth
township were assessed for hearth tax in 1666. (fn. 15)
In 1801 the population of the township was
274. It rose from 288 in 1821 to 447 in 1831
with the development of Ball Haye Green in
the south-west part of the township as a suburb
of Leek. The continued growth of that area accounts for the increase of the township's
population to 606 in 1851, 1,227 in 1861, and
1,524 in 1891. (fn. 16) By 1901, after the boundary
changes of 1894, the population of Tittesworth
had shrunk to 121, including 9 people in the
added part of Blackshaw Moor. It was 96
in 1911, 120 in 1921, and 157 in 1931. In 1951,
after the addition of the Thorncliffe part of
Bradnop and the establishment of a Polish resettlement camp at Blackshaw Moor, the
population was 957. It was 444 in 1961, 333 in
1971, 298 in 1981, and 281 in 1991. (fn. 17) The
Bradnop portion of Thorncliffe had a population
of 46 in 1841, which had declined to 27 by
1891. (fn. 18)
The place-name Tittesworth is an Old English
compound of a personal name, thought to be
Tet, and the word for an enclosed settlement. (fn. 19)
A local family took its name from the place by
the beginning of the 13th century. (fn. 20) By the latter
part of the century there were two main settlements, Upper Tittesworth mentioned in the
1250s and Lower Tittesworth mentioned in
1292. (fn. 21) In 1353 Upper Tittesworth lay on the
north side of Tittesworth brook and extended
from Thorncliffe on the east to the Churnet on
the west; to the north-east a ditch separated its
fields from 'the moor of Tittesworth', presumably
Blackshaw Moor. (fn. 22) The farmhouse called Upper
Tittesworth by the mid 19th century (fn. 23) dates
from c. 1700. Lower Tittesworth lay to the
north-west, with its fields adjoining those of
Upper Tittesworth in 1353. (fn. 24) By the 1770s Lower
Tittesworth was the name of a house with 180 a.
attached. (fn. 25) It had been renamed Troutsdale
Farm by 1859 (fn. 26) and was rebuilt in the later 20th
century.
Thorncliffe was an inhabited area by the
1230s. (fn. 27) It was at first spelled as 'Thorntileg' or
variants, an Old English name meaning a clearing amid thorn trees. (fn. 28) By the end of the 16th
century the present name was in use, (fn. 29) presumably reflecting the situation of the village on the
south side of a deep ravine formed by Tittesworth brook and known in 1353 as 'le
coppedlowesclogh'. (fn. 30) Ley Fields on the Morridge
road north-east of the village is a house of
17th-century date. Underbank off the Blackshaw
Moor road dates from the late 18th century but
has an outbuilding which is probably of the 17th
century. The building occupied as the Red Lion
inn carries the date 1787; it was known as the
Reform inn by 1851 and was renamed c. 1860. (fn. 31)
A Primitive Methodist chapel was built in
1839. (fn. 32) A school was started in 1884, and an
Anglican school-chapel was opened in 1887. (fn. 33)
Easing south of Thorncliffe was evidently inhabited by the early 1230s when there was a family
of that name. (fn. 34) A house and land at Easing belonging
to the family was mentioned in 1291. (fn. 35) Easing
Farm, rebuilt evidently in 1910 after a fire,
retains a doorway probably of the 17th century (fn. 36)
and may be the successor of the house in
Tittesworth where Thomas Mountford was assessed for tax on two hearths in 1666. (fn. 37) The
Ashes, formerly known as Easing, (fn. 38) has a doorhead carrying the initials ID:ED and a date
which is probably 1642; John Dale was living
at Easing in 1642 and was assessed for tax on
three hearths in Tittesworth township in 1666. (fn. 39)
Easing Moor Farm and Ankers Lane Farm
existed by 1841, (fn. 40) and Easing Villa, offered for
sale in 1867 with 16 a., was then described as
newly erected. (fn. 41)
By the late 16th century there was settlement
to the west on the edge of Leek moor near the
southern boundary. Pool House stood there by
1596 and was described as at Leek Moorside in
1648. It was known variously as Leek Moorside
and Pool House in the late 17th century, as the
Edge in the 18th century, and as Leek Moorside
again by 1821. (fn. 42) The present house appears to
date from the 17th century. Edge-end further to
the west was formerly timber framed but was
remodelled in stone in the 17th century, with
later additions in stone and brick.
