Knutton Village

26/10/2026

26/10/2026

26/10/2026

🌳 Where does the name "the Wammy" come from? 🌳

We're researching Knutton's history to improve the village's Wikipedia page, and one mystery keeps coming up: why is the Wammy called the Wammy? Here's what we've found so far.

1️⃣ When the BBC asked, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council said it didn't know where the name came from, and local historian Mervyn Edwards called it a mystery (BBC News).

2️⃣ He said one theory is that it was named after a stream or brook. His own suggestion is the old word "wamble", which means to roll about when walking, or to walk unsteadily (BBC News).

3️⃣ No stream called "the Wammy" appears on any map we've found. The stream that runs across it has no name on the old Ordnance Survey maps from 1877 onwards, and is now called the Lyme Brook (National Library of Scotland; Ordnance Survey).

4️⃣ It's spelt both "Wammy" and "Whammy". Even the Wammy parkrun treats the origin as a "secret" (parkrun UK blog, 2019).

5️⃣ The earliest written uses we've found are from the 2010s, including the first Wammy parkrun on 24 March 2018 (RunABC). But we've heard the name was already in use in the 1960s.

6️⃣ One website says "the Wammy" was the local name for "the old railway cutting", but gives no source. The old maps and modern ground-height surveys suggest the old railway actually crosses the Wammy on an embankment, a raised bank, not a cutting (National Library of Scotland; Environment Agency).

❓ Can you help?

• What did your parents or grandparents call it, and what did they say the name meant?

• When do you first remember hearing "the Wammy" or "the Whammy"?

• Was the name first used for the field, the stream, the railway bank, or something else?

• Do you have any old photos of the area before it became a park, or old club programmes, newspaper cuttings or letters that mention it?

Please share your memories in the comments or send us a message. Every bit helps! 💚

📚 Sources
• BBC News, "West Midlands: three things you wanted to know": https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-38968266

• parkrun UK blog, "parkrun profile: The Wammy" (29 October 2019): https://blog.parkrun.com/uk/2019/10/29/parkrun-profile-the-wammy/

• RunABC, "Grins and wins at first Wammy parkrun" (2018): https://runabc.co.uk/grins-and-wins-at-first-wammy-parkrun

• National Library of Scotland, Ordnance Survey maps beside the Environment Agency ground-height survey: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/ =18.0&lat=53.01990&lon=-2.24180&layers=168&right=LIDAR_DTM_1m

• Ordnance Survey, OS Open Rivers (Lyme Brook): https://services3.arcgis.com/Bb8lfThdhugyc4G3/ArcGIS/rest/services/OSOpenRiversCaBA2017/FeatureServer

25/10/2026

25/10/2026

I remember Barmy Bills opening 50 years ago. Fantastic to see it renewed. A great boost for the Knutton High Street.

🔥 SOLD OUT AGAIN… LET’S GET YOUR NEXT TEA SORTED! 🔥

Knutton, you’ve cleared us out of PREP-D meals yet again! 🙌 Thanks to everyone who’s picked one up ❤️

👩‍🍳 Made locally by a chef
✅ No additives or preservatives
🍽️ Proper meals without the cooking!

Here’s what’s landing at Barmy Bills 👇

🚚 SUNDAY’S MENU

🧀 Beef Brisket Mac & Cheese — £7
🍗 Korean Chicken — £6.50
🧄 Creamy Garlic Chicken Rigatoni — £6.50
🍜 Salt & Pepper Chicken Noodles — £6.50
🥡 Chinese Chicken in Black Bean Sauce — £6.50
🌱 Vegan Salt & Pepper Tofu — £6.50

🚚 WEDNESDAY’S MENU

🌮 Taco Beef & Mexican Rice Bowl — £7
🥜 Peanut Noodles — £6.50
🥔 Creamy Garlic Chicken & Roast New Potatoes — £6.50
🍛 Chinese Chicken Curry — £6.50

📩 Missed out last time? Pre-order now! Message us with your meals and quantities, and we’ll put your name down 🙌

🥣 BREAKFAST SORTED TOO? YOU DECIDE!
Would you buy PREP-D overnight oats if we stocked them? Comment “OATS” below if you’d like us to get them in — we’re checking interest before adding them! 👀

📍 Barmy Bills, Knutton

18/10/2026

Knutton War Memorial: can you help us remember them? 🌺

I’m researching Knutton’s history to improve the village’s Wikipedia page, and I’d love to know more about the men on our war memorial.

The memorial on Knutton Lane is an obelisk of red Hollington stone. It was built by W. & R. Mellor of Burslem and unveiled on Whit Monday, 16 May 1921. One face carries the names of 36 Knutton men who died in the First World War, under the words “The blood of heroes is the seed of freedom.”

The First World War names are:
John Bagguley · William Beech · Horace Beeston · John W. Botham · Thomas Brazier · John Clutton · W. K. Cooper · Charles Dabbs · Stanley Dobson · Frank Dutton · P. Evans · P. Fleming · James Geraghty · George Haywood · James Johnson · John S. Lawton · John Arthur Longshaw · W. Lunt · Thomas Maddox · James Henry Maskery · John Middleton · William Muston · F. Owen · William Edward Richards · Joseph Shone · Clarence Simms · Levi Sims · Charles Bromley Smith · Jack Smith · William John Stanfield · George Stretch · Thomas Richard Stretch · William Tunstall · William Weatherall · Herbert Westwick · E. Williams

Charles Bromley Smith and Jack Smith were brothers.

A Knutton lad who isn’t on the memorial
War records list Private Samuel Eardley (18218) of the East Yorkshire Regiment. He was born in Knutton in 1898 and enlisted at Stoke-on-Trent. He was killed in action on 10 August 1915, aged about 17, and is buried at Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery in Belgium. His name isn’t on our memorial. Does anyone know why, or does anyone know his family?

