Talke Staffordshire Family History Guide
Talke is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Staffordshire, created in 1741 from Audley Ancient Parish.
Alternative names: Talk-on-the-Hill, Talk-O’-Th‘-Hill
Parish church:
Parish registers begin: 1830
Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
TALK-O’-TH’-HILL, a township-chapelry, with a village, in Audley parish, Stafford; 1¼ mile SW of Kidsgrove-Junction r. station, and 5 NNW of Newcastle-under-Lyne. It has a post-office under Stoke-upon-Trent.
Real property, £15,660; of which £10,030 are in mines. Pop. in 1851, 1,973; in 1861, 2,406. Houses, 501. The increase of pop. arose from extension of coal mining and iron-manufacture.
The hill indicated in the chapelry’s name commands a view over parts of nine counties. There is a sulphurous spring.
The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £138. Patron, the Vicar of Audley.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Lewis Topographical Dictionary of England 1845
Talk-O’-Th‘-Hill, a chapelry, in the parish of Audley, union of Newcastle-under-Lyme, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford, 5 miles (NNW) from Newcastle; containing 1611 inhabitants.
The great north road formerly passed through the village, which is situated upon an eminence commanding a view into nine counties, with the mountains of North Wales in the distance. In the centre is a stone cross, where a market was once held.
The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £118; patron, the Vicar of Audley; impropriator, G. Tollet, Esq. The chapel is a small brick building, surmounted by a cupola; and an elegant church has lately been erected at Clough, in the chapelry, the cost of which, amounting to £5500, was defrayed by Mr. Kinnersley, of Clough Hall.
There is a place of worship for Wesleyans; also a free school erected in 1760.
Adjacent to the village is a spring, the water of which is of a blue milky colour, strongly impregnated with sulphur, and much in request for cutaneous diseases.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis Fifth Edition Published London; by S. Lewis and Co., 13, Finsbury Place, South. M. DCCC. XLV.
History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Staffordshire William White 1834
Talk-on-the-Hill or as it is vulgularly called Talk-O’-Th‘-Hill is a large village 5 miles N by W of Newcastle under Lyme standing upon a lofty eminence which commands an extensive view of the surrounding country as far as the Welch mountains.
It is the head of a township and chapelry in which are a number of scattered houses in Butt lane, Harding’s Wood, Hollins, New road, and Red street; and two gentlemen’s seats viz Clough Hall Thomas Kinnerslev Esq and Lindley Wood James Caldwell Esq. These gentlemen and R E Heathcote Esq own roost of the land.
The village of Talk has several inns and had formerly a weekly market which has long been obsolete though the stone cross still remains. The great northern turnpike road formerly passed through it but about seven years ago a new road was made half a mile further to the east for the purpose of avoiding the hill.
The Church is a chapel of ease to Audley and is a neat brick edifice which was rebuilt in 1794 and enlarged in 1832 when the tower was again rebuilt. The vicar of Audley is the patron and incumbent.
The Wesleyans have a chapel in Red street built in 1833.
In the summer of 1781 a barrel of gunpowder exploded here in a carrier’s waggon whilst proceeding down the hill on the north side of the village and such were the dreadful effects of the explosion that the driver and horses were killed and two houses reduced to a heap of ruins. The unfortunate man (Joseph Fallows) was a stage coachman who had offered his services to drive the waggon down the hill while the carrier was taking some refreshment at the Queen’s Head.
About a mile south of Talk is a sulphurous spring of a dirty bluish colour said to be very beneficial in cutaneous disorders.
The Free School at Talk on the Hill was built by subscription in 1760 and in 1761 it was endowed with seven acres of land purchased with 100 given by John Bourn and Richard Edensor. This land is let for £15 a year, for which, and the use of the school house, the mistress teaches 14 free scholars.
The chapel land purchased in 1752 with £200 from Queen Anne’s bounty is subject to a yearly rent charge £3 18s to be distributed in bread amongst the poor of Talk on the Hill in consideration of £90 poor’s money used in the purchase of the said land.
Source: History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Staffordshire William White 1834
Parish Records
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FamilySearch Historical Records
Directories
Talke History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Staffordshire William White 1834 – Google Books
Online School Records
School records are a primary source for genealogists. The two types of records that are commonly available are admission registers and log books.
The admission registers of schools may be available from the 1870s, but more frequently from 1902. Usually shown under the date of entry, is the child’s name and address and his or her date of birth. Some registers, but not all, may also show the name and occupation of the parent or guardian, the name of the previous school attended and the reason for leaving.
For immigrant children the name of the previous school may uniquely provide the pupil’s exact place of origin.
These admission registers may enable the brothers and sisters of a pupil to be identified in a way that, with frequent names, would be difficult if not impossible from the civil registration records.
The log book may contain comments on the attendance of pupils, behaviour, discipline, the curriculum, attendance of teachers and absence for sickness etc., and the effect of epidemics and seasonal work on attendance. The names of individual pupils only occasionally appear in log books. The names and status of the teachers were recorded at the annual inspection, with a summary of the inspector’s report.
The following school records are available from Findmypast
Audley Talke Council School (Mixed) 1909 to 1914 Admissions
Kidsgrove Talke, St. Martin’s School (Infants) 1901 to 1914 Admissions
Talke Church Of England School (Girls) 1902 to 1914 Admissions
Talke New Road Wesleyan School (Mixed) 1905 to 1909 Admissions
Administration
- County: Staffordshire
- Civil Registration District: Newcastle under Lyme
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Lichfield (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Lichfield
- Rural Deanery: Newcastle under Lyme
- Poor Law Union: Newcastle under Lyme
- Hundred: North Pirehill
- Province: Canterbury