The south-west part of the township remained
rural until the 19th century. By 1246 Dieulacres
abbey had established a grange at Fowker, later
Fowlchurch. There was a farm at Haregate by
the Dissolution and another at Ball Haye by
1565. (fn. 43) Horsecroft Gate, inhabited by 1639, (fn. 44)
was presumably in the area of Horsecroft Farm,
a 19th-century building on earlier foundations.
Rose Bank farm, in existence in the earlier 18th
century, was presumably south-west of Ball
Haye in the area of Rose Bank Street, in existence by 1851. (fn. 45) By the later 1730s the area south
of Ball Haye was the home of the Nall family; it
was known as the Hole, presumably because of
its position by Ball Haye brook with the ground
rising steeply on either side of the brook. (fn. 46) By
1775 there was settlement on the north side of
the Buxton road in the area of what was known
by the early 19th century as Youngs Road; both
the road and a building at the end of it survived
until the Abbottsville housing estate was laid out
in the earlier 1920s. (fn. 47) Hare Hayes farm east of
Ball Haye evidently existed by 1811; the house
was also known as Ball Haye Cottage in 1838. (fn. 48)
The present road from Leek town to Haregate
via the area known as Ball Haye Green by 1820
was set out when the waste was enclosed in
1811, (fn. 49) but it is not known whether there was an
earlier road. Another road was set out in 1811
running from the Buxton road to Ball Haye
Green and was then known as Ball Haye Road;
it was called Novi Lane by 1854. (fn. 50) In 1811
Abbotts Road (then known as Abbots Road and
later as Abbotts Lane) running from the Buxton
road to Novi Lane was described as an ancient
highway. Formerly it had probably continued
north to Haregate, as it was made to do with the
building of Queen's Drive after 1948. (fn. 51) From the
1820s the area developed as a suburb of Leek.
Its core was at Ball Haye Green where the Leek
Building Society erected 42 houses between
1824 and 1829. A number of houses were built
in Park Road in the south-west corner in the mid
1850s. The Ball Haye Green suburb was further
extended in the 20th century by the building of
housing estates. (fn. 52)
TITTESWORTH 1992
In the 1250s there was mention of the moor
between Scarpschaw and Blakeshaw. (fn. 53) Blackshaw Moor was an inhabited area by the 1640s.
A pauper family was living at Blackshaw Moorside
in 1640. (fn. 54) Richard Plant and his family were
described as of Blackshaw Moor in 1644, and
the Plants may have been settled there in the
16th century, three farms in Tittesworth being
held by three members of the family in 1542. (fn. 55)
The moor, which extended west into Leekfrith,
was inclosed in 1811. There was probably a track
running north-west across the moor from
Thorncliffe before inclosure, but the present
road between Thorncliffe and the Leek-Buxton
road dates from the inclosure. (fn. 56) Blackshaw Moor
farm existed by 1841. (fn. 57) A transit camp for
anti-aircraft battalions from the United States
of America was opened on the east side of the
Buxton road in 1943. (fn. 58) In 1946 it was taken over
by Polish troops from Italy, and other Polish
troops arrived later. The camp continued as a
Polish civilian settlement until 1964 when those
remaining there were rehoused on a new estate
½ mile to the north. (fn. 59) The camp site was cleared
in the early 1980s, and in 1983 Anzio Camp was
opened there as a training camp for use by the
regular army, territorials, and scouts. (fn. 60)
There was mention in 1353 of 'Stokkenbrugg'
on Tittesworth brook, (fn. 61) perhaps a bridge carrying
a road from Leek to Upper Tittesworth. The
Leek-Buxton road, turnpiked in 1765, runs
through the area. Before then the route from
Leek to Buxton ran further west through Leekfrith, and it appears that all or most of the route
through Tittesworth was a new road laid out by
the turnpike trustees in 1765 and 1766. (fn. 62) It
included a bridge over the brook in Edge End
Hollow (later Solomon's Hollow). (fn. 63) In the 18th
century a packhorse way ran over Blackshaw
Moor, crossing the north-east boundary stream
by a stone bridge. (fn. 64)
In 1858 the Staffordshire Potteries Water
Works Co. (later the Staffordshire Potteries
Water Board) dammed the Churnet in the north-west part of the township to create the 51-a.
