Leek: Endon

ENDON

Endon was formerly a township in Leek parish 2,303 a. (932 ha.) in area (fn. 1) and later part of a civil parish which included Longsdon and Stanley until 1894. That year a new civil parish called Endon and Stanley was formed, excluding Longsdon. (fn. 2) The area is mostly pasture, but there is much suburban housing in the south-west along the main road between Leek and the Potteries. The boundary follows brooks on the east and south (fn. 3) and ridges on the west. A boundary change in 1934 added 86 a. from Horton, with the loss of 2 a. to Biddulph. (fn. 4) A further boundary change in 1988 transferred a block of land along the west side of Endon to Brown Edge civil parish, whilst adding to Endon the Brown Edge part of Stockton Brook in the south-west. As a result the area of Endon and Stanley civil parish was reduced from 2,827 a. (1,144 ha.) to 2,682 a. (1,086 ha.). (fn. 5) This article deals only with the former township of Endon.

The land lies at its highest, 900 ft. (274 m.), in the north-west part of the township. It falls gradually to the south-east and is 645 ft. (196 m.) at Endon Bank, a promontory in the centre of the township overlooking the valley of Endon brook. The land drops sharply beneath Endon Bank and is 482 ft. (146 m.) on the main Leek road. To the south-east it rises to 710 ft. (216 m.) at Reynolds Hay Farm. The underlying rock is sandstone of the Millstone Grit series, apart from Endon Bank which is Bunter Sandstone. There is Boulder Clay in the south-east part of the township and alluvium along the brooks. The soil is mostly fine loam, with an area of coarse loam in the east around Hollinhurst Farm. (fn. 6)

Forty people in Endon were assessed for hearth tax in 1666. (fn. 7) The population was 445 in 1821, 487 in 1831, 571 in 1841, and 658 in 1851. (fn. 8) The population of Endon and Stanley civil parish was 1,354 in 1901, 1,583 in 1911, 1,512 in 1921, and 1,471 in 1931. By 1951 it was 1,907. The population thereafter rose steadily, chiefly as a result of the building of housing estates in Endon: it was 2,697 in 1961, 3,792 in 1971, and 3,793 in 1981. In 1991, after the 1988 boundary change, the population was 3,288. (fn. 9)

A Bronze Age axe-head found at Henridding Farm on the west side of the township may indicate prehistoric settlement. (fn. 10) The site of a settlement called Endon in 1086 may have been in the area of Endon Bank, which is presumably the hill (dun) from which Endon takes its name. (fn. 11) By the later 13th century much of the township was parkland and settlement may have been limited: several tenants of Endon manor in 1308 were stated to have no houses attached to their land. The parkland had been converted to farmland by the mid 16th century, with a resulting pattern of scattered farmhouses. (fn. 12)

The oldest surviving house is Sutton House on the east slope of Endon Bank. Of the 16th century and possibly built for Richard Sutton (d. 1547), (fn. 13) the house was enlarged in the 17th and 18th centuries. It stands at the junction of a road which formed part of the route between Newcastle-under-Lyme and Leek before the early 19th century (fn. 14) and Hallwater Lane, so called in 1495. (fn. 15) To the east Hallwater Lane meets the present main Leek road and becomes Park Lane, a road which runs across the former parkland in the east part of the township. The earliest settlement in that area was possibly at Hollinhurst, on a hill north of the road near the eastern boundary. The site was occupied by 1574, (fn. 16) and the present Hollinhurst Farm retains a date stone of 1656. On Park Lane itself Reynolds Hay Farm, Lawn Farm, and Manor Farm are all of the 17th century, as is Hallwater Farm in Hallwater Lane. Manor Farm, probably the home of the Tomkinson family in 1607, was rebuilt in 1637 for Roger Tomkinson and his wife Mary. (fn. 17) The house was extended on the north side in the 18th century and remodelled in the early 19th century. Park Farm is of the early 19th century and may have been built for William Hand, a tanner, who lived there in 1816. (fn. 18)

In the former parkland in the north part of the township there was a house by the later 16th century called the Ashes, on the road to Horton. The present 17th-century house with early 18thcentury additions was built either for John Bellot (d. 1659), who was joint lord of Horton from 1625, or for his son Sir John (d. 1674). (fn. 19) Gate House Farm to the south-west is partly of the 17th century, and there was a house at Woodcock Hurst near the Horton boundary by the later 17th century. (fn. 20) West of the Horton road there was a house on the site of Hole House by 1561, (fn. 21) and one by 1607 in Holehouse Lane on the site of Knowles Farm. (fn. 22) Both the present houses are of the 19th century. Further west the site of Hollin House was occupied by the later 16th century, as was that of Ladymoor Farm on the north-western boundary. (fn. 23) The present Hollin House is of the 17th century; Ladymoor Farm was rebuilt in the 19th century. Lanehead Farm in Holehouse Lane was so called in 1648 (fn. 24) and the present house is mostly of the 18th century.

