Church Titles to reply to the comments by Eve that minerals were taxed by the Lord of the Manor, yes this is often the case but this was not the case for the ancient parish of Stoke-upon-Trent. The Duke of Sutherland (a large land owner in the South of the city who also owned many coal mines)was in dispute for years at the early part of the 19th century regarding the sudden re-implementation of tithes which had been dormant for years. The new Patron of the living was after every penny he could to enable the huge ancient parish to be divided and as such provide an income for the incumbents of the new Rectories carved out of the old parish which in 1297 was the 3rd largest parish. There are hundreds of letters remaining in the county archives regarding this. Richard