Swapping a crab for a ram

The old Wedgwood Institute in Burslem is a lovely building, built in the Venetian Gothic style.
As you can see, it has an ornate frieze around its top depicting the astrological signs of the zodiac named with their corresponding months and a scene referring to the sign.

But... the makers got muddled up.
As you can see in centre of the the photo, the roundel at the top depicts Cancer The Crab (June 22 to July 22), the month says June, but, er, the scene depicts a man holding down a ram (March, Aries!). 
Where is the usual scene for Cancer, a woman collecting crabs?  Yep, you guessed it: over where the ram should have been.
Somebody clearly wasn’t concentrating.

Wedgwood himself seems unbothered though.

Astrological quirks!

It's a very odd thing: but there are some howlers of mistakes on the facade of the Wedgwood Institute in Burslem.  The frieze along the top shows the twelve signs of the zodiac - but the signs for Cancer and Aries are in the wrong places. 
As you can see here, Aries (15 April to 15 May) is hovering over March, which is all wrong.  (The man is gathering clams/crabs by the way, which is not entirely obvious...). 
Also, further along the facade, the June figure seems to be shearing a ram - whcih should surely be Aries ?

This buidling was a wonder of its time.    I wonder if they realised the mistake when it was unveiled; or did those who realise just stay shtum?

This quirk is featured in the locally-set novel, The Spyders of Burslem.

A trio of ovens

While we're profiling bottle ovens (see previous post), here are some more.  These three at the southern tip of Burslem stand very much alone and abandoned these days, so they look rather forlorn, but... it was a misty day ... and at least they remain complete.

The best fish & chips you can get

Fish & Chip shops don't usually appear in the form of an eighteenth century building (that was once a bank).  This one in Burslem is also probably unique in having a Wedgwood-style ceiling inside.

Of course, the question is: are the chips as classy as the classy surroundings?  Indeed yes! 'Mothertown Fish & Chips' was even lauded by The Times newspaper as one of the Top Thirty F&C Shops in the whole of the UK in 2014...  Pretty good....

All in all, it's definitely worth trying a bag-full - you can even get gluten-free versions (who would have thought?!)

Knitting is spreading

The craze for knitting goes on.  Staffordshire seems to like it; one village in the county claims to be the most knitted-over in the country. Hmm.
And at the Burslem School of Art, knitting has recently taken over the exhibition area.

Young Stoke celebrated

The 'Forsyth Window' can be seen in the stairwell at the old School of Art building in Burslem.  Gordon Forsyth was a formidable artist in his own right, and was principal at the Art School for some 25 years between the two wars...

This window (created in 1932) celebrates the new federation of the towns of Stoke on Trent, which had only united into one city at the beginning of the twentieth century.  It expresses the confidence the young city had in its traditional way of life.  
In fact, the School produced some world-famous ceramics designers during Forsyth's time.

Forsyth could not have foreseen that, within forty years of his tenure, the school would be closed. The building is now used as a sort of centre for community and creatives small businesses.

Magnificence - coming back

The facade of the Wedgwood Institute is, by any standards, magnificent.

Built 150 years ago in Stoke-on-Trent to house the city's school of art, it features plaques of 'great men' on its front, as well as reliefs of the astrological houses/months and of various creative labours..
Topping the doorway is a statue of Josiah Wedgwood himself.

However, its magnificence is not enough, as no one has quite known recently what to do with the building, which has been empty for five years.

However, the latest news is that the Princes Trust has stepped in with a promise to bring it back to its deserved state.   See:  Institute to be restored
I'm pleased.


This post was featured on the City Daily Portal July 2013 theme 

Decaying before one's eyes

The 'indoor market' in Burslem has been closed for some time.  At its other entrance, there is a rather hopeful placard announcing that it is hoped to re-open it one day, but it looks doomed to me.

There is a reason for choosing this photo for today, as this is the day that the City Daily Portal website is calling for photos on the theme of the 'Beauty Of Decay'.  I guess the scene is not in any way beautiful - but maybe the composition of it is (?)

Anyway, if you want decay, Burslem is the place to go.  I love Burslem, but... yes, it is decaying... Before one's very eyes. 

This post was featured on the City Daily Portal June 2013 theme

Arnold Bennett lounges about

It’s Arnold Bennett’s birthday today – he was born May 27, 1867.  He’s a local hero of course, having not only been born in the Potteries, but having written the definitive novels about life in the Potteries too.  He was a writer of popular classics, but, in his own way, a very wise man too.

Yet, for all that, I cannot think of any major memorial to him in his native north Staffordshire – apart from the one you see in this photo.
A Bennett museum in Cobridge failed some years ago for lack of interest; and a statue of Bennett, which was half-finished a couple of years ago, seems to have, umm, not been finished.

This ‘Arnold Bennett mannequin’ is a popular sight at the historic Leopard Inn in Burslem. The owners seem to move it around a lot, but it’s usually lounging somewhere.
Bennett mentioned The Leopard Inn (renaming it The Tiger) in his Potteries novels.