Tittesworth reservoir. In 1959 work was begun
on an extension which increased the area to 189
a. and the capacity from 222 million gallons to
1,417 million. The work also included the provision
of plant for treating effluent from the dyeworks
at Upper Hulme, in Leekfrith. The enlarged
reservoir was inaugurated by Princess Margaret
in 1962. (fn. 65)
In 1802 Tittesworth was included in the area
covered by the Leek association for the prosecution of felons. (fn. 66)
ESTATES.
In 1565 Sir Ralph Bagnall, lord of
Leek manor, granted a house called BALL
HAYE with appurtenances in Leek and Lowe
and in Tittesworth to Henry Davenport, who
was already in possession. (fn. 67) Henry was succeeded
in 1584 by his son Ralph, who was followed by
his son Henry in 1597. Henry died in 1680 aged
93 and was succeeded by his grandson John
Davenport. John was succeeded in 1726 by his
son Henry, who was followed by his son John
in 1753. John was succeeded in 1780 by his son,
another John, who died childless in 1786. His
heir was his nephew James, son of his sister
Sarah and James Hulme of Tittesworth, born in
1772. (fn. 68)
John left half the income from the estate to his
widow Hannah for life and a quarter to Lucy,
daughter of Isaac Cope, a Leek surgeon and one
of John's trustees. The remaining quarter was
for the education of James, the heir, who had to
assume his uncle's name and arms. (fn. 69) Hannah
Davenport died in 1808. (fn. 70) In 1811 James granted
Lucy Cope a rent charge of £75 a year for life
as her share. (fn. 71) He seems to have continued to
use the surname Hulme.
James rebuilt the house and in 1807 bought
more land. (fn. 72) He was at Ball Haye in 1811, but
for much of his life he lived elsewhere. (fn. 73) In 1818
Ball Haye and 80 a. were advertised for letting,
and in 1819 James mortgaged the estate. (fn. 74) He
died in 1848. (fn. 75)
In 1814 a Chancery suit was begun against
James and his wife Elizabeth on behalf of six of
her children by her first husband. James was
even imprisoned for a time in 1828 for disobeying
an order of the court. That year a settlement was
reached vesting the estate in trustees who had
power to sell it. (fn. 76) It was unsuccessfully offered
for sale in 1830 and 1840. (fn. 77) By 1851 the two
families were again involved in Chancery proceedings, and new trustees were appointed in
1852. In 1853 they sold the house and 43 a. to
Joshua and John Brough, James's nephews,
John Birch, and Richard Hammersley. (fn. 78) Birch
died in 1857, and Hammersley conveyed his
quarter share to the Broughs in 1862. In 1873
John Brough conveyed his share to William
Spooner Brough, Joshua's son, who in 1880
bought the Birch share. On his father's death in
1885 he succeeded to the remaining share. (fn. 79)
Ball Haye
Meanwhile the house, which became known as
Ball Haye Hall, was let. Work had to be carried
out in the later 1850s to make it habitable. (fn. 80)
Some of the rooms were occupied from 1854 to
1870 by successive tenants of the adjoining Ball
Haye farm, and another part was let from 1860
to 1863 to Joseph Sykes, who kept a school
there. (fn. 81) A. E. Worthington of Portland Mills
took a lease of the hall in 1870. He died in 1873,
and his widow continued at the hall for a few
years. (fn. 82) In 1880 it was unoccupied, but
Worthington's son Ernest was there in 1881. (fn. 83) John
Hall, a partner in the firm of J. and J. Brough,
Nicholson & Co., took a lease in 1882 and remained at the hall until his death in 1930. (fn. 84)
W. S. Brough died unmarried in 1917, and the
estate passed to his nephew, H. H. Brindley. (fn. 85)
In 1931 Brindley sold the hall and 27 a. to the
trustees of the Leek Memorial Cottage Hospital,
whose plans for a new hospital in the grounds
of the hall were suspended on the outbreak of
the Second World War. From 1946 the trustees
allowed the hall to be used as a Polish club. (fn. 86) It
was later converted into flats. It finally became
derelict and was demolished in 1972. (fn. 87)
In 1666 Henry Davenport was assessed for
