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Heritage

 2017 AGM report - Heritage update 

Burslem contains many examples of listed buildings. It has always been known as the “Mother” town and has some of the finest examples of certain types of buildings to be found in the City. The town centre buildings have benefited over the last 15 years from investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and private investors amounting to an investment in excess of £15m.

 

Examples of the types of listed building include:

 

Former Town Hall, Burslem

  • Second of 3 former town halls
  • Completed in 1854
  • Built in Baroque style
  • Constructed of Ashlar masonry
  • Refurbished in 2015 as Sixth Form College
  • Statue on bell tower is the “Angel” Contains grand double staircase
  • Contains former jail cells

 

 

 

 Wedgwood Institute

  • Built in 1869
  • Originally library / art school
  • Currently undergoing Multi million pound refurbishment by UKBPT
  • Built in brick and terracotta
  • Heavily ornamented facades
  • Front elevation contains signs of zodiac
  • Also frieze of local industry above windows
  • Rudyard Kipling’s father involved in design
  • Read more here about the revival of the Wedgwood Institute
  • HRH visit 2013

 

 

   

 

Wedgwood Big House

  • Built 1750; Georgian
  • Home of John and Thomas Wedgwood
  • Earliest surviving example of pottery manufacturers house
  • Wedgwood pottery manufactory was located adjacent in Market Place
  • Used as branch of Midland Bank for many years

 

News update: 30/12/2016

New owner reveals plans to restore Burslem's Wedgwood Big House to former glory

 

 

School of Art

  • Built circa 1905
  • Designed by AR Wood
  • Built of brick with some terracotta
  • Famous students include Clarice Cliff, Susie Cooper, Arthur Berry
  • Undergoing refurbishment to serve as part of Hayward Academy Sixth Form College
  • Read more here about the new lease of life for the School of Art
  • HRH Visit 2016 - Gallery

 

 

 

 

Leopard Hotel

  • Former coaching hotel
  • Leopard Inn on this site since at least 1765
  • Current building built late 18th Century
  • New façade circa 1830
  • Featured as meeting place for Josiah Wedgwood & Thomas Brindley planning canal construction
  • Reputed to be haunted

 

 

Parish church of St John the Baptist

  • Built 1717 in brick
  • Tower in stone dates to 1536
  • Josiah Wedgwood baptised here

 

 

 

 

Bottle Kilns at Acme Marls Ltd

  • Kilns on this site since 1900
  • Present kilns date to 1937 – 1947
  • Downdraught kilns
  • Last remaining examples of their type

   

National Westminster Bank

  • Built circa 1865
  • Tudor Gothic style
  • Built in brick with stone detailing and Welsh slate roof
  • Originally a branch of District Bank

 

Burslem Park

  • Burslem Park, a public park, was laid out by Thomas H Mawson and opened to the public in 1894.
  • The park is designated at Grade II*
  • Work began in 1893 and was completed in 1894
  • The total cost of the park was over £17,000
  • A programme of restoration commenced in 2005, followed by 'Parks for People', Heritage Lottery Fund and was completed in 2012
  • The focus of the park is the pavilion, in the fashionable late C19 Elizabethan style, which stands on the eastern edge of the Terrace
  • Also see Historic England website for more information on Burslem Park

 

 

Heritage Organisations and links

Potteries Heritage Society is an independent group of individuals who care about the towns and places that make up the City of Stoke-on-Trent, its history and its future. It is Stoke-on-Trent's Civic Society, one of a network of several hundred such societies in the UK registered with Civic Voice.

ThePotteries.org - Burslem

British History Online - Burslem: Buildings, Manors and Estates