Links: Arnold Bennett Society

The rotting Burslem Sunday School

The once magnificent Burslem Sunday School (built in the 1830s) is now an ugly mess. After fire destroyed most of it, it was 'made safe' in the late 1980s, and now all that's left is this dilapidated front portico.  If it were an animal, you'd want to put it out of its pain. 
It's listed though, so I guess it can't be touched, and so it just sits ... rotting.

To see a photo of what it was like in its greatness, click on Potteries.org

Ghost story for Xmas

A ghost story for you – seeing as it’s Christmas Day!

In North Staffordshire, the most famous ghost story is that of Molly Leigh (or Lee). 
She was a real person, and most likely was simply just a secretive woman – but she lived alone too, and that was enough to give any credulous eighteenth-century man his suspicions that she was a witch.
Sure enough after her death, she was ‘seen’, as if in life, sitting in her cottage with her pet bird.

And here the real story starts. The local parson, horrified at what had been seen, ordered her tomb to be turned sideways. Unlike all god-fearing folk, who are laid to rest east-west, Molly’s tomb, in the graveyard at St John's Church in Burslem, was now laid on a north-south axis - as you can see in the photo above. Molly's tomb is the big one on the right of the photo.
In fact, this was a very rare occurrence, so the tomb is quite an historical oddity.

Even until recently, local kids would dance around the grave singing “Molly Leigh, Molly Leigh, You can’t catch me” - but… it’s not advised… you never know what might happen...

Related link:
The story of Molly Leigh 

This post was featured on the Cemetery Sunday website

Murder most foul

This grisly painting hangs in the function room of the famous, historic Leopard Pub in Burslem. But it's an odd painting, you'd think, to be displayed in a place of relaxation...

But the Leopard is not just your usual pub, being redolent of lots of history (and ghosts). What's more, I'm told that this painting is by none other than Arthur Berry, the famous North Staffordshire poet, writer and 'primitivist' artist.

And... it is a depiction of what was supposedly a true event in the building. This young lady had her throat slashed in a back room of the pub some hundred or more years ago.
It's all rather too gory for me, and I tend to sit (whilst with my pint) with my back to it...

Titanic comes to Burslem

More Titanic material! Yes, this depiction of the great ship going down to its grave in 1912 is included in a mural celebrating the town of Burslem.
But what has Burslem to do with the Titanic, you might ask…

Erm. It’s a bit complicated. The captain of the ship came from a neighbouring town, and the founders of a micro-brewery decided it would be funny to name themselves after the ill-fated ship. Seems a bit risky to me – but what do I know, as that that brewery is now probably the biggest independent in Staffordshire.

And the Titanic Brewery is based in Burslem – which is why the ship is featured in this mural. So… (phew!) now you know!

Vicious but beautiful

These razor-sharp ‘vanes’, as they’re called, are strangely beautiful running along the top of this wall.

I suppose if you’re going to have such vicious intruder-deterrents, they might as well look good.

Burslem steel

One of the best laid-out parks in the Potteries is at Burslem. It’s a Victorian park with quite a pedigree.

They’re completely refurbishing it, and these new steel benches have been installed. I like the design, which is modern and attractive. They have the virtue of being vandal-proof too, I guess.

But some of my friends didn’t like the introduction of cold metal into what should be a ‘soft’ landscape.

Angel of Burslem

The so-called Angel Of Burslem - atop the now-closed town-hall, which is back behind these roofs - dominates this town built on a hill.
She shimmers golden in what is, frankly, a grey Victorian townscape; and "it is said" (by whom, one wonders) that Burslem's fortunes will depend on her remaining where she is. Not that she is dong much of a job; Burslem's fortunes could be said to be at a nadir.

Actually, she's not really an angel; she's actually Nike, the goddess of victory in battle. I can't think why the local council thought that Nike was an apt choice when she was erected in 1854.

(Just an aside: as soon as I hear the phrase Angel Of Burslem, my mind immediately hears an echo of Angel Of Harlem - the U2 song. Just me then?... I suppose).

Arthur Berry at The Leopard

Arthur Berry is a poet, author and painter, but little-known outside north Staffordshire - where he was born and lived and died. His work - dark paintings and physical verse - is as rugged as this area.

At The Leopard, which is a heritage-pub in Burslem, and the one pub all visitors to the area MUST go to, the strange ballroom is adorned with fascinating paintings; and this portrait of Arthur has pride of place. (The singing dog is featured in one of his more surreal works).

Though a crochety man, he was a true native-poet of this place, and was much-loved.

Link: TV profile of Arthur Berry

Doulton deserted

The industrial area of north Staffordshire was - and sometimes still is - known as the 'Potteries', because of the importance  pottery manufacture used to play in employment. Not so any more. This photo of the once-famous, now derelict Royal Doulton works in Burslem is a good illustration of that.

There is still a lot of ceramics expertise in the area, and more small businesses in pottery manufacture than you might think - but the heyday is gone.