The Red Lion inn is still standing and has been for many a year, just by the buttermarket entrance, although when this pub was first built im sure there wasn't a modern motor engined vehicle parked outside of the adjacent shops.
It doesnt look as old inside as it does on the outside, although it has parque wooden flooring, it seems to have more of a modern feel to it than it should (in my opinion).
This is the Natwest Bank (national westminster) in Derby Street, Leek, however the banks old stone plaque, blurred in the right hand side of this photo shows its original stature as a banking institution/organisation from many a century ago.
I am yet to step into this lovely pub, it looks gorgeous from the outside, built in 1626 I am sure there are some ghosts pacing the floors of this lovely building, the exterior is grande, I will let you know if the interior is as quaint as the exterior....Watch this space!
Newsflash... (9th July 2008) The Roebuck is old
fashioned inside, on the downstairs, the first and last time I (or should I say
we, as phil was with me), ventured into here was the day after my birthday, 24th
May 2008, it was strange to go outside (yet under cover) to the toilets, and I
know after experiencing the ghost tour with Bill Cawley, that this particular
public house/hotel is supposed to be haunted, although I never felt a presence
when we were in there. We ventured to the 'Cock Inn', on the opposite side
of the road to this particular public house/hotel. (more my kind of pub as they
had heavy metal music on including AC/DCs Thunderstruck).
This is one of the older pubs in Leek, notice the victorian timbering on the house! This is the Bird in Hand, it is situated on the Market Square in Leek. You will also notice the St Georges flag below the sign, this was taken during the St Georges day celebrations over the weekend of the 19th and 20th April (2008)
A zoomed in view of a typical weavers house on King Street, Leek. Weavers would do their work in the upper top floor of the house, where you see the slim window, just below the roof tiles. The door surround seems to be natural and the existing one from when the houses were first built?!
The lamp outside the house looks of the character of the existing gas lit lamps of the Victorian era. There are no cobbles down this street which is a shame but if you turn the corner at the top, into Albion street, the cobbles are still there, mainly because the council removed them and were protested against to replace by the local residents ... good on the residents I say!
Again, as earlier sepia photographs show, this is King street, just off Albion Street, these are old weavers cottages and the feint sighting of street lamps that you see would have looked very similar yet gas lit by a lamp lighter every day/evening. The lightly coloured building right at the end, on the right, is the start of the 'Albion Mill', these have been redesigned into homes, namely "Albion mill loft homes" so at least the old mill has been put into some new use but most of the old brickwork doesnt look like a mill now, its fairly new although they have complimented the buildings by installing old fashioned looking doors.
"This picture of the lower end of Mill Street, with some local children walking home, shows the row of trees which added a touch of greenery to an otherwise industrial scene".
Top photo..."These old properties were typical of the houses on Mill Street, many of which stood three or four storeys high. The tightly knit community was virtually self contained, having its own shops, pubs, schools and churches".
Bottom photo..."The Methodist chapel and Ragged School are on the extreme right of this picture. Above this, and towering over the houses, is 'Big Mill', build originally by Sugden and Son for the textile firm of Lovatt and Gould in 1860. From 1896 it became Wardle and Davenport Ltd, providing employment for many people living in the area".
Top photo..."Buxton Road. This early view of what is now a very busy road junction whos Abbotts Road, formerly Abbotts Lane, leading off to the left."
Bottom photo..."The row of fine victorian town houses on the right were desirable properties on the edge of town".
Top photo..."A well-earned feed was the reward for this horse after a busy day of deliveries. The scene is Cruso's Yard, with Stockwell street in the background"
Bottom photo..."This picture of Broad Street shows the builder's yard of Thomas Grace on the right, with a row of typical weavers' cottages on the left."
The crest above the name 'Spout Hall' I am not sure if this is the crest of the original family whom lived there which I believe was Hugh Sleigh, OR the actual architect whom built the spectacular building, Norman Shaw.
A full frontal picture, taken from across the road in St Edwards Street. (I was and I am, taking advantage of using Sheilas Panasonic digi' cam whilst she was on holiday)
Here is St Edward Street, photo uploaded on 31st March (to flickr). Spout Hall is here in the foreground on the left, just where the guy in yellow is on the pavement.
"St Edward Street is lined with buildings of differing style, age and character. There is no uniformity and no straight lines, but nevertheless there is great harmony. St Edward Street has a number of fine houses which were once the homes of many of Leek's prominent citizens".
The top photo reads... "Leek's old baths can be seen on the left of this picture, c. 1900. The small building with the pyramid-shaped roof housed a public weighing machine. It stood on the area known as 'Sparrow park', part of the old cattle market site before the Monument was built".
The bottom photo reads... "Sanders' Buildings, at the corner of Derby Street and Haywood Street, was designed by Sugden and Son, the Leek architects, in 1894 as shops with living accomodation. It is still known locally as 'Mears's Corner', from the name of a former shopkeeper".
Shops and Markets of Yesteryear...
When you look at the new retail stores of today, their windows have little character like the shop frontage and presentations of yesteryear. Leek like many towns of victorian era had many characteristics amongst the retail trade that are worlds apart from today. You will not walk down a town centre today and observe men selling cattle to make a living, do not get me wrong, cattle and livestock is still sold yet not in the original market places where they used to. Leek cattle market used to stand where the Smithfield centre stands today, and there was no monument on the square like regular visitors to Leek will see, oh no, by the Cattle market inn and The Talbot public houses and even the small roundabout by the square and its monument, stood what was the cattle market of Leek, a huge area for selling livestock in its day.
Here are the draymen and their horses outside the pub in the market square! You wont see these today, more like a wagon or two bringing in barrels of beer and bottles of all sorts.
The following photos show what selling from shops and the market was like a few decades ago.
This guy is W. Fallon and seemed to have a few different shops in Leek at the time!
Here are traders at the cattle market, as mentioned before, situated where the bus station and Smithfield centre, mini roundabout and square with monument stand today.
What was Leek known for?
Well some know that Longton, Stoke and Hanley were renown for bottle kilns, the pottery industry, such as Spode, Wedgewood, Royal Doulton, Aynsley to name a few, yet Leek and Macclesfield have been known for materials such as the silk and textile industry which moves up towards lancashire where you have such places as Styal in Cheshire, Blackburn and other Cheshire and Lancashire towns that were known for the cotton industries.
would be mill workers houses, alot of them were 3 or 4 storeys high (if you count the cellars) here, you can see the demolition of houses that once stood in Stockwell street, beside the Nicholson institute. Some houses of this style can be seen in Albion Street and King street as I have seen them myself. If you have read before this in my blog you would have seen the two pictures I took of King street.
photo of Derby street in late victorian times. If you compare that photo to one of now (2008), then you can see the vast difference. There's no cobbled road and the only existing cobbled areas I have so far observed, are the market square, Albion street and the little side road adjacent to St. Edwards church in Stockwell street, which leads to 'Mount Pleasant' and Brough Park.
St Lukes build in 1871 to cater for 164 pupils, a church school, the picture in the book was taken in 1912.
stand?
These two pictures on the left are of Regent Street School. Sadly the school has since been demolished. I doubt any of the children in these photographs are still iving today, my great aunt is 102 years of age, and although born in 1906, there are not, to my knowledge, any other elder generations of her age still living in staffordshire.
There was also Leek Girls High School (shown here in 1921) and I am unsure if that it is the same High School which is now known as Leek High School?
On Monday I needed to visit the library to pick up a fiction book and wished to visit the 'local studies' section at the Nicholas institute (our local library) In Leek, so I got the following three books to research for this blog!