Endon village grew up in the 17th century where the Newcastle-Leek road forded a brook north-east of Endon Bank: cottages of the 17th and early 18th century survive in Brook Lane and in a road called the Village. There was an inn, the Black Horse, by 1802. (fn. 25) It was moved to its present site on the new line of the Newcastle- Leek road east of the village presumably after that line was constructed between 1816 and 1820. (fn. 26)

By the 17th century there were houses elsewhere along the Newcastle-Leek road. One was recorded in 1607 at Woodhouse Green about ½ mile from where the road enters the township on the west; it was possibly on the site of Clay Lake Farm, so called in 1678. (fn. 27) East of Woodhouse Green the road drops into a valley, where it meets a road from Stanley at a place called Lane End in 1648. A house there then was probably the predecessor of the present Lane Ends House, which is mainly of the 18th century. (fn. 28) North-east of Lane End there was formerly a row of cottages where the road, as Church Lane, begins to climb Endon Bank. One cottage had a stone showing a skull and crossbones with the date 1663 and was possibly used as a stoppingplace for funeral parties going to the parish church in Leek, before Endon acquired its own church in the early 18th century. (fn. 29) Another cottage was occupied by 1816 as the Plough inn, (fn. 30) whose present south-facing front is an extension of the original building and dates from after the construction of the new line of the Newcastle-Leek road. Half-way up Church Lane stands Bank House Farm, of the 18th century and possibly on the site of a house recorded at Endon Bank in 1677. (fn. 31) Bank House to the north-west on the summit of Endon Bank almost certainly incorporates what in 1808 was called Endon House, then described as pleasantly situated on an eminence with gardens, nurseries, and fish ponds. (fn. 32) In 1815 it was the home of John Daniel, one of the owners of the New Hall pottery works in Shelton, in Stokeupon-Trent. (fn. 33) Daniel was a free thinker, and when he died in 1821 he was buried without religious ceremony in unconsecrated ground near the house. His sister Alice was buried there in the same manner in 1827. (fn. 34) In the later 19th century the house, then known as Endon Bank, was enlarged by a Leek solicitor, George Smith (d. 1892). (fn. 35)

In the south-west part of the township there was a house at Moss Hill called the Moss in 1750 and Moss Hall in 1772, and one in 1750 to the north at Endon Edge. (fn. 36) The former Waterfall Cottage in woodland at the south end of Endon Edge was occupied in 1841 by Elizabeth Basnett and in 1851 by James Basnett, a stone cutter and the owner of a beerhouse near the Caldon canal. (fn. 37) Rock Cottage to the north-west was built as a cottage ornée in 1846 for Abner Wedgwood, who died there in 1869. It was enlarged after being bought in 1890 by James Slater, director of art at the Doulton pottery works at Burslem. In 1983 a private nursing home was opened in the house, which was extended in 1984 and 1985. (fn. 38)

By the later 18th century there was a hamlet at Hill Top on the township's north-western boundary. In the earlier 19th century it was occupied chiefly by miners who worked in Brown Edge. The hamlet had a beerhouse in 1841, possibly on the site of the present Rose and Crown inn, recorded from 1871. (fn. 39)

The character of the south-western part of the township changed after the construction in the later 1840s of Leek Road and the opening of railway stations in 1867 and 1896. (fn. 40) The improved communications with the Potteries led to the building of detached and semi-detached houses. The former Endon Hall on the west side of Leek Road had been built by 1854, when it was occupied by James Bateman Wathen, the owner by 1864 of a pottery works in Fenton. It was remodelled in 1877. (fn. 41) Orford Road at the north end of Leek Road was laid out in the 1870s, (fn. 42) and was probably named after William Orford (d. 1897), for whom Endon Lodge near the Plough inn had been built by 1868. (fn. 43) In 1881 a house in Orford Road was the home of a ceramic artist and painter Herbert Wilson Foster (d. 1918). (fn. 44) The road to Stanley, running parallel to Orford Road on the north, was renamed Station Road, and Alder House at its east end was built in the late 1870s. (fn. 45) Houses were also built in the 1870s in Stoney Lane, running west from Lane Ends House, and on the Newcastle road to the north. (fn. 46) In 1896 five pairs of houses were built at Stockton Brook at the south end of Leek Road, (fn. 47) and a house called Heather Rocks on the road north from Stockton Brook to Brown Edge is dated 1901. A fountain was erected in 1898 at the top of Leek Road to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. It was demolished in the 1930s, apart from an inscribed stone which survives as the base of a seat. (fn. 48)

Suburban development was intensified after the First World War. Houses had been built by the earlier 1920s on the west side of Leek Road south of Basnetts Wood Road and by the later 1930s in side roads to the north, Spencer Avenue, Platts Avenue, and Brookfield Avenue. (fn. 49) Endon Hall was demolished in the later 1950s, and houses were built on its site in what became Kent Drive, named after the builder. (fn. 50) Houses were built on the east side of Leek Road from the 1950s. In the 1970s a large privately-built housing estate was laid out on the rising ground west of the Plough inn, along with smaller estates south-east of the inn and in Brook Side Drive in Endon village. The western stretch of Stoney Lane, later Hazelwood Road, is part of another large privately-built housing estate begun in the 1970s. From the summit of Hazelwood Road the estate continues down to Leek Road on either side of Basnetts Wood Road and includes the site of Waterfall Cottage. Railway Court and Dorian Way off Station Road were built c. 1990, and Station Road was then Endon's main shopping area.

