of their tendency to sing hymns in the street. Before the age of state education, many of Smallthorne's children would have received their elementary education from 'Ranters' in Primitive Methodist Sunday Schools. St Mary's Church A chapel was opened at St Mary's Roman Catholic school in Queen Street (now Brierley Street), Smallthorne, in 1875. It was served from St. Peter's, Cobridge, until 1895 when it was transferred to the new Burslem mission. A mission including Burslem, Smallthorne, and Wolstanton was formed out of the Cobridge mission in 1895 with the assistant priest from Cobridge as resident priest. Smallthorne became a separate parish in 1923 there has been a resident priest since then and the Roman Catholic population of the parish has remained at about 600 since the late 1920s. A then new building was built in 1905, it was situated between Queen Street (now Brierley Street) and Lord Street although the terraces above and below were probably not there until after 1909. There is a date stone on the Brierley Street side of the building showing 1905. The other boundaries were Camp Road to the south west and what would be Edward Street (now Coseley Street) to the north east. The last marriage at the Smallthorne site was in 1968 with the new site at Norton opening in 1969. The new St Mary’s with a separate Church and School is situated on Ford Green Road at Norton opposite Spragg House Lane. Demographics Smallthorne has a large elderly population, twice the City's average. Nearly a third of its residents live in council housing and there is an even larger proportion in terraced housing (Source: 2001 Census). According to the Council’s Neighbourhood Area Profile (July 2006), Smallthorne "is typified by large areas of owned terraced housing and significant areas of semi-detached council-housing". The average gross household income of Smallthorne residents is lower than the City's average but there are ten other neighbourhoods in the City that are poorer (Source: CACI Ltd). Social housing in the area is usually very sought after and private house prices are buoyant. Present day The hub of the community is around the junction of Ford Green Road, known locally as 'Smallthorne Bank', and Community Drive. Here can be found a community hall, an NHS health centre, a chemist, a sub-post office, a number of other shops, a restaurant, an Oatcake shop and take-aways. Smallthorne's community hall was