Josiah Spode II (1754-1827) and The Mount Estate (Penkhull)
The formal gardens and kitchen garden
Location 5 on
the index map
Spode's house faces south west, i.e. away from his pottery factory and the town of Stoke-upon-Trent towards the estates of Clayton Lodge and Trentham Hall, in keeping with his position as Master and Pottery Manufacturer the grounds and view are extensive.
"This delightful abode, replete with every convenience, is fully adapted to the accommodation of a highly respectable family. It stands upon an eminence, and commands extensive views, including the park, woods, and ornamental grounds of Trentham, Butterton, and Keel." From 1838 'to let' newspaper advertisement.
The grounds of the Mount today (2000) are only a small
portion of the grand original"The stables, coach houses, and harness room, form two sides of a well paved and enclosed yard. Large walled Gardens, stocked with choice fruit trees, in full bearing, hothouse, pinery, green-house, and excellent ice-house. The pleasure grounds are extensive, and tastefully laid out, and include an ornamental sheet of water." From 1838 'to let' newspaper advertisement.
The wall of the original 'kitchen garden'The house would be well supplied with fresh vegetables and fruit - of the sort we can obtain from the supermarkets but would not have been available to the working class population.
An idea of the scale of the kitchen and fruit gardens can be found from the following sources:
"Large walled Gardens, stocked with choice fruit trees, in full bearing, hothouse, ....green-house" From 1838 'to let' newspaper advertisement.
"On the night of Sunday last.... some daring offenders entered the garden of Josiah Spode, Esq., at the Mount, near Newcastle, and broke into his vinery, conveying off a considerable quantity of fine grapes, and at the same time doing much injury to the vines; they also plucked a quantity of his walled fruit, and damaged the trees." From a 1830 newspaper article.
There was also a description of the gardens in the 1875 auction details.
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of the stable yard
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