Endon association for the prosecution of felons was formed evidently in 1801. It still existed in 1838. (fn. 51) Endon had a village policeman in 1847. His successor in 1851, William Hand, was still the policeman in 1871. (fn. 52)

A post office was opened in Endon village in 1853, possibly at the corner of Brook Lane and the Village, its site in the late 19th century. (fn. 53) By 1912 it was also a telephone call office. (fn. 54) There was a post office at Stockton Brook by 1898. (fn. 55)

An isolation hospital on the south-western boundary was opened for Leek rural sanitary district in 1894. Rebuilt in 1915, it was closed in 1931. (fn. 56)

Much of the township had a mains water supply by 1914. A sewerage scheme was completed in 1918, with a works in the west part of Longsdon; the works was rebuilt in 1970. (fn. 57) An electricity substation was opened at Stockton Brook in 1932, and by 1940 electricity was apparently available for the whole of Endon. There was a gas supply by 1940. (fn. 58)

Communications.

The road between Newcastleunder-Lyme and Leek crossed over Horton brook east of Endon village by a bridge in existence by 1367 and mentioned as a stone bridge in 1561. (fn. 59) The road was turnpiked in 1765. A tollgate was set up east of the junction with the road to Stanley in 1766, and by 1767 there was a tollhouse. (fn. 60) Between 1816 and 1820 a new line was constructed from the Plough inn to the present Black Horse inn, avoiding the steep rise up Endon Bank. (fn. 61) The road was disturnpiked in 1879. (fn. 62) A cast-iron milepost dated 1821 originally stood at Woodhouse Green, where it marked the 7-mile point from Newcastle. (fn. 63) In 1991 it stood on Leek Road in front of Endon county high school. Other mileposts on the Newcastle-Leek road were replaced in 1879 by the present cast-iron posts. (fn. 64)

Leek Road, which enters the township at Stockton Brook and joins the Newcastle road at Lane End, formed part of a turnpike road from Stoke-upon-Trent. It was built under an Act of 1840 apparently in the later 1840s. (fn. 65)

The Caldon canal, opened probably in 1778, runs through Endon. (fn. 66) East of Park Lane the canal originally ran along the line of the later railway, but it was realigned to the south in the 1790s, in connexion with the building of a branch to Leek. (fn. 67) There was a wharf on the canal near Park Lane by 1860. (fn. 68) A basin and wharf south-west of Endon railway station were built probably in the 1910s, and in 1917 a mechanical chute was installed, designed to discharge stone brought by rail from Caldon Low. (fn. 69) Abandoned in 1961, the canal was reopened for leisure boats in 1974. (fn. 70)

A railway opened in 1867 from Stoke-uponTrent to the Churnet Valley line at Leekbrook south of Leek ran through the south part of Endon, and there was a station on the road to Stanley. (fn. 71) Another station was opened at Stockton Brook in 1896; it was closed in 1956. (fn. 72) Endon station was closed in 1960 when passenger services were ended, but the railway continued in use as a mineral line until 1989. (fn. 73)

Social and cultural activities.

A welldressing festival was started in 1845. (fn. 74) That year Thomas Heaton (fn. 75) built a fountain in Endon village, and it was decorated to mark Oak Apple Day (29 May). By 1852 what had become an annual event began with an afternoon procession to the church, where a sermon was preached, followed by a visit to the fountain, which had been decorated with flowers; tea was then served, and there was dancing in Jaw Bone field on the east side of the Methodist chapel in the village. An estimated 300 people attended the event in 1852 and 400 in 1853, some of whom came from the Potteries. An organizing committee had evidently been established by 1856, when admission to the grounds at Jaw Bone field was by 1s. ticket only. A quadrille band was engaged in 1861, and for many years from 1864 music was provided by Endon brass band.

There was an estimated attendance of 1,200 in 1864 and of over 2,000 in 1872. By then it was normal to keep the well decorated and the field open for a second day, and the festivities included a May queen and maypole dancing. In 1906 it was decided to hold the event over a weekend, beginning on the Saturday nearest 29 May and ending on the Monday. In 1916 there was a further change to Whit weekend. In 1991 the festival was held on the weekend of the spring bank holiday. (fn. 76)

By 1860 it was the custom to distribute the profits of the festival, by then some £25, among the poor of the area on St. Thomas's day (21 December). (fn. 77) The festival's growing popularity created problems for those arranging the event, especially as regards the disposal of the money raised. In 1868 Thomas Heaton, then of Alton, vested the fountain in a body of trustees, whose main function was to administer the funds. They were also to ensure that the festival was conducted in an orderly manner; it was Heaton's wish that the well-dressing should provide 'innocent recreation and enjoyment' for the inhabitants of Endon village and the neighbourhood 'without giving encouragement to any act of intemperance or vice'. (fn. 78) The trustees included the recently appointed vicar, James Badnall, (fn. 79) who emphasized the church's role in the festival by engaging visiting preachers to deliver sermons. Under the terms of the trust the profits were to be distributed in bread to the poor of Endon village and the immediate neighbourhood on 21 December and were also to be used for the Church of England Sunday school, the Wesleyan Methodist Sunday school, and 'the free grammar school' (Endon parochial school). A Scheme of 1974 reorganized what was by then called the Endon Well Dressing Festival Charity. The beneficiaries in 1991 included both Sunday schools and other youth groups and voluntary organizations in Endon. (fn. 80)

In 1854 James Basnett advertised the opening of his gardens and 'new pleasure grounds' at Waterfall Cottage during Stoke wakes' week, beginning on Monday 7 August. The main attraction was the woodland walk to a waterfall. The opening apparently became an annual event: it still took place in 1867. In 1865 the grounds were also opened at the time of the well-dressing festival. Basnett's house became a private school in 1868, and the public use of the grounds presumably ceased. (fn. 81)

Endon friendly society was established in 1820. By 1876 it had 416 members and assets of nearly £3,800, derived partly from the tenancy of the Plough inn. The society acquired the tenancy in 1859 and surrendered it in the 1870s. By 1878 the society had a reading room, probably in the Plough inn. (fn. 82) The society still existed in 1899. (fn. 83) A Women's Institute was formed in 1920. (fn. 84) The Endonian Society, an all-male body devoted to record the history of the area, was established in 1961. (fn. 85)

A parish room opened in 1905 probably stood west of Alder House in Station Road: land there, with a building used as a parish room and later as a village hall, was given in 1915 to the Lichfield Diocesan Trust by E. W. Hollinshead of Endon. (fn. 86) A recreation ground south of the hall was acquired in 1927 as a war memorial. (fn. 87)

Endon had a cricket club in 1871, and by 1898 its ground was at the north end of Station Road. A ground near Moss Hill was used from c. 1950 until 1962 and one in Stanley from 1963. (fn. 88) A football club was established in 1876, (fn. 89) but nothing further is known about it. Endon Tennis Club existed by 1896, (fn. 90) and in 1991 its courts were on part of the former cricket ground in Station Road. Courts south of Moss Hill, in existence by the earlier 1920s, (fn. 91) were used in 1991 by Stockton Brook Tennis Club.

MANOR.

Before the Conquest ENDON was held by Dunning and in 1086 by the king. It may have passed later to the earls of Chester and then back to the Crown in 1237. (fn. 92) By 1273 it had passed to John de Verdun of Alton, and in 1299 and 1308 Endon was held of Theobald, Lord Verdun, by homage only. (fn. 93) When Theobald died in 1316 he left four daughters as heirs, none of whom seems to have claimed the overlordship of Endon, and later the same year it was held by Margaret, Baroness Stafford, who received a rent of 5s. as service. (fn. 94) The Staffords were overlords of Horton, which was held by the same undertenant as Endon, and that presumably explains the change in overlordship. The Staffords remained overlords of Endon in 1411, when it was last mentioned as a separate manor. (fn. 95)

Henry de Audley evidently held Endon in 1246 (fn. 96) and his son James was the undertenant in 1252. (fn. 97) The manor descended with the Audleys' adjoining manor of Horton.

There was evidently a manor house in 1246 when the bishop visited Henry de Audley at Endon. (fn. 98) It probably stood on the moated site at the north end of Park Lane. (fn. 99)

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

Agriculture.

Endon was stated in 1086 to have land for one or two ploughteams. (fn. 100) In the early 14th century the lord of the manor had no arable in demesne, presumably because much of Endon was by then parkland. (fn. 101) The conversion of parkland into farmland by the mid 16th century resulted in the creation of small holdings: of the 590 a. held by customary tenants in 1607, half was in holdings of 25 a. or less. (fn. 102) Lady moor in the north-west part of Endon belonged to the lord of the manor in 1399. It was regarded as common waste by the early 17th century and was then being encroached upon. (fn. 103)

The 10s. which by the late 1460s the Audleys took each year from the works (de operibus) of Endon suggests the commutation of labour services. The sum was still demanded in 1509. (fn. 104) In the mid 16th century and in 1607 the Audleys also took 'worksilver' at Michaelmas from three tenements in Endon. (fn. 105)

Dieulacres abbey, the owner of the tithes of Endon as rector of Leek, had a tithe barn in Endon. (fn. 106)

Of the 762 ha. of farmland returned for Endon and Stanley civil parish in 1988, grassland covered 734.7 ha. and there were 16.3 ha. of rough grazing. Dairy farming predominated, with 1,761 head of cattle. There were 399 sheep and lambs and 3,000 hens. Of the 34 farms returned, 31 were under 49 ha. in size and 3 were between 50 and 99 ha. (fn. 107)

Warren And Park.

