“A room at top of my pub is haunted by the spirit of an old woman,” discloses Beverley Denton, licensee of the Harecastle Hotel in Liverpool Road. “I’ve not encountered her myself but some of my customers swear they’ve seen her standing at the window looking into the street. I’ve never been sure of ghosts but some funny things have happened in the pub.”

Beverley glances involuntarily over her shoulder.

“I can’t put my finger on it but I’ve heard creaks and groans. Sometimes footsteps when the pub is closed and I know there’s nobody there. But they seem to be friendly and I’ve never had cause to be frightened.”

The Harecastle was built during a time when Kidsgrove was an important junction across the waist of industrial England.

“The early road was always a major route to the salt mines of Middlewich and Northwich,” says historian Steve Birks. “It was also the channel that carried the easiest route to the north-west ports on the Irish Sea used from time immemorial as the docks for coastal transportation. These routes gathered at Kidsgrove when the Potteries began to prosper. As a major packhorse route important changes came with the turnpike in 1763.”

The name turnpike is said to originate from the military guarding of roads. Soldiers would place their pikestaffs across the entrance to control admission. A bit like a border guard the pikes were turned to one side to let legitimate travellers pass.

“These checkpoints evolved into gatehouses where tolls were collected. The last to disappear on the Burslem to Lawton turnpike were at Brownhills and at Lawton crossing by the A34,” says Steve. “Once the canal was opened, the carriage of freight by road declined. At the same time road-travel improved for passengers until, by the 1870’s, the trusts expired and the roads became the responsibility of local authorities.”

Creating a network of well-maintained roads was one of the major achievements of 18th century England. The system was not central but resulted from local enterprise and regulated by local trustees through Acts of Parliament. Using toll charges a trust was enabled to repair and maintain a particular 20 mile stretch of turnpike road.

“By 1845 rail-mania had taken the country by storm into which the North Staffs Railway Company arrived,” continues Steve. “To connect the Potteries with the main London-Birmingham-Manchester line the Loopline railway was completed with the extension from Hanley to Kidsgrove opening in 1875. The Loopline turned a tiresome journey from Kidsgrove to Hanley by road into twenty-minute relaxation".