The church of St Mary and All Saints at Whitmore in May 2019;
as I remember, the clock was telling the correct time

The oldest structures of the church of St Mary and All Saints at Whitmore date from the twelfth century.

Some four hundred years ago it underwent a program of restoration, and ‘1632’ was inscribed on the lintel above the west entrance. The timber-framed bell turret dates from this period.

In the 1880s there was second restoration, directed by the lessee of Whitmore Hall, Colonel Michael Daintry Hollins.

St Mary and All Saints has architectural features more common in Cheshire; employed here, possibly attributable to the Mainwaring family’s Cheshire origins.

In the 1880s the church underwent considerable restoration and rebuilding under the direction of Colonel Michael Daintry Hollins, at the time lessee of Whitmore Hall.

Hollins was a Sraffordshire manufacturer of encaustic tiles, made from differently coloured ceramic clay, with the pattern inlaid into the body of the tile. Hollins donated new tiles for the church from his factory, and not only to the Whitmore Church. He gave tiles generously to many churches and chapels in the district.

The Altar of St Mary and All Saints at Whitmore showing the tiles and mosaic work provided by the Minton Hollins Tile Factory at the 1880 restoration.
Photograph from the 1984 pamphlet about the Church.

The Minton Hollins tile manufacturing factory was one of the earliest tile manufacturers of the Stoke-on-Trent region.  His factory had been founded by Thomas Minton in the 1790s; Herbert Minton, son of Thomas, began making tiles in the 1830s. In 1845 Michael Daintry Hollins went into partnership with Herbert Minton, and the tile department became a separate concern, managed by Hollins. In 1868 the partnership ended. The following year Hollins built a new tile factory, and continued to trade both as ‘Minton & Co’ for encaustic or inlaid tiles and ‘as ‘Minton Hollins & Co’ for wall tiles, but they were all made in the same factory.

The clock on the west face  of the tower of Whitmore Church commemorates the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. It is set in a square wooden frame, with a black face, gold markings, Roman numerals and gold hands. In the top corners are the letters ‘V’ and ‘R’ and in the bottom corners ‘1837’ and ‘1897’. 

WHITMORE.-The principal item of interest in this parish was the placing in the church tower of a very handsome clock by Messrs. Joyce, of Whitchurch, at a cost of about £50, and which was started on Sunday, when two large congregations attended Divine service. Appropriate hymns and the National Anthem were sung. On Jubilee Day, the Rector (the Rev. P. E. Mainwaring) presented each of the school children with a Jubilee mug, and Col. and the Misses Hollins entertained the parishioners and children to tea in the grounds of Whitmore Hall. Afterwards, Mr. H. M. D. Hollins proposed the health of the Queen, and the National Anthem was heartily sung. Dancing, boating and other forms of recreation were engaged in, and in the course of the festivities an address was presented to Col. and the Misses Hollins on the occasion of their leaving the Hall, where Col. Hollins has resided for about 34 years. The Misses Hollins received in addition a present of a travelling timepiece each, while a silver cigar case and match-box were presented to Mr. H. M. D. Hollins. In the evening a large bonfire was lighted in one of Mr. Jackson’s fields.

Staffordshire Advertiser 26 June 1897

Percy Mainwaring, grandson of Admiral Rowland Mainwaring, was rector when the clock was installed in 1897.

In 1897 Colonel Hollins left Whitmore to live at Springfield Hall near Newcastle-under-Lyme; he had leased Whitmore Hall since 1863, nearly 35 years. Hollins died in 1898 and was buried at Whitmore.

Staffordshire Churches: St Mary and All Saints Whitmore
a tour by Pastor Charmley of the Bethel Evangelical Free Church, Hanley, Stoke on Trent.

Related posts and further reading

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