A preliminary report being prepared by The Phoenix Trust indicates that building a marina on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Kidsgrove could give the town a heritage based tourist industry which would play a leading role in its regeneration.
The report says: “Kidsgrove already has the basis of a major tourist industry which would attract visitors from home and overseas.
“Its main attractions are:
the Harecastle Tunnels and the Trent & Mersey Canal which merit World Heritage Site status in their own right
Mow Cop’s links with Primitive Methodism
St. Saviour’s ‘the historic tin church’ in The Rookery
James Brindley’s grave at Newchapel, and
Reginald Mitchell’s birthplace in Butt Lane.”
Each former mining community in the district retains its original character and architectural heritage which would attract both the casual visitor as well as the professional historian.
Many of the former railways and tramways which have become walkways and footpaths could easily be transformed into heritage trails.
Bath Pool has the potential to become a major tourist attraction and the playing fields at Birchenwood Country Park could become a regional centre for a wide range of sporting activities.
Frederick Tobias Wade, the son of the Rev. Thomas Wade, was born in Ireland.
Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he graduated in 1833 and was ordained two years later. He started his ministry at Runcorn and came to Kidsgrove in 1837 when industrialist Thomas Kinnersley built St. Thomas’s Church in The Avenue.
Designed by Kinnersley’s wife Anna, the church was erected in six weeks. It had a tower which contained a clock and a peel of six bells. The building could accommodate 600 worshippers and the first service was held there on May 7th, 1837.
Frederick’s personality quickly made an impact on Kidsgrove – an industrial town with a high crime rate whose constables were unable to maintain law and order. Colliers spent their wages on drink, turning to theft and poaching to feed their families.
A miner’s life was hard and dangerous. Semi-naked men and women worked together at the coalface. Boys and girls, who could neither read nor write, were harnessed to wagons which they hauled through narrow, rat infested tunnels.
Abandoned by the churches, the miners lived in filth and squalor. They enjoyed prize fighting and gambling. Many were semi-illiterate and Frederick realised he would have an uphill struggle converting them to Christianity.
He persuaded Kinnersley, who owned Clough Hall Collieries and Iron Works, to build a school in The Avenue. Mission halls were opened at Mow Cop and Goldenhill and appeals were launched to build schools and churches in the two villages. North Staffordshire’s most generous philanthropist, Smith Child, endowed the living at Goldenhill and gave it to Frederick, who retained his position at St. Thomas’s.
Recession hit Kidsgrove bringing short time working and unemployment. To prevent the miners being forced to sell their homes and apply for poor relief, Frederick found them employment building a road from The Rookery to Mow Cop.
On February 17th, 1848, he married Emma Cassons. They had four children – Henrietta, Ferdinand, Helen and Evelyn.
Kidsgrove was made a parish in 1852 and Frederick became the vicar.
The school in The Avenue was now too small to accommodate all the children who wanted to attend. Frederick asked Kinnersley for help and he agreed to build new schools.
Designed by Hanley architect Henry Ward, whose other buildings include Bucknall Church and Stoke Town Hall, the new schools were erected in Liverpool Road. Opened in 1854, the single storey Gothic style red brick building with stone facings, which was demolished a few years ago, contained three schools, a boys’ school, a girls’ school and an infants’ school. Each school had accommodation for 80 pupils and there were covered playgrounds where the children could play when it rained.
Frederick remained Vicar of Kidsgrove until 1880 when he was appointed Rector of Tettenhall. He died there aged 75 on March 15th, 1884. His body was brought back to Kidsgrove and buried in the cemetery which overlooked the schools in Liverpool Road
Mining historian, Jim Worgan will be talking about the history of Mow Cop Tunnel on Thursday, March 15th at Newcastle Borough Museum and Art Gallery.
The talk starts at 2.30pm. Mr. Worgan will give an account of the tunnel’s construction and talk about the tramway which carried coal through it from collieries near Harriseahead to a wharf on the Macclesfield Canal at Kent Green.
Admission costs £1 for members of The Friends of the Borough Museum and £3 for non-members.
In 1847, Randle Wilbraham claimed that Mow Cop Castle, which was partly in Cheshire and partly in Staffordshire, belonged to the Rode Estate. He repaired the building and installed a new door which was kept locked to prevent the public gaining access.
