A not for profit private foundation, the Phoenix Trust was set up to make the North Staffordshire Coalfield’s industrial landscape a World Heritage Site.
The trust is undertaking extensive original research into North Staffordshire’s unique socio-economic history and its architectural heritage. We have already looked at the historic development of the Potteries and at the life of James Brindley whose Trent & Mersey Canal “kick started” the Industrial Revolution which made Britain the Workshop of the World.
At the moment, we are photographing Apedale and the surrounding towns and villages. Starting in September we shall be organising an oral history project to record daily life and work in:
Chesterton
Red Street
Wood Lane
Miles Green
Halmer End
Alsagers Bank
Silverdale and Knutton
from the 1940s to the end of the 20th century.
More details of our photographic survey and the oral history project can be obtained from northstaffs@live.co.uk
Until abolished by the Courts Act in 1971, the Assizes were the most feared criminal courts in England and Wales.
Presided 0ver by red-robed High Court judges, Assize Courts were founded in the 12th century by Henry II who sent judges to each county two or three time a year to try serious criminal offences. Jurisdiction to try capital offences including murder, theft, robbery and arson was taken away from local county courts, hundred courts and court leets and given to the Assizes.
Staffordshire Assizes sat at Stafford, Lichfield and Newcastle-under-Lyme, where a prison was built. The King appointed Sergeants of the Peace to police North Staffordshire. Based in Newcastle, they investigated capital offences which lawyers called felonies to distinguish them from misdemeanours, less serious crimes that could still be tried by local courts.
When the Assizes were created, men and women who had been arrested by the Sergeants had to prove their innocence by surviving the ordeal. When jury trial replaced the ordeal in 1219 the burden of proof shifted from the defence to the prosecution. The accused was presumed innocent until proved guilty but problems arose if he refused to plead.
Defendants charged with treason or misdemeanours could be tried and convicted even if they refused to plead. However, the law would not allow the court to try a felony until the accused had entered a plea to the charge. All it could do was imprison him until he changed his mind. Men accused of committing felonies had no incentive to plead and give the court jurisdiction to try them. Convicted felons were executed. Everything they owned was seized by the state and their families were left destitute. Indefinite imprisonment was better than the gallows. Soon the prisons were full of men and women who were refusing to answer the charges made against them.
To persuade them to stand trial, the government resorted to torture. They were put in chains and fed every two days. Slow starvation failed to achieve its objective and their treatment became more brutal and barbaric.
The prison authorities were ordered to spread-eagle them on the ground and place large stones on their bodies until they agreed to plead or were crushed to death. Many still refused to plead and died under torture. Dying unconvicted they were not felons and their property was inherited by their families.
Multi-award winning design agency, Pentagram, has agreed to work for free with British Waterways to provide design consultancy for the new national charity that will take over the care of the nation’s 200-year old canals and rivers. “I’m delighted. This announcement is a great boost in the search for creative and cost effective ways to launch the new charity in 2012,” said Simon Salem, British Waterways’ marketing director.
He went on: “The government’s public consultation document ‘A new era for the waterways’ recognises that ‘keeping the British Waterways name’ is not an option so we collectively need to do some high quality thinking.”
Pentagram is a global agency, whose clients include Citibank, The V&A, Tiffany & Co, The Co-operative and Tesco. They will offer free advice and guidance on the new waterways charity’s name, logo and imagery.
Simon added: “To be successful, the new charity has to reach out and appeal beyond the waterways’ existing supporters. The look and feel of the new organisation will be an integral part of its future success, underpinning its fundraising and public engagement efforts. It’s vital we get it right. Having such a professional and innovative consultancy offer its services free of charge is a huge endorsement and a massive step forward for the charity.”
John Rushworth, a partner at Pentagram, is leading the project and is already familiar with the network, having designed both the current British Waterways and The Waterways Trust logos. John says: “British Waterways is a national institution which has led the renaissance of our much loved canals and rivers. This is a tremendously exciting opportunity to be part of the beginning of the next chapter in the waterways’ history and to help shape the identity of the organisation tasked with their future. We are pleased to be able to offer the new charity consultancy and design services which we hope will help it get off to the best possible start.”
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