tax on three hearths. (fn. 88) The house as rebuilt by
James Hulme was a three-storeyed brick
building faced with stone. The entrance front
was of seven bays and had a hood porch on
steps. (fn. 89) The stone is said to have been taken
from the bed of Back brook at Upper Hulme, in
Leekfrith. (fn. 90) James Hulme also laid out a lawn,
plantations, and pleasure grounds and created a
large fish pool. (fn. 91)
By 1246 Dieulacres abbey had established a
grange at FOWLCHURCH, then called
Fowker. (fn. 92) In 1552 what was called Fowchers
grange was granted by the Crown to Sir Ralph
Bagnall with most of the abbey's property. (fn. 93) His
son Sir Henry sold it in 1597 to John Rothwell,
a Leek mercer. (fn. 94) On Rothwell's death in 1623
the grange passed to his great-nephew John
Hulme, son of John Hulme of New Grange in
Leekfrith. (fn. 95) The younger John Hulme died in
1636, and in 1648 his executors sold what was
called Fouchers House to the tenant, Thomas
Washington, (fn. 96) whose family appear to have lived
there at least since the beginning of the 16th
century. (fn. 97) Thomas died in 1661, leaving half the
Fowlchurch estate to his wife Margery and half,
with the reversion of Margery's share, to their
daughter Ellen, wife of William Stonhewer (or
Stonyer). (fn. 98) Margery was presumably the Widow
Washington who was assessed for tax on two
hearths in Tittesworth in 1666; she died in
1686. (fn. 99) In 1694 Ellen Stonhewer, then a widow,
was living at what was called Fowkers or Fowker
Grange, and she died in 1699, with her son
Thomas apparently her heir. (fn. 1) The name Fowchurch was coming into use by the later 1630s,
and Foulchurch was used in 1677. (fn. 2)
By 1749 Fowlchurch was owned by Joshua
Stonhewer of Leek, who died that year leaving
it to his grandson William Stonhewer Hall. (fn. 3)
William died in 1772. (fn. 4) The estate passed to his
wife Catherine, but by 1791 it was owned by his
nephew, also W. S. Hall. It was bought in 1799
by William Challinor, of Pickwood in Leek and
Lowe, another estate left by Joshua Stonhewer
to his grandson in 1749. (fn. 5) Challinor died in 1800
with his son William as his heir. In 1835 the
35-a. farm was sold to John Brough, who conveyed it to his son Joshua in 1843. Fowlchurch
then descended with the Ball Haye estate, and
Joshua's son William lived there in the later
1870s. (fn. 6) In 1918 it was sold to the tenant, T. H.
Sillito, from whom it was bought in 1969 by
Leek urban district council. It passed in 1974 to
Staffordshire Moorlands district council. The
house was sold to the tenants, Mr. and Mrs. J.
H. Hine, in 1989.
The house appears to date from c. 1700, but
the front was remodelled in 1849. (fn. 7)
A house in Tittesworth called the HAREGATE
and land belonging to it were owned by Dieulacres abbey and passed to Sir Ralph Bagnall in
1552. (fn. 8) In 1565 he sold the estate to Thomas
Wardle. (fn. 9) Wardle was living there in 1594, but
his son John had succeeded him by 1616. (fn. 10) In
1620 John sold Haregate to Ralph Bayly of
Bradnop, but Widow Wardle, probably John's
wife Elizabeth, was living there at the time of
her death in 1634. (fn. 11) By 1657 Ralph had been
succeeded by Thomas Bayly of Bradnop, evidently
his son, who sold Haregate in 1679 to Samuel
Bromley of Mixon Hay, in Onecote. (fn. 12) Samuel
was still living at Mixon Hay in 1701 but had
moved to Haregate by 1713. (fn. 13)
In 1720 he sold Haregate to Joshua Toft, a
Leek button merchant who was living there by
1724. (fn. 14) Haregate was also the home of his elder
brother John, a Quaker like Joshua. (fn. 15) Some of
Prince Charles Edward's troops were given a
meal at Haregate in 1745, having first been made
to leave their arms outside, and John Toft was
given a receipt for hay and oats for the horses. (fn. 16)
On Joshua's death in 1769 Haregate passed to
his daughter Mary, widow of Charles Chorley. (fn. 17)
She died in 1821, evidently at Haregate. (fn. 18) The
estate was divided among her two surviving
sons, Edwood Chorley of Doncaster (Yorks.
