With a history stretching back to the sixteenth century, this fine old inn
incorporates the former Courthouse of the Manor of Newcastle-under-Lyme. A
listed building.
In the Middle Ages, the
Manorial Court was held in the Borough's castle. With the passing years, that
fortress grew increasingly unsafe through neglect and the
Court was transferred to Stoke-upon-Trent, which remained the venue throughout
the middle years of Elizabeth I's reign. In the 1580s the Court was moved
to the Greyhound where it stayed, apart from brief alternations with Stoke,
until 1817. By 1829 the Court was being held at Stoke's Wheatsheaf Hotel.
In 1854 it was on the move again, to Hanley.
The Greyhound, now stuccoed, was largely rebuilt in 1936 with parts of the
original sixteenth-century oak frame preserved as is the enormous stone
chimney. The main block, parallel with
the road, and a small back wing are still timber-framed but the crossing at
the south end was entirely reconstructed in brick. A small room at the
north end of the building, beneath
the gable on the right, has original sixteenth century walls. The cellars were
at one time used as a lock-up for prisoners awaiting
trial.
