The Minster Church of St. Peter Ad Vincula (St. Peter in Chains) was built by Trubshaw and Johnson 1826-1830 in Stoke.
The name "Stoke" comes from an Old English word meaning "a place", signifying a holy place. A Saxon cross survives in the churchyard, suggesting that this was an ancient sacred site. The first wooden Church was replaced in the year 805. Early 19th Century illustrations of Stoke Old Church show a stone-built structure which mostly dates from the 13th Century, with the addition of a 14th Century tower.
By the 1820's Stoke Church was no longer large enough to accommodate its growing congregation. In 1826 the foundations were laid for the present Church, to be finally consecrated in 1830.
In the churchyard are two stones which bear ample testimony to the salubrity of the neighbourhood. They are to the memory of Sibil Clarke, d. 1684, aged 112 years, and Henry Clark, also 112 years old.
The graves of Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) and Josiah Spode I (1733-1797) can also be found in the churchyard. Josiah Wedgwood, who was not a member of the Church of England, was not taken beyond the porch of the old church, beneath which is the vault containing the remains of himself, his wife and son.
The headstone of Herbert Stansfield showing Masonic Symbols can also be found in the church grounds. It is referred to as the Freemason's Grave in the Guide to the Grounds, but it is known locally as 'the Devil's Grave'.
Inscription on the headstone reads:
To the Memory of
HERBERT STANDSFIELD Late of Middlewich
who died January 17th 1799 Aged 64 Years
"Time was I stood as thou doth now
To view the Dead as thou doth me
In time thoul lie as low as I
And others stand and look on thee"
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"Stoke churchyard has probably been the site of religious rites for longer than any other place in the Potteries.
An early tribe, probably Celts, who settled at the junction of the Trent and Fowlea called it "Stoches", meaning stockaded position. There is evidence to suggest that a church stood on this site as early as 801 - a stone head was found in the walls of the old church bearing the date DCCCI.
In 805 an order was given for all wooden churches to be rebuilt in stone, so it is possible that a wooden church had existed prior to this date. We can suppose that the Saxons were responsible for the building of the first stone church on this site, which was altered and added to as time went by, until it was finally demolished in 1826.
The location of this old moated church can be identified in the churchyard where the arches stand. The stones of the arches were rediscovered in the overflow course of the millpond at the old Boothen Mill and, in 1887, erected in the churchyard, conforming to their original shape.
The building of the present church of St. Peter began in 1826, and it was consecrated on the 6th October, 1830.
Neville Malkin 27th March 1974 Source: (
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