In 1252 James de Audley was granted free warren in Endon. (fn. 108) Endon park was mentioned in 1273, when its pannage and herbage were valued at 10 marks (£6 13s. 4d.). (fn. 109) The park was extensive, stretching across Endon to the south-eastern boundary. A reference in 1308 to the 'Old Park' suggests the existence of an additional area of parkland by that date; (fn. 110) in 1341 there was mention of Hanley park, which lay between Park Lane and Endon brook and extended into Cheddleton. (fn. 111) The name of Reynolds Hay farm at the south end of Park Lane may indicate an enclosure associated with the park, and Lawn farm was known in the earlier 17th century as the Laund, a name meaning woodland pasture and possibly referring to grassland reserved for deer. (fn. 112) A nest of sparrowhawks or falcons was stolen from the park in 1283, and Richard the parker was assessed for tax in Endon in 1333. (fn. 113) The parkland had been converted into farmland by the mid 16th century. (fn. 114)

Mill.

There was a mill at Endon in 1273, and in 1276 it was stated to be in the park. (fn. 115) What was called Hanley mill in 1401 stood on Endon brook east of Endon village, and the bridge taking the Leek road over the brook was known as Mill bridge in 1679. (fn. 116) The mill no longer existed by 1732. (fn. 117)

Trade And Industry.

There was a fulling mill on Endon brook near the site of Hanley mill in 1738 and 1756. (fn. 118) A dyer, William Whieldon, lived in Endon village in 1721, possibly in the cottage in Brook Lane which carries the date 1710 and the initials ww. There were two dyers, Richard Johnson and his son Richard, in Endon in the 1740s. (fn. 119) All three may have been associated with the fulling mill.

A tanner, Daniel Nickson, lived in Park Lane in 1721 and 1728. (fn. 120) In 1816 William Hand of Park Farm in Park Lane had a tanyard south of his house. It was still run by Hand when offered for sale in 1839. (fn. 121) The tanhouse owned by John Sutton in 1740 (fn. 122) probably stood on the site of a tanyard in Hallwater Lane in 1816. When offered for sale in 1829, the yard included a barkmill with a new engine; there was also a warehouse, which survived in 1991 as Hallwater Cottages. (fn. 123)

In 1838 there was a quarry west of Moss Hill, producing stone which was used in the pottery trade and as ballast for railway tracks. (fn. 124) The quarry was still worked in the late 1930s. (fn. 125) Stone was probably quarried in the wood south of Endon Edge by 1851. Two stone masons and a stone quarryman then lived in a row of cottages there, which had possibly been built by a stone cutter, James Basnett of the nearby Waterfall Cottage. (fn. 126) A quarry west of the cottages was disused by the late 1870s, but another quarry was then worked north of Waterfall Cottage; it was apparently disused by the early 1920s. (fn. 127)

A brickmaker named Thomas Potts lived at Endon Edge in 1859, and Charles and John Heath, also of Endon Edge, worked as drainpipe makers in 1861. (fn. 128) In the late 1870s there was a brickworks in Stonehaye Wood on the east side of Endon Edge. Run by Philip Kent in 1880, the works was closed between 1892 and 1896. (fn. 129)

Land Surveyors.

Charles Heaton, recorded as a surveyor in 1804, lived at Endon by 1815. He died there in 1859. (fn. 130) Two of his sons also practised as land surveyors: Thomas (d. 1875), who probably worked with his father, lived in Endon in 1856 but had moved to Alton by 1860; (fn. 131) Edwin, based in Leek in 1850 and in Cheddleton in 1860, moved between 1872 and 1876 to Hallwater House in Endon. (fn. 132) After Edwin's death in 1896 (fn. 133) the practice moved to a house dated 1897 on the Leek road south-west of the Plough inn, where it continued in 1991 as E. Heaton & Sons.

A surveyor named Robert Cleminson lived at Hallwater House in 1868. When Edwin Heaton came to live there c. 1874, Cleminson moved to Springfield House in the Woodhouse Green area, where he remained in practice until his death in 1893. (fn. 134) A surveyor named Charles Trubshaw lived at Stockton Brook in 1839 and 1840, (fn. 135) and Francis Figgins, a surveyor and engineer, lived there in 1842. (fn. 136)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Endon manor had its own court in 1278, and in 1293 the lord, Nicholas de Audley, claimed view of frankpledge, assize of bread and of ale, waif, and infangthief. (fn. 137) In 1308, however, Endon was subject to the Audleys' court at Horton, sending a frankpledge to the twice-yearly view by 1351. (fn. 138) It was still part of Horton manor in 1795. (fn. 139)

Stocks at Endon were mentioned in 1694 as out of repair. (fn. 140) A pinfold, which apparently stood next to the tollgate near the Plough inn, was removed in 1889. (fn. 141)

The township was part of the Endon quarter of Leek parish, and in the 1660s its poor were relieved jointly with those of Longsdon and Stanley by the quarter's overseer. (fn. 142) The poor were still relieved jointly in 1834, but separate assessments for each township were made by 1750. (fn. 143) Endon became part of Leek poor-law union in 1837. (fn. 144)

There was a surveyor of the highways for Endon in 1700. He was answerable to Horton manor court. (fn. 145)

CHURCH.

