Chesterton is a large and thriving village in the parish of Wolstanton, situate between two and three miles north of Newcastle-under-Lyme. Many years ago there was a castle here, and on its going to decay a new one was built which gave its name to the borough of Newcastle. It comprises 1,090 acres of land. There are large iron furnaces and several extensive brickworks in the township.

Holy Trinity Church, Chesterton, was consecrated by the late Bishop Lonsdale, on the 5th August, 1852. The style of the church is early English, and is considered to be a complete model of a country church. The accommodation is for 485, including children. The cost of the edifice was about £2,000. The site with the land for a burial ground and a parsonage was given by the late Ralph Sneyd. The Rev. W. W. Sandford M.A. is the vicar. The living is worth £300 according to the Diocesan Calendar.

Chesterton Ecclesiastical District was formed under Sir Robert Peel’s Act in 1846, and comprises this township as well as Alsagers Bank, and other parts of the parish of Audley.

The opening of a new Mission Church and School (St. Chad’s) at Red Street, in connection with Holy Trinity Church, took place on the 5th November, 1872. The building, which is of pointed Gothic style, will accommodate about 120 persons.

The foundation stone of a Mission Church at Dunkirk was laid by Mrs. Stanier, of Madeley Manor, on the 10th May, 1875. The building had its origin in a petition to the Rev. W. H. Jackson, the late vicar of the parish, signed by nearly a hundred householders at Dunkirk (soon after the formation of Wolstanton School Board) requesting him to “take means to establish a school in our immediate neighbourhood, which may also serve as a room wherein services may be held.”  The building, which is used as a Day and Sunday School, and has Church of England services conducted in it, is a neat substantial one-storied structure of red and blue brick. Accommodation is provided for 160 children.

In May, 1857, the corner stone of a new Wesleyan Chapel at Chesterton was laid. It took the place of a Wesleyan Chapel erected at Chesterton at the beginning of the century. In its turn it became too small, owing to the rapid increase of the population of Chesterton, and in 1865 the trustees decided to erect a new place of worship near the old one. The building was erected from the designs of  Mr. George Ford, architect, Burslem. The design of the chapel is Italian in character. The gallery is extended on three sides, and the building will seat about 550 persons. The chapel was erected by the Rose Vale Building Company, and the cost, inclusive of  £400 for the site, was about £2,400. The memorial stones, four in number, were laid on the 16th August, 1875.

The New Connexion Methodists, the Primitive Methodists and the United Free Church Methodists have chapels in the village.

The Miners’ Hall at Chesterton, which was opened in October, 1875, was commenced four years previously by the Miners’ Association, but before the building was finished, proceedings were instituted respecting it in the Court of Chancery. Subsequently the building was sold by auction, the purchasers  being the Miners’ Association. The building is of a mixed Gothic style, being built with red bricks, relieved with blue string coursings, having the windows facing the west end, and sky lights the whole length of the room. In extent it is 61ft. by 60ft. There are anti-rooms, and indeed all other conveniences required in a public hall. The building is now known as the Public Hall.

Extract from Keate’s Gazetteer and Directory published in 1892.

Can you remember the Wesleyan Chapel, built in the 1870s, which has recently been demolished? Perhaps you worshipped there or went to the Sunday School when you were a child. If you did,  Register and tell us about the chapel and your experiences there.