We like Stone, it’s an interesting town with a lot of history, especially for the canal. This is true Brindley country, where James Brindley met to discuss the building a canal to link the River Mersey to the River Trent, thus providing an infinitely more practical and profitable way to transport goods. Particularly the raw products needed for the potteries and a much safer way to transport the finished pottery both throughout the country (ie London) and around the world.
Despite its blue plaque, the Star Inn predates the canal by some 200 years and is more famous for its entry in the Guinness book of Records for having the most levels of flooring in a public house. Which although I can’t confirm accuracy of that claim, I can confirm that carrying 2 pints of beer across the original flagstones doesn’t lead to good photographic evidence.
The Star has many other notable claims to fame, but the story I like is the one that happened during the opening ceremony of Star Lock. Someone had bright idea to fire a cannon to mark the event….. subsequently the lock required a bit of a rebuilt to repair the damage.
Of course The Star of Stone isnt the only pub in town. The quality of the water, (from the river trent, not the canal) and the presence of an Augustine Monastery, ensured that Stone’s reputation was also for good beer, both the big breweries have gone now, but Joule’s Ales still makes use of the canalside building for its micro brewery.
Stone’s name is derived from the Anglo Saxon word “stan” meaning stone or rock. There are several stones that Stone could be named after, including a nearby prehistoric megalith, a roman stone bridge or mile stone, but the most appealing is from the cairn of stone placed over the graves of princes Ruffin and Wulfad by their mother, after their father, king Wulfhere murdered them for converting to Christianity in AD665. this particular tale is now known to be inaccurate. King Wulfhere himself had already converted to Christianity so who knows what his sons had done to deserve their fate. The town still proudly displays the tale on two artistic railings at the entrance to the high street.
Sadly it isn’t only kings and princes that fall foul of being murdered. Colin Dexter, who wrote the Inspector Morse stories highlighted the sad fate of a young woman called Christina Collins. In 1839, she was travelling as a passenger on a Pickfords barge when she complained to the Stone lock keepers about the lewd behaviour of the crew and that she feared for her safety. Her concerns were dismissed but that night she was viciously raped and murdered, her body was weighted down with an iron chain and thrown overboard. After a lengthy trial the crew were found guilty and 2 were hung and one was transported. Last time we travelled through Stone in May 2025, Christina was so overgrown with weeds I couldnt see her, but she’s been tidied up and although I doubt she’s looking her best at least shes presentable.
I think perhaps its time to move on, it seems Stone isnt such a safe place after all.
ps apologies for our disappearance from BlogLand last week, we were subjected to some unexpected site maintenance, we think its all sorted now.