The lord of Endon, Henry de Audley, had a chapel at Endon in 1246. That year Bishop Roger de Weseham granted him permission to have members of his family baptized in the chapel and to establish a chantry there. As Weseham took care to obtain approval from Dieulacres abbey, as rector of Leek, Endon chapel may have been more than a private oratory. (fn. 146)

The present church was built between 1719 and 1721 by the inhabitants of Endon and Stanley on land given by Thomas Jodrell. (fn. 147) It was dependent on the parish church at Leek until 1865, when the chapelry became a parish, also including Longsdon. (fn. 148) The benefice, at first a perpetual curacy, was styled a vicarage from 1868. (fn. 149) In 1889 most of Longsdon was transferred to All Saints' parish, Leek. (fn. 150)

It was not until 1730 that the bishop granted a faculty for the administration of the sacraments at Endon. The delay may have been caused by a dispute over fees, settled in 1731 by an agreement between the vicar of Leek and the curate and trustees of Endon chapel. The vicar retained payments made in respect of the Easter roll, the modus for the tithe of hay in Endon and Stanley, and other customary dues. He also retained fees for churchings, marriages, and burials conducted by the curate, but apparently not for baptisms. The payments were to be collected by the curate, who was also to forward within three days the names of those who had been baptized, married, or buried at Endon for entry into the register at Leek. The vicar was also to have 'all the advantages of mourning cloth' in Endon chapel, probably the income from hiring out a pall for funerals. Once a year (but not on Easter Sunday) the curate, having been given at least 10 days' notice, was obliged to assist the vicar in administering Communion at Leek. (fn. 151) By 1832 the curate retained half the fee for churchings and part of that for burials. (fn. 152)

John Daintry (or Daventry) subscribed as curate of Endon in 1724, having been nominated in 1723 by Thomas Jodrell and the chapel trustees. A rival candidate had been nominated by the vicar of Leek. (fn. 153) In 1737 the earl of Macclesfield nominated, evidently in his capacity as patron of Leek. The earls retained the patronage until 1892 when it was transferred to the vicar of Leek. (fn. 154)

In 1720 Queen Anne's Bounty gave £200 to meet a benefaction of £200 from Thomas Jodrell and others. A further bounty of £200 was given in 1727 to meet £150 given by Lady Holford and £50 by the earl of Macclesfield. (fn. 155) By 1738 some or all of the money had been used to buy a 39-a. farm at Oulton, in Rushton Spencer, and a 21½-a. farm at Dale Green, in Wolstanton. (fn. 156) Besides fees the curate then received a rent of 6s. 8d. a year left by William Dudley (d. 1718) of Lyme House, in Longsdon, for a sermon on 29 May; (fn. 157) a rent charge of £5 given by Thomas Jodrell; (fn. 158) the income from pasturage in the churchyard and from an adjoining croft given by Thomas Jodrell; and some of the pew rents from the chapel. (fn. 159) The living was worth £120 a year c. 1830. (fn. 160) In 1887 there were 99 a. of glebe, with an estimated rental of £140 4s. (fn. 161) The farm in Wolstanton was sold apparently in 1911 and that at Rushton Spencer in 1916, and the proceeds were invested. (fn. 162)

No house for the curate was included in the original endowment, and in 1732 John Daintry lived at Dunwood, in Longsdon. His successor, Enoch Tompkinson, lived in Park Lane at the time of his death in 1761. (fn. 163) The curate in 1851, Daniel Turner, lived at Hallwater House, where he died in 1864. (fn. 164) A vicarage house was built in 1914 off the Leek road south-west of the Plough inn; it was replaced in the later 1970s by a house built in the garden. (fn. 165)

In 1830 there were two Sunday services and Communion was celebrated five times a year. (fn. 166) On Census Sunday 1851 the attendance was 40 in the morning and 100 in the afternoon, besides Sunday school children. (fn. 167) The church had psalm singers and a band in 1815. The singers, still recorded in 1858, probably survived until 1862 when a harmonium was installed. (fn. 168) A surpliced choir took part in the opening service for the chancel in 1879. (fn. 169)

There was a mission room at Hill Top in 1881, and a mission church was built there in 1900. It was closed in 1978, and with the adjoining caretaker's cottage it was later converted into a dwelling called Mission House. (fn. 170)

There was a chapelwarden by 1802. (fn. 171) A clerk, recorded in 1738, had his salary fixed at £5 in 1813, when he was also given a house with a garden. (fn. 172)

The present church of ST. LUKE dates mostly from the 1870s. It predecessor, of coursed rubble with stone dressings, consisted of a nave with a small sanctuary and a west tower. (fn. 173) There were two galleries in 1830, one presumably at the west end and approached through the tower by the external stairs which still survive. (fn. 174) In the 1850s the nave had box pews, and there was a two-decker pulpit at its south-east corner. (fn. 175) The church was rebuilt in ashlar in the later 1870s. The new church had a south aisle of three bays and a south-west porch, designed by Jeremiah and Joseph Beardmore of Hanley, who also designed a chancel arch. The chancel itself, with a sanctuary and north organ chamber, was designed by R. Scrivener & Sons of Hanley and was not completed until 1879. The box pews were removed and the pulpit was replaced by one of stone at the north-east corner of the nave. (fn. 176) Glass by Morris & Co. was installed in the east window in 1893 as a memorial to George Smith of Bank House. (fn. 177) A north aisle was added in 1899, the cost being met by Thomas Smith of Park Lane in memory of his wife. (fn. 178) A meeting room created under the tower in 1820 was extended to the south in 1970 to include lavatories. (fn. 179) A larger meeting room which adjoins the church on the north-west was built in the earlier 1980s. Called the Chapter House because of its octagonal shape, it was designed by Wood, Goldstraw & Yorath of Hanley. (fn. 180)

The church has a silver paten of 1638. (fn. 181) The single bell is dated 1726. (fn. 182) The furnishings include four altar frontals made in the late 19th century by the Leek Embroidery Society.

The registers date from 1731. (fn. 183)

The stone wall around the churchyard and the lychgate were built in 1874 at the cost of William Orford. (fn. 184) In 1898 the churchyard was enlarged on the north. (fn. 185)

NONCONFORMITY.

The only papist returned for Leek parish in 1705 was Elizabeth, wife of Andrew Heath of Endon. She was again returned in 1706, along with Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Pedley of Park Lane. (fn. 186)

John Reynolds of Clay Lake was recorded as a Quaker in 1704, and he and his family were members of the Friends' meeting at Leek in 1735. (fn. 187)

Houses in Endon registered for protestant worship in 1805, 1814, and 1815 were probably used by Wesleyan Methodists, who had a society of 10 members at Endon in 1815. (fn. 188) John Heath of Bank Farm registered his house for worship in 1824, (fn. 189) and two years later the society moved to the home of his brother George in Endon village. Members also attended the chapel at Gratton. (fn. 190) A chapel was opened in Endon village in 1835. In 1851 the average attendance was 18 in the afternoon, besides Sunday school children, and 42 in the evening. (fn. 191) Following the suburban development of the Leek Road area, a larger and more conveniently sited chapel, designed in a Gothic style by William Sugden of Leek, was built in 1874 at the corner of Leek Road and Station Road. The former chapel was sold and converted into two cottages. The new chapel was itself replaced in 1991 by one on the same site, designed by Hulme, Upright & Partners of Hanley and incorporating a rose window and terracotta medallions from its predecessor. (fn. 192)

In 1832 Hugh Bourne opened a Primitive Methodist chapel at Hill Top; it occupied the north end of a low stone building, the rest of which probably consisted of cottages. Bourne was himself a member of the congregation. On Census Sunday 1851 the attendance was 45 in the afternoon and 50 in the evening. (fn. 193) In 1880 the congregation moved to a chapel on the Norton-in-the-Moors side of the boundary, known in 1991 as Hill Top Methodist Church. (fn. 194)

John Charlesworth, excluded from the Hill Top chapel in 1880, formed his own society called Brown Edge Free Mission. It had a mission room at Hill Top, served by both Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist preachers. The room was closed in 1963, and the site was occupied by a bungalow in 1991. (fn. 195)

A New Connexion Methodist chapel at the Stockton Brook end of Leek Road was registered in 1888. Re-registered as Trinity Methodist Church in 1937, it was closed in 1977. (fn. 196) It was reopened by Seventh Day Adventists in 1978. Services ceased in the 1980s, and in 1991 the building stood empty. (fn. 197)

EDUCATION.

