Stories

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

The Magazine Bridge

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