BROWN EDGE is an ecclesiastical parish, formed 14th September, 1844, from the north-east part of the parish of Norton. It is 2 miles from Endon station on the North Staffordshire railway, 4 from Burslem and 5 from Leek, in the North Western division of the county, Pirehill North hundred and petty sessional division, Leek union, Burslem county court district, rural deanery of Leek, archdeaconry of Stoke-on-Trent and diocese of Lichfield. The church of St. Anne, erected in 1845, is a building of stone in the Italian style, consisting of chancel, nave and a north-west tower with spire containing 6 bells: in 1874 a stained east window was inserted in memory of William Heath esq. and alterations and improvements were carried out at a cost of nearly £1,000: there are 350 sittings. The register dates from the year 1845. The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value £204, net £195, with residence in the gift of the Bishop of Lichfield, and held since 1871 by the Rev. Robert Goodwin Young, of St. Bees. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. Sums of £6 yearly for the bell-ringers and £14 yearly for the widows and necessitous poor of the parish were bequeathed by Hugh H. Williamson. The population in 1891 was 1,050.

Parish Clerk, James Basnet.

POST OFFICE.- Joseph Brett, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Stoke-on-Trent via Smallthorne on week days only at 8 a.m.; dispatched at 6.25 p.m. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid. The nearest money order office is at Norton & the nearest telegraph office is at Endon railway station

School (National & infant), endowed by the late H.H. Williamson esq. & built in 1852, for 240 boys & girls & 97 infants; average attendance, 212 boys & girls & 56 infants; William Jones, master; Miss Alcock, infants' mistress
[Kelly's Directory of Staffordshire, 1896]