W.R.) and Toft Chorley of Leek, and two of her
grandchildren, Joshua Chorley of Manchester
and Sarah Rawlinson of Haregate. In 1821
Joshua Chorley conveyed his share to his uncle
Toft. (fn. 19) Haregate, however, had evidently passed
to Joshua by the time of his death in 1837, when
he was living there. His heir was his brother
Edwood, a Manchester merchant, who was living
at Haregate in 1851 and died childless in 1853. (fn. 20)
Toft's heir was evidently his sister Elizabeth,
wife of Tobias Atkinson. She died a widow in
1867, and her heir was her daughter Susannah,
wife of Frank Atkinson Argles. (fn. 21)
In 1861 and 1871 Haregate was occupied by a
farm bailiff, but Argles lived there on occasion
in the 1870s. (fn. 22) Thereafter the house was let. In
1880 and 1881 it was occupied by W. E. Challinor. (fn. 23)
Ernest Worthington moved to Haregate from
Ball Haye Hall in the early 1880s and remained
there until his death in 1896. (fn. 24) Frank Argles died
in 1885 and his widow in 1895, and their son
Thomas was living at Haregate by 1900. (fn. 25) He
moved to his estate in Westmorland c. 1916, but
it was his custom to spend a week or two at
Haregate every summer. He died in 1923, and
Haregate passed to his first cousin, R. M. Argles. (fn. 26)
In 1948 the house and 78 a. were acquired by
Leek urban district council. The house was
converted into three dwellings, and a council
estate was laid out on the land. (fn. 27)
The main range of the house dates from the
17th century or earlier. (fn. 28) Built of ashlar, it
consists of one storey with attics. A parlour block
of red brick was added at the east end in the 18th
century. Of two storeys with attics, it was remodelled in the 19th century but retains some
original interiors. At the back of the main range is
a low two-storeyed service wing of the 18th and
early 19th century. A group of red-brick farm
buildings stands to the west of the house.
ECONOMIC HISTORY.
Tittesworth was part
of Leek manor, and in the mid 13th century the
services owed by tenants there to the abbot of
Dieulacres as lord of Leek manor included
ploughing, reaping, and payment of a rent of
chickens. (fn. 29) At the Dissolution all 15 farms in
Tittesworth, Thorncliffe, and Easing were held
by rent, two capons worth 6d., one day's ploughing worth 3d., and one day's reaping worth 3d. (fn. 30)
Tenants appear to have owed suit of mill at
Hulme mill at Upper Hulme, in Leekfrith. (fn. 31)
The abbey's grange at Fowlchurch, established
by 1246, (fn. 32) consisted in 1291 of 2 carucates and
meadow. (fn. 33) At the end of the Middle Ages the
grange was used for cattle farming. There were
18 cows there in 1490, 15 with a bull in 1501,
17 with a bull in 1502, and 13 in 1508. (fn. 34)
Each of the vills of Upper and Lower Tittesworth had its own fields in the mid 14th
century. (fn. 35) Those of Upper Tittesworth may
have survived into the 18th century: in 1728 a
farm at Thorncliffe included a field called Town
field and parcels in the Middle field and the
Lower field. (fn. 36) Oats were grown at Fowlchurch
in the mid 16th century. (fn. 37) In 1868 the land at
Thorncliffe was used mainly for pasture, but a
few oats were grown. (fn. 38)
There was a tithe barn at Fowlchurch grange
at the Dissolution. (fn. 39)
In 1811 the remaining common waste was
inclosed under an Act of 1805. (fn. 40)
Of the 621.6 ha. of farmland returned for the
civil parish in 1988, grassland covered 541.4 ha.
