(A)
It was built between 1843 and 1850 as a beerhouse on the new turnpike road that had been built in 1822. It was originally known as The Cock Inn. It then became known as the New Inn from 1870 and continued as a public house changing its name yet again to the New Broom in the 1970s. It was then expanded to include a restaurant in the 1980s..
(B)
Old Lane between Checkley and Deadman's Green, or Badlands as it was originally called, formed part of the original Uttoxeter to Newcastle under Lyme turnpike system from 1758 until 1822 when it was bypassed by a new section of the turnpike road, the modern A 522. It is difficult to imagine that the narrow winding lane was once an integral part of one of the major cross-country routes of England. The roadway itself was used only by wheeled traffic or riders. Pedestrians used a raised footpath in the fields on the south side of the lane and the stone retaining wall of the bank on this side is still intact in some places.
(C)
There are various theories about the origin of the name ‘Deadman’s Green’ but it is thought to refer to a battle between the Danes and Saxons which it is understood to have taken place there, perhaps during the 9th,10th or 11th century. It is said that three Christian Bishops lost their lives in the battle and they are now buried in Checkley churchyard marked by the fragments of three Saxon crosses (near the south porch of the church).
Today, Deadman’s Green consists of about 30 homes mainly built between the 1950s and 1990s.
On the south side of Old Lane at Deadman's Green (about 100 metres from the junction with the A522) was the independent Ebenezer Chapel, built in 1821 to meet the needs of local dissenters, including those who had broken away from the Providence Chapel in Upper Tean. Thomas Bull was the preacher there, the Bull family having been instrumental in the founding of the Chapel.
From 1830, when more chapels had been built locally, the number of services at the Ebenezer Chapel gradually declined and at the time of the 1851 Religious Census, it was declared closed. It became used as a storage shed and it was finally demolished in 1992. The name plaque has been incorporated into the facade of a bungalow built near the site.
In the 1930s a transport café was constructed at Deadman’s Green on the A522 (then the A50) about half a mile east of the centre of the village. By the 1980s it was run by Barry Brash. As well as the café there was a bar and accommodation for lorry drivers and they could also purchase fuel. Up to about 70 lorries would park up overnight at the truck stop.
However in the mid 1980s a new dual carriageway bypass was built between Uttoxeter and Blythe Bridge to take the increasing amount of traffic using the road. This was about half a mile to the south of the village. The A50 through Checkley was then redesignated as the A522 and the volume of traffic on the road decreased.
Around 1990 the truck stop closed and the land, that had previously been the truck stop, was redeveloped into a small housing development, Green Park. There is a plaque which bears the date ‘1936’ on one of the new houses (number 7). The plaque came from one of the original buildings on the site.
(E)
In the 1960s there was expansion of the village to the west towards Tean with the construction of around 30 houses in Cranberry Avenue.
Also at that time Barker & Shenton had a garage at New Garage, Uttoxeter Road, selling new and used cars. They described themselves as “Appointed Agents for: Vauxhall, Bedford, Standard, Triumph, Morris, Wolseley, Riley, Jaguar”. The garage closed in the late 1970s and the site was then used as a depot when the new A50 bypass was being constructed. With the completion of the road project the site was redeveloped and it subsequently became the Badgers Hollow development in the 1990s.
The Checkley Cricket Club was founded in 1860 thanks to the, kind patronage of the Philips family of the Heybridge Estate, Lower Tean. Initially the Club played on various grounds within the Heybridge estate including a site near to the New Broom (formerly New Inn).
The Club’s activities were curtailed during the First World War but in 1919 when Lt Col. H.B.Philips made the present ground at Four Trees available and provided a pavilion and mowers etc. The generous terms for the rent for the cricket ground stipulated by Lt. Col. H.B.Philips called for the payment of one peppercorn per annum, if so demanded.
Club cricket was played under his patronage until his death in 1951 and in accordance with his wishes, the ground and pavilion was purchased by the Club from his executors for the sum of £400 in 1954.
In the autumn of 1970 the Club embarked upon what was then their most ambitious project when a major ground levelling and drainage scheme commenced. This extensive work was undertaken by leaving the hallowed square undisturbed. A number of local sporting organisations kindly accommodated the Club for Checkley’s ‘home’ fixtures during 1971 but cricket was able to resume at Four Trees on 1st August 1971 when Mr Michael Philips officiated in the re-opening of the ground.
The first phase of the pavilion rebuilding programme was completed in 1980. The second phase of the main clubroom was completed in April 1982 and the final stage comprising changing rooms and showers was achieved in 1984.
The Club plays in the Premier Division of North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Cricket League. Youth cricket was first introduced in the Club in1976. Since then, the Club has maintained a successful youth development policy and it now has Under 9s, Under 11s, Under 13s and Under 15s competing in the South Moorlands Junior Cricket League.
During most of the 20th Century the main road through the village had formed the main route from the North West and the Potteries through to Derby or to Leicester and then on to London. It was classified as the A50 with the introduction of road numbering on 1 April 1923.
By the 1970s it was planned to construct a new motorway, the M64 to link the M6 at Stoke-on-Trent with the M1 at junction 24 near Castle Donington. Its purpose would have been to allow traffic travelling from the south-east to the north-west to avoid the busy M6 around Birmingham. However it was cancelled in 1976 and the A50 was upgraded instead.
Locally, as traffic volumes increased, the narrow winding roads between Blythe Bridge and Uttoxeter became severely congested and construction of a new dual carriageway bypass was commenced in January 1983. The new road was built about half a mile to the south of the existing road and avoided the through traffic passing through Fole, Checkley and Tean. It was opened at Easter 1985 and the old road was reclassified as the A522.
Since then the volume of traffic on the new A50 bypass road has increased dramatically, particularly with the completion of the Doveridge bypass in 1998 and the Meir tunnel in that same year.
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