Peak District
Antique Centre
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A selection of local books from Landmark Publishing
Today, large country houses are
snapped up for trendy health farms or conversion to
expensive apartments. One such conversion north of
The Potteries recently advertised an apartment to
rent at £2,500.00 per month. This is a far cry
from days gone by when such properties were
considered to be a financial headache and many were
demolished. Lost Houses of North Staffordshire £14.99 ISBN 1843061953 ‘Staffordshire and the
Gothic Revival’ ISBN 1 84306 221 6, is
published in August 2006 by Landmark Publishing and
will be available from all good bookshops in the
area. Those who know Michael
Fisher’s widely-acclaimed books about Alton
Towers and the work of the architect August Pugin
will understand why this Stafford-based priest and
author has been described as the
‘Staffordshire branch of the Pugin
Society’. Far from being a cultural backwater,
Staffordshire was at the forefront of the movement
which revolutionised Victorian art and architecture
– the Gothic Revival. Fisher’s latest
book ‘Staffordshire and the Gothic
Revival’ considerably extends this theme. The History
of the Ancient Parish of
Leek Residents of Leek have a
profound interest in local history and this is no
passing fad. The same applied in late Victorian
times, with books by Mathew Miller, editor of the
Leek newspaper, and John Sleigh, the son of a Leek
silk manufacturer. Sleigh chose law rather than
textiles for his profession, although he moved away
from his hometown, he maintained close links with
his friends and business associates. Sleigh is best remembered
for his epic book, 'The History of the Ancient
Parish of Leek', which was so well received it went
into an enlarged and deluxe second edition in 1883.
This second edition is still much sought after and
on the rare occasion when one comes up for sale,
they fetch high prices; mainly, one suspects,
because of its value to family historians. It
contains four pages of coats of arms (reproduced in
colour) and many family trees; some of these are
quite fascinating to read. For instance,
cash-strapped Charles Cotton of Beresford Hall near
Sheen would have been pleased to find that one of
his descendants was the 7th Duke of Devonshire, one
of the wealthiest men in the country! This larger edition has
recently been reproduced by Landmark Publishing as
a high quality limited edition; each book is
numbered out of 400. To further enhance this
edition Landmark has added the transcript of an
address about the book given by William Challinor
in 1884. Challinor's address is itself, now
considered to be of considerable historic interest;
the publishers also managed to find an image of
John Sleigh which is included at the beginning of
the book. It is a family heirloom in the
making. Available from local
bookshops Available from local book shops Lindsey Porter &
Cathryn Walton Covers scenes outside the towns chiefly
taken in the last 110 years: Country
Houses & Other Homes; Winter
Wonder-land ; Inns & Taverns; All in a
Days Work; On the Move (scenes of canals,
railways, horse drawn vehicles etc); At
Play (people enjoying themselves);
Churches and Chapels; Around the Villages.
Chiefly consists of scenes and a way of
life which have changed or disappeared for
ever. 192 pages, 316 photographs. Published
August 2000. A new book commemorating the equivalent
of a local gold rush 150 years ago has
just been published. In this case it
wasn't gold, but a special cherry red
ironstone in the Churnet Valley, between
Consall Forge & Froghall and Ipstones
& Kingsley. This 96 page, £7.95 paperback
recalls the former days in detail, with
plenty of maps and illustrations
indicating what was where. The only
comprehensive account of Blue John stone
ever written. It covers the source;
mineralogy; history of mining; its uses in
ornaments, monuments and jewellery over
the centuries.
by
Cathryn Walton & Lindsey Porter
A new book, ‘Lost Houses of North
Staffordshire’, has just been published which
portrays houses that have been demolished, are
ruined or have been converted for other uses.
Seventy sites are included; although some sites had
several houses built on them, so the book covers
approximately 90 houses in total. Of the 70 sites,
at least 50 of the houses have either gone or are
in ruins, for instance Alton Towers; or
substantially altered, like Maer Hall, where 70
rooms were removed in the 1960s.
Some houses have been gone for a long time, such as
Beresford Hall and Throwley Hall, the former
demolished and the latter probably lost in a fire,
both in the 1850s. Most of Belmont Hall was lost to
fire in 1806 the rest is still occupied. Many went
during the Depression, especially in 1935, when
Apedale, Ilam, Wootton, Calwich Abbey and Yoxall
Lodge were lost.
North Staffordshire was the cradle of the Gothic
Revival style of architecture sadly all the large
Gothic Revival houses including Alton Towers, Ilam
(although the servant’s wing survives),
Snelston (just in Derbyshire) and Butterton (near
Stoke-on-Trent) have been demolished or are
ruins.
This fascinating book, with nearly 200 photographs,
is the result of many years research by the authors
and the first such study to reach the bookshops.
Readers will find it has been well worth the
wait.
The book is divided into two parts; the first part
consisting of fairly detailed text giving
historical context along with many photographs of
some 58 sites, followed by a short section covering
other houses with photographs and brief captions.
The authors, Cathryn Walton and Lindsey Porter,
hope their work inspires budding historians to
research other properties in the region. Who knows
there may be a similar book in the making!
The opening chapter surveys the whole county,
taking account of local architects such as the
Trubshaws who built the large Gothic churches in
Stoke on Trent, and Thomas Johnson whose church at
Leigh, near Uttoxeter, is on a vast scale with
stained glass, tiles and woodwork by Pugin. Five
case studies follow: Gilbert Scott’s
pioneering restoration of St. Mary’s
Collegiate Church, Stafford: Pugin’s St.
Giles’s Cheadle, George Edmund Street’s
exquisite church at Denstone: G F Bodley’s
magnificent Hoar Cross and Norman Shaw’s All
Saints’, Leek, with its wealth of early
Arts-and-Crafts furnishings. Staffordshire boasts
the very finest work of these famous Victorian
architects, and Fr. Michael Fisher (who has charge
of another architectural gem – St.
Chad’s, Stafford), is clearly proud of the
county of his birth. The significant role of local
industry and crafts is also discussed: ceramics by
Herbert Minton of Stoke on Trent, and the rich
needlework produced by the Leek Embroidery
Society.
The text of the book is well illustrated with
photographs, original drawings and watercolours,
some of which have never been seen before. The
foreword has been written by another devotee of
Staffordshire’s architectural heritage, Sir
Patrick Cormack, FSA, MP, President of the
Staffordshire Historic Churches Trust.
An
heirloom in the making
by John Sleigh
or direct from
Landmark
Publishing
or direct from
Landmark
Publishing
Photographs from Days Gone
by
Blue John
by
Trevor D. Ford
Landmark Publishing Limited,
Ashbourne Hall,
Cokayne Avenue ,
Ashbourne.
DE6 1EJ
Telephone 01335 347349 Facsimile 01335 347303
web site: www.landmarkpublishing.co.uk