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Lord Street, Etruria
Etruria Villa - home of Jesse
Shirley
Etruria Villa, in Lord
Street - home of Jesse Shirley
(of Shirley flint mill on the junction of the
Cauldon and the Trent & Mersey canals)
 Jesse
Shirley was born in Etruria on 17 November
1848. He was educated
at Alfieri's Academy,
Northwood, Hanley, and by
1880 was in
partnership with his
brother, H. B. Shirley
in the firm of Jesse and H.
B. Shirley,
bone and flint mills,
Etruria.
The mill still stands at the
junction of the Trent and Mersey and Caldon canals and is a listed
building.
Shirley was elected to
Hanley council in 1880, served as mayor in 1885 and became an alderman in
1892. As chairman of the parks committee he promoted the scheme for the
purchase and laying out of Hanley park, 1892-7 sited on 63 acres of Stoke
fields, waste ground on each side of Victoria Road.
In Etruria park there is a
fountain donated in 1904 by the brothers Henry and Jessie Shirley.
Shirley's Bone Mill on
the Trent and Mersey Canal
The inscription on the fountain in Etruria
Park reads:
"This
fountain was presented by
the Mayor of Hanley H. B. Shirley Esq. JP
and Alderman Jesse Shirley JP
September 1904"
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"I was born in this house in 1941 and I sold it in 1998.
In September 1939 my grandparents
purchased this property, their name was Forster, it was then left
to my mother, Mrs Nellie Clare, and then to me, Peter Clare when
my mother passed away in 1997.
The original name was ETRUSCAN
VILLA, LORD STREET as it was named by Shirley, later it was called
AMBURET, LORD STREET, later it became 367 Etruria Road and then 45
Etruria Old Road."
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"Etruscan Villa may still be seen just above Etruscan-street, a
square-built Georgian type of house which has a heavy stone porch. The
house was built on a portion of the three-and-a-half acres of ground sold
by Mr. Wedgwood to the Shirley family in 1855, at a cost of seven hundred
pounds. It has now been made into two houses, but retains its original
front. Until Mr. J. Wilfred Shirley left, it had a large garden at the
rear with coach house and stabling, and at one time would rank next to
Etruria Hall in importance.
The carriage drive was at the rear and led into Etruscan-street. White
rocks on either side of the iron gate and a hawthorn hedge and overhanging
trees made the entrance very attractive. The drive led to a well-wooded
garden ; here, on the sunlit lawns a tea was given to the villagers on the
day of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. It remained like this until 1930,
when a street was cut through to Etruria Schools and Salem-street.
Etruscan Cottage is the next house towards Hanley. This house, also, has
recently undergone many alterations and has been made into two dwellings."
Warrillow - History of Etruria 1952
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