IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Cranberry Lane, STOKE-ON-TRENT, ST7 2LF

The first of two Anglian church buildings in the small town of Alsager. Built and endowed in the year 1789 by three sisters, Margaret, Judith and Mary Alsager, of the Manor of Alsager. It is in the Palladin style popular in the late c18th. The mother church at that time was the church in Barthomley, now a much smaller community than Alsager, and being three miles distant, with the roads very bad between, Christ Church was built for the convenience and comfort of tenants and others who found it difficult to attend at Barthomley.

The two plants in the foreground are possibly Southern Marsh Orchid, while the more distant ones to the right are probably Common Spotted Orchid, but hybrids are so frequent in this area that I.D. is difficult.

The church was established in 1834 to meet the needs of Methodists in the small community of Alsager, who had previously met in a loom shop. It was originally established as a one-room chapel in what is now the Sunday school, on a plot donated by Alsager land-owner John Plant. In 1852, a new church building was erected on the site to meet growing demand, as Alsager grew alongside the railways. In about 1912, the Methodist church at Wesley Place was opened to serve the other end of Alsager, with the older, smaller church retained and refurbished to serve the largely farming community. It closed as a place of worship on 13th December 2009. A blog entry written by a bookshop volunteer: https://alsagerbookemporium.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/how-did-it-all-start/

The Yellow-rattle even outnumbered the Meadow Buttercups, also visible in this photograph. A view of the grassland site itself is here https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7672628

This pub closed at the time of the first Covid lockdown and also has sustained some flood damage (as its name suggests, part of the building is an old watermill). As of Feb 2023 it remains closed and in need of restoration.