and there were 55 a. of rough grazing. The
farming was dairy and sheep, with 903 head of
cattle and 1,677 sheep and lambs. There were
also 1,100 pigs, with one farm devoted to pigs
and poultry. Of the 16 farms returned, 12 were
under 50 ha. in size, 3 were between 50 and 99
ha., and 1 was between 100 and 199 ha. Woodland covered 20.6 ha. (fn. 41)
In 1563 and 1565 the Haregate estate included
an iron forge by the Churnet. (fn. 42) Quarrying on the
same estate was indicated by land there in 1821
called Quarry Plantation. (fn. 43) In 1823 there was
mention of Tittesworth stone quarry, which was
perhaps the quarry near the Buxton road southeast of Haregate in the late 1890s. (fn. 44) There was
quarrying at Edge-end farm in 1749 and at Thorncliffe in 1860 and 1885, probably on the east side
of the road to Blackshaw Moor. (fn. 45)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
By the earlier 14th
century Tittesworth was a tithing of Leek manor
and sent a frankpledge to the twice-yearly view. It
was still regarded as a part of the manor in 1827. (fn. 46)
The township was part of the Leekfrith quarter
of Leek parish, and in the 1660s its poor were
relieved by the quarter's overseer. From 1713 it
had its own overseer of the poor, with the office
rotating among 14 tenements. (fn. 47) It became part
of Leek poor-law union in 1837. (fn. 48) By the early
1870s a Tittesworth vestry was meeting at the
Red Lion in Thorncliffe. On the occasion of the
election of an assistant overseer in 1872 the
attendance was so large that the meeting had to
be held in the Primitive Methodist chapel. (fn. 49)
There was a pinfold in Abbotts Road in the
south-west part of the township by 1857. (fn. 50) The
Leek improvement commissioners agreed to its
removal in 1872 and accepted an offer of £5 for
the materials in 1873. (fn. 51)
CHURCH.
A school-chapel dedicated to THE
GOOD SHEPHERD was opened in 1887 on the
Blackshaw Moor road north-west of Thorncliffe.
It was served from St. Luke's church in Leek,
Tittesworth having become part of St. Luke's
parish on its formation in 1845. A building of
local stone, the chapel was designed by J. G.
Smith of Leek and consisted of a chancel, a nave,
a west bellcot with a bell, and a wooden porch
at the west end. The site was given by Susannah
Argles in fulfilment of the wishes of her husband
F. A. Argles (d. 1885). The cost of nearly £600
was met by subscriptions, grants from church
societies, and gifts of furnishings. Mrs. Argles
gave £100 and the churchyard gates, and her son
Thomas gave the bell. Local farmers provided
team work. Although the school was closed in
1968, the chapel continued in use until 1984. It
had been converted into a house by 1992. (fn. 52)
ROMAN CATHOLICISM.
A hut on the Polish
camp established at Blackshaw Moor in 1946
was used as a Roman Catholic chapel, and there
was a resident chaplain. The Poles were rehoused
on a new estate to the north in 1964, and a former
bath house there was converted into a chapel.
The chaplain was also the Polish chaplain for the
whole North Staffordshire area, and in 1974 his
base was moved to the Polish centre at Longton.
The chaplain continued to celebrate mass at the
Blackshaw Moor chapel on Sundays and holy
days until 1993 when the chapel was closed
because of the decreasing size of the congregation.
Instead the chaplain began celebrating a Polish
mass at St. Mary's Roman Catholic church in Leek. (fn. 53)
PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY.
There
was a Wesleyan Methodist class at Thorncliffe
by 1827. Sunday services were held every fortnight in 1829 but had ceased by 1832. (fn. 54) A small
Primitive Methodist chapel and Sunday school
was built there in 1839. (fn. 55) On Census Sunday
1851 there was an afternoon congregation of 21,
with 21 Sunday school children. (fn. 56) The chapel is
now Thorncliffe Methodist chapel.
EDUCATION.
A public elementary school was
started at Thorncliffe in 1884. At first it was held
in the Primitive Methodist chapel, but the vicar
of St. Luke's in Leek had the right to give
religious instruction. (fn. 57) The chapel was declared
unfit for a school by the Education Department,
and by 1885 the teacher, Mrs. Burnett, was
holding the school in her cottage as a temporary
measure pending the building of a school-chapel
at Thorncliffe. (fn. 58) She had given up the school by
the beginning of 1886, and a building was found
on a farm. (fn. 59) A school-chapel was opened in
1887. (fn. 60) It was decided in 1930 that Thorncliffe
Church of England school, then an all-age school
with 40 children on its books, should become a
junior school, the senior children being transferred to Leek; the decision had taken effect by
1948. (fn. 61) The school was replaced in 1969 by
Blackshaw Moor Church of England (Controlled) primary school, which became a first school
in 1981. (fn. 62)
A nursery school was run for the Polish community settled at Blackshaw Moor after the
Second World War. It was closed when the Poles
were rehoused in 1964. (fn. 63)
CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.
None known
expressly for the township.