Chesterton is a former mining village in the

Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire, England. It is named after the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme, where the council is based, but includes the town of Kidsgrove and village ...

in Staffordshire, England. Chesterton is the second largest individual ward in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. In the 2011 census, Chesterton's population stood at 7,421.

History

Roman Chesterton

Chesterton was the site of a Roman fort, built on an area now occupied by Chesterton Community Sports College. There is little indication of how long the fort was in use but it is believed to have been constructed in the late 1st Century AD. A

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

was built at nearby Holditch, where it is believed that some inhabitants may have mined for coal. There have been various excavations at the site. Excavations in 1895 revealed the fort's

vallum Vallum is either the whole or a portion of the fortifications of a Roman camp. The vallum usually comprised an earthen or turf rampart (Agger) with a wooden palisade on top, with a deep outer ditch (fossa). The name is derived from '' vallus'' (a ...

, fosse ( moat) and parts of the east and west defensive structures. Later excavations in 1969 uncovered further sections of the eastern ramparts.

Later history

Chesterton was a parish in the Wolstanton Rural District from 1894 to 1904. Following that, it became part of the Wolstanton United Urban District until 1932, when it was added to the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. The main employer in Chesterton was Holditch Colliery. The

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

employed 1,500 men and mined

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

in addition to

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

. Despite heavy investment in the 1960s and 1970s the colliery closed down in 1988, just three years after the end of the year-long miners' strike. Many of the miners transferred to nearby Silverdale Colliery, which itself closed down on Christmas Eve 1998. The current site of Holditch Colliery is now a large business park.

Holditch Colliery disaster

The Holditch Colliery disaster was a coal mining

accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researche ...

occurring on 2 July 1937 at the Holditch Colliery, which at one point was the main employer in the village. In total, 30 men died and eight were injured. An investigation was conducted into the incident. The original fire was concluded to have originated in the coal cutting machine and was due to frictional heat produced by the picks in the cut with subsequent explosions being caused by

firedamp Firedamp is any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane. It is particularly found in areas where the coal is bituminous. The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata and when they are penetrated the releas ...

. The investigation concluded that the rescue plans were insufficient and adopted to save costs at the expense of lives. Today a memorial stands to the victims at Apedale Heritage Centre.

Education

There are four

primary schools A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

in the village: Churchfields Primary, Chesterton Primary, Crackley Bank Primary and St. Chad's Primary; and one Secondary school: Chesterton Community Sports College.

Religion

Chesterton is home to five churches: Holy Trinity Church,

Elim Pentecostal Church The Elim Pentecostal Church is a UK-based Pentecostal Christian denomination. History George Jeffreys (1889–1962), a Welshman, founded the ''Elim Pentecostal Church'' in Monaghan, Ireland in 1915. Jeffreys was an evangelist with a Welsh Co ...

, St Johns the Evangelist Church, Chesterton United Reform Church, and St Chad's Church.St Chad's Church Red Street website
retrieved 17 February 2019

Places of interest

Train at Apedale Valley Light Railway station, Apedale Community Country Park, near Chesterton (geograph 3070620)

* Apedale Community Country Park * Apedale Heritage Centre * Moseley Railway Trust *

Loomer Road Stadium Loomer Road Stadium is a former sports stadium situated in Chesterton, Staffordshire. The building had considerable parking facilities, covered terracing and a bar with a view of the track. It had a capacity of 5,000. The stadium was construct ...

Notable people

* Arthur Dobson (1893–1918) footballer * Arthur Turner (1909–1994) football player and manager *

Ken Downing Kenneth Henry Downing (5 December 1917 – 3 May 2004) was an English racing driver. From a wealthy family, he began racing in the late 1940s, competing in his first event the Eastbourne Rally in a Healey. Initially racing a Brooke Special, he ...

(1917–2004) motor racing driver *

Frank Bowyer Francis "Frank" Bowyer (10 April 1922 – 11 November 1999) was an English footballer who played as an inside forward for Stoke City. Career Bowyer was born in Chesterton, Staffordshire and played for Stoke-on-Trent schools before joining S ...

(1922–1999) footballer *

Jackie Trent Yvonne Ann Burgess (6 September 1940 – 21 March 2015), better known by her stage name Jackie Trent, was an English singer-songwriter and actress. She was best known for co-writing (with Tony Hatch) several hits for Petula Clark in the 1960s an ...

(1940–2015) singer & songwriter * Mike Pejic (born 1950) footballer * Tony Loska (born 1950) footballer * Ian Moores (1954–1998) footballer * Mel Pejic (born 1959) footballer * Aaron Ramsdale (born 1998) footballer

References

External links

Roman Fort at Chesterton

Apedale Heritage Centre and Country Park

The Moseley Railway Trust website
{{authority control Tourist attractions in Staffordshire Villages in Staffordshire Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme