A walk around Dresden, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent
Dresden & the Longton Freehold Land Society

 

location 10 on the map |tour map|

 

Holly House
52 Ricardo Street

Holly House, No 52 Ricardo Street (now No 54)

 

built in 1857 for Thomas Poole Burrows, a grocer

 

photos: June 2001

 

Holly House, No 52 Ricardo Street (now No 54), on the opposite side of the road to Dresden House, was built in 1857 for Thomas Poole Burrows, a grocer. He was the son of George and Sarah Burrows and was baptised at Bucknall on 15 May 1814. 

At the time of the 1851 census he was living with his older brother, John Burrows, at No 36 Market Street, Longton, where they ran a substantial grocery business which employed at least three male assistants who lived with the family. Shortly afterwards Thomas got married and his first two children were born in Longton. 

In the mid 1850s he acquired two plots on the south side of Ricardo Street (No 3 & 4) where he built a large two-storey detached house in 1857. The date of construction is commemorated by a date stone "T.P.B. 1867” over the rear entrance to the house. The house has a simple façade facing Ricardo Street embellishment by a columned porch over the front door.


The 1861 census shows the occupiers of the house were:

Name

Marr | Age 

   Birthplace Occupation
Thomas B Burrows   Married   46 Head  Staffs, Stoke Grocer  
Cecilia S Burrows   Married 35  Wife   Staffs, Stoke
Sarah P Burrows  Single 8  Dau  Staffs, Longton Scholar 
Annie Burrows  Single 5  Dau  Staffs, Longton Scholar 
John Burrows Single 2  Son  Staffs, Dresden
Ellen Wood  Single 28  Srvnt  Staffs, Cobridge House Servant 

 
By 1881 Thomas Burrows, aged 66, was a widower and had retired from his grocery business. He was still resident in the house in 1891:

The 1891 census:

Name

Marr | Age 

   Birthplace Occupation
Thomas P Burrows Widower 76  Head  Staffs, Bucknall Retired Grocer 
Sarah B Burrows  Single 38  Dau  Staffs, Longton
Annie Burrows  Single 35 Dau  Staffs, Longton
Cecily Burrows Single 25 Dau  Staffs, Dresden
Annie E Mellsted  Single 18  Srvnt  Goucestershire General Servant 

Thomas Burrows died shortly afterwards and Kelly’s Directory of 1896 lists the occupier of Holly House as “Miss Burrows", presumably one of his unmarried daughters. 
In the early years of the 20th century the house was occupied by Alfred Dewes, pottery manufacturer, of the firm of Dewes and Copestake, at the Viaduct Works, Caroline Street, Longton. 
By 1907 he had been succeeded at Holly House by William Breton, a solicitor, who was still in occupation in 1914.


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