Can you help?

❓ Is one of these men from your family? Do you have photos, letters, medals or stories about him?

❓ Do you know the Second World War names on the memorial? I haven’t been able to confirm them yet.

❓ Do you know of any other Knutton men who died in either war but aren’t on the memorial?

❓ Do you have photos of the memorial being unveiled in 1921, or of Remembrance services over the years?

Please comment below or send me a message. If I’d like to quote you or use your photo, I’ll always ask first.

We will remember them. 🌺

17/10/2026

Knutton's lost village pond 🦆 Can you help?

I'm researching Knutton's history to improve the village's Wikipedia page, and the old maps have turned up a mystery.

The Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1877–78 shows a small pond in a field just past the last houses at the High Street end of the village, with a footpath running beside it. By the next map, about 20 years later, it has gone, and the land is just part of an open field.

📍 Today that spot is near the top end of Gordon Street, beside Gordon Court: https://www.google.com/maps?q=53.02096,-2.24952

🗺️ See the 1870s map for yourself (close the pop-up boxes first): https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/ =18.0&lat=53.02096&lon=-2.24952&layers=257&right=ESRIWorld

❓ Has anyone heard of a pond there, perhaps from parents or grandparents?

❓ Do you know what happened to it? Was it drained, filled in, or built over?

❓ Did it have a name, or was it used for anything, such as watering animals?

❓ Do you know of any other old ponds or pools around Knutton?

❓ Do you have any old photos of that area?

Even a half-remembered story could help me track down the records. Please comment below or send me a message. If I'd like to quote you or use your photo, I'll always ask first.

Thank you! 💙

Compare georeferenced historic maps in a split-screen viewer side-by-side with other map layers

17/10/2026

Do you know the story of the Knutton mound? 🤔

I'm researching the history of Knutton to improve the village's Wikipedia page. I'm stuck on one local mystery: the grassy mound between Gordon Court and High Street, near the end of Gordon Street.

📍 Here's where I mean: https://www.google.com/maps?q=53.02068,-2.25042

Old Ordnance Survey maps show terraced houses on that land from the 1890s until at least the 1950s–70s. But I can't find any record of when or why the mound was made. Do you know?

❓ Do you remember what was there before the mound?

❓ Was it made when the old houses were cleared, or when Gordon Court was built? Roughly what year?

❓ Was it ever used for anything, or did it have a nickname?

❓ Do you have any old photos of that corner, before or after?

Every memory helps, however small. Please comment below or send me a message. If I'd like to quote you or use your photo, I'll always ask first.

Thank you! 💙

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

11/10/2026

Does anyone know the origin of the name Wammy? This is what I've found so far.

Nobody knows when the name started.

11/10/2026

🏗️ What's happening to investment in Newcastle town centre?

Walk through town and you'll see cranes and hoardings everywhere. So who's paying for it, what's being built, and what has changed since Reform took over in May? 👇

💷 Where the money came from

The regeneration is worth around £85 million, and almost all of it was secured before Reform took control of the borough council:

• £11m from the government's Future High Streets Fund, awarded in 2021 and now fully spent

• £23.6m from the government's Town Deal for Newcastle

• £18.94m from Homes England, the government's housing agency, awarded in January 2026

• Around £80m of investment by the council itself

The previous council admitted that Newcastle had never had any real government grant funding before 2020.

🏢 What's being built

Three town centre sites are being transformed by developer Capital&Centric, bringing 328 new homes plus shops and businesses:

• Astley Place )the old York Place shopping centre): apartments with shops, bars and cafés on the ground floor, with the first residents due in early 2027

• Karparc (the old Midway car park): around 110 apartments, the first conversion of a multi-storey car park into homes in the country, due to finish by summer 2027

• Rye Park (the Ryecroft site): family homes, apartments, an aparthotel and a new urban park, due by the end of 2027

🏘️ Here in Knutton

Knutton has its own £3.5m share of the Town Deal, to "put the heart back into Knutton":

• The Newcastle Enterprise Centre on High Street has been extended ✅

• New changing rooms at the Wammy are now used by Newcastle Town FC ✅

• New homes are being built on the former community centre site, including 39 social rented apartments and bungalows for over-55s, due to finish in November 2026

• A new village hall, with £1m of Town Deal money set aside, is still waiting. The council says it needs a community group to run it.

❓ What is Reform doing to get Knutton's village hall built?

⚠️ What has changed under Reform

• Nothing new has been added yet. The council leader, Jonathan Gullis, has written to the government asking for future Pride in Place funding, but the projects under way were all secured by the previous council.

• A £2.79m government grant could be lost.

Reform has scrapped the low-carbon heating upgrade at Jubilee2, the town centre leisure centre, which was funded by a government grant of up to £2.79m. The Conservative opposition leader has asked whether that money will now have to be paid back.

• Walking away from the body that helped plan Knutton's regeneration. The Knutton masterplan was funded by One Public Estate, a programme run jointly by the government and the Local Government Association. Reform is pulling the council out of the LGA to save up to £17,200 a year.

• Questions over the Green Belt. Reform campaigned locally against Green Belt development. Gullis now holds the planning brief, and according to openDemocracy he works for a lobbying firm whose clients include a developer planning a huge employment site on Green Belt land in the borough. He declared an interest and stayed out of the key Local Plan meeting.

To be fair, Reform hasn't cancelled any of the town centre schemes, and the work is carrying on.

But the money and the plans came from before May. The question is what Reform will add, and whether Knutton will finally get its village hall.

What would you like to see in the town centre and in Knutton? Tell us below 👇

Follow HOPE not hate and Reform Watch for more on Reform in power.

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