HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 395 



of which the said Margery died seized To hold to the said William and 

 his Heirs according to the custom of the Manor : and he gives to the said 

 Lord at his entry 20d- In testimony whereof John Harryson Deputy 

 Steward to this Copy hath affixed his Seal. Given as above." 



" Be yt knowne to all true me In chryste In the weyof truthe yt I Phythyon 

 of Tunstall dyd purchys a garden place yt lyythe in Tunstal at Hary of Tun- 

 stall my broders ye w ch garden place I do set at my dysseasse to Margerye my 

 wyffe and to Margyt my doughttd ye wyffe of John Banchcrofte & aftd ye dys- 

 eace of my wyffe hytt to remeyne to Margytt my doughtld & to hyr eyres the 

 recorder of this Rychard of rydgwaye & to thys I set to my scale Gyvyn ye last 

 djaye of Jtilye in ye yere & reyne of Kynge Harrye ye Syxt after ye conquest of 

 England x x x. & vij." 



Longport lies in a valley between Newcastle and Burslem, and 

 contains some very good houses and first-rate manufactories. This 

 place was formerly called Long Bridge, from a kind of bridge or 

 stepping-stones laid across the whole breadth of the swampy mea- 

 dows, which bridge was afterwards removed ; and from the Trent 

 and Mersey canal passing through it, and its great improvement in 

 buildings and population, the place received its present name. 

 Here is a chapel belonging to the Methodists. 



BURSLEM. 



THIS extensive and populous town, "which claims the honour 

 of being the MOTHER OF THE STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERIES, 

 stands on a rising ground about three miles and a half N.N.E. of 

 Newcastle. It is a parish in Pirehill North, and includes the 

 townships of Hulton Abbey and Sneyd. 



The manor of Burslem was in the possession of Robert de Staf- 

 ford at the time of the General Survey. Henry de Audley was 

 lord of it in the time of Henry the Third, and it continued in the 

 possession of his family to the end of the sixteenth century.* 



Burslem is undoubtedly the ancient seat of the Pottery, where 

 earthenwares have been made many centuries, for Dr. Plott, who 

 wrote in 1686, mentions the potteries of this place as the greatest 

 of the kind, and gives a very minute description of the process 

 of making earthenware at that time.f We have devoted a sepa- 

 rate article to the description of the various improvements made in 

 this useful and elegant manufacture since Dr. Plott wrote. The 

 vast increase of population, opulence, and knowledge, in this district 



* Magna Britannia, No. 02, p. 78. t Hist, of Staff, ch. iii. p. I2t. 