In 1750 a school and a master's house were built on land adjoining the south-east corner of Endon churchyard. John Wedgwood of Harracles, in Longsdon, and James Sutton of Endon gave the land, and the freeholders paid for the building. (fn. 198) There were 35 pupils in 1751, taught at their parents' expense. (fn. 199) In 1781 Thomas Sherratt of Endon bequeathed the interest on £60 to endow free places, and in 1786 his brother William left the interest on £50 for the same purpose. The capital was held by the brothers' nephew, John Hand (d. 1799), and in 1825 John's son William, of Park Farm, paid £4 8s. as the interest. The number of pupils supported by the charity money varied; there were three in 1825, but earlier apparently as many as 10. (fn. 200) In 1797 the master was given a garden adjoining his house by Thomas Harding, lord of Horton manor. (fn. 201) In 1825 a further annuity of £2 10s. was paid out of the tolls collected at Endon tollgate, for which the master taught two pupils free. (fn. 202) By the earlier 1820s the master also received money for teaching poor children from Stanley out of the charity of the Revd. Richard Shaw. (fn. 203)

Only 12 boys and 8 girls were taught at the school in 1847. (fn. 204) In 1855 the management of what was then called Endon parochial school was reorganized under a body of trustees which included the curate. The school was to take children from Endon chapelry aged between 6 and 16 years, and weekly pence were to be charged. (fn. 205) A new schoolroom was opened on the site of the old one in 1871. (fn. 206) A government grant was paid from 1872, and a voluntary rate was levied from 1875. There were 50 children on the books in 1875. (fn. 207)

In 1930 it was decided that Endon parochial school, then an all-age school with 84 children on its books, should become a junior school. The decision took effect in 1939, when the present Endon county high school on Leek Road was opened as a senior school. (fn. 208) The junior school took controlled status in 1958 as St. Luke's Church of England (Controlled) primary school. (fn. 209) It was moved to its present site in Leek Road in 1963, and the former building was demolished in 1965. (fn. 210) Another junior school, Endon Hall county primary school in Hillside Avenue, off Leek Road, was opened in 1969. (fn. 211)

A Church of England Sunday school had been established by 1826, (fn. 212) and both Endon's Methodist chapels had Sunday schools by 1851. On Census Sunday that year there were attendances of 40 at the Church of England Sunday school and of between 30 and 33 at the Wesleyan Methodist school; there was apparently no school that day at the Primitive Methodist chapel, but the attendance was stated to average 47. (fn. 213)

The curate of Endon, John Salt (d. 1832), ran a private school in 1825. (fn. 214) There was a girls' school at Sutton House in 1851, run by John Minshull and the Misses Minshull. (fn. 215) In 1868 Mary Owen opened a girls' day and boarding school called Endon New Hall in the present Stone House in Basnetts Wood Road, and her husband John ran a commercial day school for boys in Endon. (fn. 216) The boarding school was taken over in 1875 or 1876 by John Bailey, who by 1881 had moved it to Orford Road, where he ran it with his wife and daughter mainly as a day school. (fn. 217) The school apparently no longer existed in 1884. (fn. 218) In 1940 a preparatory school was held in West End Villa at Stockton Brook. (fn. 219)

CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.

Thomas Jodrell (d. 1728), the benefactor of Endon church, left a third of the interest on £200 for the poor of Endon chapelry. In the later 1780s the income was £2 10s. The same amount was disbursed in the earlier 1820s in 1s. doles. (fn. 220) John Boughey (d. 1749) of Little Chell, in Wolstanton, left the interest on £10 to be distributed on St. Thomas's day (21 December) to the poor of Endon chapelry. By the later 1780s the income was 8s., charged by 1888 on land at Endon Bank. (fn. 221) John Ball (d. probably 1749) of Endon gave the interest on £40 for the poor of Endon chapelry in the form of a weekly bread dole. In the later 1780s the income was £2. It was 30s. in the earlier 1820s, when it was charged on land at Blackwood Hill, in Horton. Bread worth 1s. was then distributed weekly, the shortfall in the cost of the bread being met from sacrament money. In 1888 the bread was distributed monthly. (fn. 222) John Wedgwood (d. 1757) of Harracles, in Longsdon, left half the interest on £120 for distribution to the poor of Endon chapelry at Candlemas (2 February). Endon's share in the later 1780s was £3. It was the same amount in the earlier 1820s and £1 16s. in 1888. (fn. 223) The Jodrell, Boughey, Ball, and Wedgwood charities were administered jointly by 1992, when six women each received £1. (fn. 224)

Francis Evans (d. 1824) of Lane Ends House left £50 for the distribution of 30s. worth of bread to the very poor at Christmas. (fn. 225) Nothing further is known about the charity.

In 1850 Thomas Wood, son-in-law of Charles Heaton of Endon, spent £20 on the purchase of 1 a. of land near Lane Ends House to yield 20s. a year for the distribution of bread to the poor of Endon chapelry. The charity still existed in 1888, but nothing further is known about it. (fn. 226)

Elizabeth Turner (d. 1865) of Bank House left half the interest on £100 for the poor of Endon chapelry. In 1888 a distribution of £1 16s. worth of coal was made at Christmas. George Smith (d. 1892) of Endon Bank left £200, the interest to be distributed at Christmas to the poor living within one mile of Endon village. The first distribution was made in 1895 and amounted to £6 15s. By will proved 1896 Edwin Heaton of Hallwater House left the interest on £70 to be distributed at Christmas to the poor of Endon in blankets and flannel. The Turner, Smith, and Heaton charities were administered jointly by 1992, when £8.50 was added to a charitable distribution made by the churchwardens out of church funds. (fn. 227)