On the right is no. 10, the first building in High Street, uphill from its junction with Heathcote Road and High Street, Halmer End. The house at left is no. 14.
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Researched by Clive Millington
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Note: Several ‘shops’ included in this article were nothing more than the front rooms of houses, used as a means of providing extra income. This was how many shops evolved in the local villages; the successful ones eventually being converted into proper shop premises. Others lasted for only short periods of time and as a result are only recorded today in the memories of those who used them many years ago. |
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On the right is no. 10, the first building in High Street, uphill from its junction with Heathcote Road and High Street, Halmer End. The house at left is no. 14.
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Fact file: No. 10 High Street In 1905 this building became the Halmer End branch of the Silverdale Equitable Industrial Co-operative Society. The store sold grocery and haberdashery items. After closure in the late 20th century the building stood empty for years before being rebuilt as houses in 2000.
The former Co-op in its derelict state in the 1990’s
During rebuilding in 2000
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Fact file: No. 14 High Street Arthur Humber, a builder, was there from 1916. He was also an undertaker. His son Jack Humber continued the undertaker’s business there until the 1970’s. |
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This pre-1909 view shows Church Farm on the left hand side and opposite are nos. 14 onward. In the centre of the view is the first Alsagers Bank Church. The view can be dated as pre-1909 because the man in the middle distance pushing a bicycle is George Richardson Riley who died in 1909. He was the son of William Riley, the Halmer End ironmonger. The girl in the white blouse is George’s daughter Elizabeth. They posed in this view for the photographer Thomas Warham.
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The same view in 1984 shows the addition of a house alongside Church Farm. On the opposite side the demolition of no. 16 has exposed the side of no. 20.
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Fact file: Church Farm Church Farm predates the church, which gave it its present name, by at least 100 years. The farm was formerly known as Alsager(s) Green Farm and Alsagers Bank Farm later. Alsager(s) Green was the area separating Halmer End from Alsagers Bank, and the Alsager family who lived there in the 17th century are believed to have given their name to the area. The family and Alsager(s) Green are mentioned by Richard Parrott in his 1733 An Account of the Parish of Audley (see Collections for a History of Staffordshire 1944 edition), but are recorded, from the local dialect, as Auger and Augers Green. In Parrott’s time the road, which is now High Street Alsagers Bank, High Street Halmer End and Shraley Brook Road Halmer End, was known as Halmer End Lane for its entire length; Alsager(s) Green and Alsagers Bank being part of Halmer End.
Farmers
Samuel Burgess is recorded in 1783 when Alsagers Green Farm of 77 acres was part of the Apedale estate of Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley. He is last recorded in an 1834 trade directory.
Joseph Burgess, a relative of the above, is recorded in the Audley Tithe Award in 1837, when the farm of 72 acres was owned by Richard Edensor Heathcote of Apedale Hall. It is not named but is clearly identified on the Tithe Map.
Benjamin Leighton is recorded in the 1851 census. He died in 1854 and his wife Hannah (née Wood) continued until 1857 when she gave up the business and sold the farming stock (see below). The farm at this time was called Alsagers Bank Farm.
Thomas Poole, who married Mary Burgess a relative of the above, recorded in a directory of 1860. He is last recorded in the 1871 census. By 1861 the farm had 120 acres of land.
Possibly James Smith who is recorded in the 1881 census for Alsagers Bank as a farmer. Also recorded in an 1884 trade directory.
William Eardley is recorded as a farmer and butcher in the 1891 census and as a farmer in an 1892 trade directory. In 1893 he declared himself bankrupt.
George Burgess, the eldest son of Daniel Burgess of Red Hall farm in Halmer End. He is recorded at the farm from 1900 until 1936. A land survey of 1910 records the farm, of 76 acres, in the ownership of the Midland Coal, Coke & Iron Company of Apedale.
