Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HANLEY

HANLEY, a town, a township, three chapelries, and a sub-district, in Stoke-upon-Trent district, Stafford. The town stands on the North Stafford railway, and on the Grand Trunk canal, 1½ mile NE of Stoke-upon-Trent. It is a prominent one of the pottery towns; it includes all Hanley township and most of Shelton township; it was made a municipal borough in 1857, under a mayor, five aldermen, and twenty-four councillors; it acquired further rights of market trust, in 1863, under lease from the lord of the manor; and it forms part of the parliamentary borough of Stoke-upon-Trent. It has recently undergone very great increase; it has wide streets, paved with brick; it contains shops almost equal to many in the best parts of London; it makes a good display of public buildings; it possesses everything requisite for the current wants of its own inhabitants and of a very populous neighbourhood; and yet it partakes fully in the smoke and general unpleasantness of the pottery region. The town hall was built at a cost of £4, 500; and contains assembly and news rooms. The markets have covered areas. A cattle market was formed in 1869, at a cost of £3, 000. The mechanics' institute was built in 1861, at a cost of £3, 000. The North Staffordshire museum, in Frederick street, has a good library and reading room. The North Staffordshire infirmary, in Shelton, is a large edifice, maintained by subscription, for the use of all the pottery region. The government school of design, in Pall Mall, was instituted in 1847. There are five national schools; and that for Wellington is a Gothic building of 1862. There are also a theatre, an inland revenue office, and other public buildings. One of the churches is a brick structure of 1788, with a tower; and another is a handsome edifice of 1834, at a cost of £11, 000, with a tower 120 feet high. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, U. Free Methodists, and New Connexion Methodists; and several of these are spacious edifices; while one of them, called Bethesda chapel, in Albion street, is so large as to accommodate 3, 000 persons, and was repaired and decorated in 1862. A new cemetery was opened in 1860. The town has a post office‡ under Stoke upon Trent, two railway stations, two banking offices, and several good inns; is a seat of county courts and petty sessions, and a pollingplace; publishes a weekly newspaper; and is well supplied with water. Markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays; cattle markets on the second Tuesday of every month; and a hiring fair on 11 Nov. A great trade is carried on in the manufacture of china and earthenware; a very great trade also, and an increasing one, in iron smelting; and the general industry is both employed and stimulated by great abundance, all around, of coal and ironstone. Pop., of the town, in 1861, 31, 953. Houses, 6, 322.-The township, though all included in the town, is partly rural. Real property, £43, 222; of which £2, 000 are in mines. Pop., in 1851, 10, 573; in 1861, 14, 678. Houses, 2, 900.-The three chapelries are Hanley-proper, Northwood, and Wellington, or Hanley-ST. Luke. The first is of old date; and the other two were constituted in 1845. The livings of all are p. curacies in the diocese of Lichfield. Value of Hanley, £289;* of Northwood, £150;* of Wellington, £180.* Patrons of the first, Trustees; of the other two, alternately the Crown and the Bishop. There are also three benefices in Shelton, -Shelton-proper, Etruria, and Hope. The sub-district excludes Shelton, and consists of Hanley township and Bucknall-cum-Bagnall chapelry. Pop., 16, 848. Houses, 3, 308.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, three chapelries, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Hanley CP/Tn       Stoke on Trent RegD/PLU       Staffordshire AncC
Place: Hanley

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