Buildings of Stoke-on-Trent
Whieldon's Grove	[ Web Site Index ]

Whieldon's Grove

also see Thomas Whieldon

"Whieldon's Grove, the house built by the potter, Thomas Whieldon, was used as a temporary [railway] station until the opening of Stoke station at the end of 1848; it is now the motive power depot for the Stoke-on-Trent district. The engine sheds of the railway, including the 'monster engine stable' or Round House, were erected in the Whieldon's Grove area."
The Victoria History of the County of Stafford, vol. VIII.

"South of the road [now City Road] a larger house, known as Whieldon's Grove was probably built by Thomas Whieldon the potter in the mid 18th century. Its two-storied front of five bays faced west and had a central doorway. About 30 or 40 years later a large north wing was evidently added at right angles to the original house. This had bay windows at both ends and a pedimented doorway flanked by Ionic pilasters in the centre of its principle front. Most of this later wing was cut off when the railway embankment was constructed immediately to the east, the house by this time being empty and in a neglected condition. The west side of the building, which remained standing, was taken over by the railway, in whose hands (1963) it still remains."
VCH vol VIII

"Whieldon's Grove, which lay close to Stoke Bridge and south of the main road to Uttoxeter, was evidently built by Thomas Whieldon, the potter, and occupied by him by his death in 1795. By 1829 it had been abandond and was then described as a 'dilapidated mansion'. It had been taken over by the North Staffordshire Railway by the late 1840's."
VCH vol VIII

The fortune he acquired by his industry, enabled him to erect a very elegant mansion, near Stoke; where he long enjoyed in the bosom of his family the fruits of his early economy.
Simeon Shaw: 'History of the Staffordshire Potteries' (1829) - page 155

"Near to Stoke, over the Trent, on the south side of the high road, is the dilapidated mansion of the late Thomas Whieldon Esq., at no very distant period, one of the most beautiful and interesting of the neighbourhood. The spot, once the scene of hospitality and domestic felicity, is now covered with briers and noisome weeds, and exposed to the rude blast of every pelting storm. The outbuildings are now partly destroyed, or transformed into small houses for the peasantry. At Fenton- Low are some cottages formed out of the old manufactory, and at this day the property of his heirs."
Shaw - page 67

Whieldon's Grove from an 1898 O.S. map
blue = Trent & Mersey canal
pink = City Road
Yellow = Whieldon Road

Wheeldon Road (as it was incorrectly spelt on the map) used to run from Church Street (at the back of the grounds of St.Peters graveyard) through to Mount Pleasant.
The bottom section of Whieldon Road is now part of the A500 dual carriageway.