Anglesey Lodge

Anglesey Street takes its name from Anglesey Lodge, one of the oldest buildings in the area. It was built in 1831 by Edmund Peel. He was the brother of Sir Robert Peel, the famous British Prime Minister who founded the Metropolitan Police Force.

During the summer months, Edmund would bring his family to the Lodge. He kept race horses in the stables there and went riding on Hednesford Hills. However, after the death of his trainer and then a riding accident, Edmund lost his love of horses, and by 1840 the Lodge had almost been abandoned.

By 1851 Anglesey Lodge had once again become a training stables and employed eleven stable lads and a groom.

With the coming of the Cannock Mineral Railway to Hednesford, the Lodge became a hotel. It was run by Margaret Eskrett, whose husband Thomas used the stables for horse training. The hotel was later turned into a public house.

The stable blocks have been demolished and the Lodge’s main building is now in private use.

The ‘Tins’

Towards the end of the 19th century, the recreation ground at the Lodge became the base for Hednesford Town Football Club. The team became known as the ‘Tins’ because of the metal sheeting around the ground. When they outgrew this
ground they moved to the Cross Keys Inn, about a mile away.

Image courtesy of the Museum of Cannock Chase

The Beehive Stores, c1900. Many local people remember the distinctive ‘beehive’
that was fixed to the wall above the doorway, but no-one knows what happened
to it when the shop was demolished.

A Sunday School Demonstration on the lawn of the Anglesey Hotel, probably around 1910. Image courtesy of Ray Smith

The Beehive Stores

Opened in about 1870 at the junction of West Hill and Cannock Road, The Beehive Corner Stores sold a wide range of groceries and provisions. Local people can recall the chute inside the shop, into which customers placed a list of the items they wanted to purchase, along with their payment. At the touch of a button these were sent whizzing down the chute and into the office at the corner of the shop; any change was sent back the same way.

Image courtesy of Ray Smith

The reverse of this postcard is postmarked 26 February 1939, and was sent by Renee and Barbara to Mrs Bailey, their grandmother, in St Leonard’s on Sea. The Beehive Stores is on the right of this image.

The roller-skating rink and cinema

In 1910 a roller-skating rink known as The Rink was opened on the opposite side of Anglesey Street. Soon it started showing films, and in 1912 it changed its name to the Electric Palace. Dances and other types of entertainment were also held there. Then, in 1932, it changed its name to The Tivoli, and operated wholly as a cinema.

One local lady recalls:

I remember going to the Tivoli, usually on a Saturday morning, for the ‘twopenny rush’. I used to watch characters like Abbott and Costello, the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers, Flash Gordon and Roy Rogers. Afterwards I would go to Elsmore’s chip shop in Market Street to get 2d worth of chips.

Image courtesy of Ray Smith

The Electric Palace can be seen here on the right, next to Anglesey Lodge.
This postcard was published by J Bird, a local hairdressers. At a time when
postcards were used as a form of quick communication – much as e-mail is
used today – local shops and businesses often produced their own postcards.

Image courtesy of the Museum of Cannock Chase

This Hednesford roller hockey club played at The Rink, which was on the opposite side of Anglesey Street.

Pointons sweet shop

Pointons sweet business grew from humble beginnings as a stall on Hednesford market. In 1890 they opened a shop, and until the 1950s they made their own sweets. At its height, the business was making about 7 cwt of sweets a week (over 1/3 of a ton!).

Although the shop was demolished in the late 1960s or early 1970s, the firm still exists. It now sells confectionary wholesale. Much of the information on this board has been provided courtesy of Anthony Hunt

Image courtesy of the Museum of Cannock Chase

Pointons sweet shop in the early 1950s. Mr Sucky Pointon stands in his shop doorway. His nickname comes from sucks, a local word for sweets.