HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 373 



away quickly, and to grow worm-eaten : whereas these being fell'd 

 in or near the winter, and having stood naked all the summer dry- 

 ing in the sun, become in a manner as hard and sound without as 

 within, being as it were all heart, and not so subject to worms ; by 

 which means there would be a great deal of good timber saved, 

 and no other could be used ; nor would the use of the bark be lost 

 to the tanner, as I suppose is presumed in the present act it would, 

 should it have admitted felling oaks in the winter season, when the 

 bark will not run." 



This parish contains, 329 houses, 336 families ; 900 males, 861 

 females: total, 1,761 inhabitants. 



BAQNALL is a township in the parish of Stoke-upon-Trent, and 

 in 1811 its population was 288 persons, whereof 156 were males, 

 and 132 females. The number of inhabited houses were 48, and 4 

 were uninhabited. The number of families were 49, 28 of which 

 were employed in agriculture, 13 in trade, and 8 were of neither 

 description. 



The Chapel, which is small, and in a ruinous state, is situate in 

 an open field adjoining to the village, about three miles to the 

 south-east of Norton-on-the-Moors. In the same village is an an- 

 cient mansion, now a farm-house, but formerly the residence and 

 property of the family of Murrell, a name which appears in the 

 Testa de Nevill for Staffordshire. Therein a William Murel is re- 

 corded as then holding one virgate of land in the village of Selton 

 (now Shelton), and within the manor of Newcastle. [For further 

 particulars see the concluding part of Bucknall.] 



BUCKNALL is another township in the parish of Stoke-upon- 

 Trent, whose population in 1811 amounted to 344 persons, whereof 

 173 were males, and 171 females. The number of inhabited houses 

 were 76, and 4 uninhabited. The number of families were 76, 

 40 of which were employed in agriculture, 29 in trade, and 7 of 

 neither description- 



The Church of Bucknall is situate in the village, about two 

 miles eastward of Hanley, and three south-west of Bagnall. It is 

 a small stone building. In the interior are a few pews, but the 

 seats are chiefly benches or plain forms. On the walls were painted, 

 in fresco, the Lord's Prayer, Decalogue, and Belief, and the two fol- 

 lowing inscriptions : 



Ligna lapis fiunt 

 Sam. Lea, Curate, 

 W. Adams, Warden, 

 1718. 



