Stories

From hermit’s haven to parish landmark – a 1790 tour of the ancient church of Armitage

Gateway to the Past: A Story Cast in Iron

A Historic Chapel’s Transformation: From Worship to Cannabis Factory to Home

John Webb, Gardener to the Gentry

Soldiers from the Great War – four men who died from the effects of the war years after it had ended

Ringing Through the Centuries: The Story of St. John the Baptist Church Bells

A shipwreck find – a WC from the mid 1850s factory of Robert Hedderwick Penman

Discovery of a vault under the chancel in the church

Handsacre poachers

Armitage Lodge

Problems for a Rector

The founding of Armitage potbank

Armitage – birthplace of science fiction? An 1829 novel

Murder in the church

Your dog ate my tripe

So, what’s a challerpoy then and other records from 250 years ago

The oldest item in the village – the church font made in the early 1100s

Signing the pledge – Handsacre Primitive Methodists pledge book

The pre-fabs

Occupations

And the next prize is …

Field names

The first issue of the Parish Magazine

Pit ponies and Jack Smith 1899 – 1917

School attendance and prosecutions for non-attendance

School lessons in the late 1800s plus attendance lists

Armitage school logbook 1917 showing epidemics, harvesting and war work

Duck stone – prosecuted for playing games in the street

Sixteen years on the run – John Waltho for arson

World champion prune eater – Frank Hodgkiss

Armitage Ware colour samples

The 1937 coronation carnival with lists of committee members and local unemployed

What’s in a name – a table or a washbasin?

Guilty or not guilty – three court cases from the mid to late 1800s

The pottery pay dispute 1914

The 1921 census and the 1921 miners’ strike

Caring for the needy part 1, part 2 and part 3 – how the parish cared for (named) poor people

The origin of the word loo

Drunk and … – pubs and court cases

Marriage bonds and the Conway and Morecroft family

Assault and battery in the church

The Silver Fork Society – the novels of Thomas Henry Lister

The centenary of Croft School, Armitage

My disappearing landmark – Rugeley power stations demolition