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Location 12 on
the index map
The Mechanics Institution
| The Mechanics Institution
members paid a subscription to use the premises so its members tended to
be the
better paid pottery workers such as guilders, engravers, firemen and so
on.
The Institute housed a library, a
newspaper reading area and hosted lectures on the arts and technical
matters.
Historically,
Mechanics' Institutes were educational establishments formed to provide
adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working men. As
such, they were often funded by local industrialists on the grounds that
they would ultimately benefit from having more knowledgeable and skilled
employees. |
1851 map showing the Mechanics
Institution in Market Passage
Market Passage
These most unimpressive buildings are now shops in Market Passage (which now leads to the market)
but on the 1851 map they were clearly marked as the Mechanics
Institution.
The Mechanics
Institute was used before the School of Art
opened in 1905 in Queen Street
At the top of Market passage
(where a building society stands stood the
Legs of Man Inn - in 1818 this was an important coaching house)
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Between
about 1780 and 1830 the Legs of Man Inn was the principal inn of
the town. For most of that, time the public house was run by the
Cotton family. All the important meetings relating to the town
and its industry were held here. It was also the first coaching
inn of the town.
Allbut's
directory of 1802 records that every day at 6 a.m. the
Expedition coach left for London from the Legs of Man Inn, and a
second coach left for Liverpool at 6 in the evening.
The
Legs of Man Inn declined in importance after the departure of
the Cotton family in the 1820's and the Leopard Inn became the
principal public house and posting inn. |
the original
entrance to the Mechanics
Institution.
links to related
information:
- The
Mechanics Institution in Hanley -
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(1714-1837)