The county boundary, which also marked the boundary between the Rode Estate and the ancient Manor of Tunstall, ran through the centre of the castle.
Ralph Sneyd, the Lord of The Manor of Tunstall said the part of the building in Staffordshire belonged to him. Although unable to prove ownership, Randle continued to keep the door locked and Ralph’s attorney broke it down and regained possession for his client.
Randle sued Ralph for trespass and the case was heard at Stafford Assizes on 19th March, 1850.
After opening his case, Randle’s counsel called his first witness Rode Estate’s steward, George Reece, who said the building was partly in Staffordshire and partly in Cheshire.
George told the court he had been employed by Randle for 37 years. He said the estate had repaired the castle on two previous occasions once in 1824 and again in 1841. When cross examined by Ralph’s counsel, George admitted that before 1847 the castle was unlocked and open to anyone.
John Stanier, whom Randle paid 2/6d a year to look after the building, said there were many visitors during the summer adding that those from Staffordshire drank beer while those from Cheshire drank water or something better if they could get it.
Another witness, Joel Poyton, said Randle gave him the key in 1847 along with instructions to let visitors into the castle at any time other than when church services were taking place on Sundays.
Summing up the judge, Mr Justice Patteson, told the members of the jury they had to decide who owned the half of the building that was in Staffordshire and said that Ralph could not be guilty of trespass if he owned it.
The case baffled the jury who found Ralph guilty of trespass while finding as a fact that half the property belonged to Randle while the other half belonged to Ralph. Redirecting the jury, the judge told it that if half the land belonged to Ralph then half the castle belonged to him and he could not be found guilty of trespassing on his own property.
However, the complexities of land law continued to confuse the jury.
Eventually the parties agreed to settled out of court. Randle accepted that the Staffordshire half belonged to Ralph and withdrew the case. They agreed the castle should be kept locked and that each would have a key. A man living at Mow Cop would be given a key and told to allow the public into the building at any time other than during the hours of Divine Service on Sundays.
Copyright David Martin – The Phoenix Trust 2012
Photograph: The copyright on this image is owned by Galatas and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
Stafford’s Shire Hall where Wilbraham v Sneyd was heard in 1850
Our series Harper’s Mow Cop which ended last week created widespread interest in the legends and the myths surrounding Mow Cop Castle.
In the first post in our new series Focus on Kidsgrove, the Phoenix Trust’s chief executive international heritage lawyer and legal historian David Martin looks at Wilbraham v Sneyd, a 19th century case involving the castle.
Wilbraham v Sneyd
Most historians accept that Mow Cop Castle, which stood on the boundary of Staffordshire and Cheshire, was built by the Wilbraham family in 1754. The county boundary, which ran through the centre of the castle, marked the boundary between the Wilbrahams’ Rode Estate and the ancient Manor of Tunstall.
During 1847, Randle Wilbraham claimed that the castle, including the part erected in the Manor of Tunstall, belonged to the Rode Estate. He repaired the building and put a new door in the doorway which was kept locked to prevent the public gaining access.
Ralph Sneyd, the Lord of the Manor of Tunstall, said half the castle belonged to him because it was in the manor.
Randle was unable to produce any documentary evidence to prove that the castle was part of the Rode Estate and Ralph’s attorney broke down the door and regained possession for his client.
Randle sued Ralph for trespass.
The case was heard before Mr Justice Patteson at Stafford Assizes, which were held in the Shire Hall, on March 19th, 1850. To win his case, Randle had to prove he had the right to exclude everyone from the property.
Opening the case, Randle’s counsel Mr Keating QC told the jury the castle was of ancient construction and that there was no one alive who could remember when it was erected. He went on to say that the Wilbraham family, who resided at Rode Hall, believed the castle was built about a 100 years ago. He admitted it had been erected partly in Cheshire and partly in Staffordshire and that the door which had been forced open was in Staffordshire.
Despite this, the Wilbrahams had always treated the castle as their property and were surprised when Ralph said it belonged to him.
Mr Keating said he hoped to call witnesses, who remembered the castle when they were young, who would say it was kept locked and that the Wilbraham family had the key.
Concluding his opening speech, Mr Keating called his first witness.
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