Donald Bailey took over the tenancy of the farm in 1936 in the same year that he married Muriel Irene Burgess of the same Burgess families as above. In 1943 the farm, along with other former Heathcote properties, was sold by auction on 25 October to a Mr Durber. The farm then had 35 acres of land, let at an annual rent of £39. Donald Bailey later purchased the farm and continued there until his death in 1991. His son John took over and is still at the farm today.
The sale of the farming stock in 1857
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The old barn at Church Farm
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No. 34 ‘Bank Cottage’ with nos. 20-26 below. The entrance to Stone Quarry Farm is at left.
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Fact file: Stone Quarry Farm In 1837 John Bailey is recorded in the Audley Tithe Award as having a house here. A stone quarry (or hole) was on land belonging to a farm (name unknown) situated lower down the bank, where William Riley & Sons are now sited in Halmer End (see Halmer End – The Changing Face of High Street). That farm closed later. In 1851 John Bailey is recorded as a farmer of 9 acres but it is not until 1871 that the house (or farm) is recorded as Stone Hole. The name changed after 1904 to Stone Quarry Farm.
Farmers
John Bailey, from 1837-1867.
Henry Bailey, who was also the gamekeeper of the Heathcote family at Apedale Hall, was at the farm from 1867-1901.
Frederick William Bailey, from 1905-1916. A land survey of 1910 records the farm, of 23 acres, in the ownership of the Midland Coal, Coke & Iron Company of Apedale.
Hannah Bailey, widow of Frederick William, from 1921-1940.
Henry Bailey, from 1943 until about 1995. The farm was sold in 1943, at the same time as Church Farm. The sale catalogue states that the farm had 23 acres of land, let to Henry Bailey at a rent of £30 per annum.
The Baileys at Church Farm are the same family. |
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This was the first Alsagers Bank Church. It is recorded as being built in 1875 from funds provided by Captain J. H. Edwards-Heathcote of Apedale Hall, whose son was baptised in the first service in the church on 30 November 1876. The church is dedicated to St John but was only a Chapel of Ease attached to Chesterton Church until 1932. The early records of baptisms, marriages and burials are to be found in the Chesterton parish registers.
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The church was replaced in 1911 by this brick and tile building which still stands today. In 1932 the ecclesiastical parish of St John’s, Alsagers Bank was created. The following notice appeared in the October 1932 edition of the Audley Parish Magazine:
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The church on 3 February 2007. Although still the parish church of St John’s, it is now administered by the Vicar of Audley. (See also issue no. 10 of Audley Community News for more photos of the church)
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Halmer End War Memorial was unveiled on 22 September 1924 and commemorates the war dead of Halmer End, Miles Green, Alsagers Bank and Scot Hay, although several had already been commemorated on the Audley War Memorial in Church Street. (See Never to Return published in 2000 or the new edition published in 2007)
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The same view on 27 March 1996
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This pre-1911 view looking downhill to the church shows a group of old cottages at left. They were nos. 56-60 High Street and were demolished some time around 1950. At that time they were all owned by Mrs Martha Ellen Dean (see also no. 202). |
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Alsagers Bank Church Hall / Sunday School
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Fact file: Sunday School Alsagers Bank Church Sunday School was officially opened on Monday 21 February 1921 by Mrs Edwards-Heathcote of Betton Hall, near Market Drayton. It was not however the building showing above, but a transformed army hut. It lasted for just 4 years, being burnt down in February 1925. A replacement Sunday School, the one in the above photo, was erected and officially opened on Monday 4 January 1926 by Lady Mosley, the daughter of Captain and Mrs J. H. Edwards-Heathcote. The builders were Maddock Brothers of Audley. The building is now the Church Hall having long since ceased to be a Sunday School. |
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A pre-1916 view of nos. 61-71
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Nos. 61-71 (left) in 2008
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The opposite side of the road with “Quarry Side” (right) up to no. 116
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Looking back down the bank, the new properties at left have replaced the old nos. 122-136. Below are nos. 120 down to 114. On the hillside at the rear of these properties once stood a maze of more than twenty old cottages called Downing’s Place and Cornes’ Place. They were known locally as “The Holes”. Conditions there were bad and in 1910 three children from one family died in a diphtheria outbreak. Eventually the tenants were all re-housed in Council Houses in The Drive, built in the 1940’s, and the old properties were demolished.
