Stone is a town in Staffordshire, England, situated about 13 miles north of Stafford. It is the second town, after Stafford itself, in the Borough of Stafford, and has long been of importance from the point of view of communications. Stone gave its name to both an urban district council and a rural district council before becoming part of the borough in 1974. In 2001 it had a population of 14,555.
Communications
Roads
Stone stands in the valley of the River Trent, and was an important stopping-off point for the coaches on one of the roads turnpiked in the 18th century. A directory for 1851 says that Stone was a very lively town, and a great thoroughfare for coaches, carriers and travellers … No fewer than 38 stage coaches passed through the town daily.
The road was later to become the trunk road (the A34 road) from Birmingham to the North, but Stone is now by-passed by the M6 motorway.
Railways
The coming of the railway was to end Stone’s era as a coaching town. The North Staffordshire Railway opened its main line from Congleton through Stone to Norton Bridge on 3 April 1848; the following year a branch line from Stone to Colwich began operating.
The Trent & Mersey Canal
The River Trent, which runs through the town, had been used for cargo-carrying vessels since Roman times but the further inland, the smaller the boats that could be used. Seasonal fluctuations in water depth proved insurmountable, although cargo could be carried from the sea as far south as Wilden Ferry (SE of Derby), where the River Derwent joins the Trent and increases the quantity of water, then onwards by road.
James Brindley, the canal builder, put forward the scheme to build what he called the Grand Trunk Canal to connect the two rivers, Mersey and Trent in 1766. It was backed by Josiah Wedgwood who saw that it offered an efficient way to bring raw materials to the potteries and to transport finished wares to his customers.
By 29th September 1772 (Brindley died on 27th September), 48 miles of the Grand Trunk Canal (now known as the Trent & Mersey Canal) from Wilden Ferry to Stone was navigable - the length past Burton-on-Trent being completed in 1770.
Stone became the Headquarters of the canal company with its office at Westbridge House, sited then below Star Lock on what is now Westbridge Park. The offices were moved later to Stoke on Trent.
The Canal Cruising Company today operates from the historic site of the canal maintenance and boat building operations of the Trent & Mersey Canal Company. This restored docks complex with its workshops, by Yard Lock, continues to be used for the maintenance of pleasure craft and historic boats.
Stone today
Stone parish church, dedicated to St Michael the Archangel, is at the south end of the town. It was commenced in 1753, and finished in 1758. Christ Church stands on the north side of the town, where the population is still increasing. It was erected in 1839.
The canal still dominates the town, as witness the following:
- John Joules Brewery brewed beer from 1758, although it is now closed. The canal playing a great part in their export. They once owned a pair of boats that delivered coal to the brewery and as late as the 1950s had the telephone number ‘Stone 1’. Joules bottle store remains an imposing building on the canal.
- The Star Public House was fully licensed in 1819 although the building predates the canal by some 200 years. The building has in its time been a butcher’s shop and slaughterhouse. Stabling for boat horses was available up to the 1950s and the business relied heavily on the canal for trade.
- Many canal side sites have in recent times been taken over for modern day use including ‘The Moorings’ a development of apartments based on the old Stubbs warehouse and also apartments and housing surround the old Trent Hospital, once the Workhouse. Housing developments also border the canal.
- Commercial traffic has now been replaced by the leisure craft that pass through Stone each year.
Personalities
- James Brindley, the Surveyor-General of the Trent & Mersey Canal.
- L. T. C. Rolt, author of ’Narrowboat’ which helped to promote the canal network of today, plus several engineering biographies and other works.
- Cedric Price, architect, was born in Stone in 1934.
- Rendel Wyatt the founder, in 1948, of the Canal Cruising Company in Stone. Rendel was a pioneer of Narrowboat holidays.
Population
Some figures are as follows:
- 1801 2843
- 1831 7808
- 1841 8349
- 1991 12646
External links
Last updated: 07-29-2005 20:36:43
