 |
Introduction to
the walk around the Mount Estate in Penkhull |
These
notes accompany a history "walk" around the Mount Estate in Penkhull.
The purpose of the walk is to look at what remains today of the estate created by Josiah Spode
11 (1754-1827), master potter, of Stoke and also to examine the relationship between the estate and the village of Penkhull.
The
actual walk was conducted in June 2000 by Andrew Dobraszczyc (Keele
University). Photos & web production by Steve Birks.
In 1802 at an auction held in the Marquis of Granby public house, Josiah Spode bought 17 acres of land (lot 2) north of the village of Penkhull.
The land was formerly in the possession of John Harrison, a pottery manufacturer at Cliff Bank in Stoke. In 1792 John
Harrison built a detached Georgian house in Penkhull called Beech Grove (now the Grove Nursing Home). He then got into financial difficulties during the Napoleonic wars and was declared bankrupt. Beech Grove and the rest of his property were put up for sale and Josiah Spode acquired land which formed the basis of the Mount Estate.
The extract from Thomas Hargreaves' Map of the Staffordshire Potteries and Newcastle-under-Lyme shows The Mount between Hartshill and Penkhull in 1832.
Then, as a result of additional purchases of land in the late 1820s the estate contained 120 acres.
By 1831 £406 6s had been spent on the construction of a new carriage drive north to Hartshill. The northern exit was fronted by a "handsome stone lodge" which is mentioned in the advertisement to let the Mount in 1838. The new tree-lined drive can be seen on the map
below. The older, southern exit, past the Mount farm yard, partly followed the present line of Greatbatch Avenue.