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Fact file: No. 122 High Street This was the general merchandise shop of Aaron Bosworth from 1912 until 1936. |
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Fact file: No. 132 High Street Joseph Sumnall was a grocer there from 1892 until his death in 1913. In 1940, Mrs Ethel Beech was a confectioner. Harvey Beech, who was a barber, followed, selling sweets and cigarettes. He was still there in 1957. |
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The Boughey Arms public house
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Fact file: No. 115 High Street, The Boughey Arms Public House
Licensees: Dates are those for which records have been found. The intervening years could be covered by those listed or by an unrecorded licensee.
Ralph Downing 1834-1851 George Downing 1860 Ralph Downing 1864-1904 Thomas Warburton 1905 Thomas Wright 1910 George Wood 1912 Leonard Henshall 1916 Eli Henshall 1921-1928 William Otley 1932 John Trickett 1933-1936 John M. Ellis 1940 Thomas Brannan 1950 George Aldridge 1960
On Ralph Downing’s retirement in 1904 the Boughey Arms was put up for sale by public auction:
The Boughey Arms closed soon after 1960. It was demolished around 1970 and the site redeveloped. |
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The redeveloped nos. 117-121, set back from the road. No. 123 is the tall building on the right of view.
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The final section of the bank before High Street levels out, with nos. 142-146 at right and no. 135 at left. The buildings higher up on the left are in The Drive, the former gated driveway to nearby Apedale Hall. The driveway was reconstructed in the mid-19th century, but the entrance to the earlier driveway can still be seen, just past no. 135.
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This old view looks back down the bank. On the left is the Gresley Arms, and right is no. 135.
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Little change by 28 January 2007
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Fact file: No. 133 High Street From 1921 until 1932, this was recorded as the butcher’s shop of Bertram Henry Allman. The shop, however, was a wooden building in front of the house and could be the one just below no. 135 in the old photo above. |
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The Gresley Arms as it appeared in the early 20th century
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The Gresley Arms in March 1988
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Fact file: The Gresley Arms Public House
The public house is named after the Gresley family. Sir Nigel Gresley inherited the Apedale estate in 1754. In 1776 it passed to his eldest son Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley. He died in 1808 and the estate passed to his son Roger who had to wait until 1820 before he came of age and succeeded to the estate. By 1833 the Apedale estate was owned by Richard Edensor Heathcote, who had married his cousin Emma Gresley. The estate included the Gresley Arms which is first mentioned by name in a trade directory of 1834.
Licensees: Dates are those for which records have been found. The intervening years could be covered by those listed or by an unrecorded licensee.
William Jones 1834-1837 John Jones 1837 William Wilson 1841-1880 William Wilson (son of above) 1881-1884 Enoch Poole 1891-1892 Edwin Parkes 1896-1905 Ada Parkes 1905-1912 Charles William Burgess 1912-1949 Emmie Brayford 1950-1954 John Tellwright 1960 Douglas Forster 1970 Joseph Preece 1986-1991 Reginald Smith 1996 Carl Smith 2001-2005
The early publicans were also farmers on the land owned by the Heathcote family. William Wilson, however, later farmed from 25 to 27 acres of land which was attached only to the Gresley Arms. When Ada Parkes was there in 1910 this land had reduced to 18 acres and was owned by the Midland Coal, Coke & Iron Company of Apedale.
A view of the paddock attached to the Gresley Arms with Miss Wilson feeding the turkeys. The building in the background is the School House in The Drive. The paddock is now the Gresley Arms car park.
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