Newchapel is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

, now in the parish of

Kidsgrove Kidsgrove is a town in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, on the Cheshire border. It is part of the Potteries Urban Area, along with Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme. It has a population of 26,276 (2019 census). ...

, in the

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 1 ...

district, in the county of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, England. In 1951 the parish had a population of 4135. Newchapel was originally named Thursfield. It was mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

in 1086 as Turvoldesfeld. After the Reformation in the 17th century the land reverted to private ownership, the new owner built a stone Chapel and the village was renamed Newchapel. Thursfield was formerly a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel of ease (chapel) which was the communi ...

in the parish of

Wolstanton Wolstanton is a suburban town on the outskirts of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. History The Roman road the Rykeneld Street passed through Wolstanton. Wolstanton is mentioned in the Norman Domesday book where it is listed amongst the ...

, On 31 December 1894 it became a civil parish in its own right. From 1894 to 1904 Newchapel formed part of

Wolstanton Rural District Wolstanton was a rural district in Staffordshire, England from 1894 to 1904. It was created by the Local Government Act 1894 based on Wolstanton rural sanitary district. It was abolished in 1904 with the parishes being divided between success ...

. After re-organisation of boundaries, from 1904 to 1974 it was part of

Kidsgrove Urban District Kidsgrove Urban District was an urban district in the county of Staffordshire. It was formed in 1894 with the civil parishes of Hardings Wood, Kidsgrove, Newchapel and Talke. It was abolished in 1974, by virtue of the Local Government Act 19 ...

; following the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, on 1 April 1974 it was absorbed and became part of the parish of Kidsgrove in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. Newchapel was served by a railway station (shared with

Goldenhill Goldenhill is an area on the northern edge of Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England. It is centred along the High Street, part of the A50 road that runs from south-east to north-west. It is about north of Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall an ...

), Newchapel and Goldenhill on the Potteries Loop, which was opened by the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based i ...

on 1 October 1874 and closed on 2 March 1964. The canal engineer

James Brindley James Brindley (1716 – 27 September 1772) was an English engineer. He was born in Tunstead, Derbyshire, and lived much of his life in Leek, Staffordshire, becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th century. Early life Born i ...

(1716 – 27 September 1772) died at his

Turnhurst Turnhurst Hall was a substantial house which stood in an area of what is now Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, between Great Chell and the hamlet of Newchapel in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The road linking the two settlements is now know ...

estate in Newchapel, within sight of his unfinished

Harecastle Tunnel Harecastle Tunnel is a canal tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal in Staffordshire between Kidsgrove and Tunstall. The tunnel, which is long, was once one of the longest in the country. Its industrial purpose was for the transport of coal to ...

. On 30 September 1772, just nine days after the completion of his Birmingham Canal, he was buried in the churchyard of Newchapel; the present church, St. James, is dedicated to his memory. The grave is marked by a bronze plaque. During the excavation work for the first

, large amounts of coal were discovered underground. This led to the development, initially by the Duke of Bridgewater and then by Robert Heath and Sons of a significant mining and coal by-products works known as Birchenwood. Growing from the Birchenwood Colliery Company founded in 1893, this was the largest industrial site that the Newchapel area has ever known and provided employment for several thousand people in its heyday. Newchapel as seen today was born as a result of the success of Birchenwood, and the first houses built were to provide homes for the workers and their families.

Notable People from Newchapel

Hugh Henshall Hugh Henshall (1734–1816) was an English civil engineer, noted for his work on canals. He was born in North Staffordshire and was a student of the canal engineer James Brindley, who was also his brother-in-law. Private life Henshall was born t ...

(1734–1816),

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

noted for his work on canals

References

External links

{{Commons category, Newchapel, Staffordshire
Newchapel Village History and photo gallery

Thursfield History
History of Newchapel and the Thursfield family 1500-2000.
Website of St James Church, Newchapel
Villages in Staffordshire Former civil parishes in Staffordshire Kidsgrove