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St. Peters Lane, STOKE-ON-TRENT, ST11 9TG

View of the war memorial and St.Peter's parish church, from the car park.

The headstone in St Peter's churchyard leans at a precarious angle but the inscription is legible. It commemorates Sarah Ann Wakefield and her husband George 'station master Blyth Bridge' (sic). They died in 1883 and 1889 respectively. It is fairly unusual for headstones to mention the occupation of the deceased, but in Victorian times the station master would have been a person of substance in the village. Blythe Bridge still has a station but nowadays there are no staff.

This is rather a sad sight lying on the churchyard ground to the rear of St Peter's church. The fallen headstone is pretty much illegible although the names John and Elizabeth can just be discerned together with Martin which looks to have been a surname.

http://trigpointing.uk/trig/9317

With plenty of colourful blossom brightening up the churchyard, the rather dour Victorian church looks less forbidding than it might otherwise do. The church was built 1847-49 originally as a chapel of ease to serve the three related settlements of Forsbrook, Blythe Bridge and Blythe Marsh; it is correctly known as St Peter's Forsbrook although it is located on Cheadle Road in Blythe Bridge.

The grade II listed war memorial commemorates the men and women from the parish of Forsbrook who fell in the two world wars. Designed by Robert Bridgeman and Sons of Lichfield, it was constructed of Whitbed Portland stone and unveiled by Colonel JV Campbell in 1921. The statue at the base is of an infantryman in mourning pose. The area in which it stands is now used as a car park but was originally grassed. To the rear is St Peter's church which was built between 1847 and 1849 to a design by a Mr Barr of London. It was originally intended as a chapel of ease to serve the related settlements of Forsbrook, Blythe Bridge and Blythe Marsh and there were alterations made in 1883, 1908 and 1912. It is in the diocese of Lichfield.