Whieldon’s Wharf on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Stoke
Copyright Camera in the City – The Phoenix Trust 2013
Posts Tagged ‘Trent & Mersey Canal’
Camera in the City – Whieldon’s Wharf
April 21st, 2013
ButtonTourism could regenerate Kidsgrove
September 15th, 2012
Bath Pool Park could become a major tourist attraction
The Phoenix Trust welcomes Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council’s proposal to create a town centre partnership in Kidsgrove, a town which for many years has been run down and neglected.
Under the scheme the borough council will work with Kidsgrove Town Council and the local business community to regenerate the town centre by encouraging investment which will make it more attractive to shoppers and tourists.
A report produced by The Phoenix Trust earlier this year shows that efficient and effective marketing could turn Kidsgrove into a major national and international heritage tourist attraction.
The report’s authors, historical geographer Betty Cooper and The Phoenix Trust’s chief executive David Martin, believe that a heritage based tourist industry would play a leading role in regenerating Kidsgrove and bring prosperity to the town.
Kidsgrove already has the basis of a major tourist industry which would attract visitors from home and overseas.
Its main attractions being:
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the Harecastle Tunnels and the Trent & Mersey Canal which merit World Heritage Site status in their own right,
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Mow Cop’s links with Primitive Methodism,
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James Brindley’s grave at Newchapel, and
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Reginald Mitchell’s birthplace in Butt Lane.
Each former mining community in the Kidsgrove area retains its original character and architectural heritage which would attract both casual visitors and professional historians.
Many former railways and tramways which have become walkways and footpaths could easily be transformed into heritage trails.
Bath Pool has the potential to become a major tourist attraction and the playing fields at Birchenwood Country Park could become a regional centre for a wide range of sporting activities.
Tell us what you think. How should Kidsgrove be regenerated? What type of shops would you like to see in the town centre? Do you think the market should be reopened? Email phoenixstaffs@mail.com to have your say.
Photograph Copyright The Phoenix Trust 2012
PH/ND
The Kidcrew Buggut
September 9th, 2012
Brindley’s Harecastle Tunnel – Home of The Kidcrew Buggut
The Rev. Frederick George Llewellin was the Vicar of Kidsgrove from 1922 until his death in 1941.
Llewellin wrote a book “The Lighter Side of a Parson’s Life” about his ministry in Kidsgrove.
In this edited extract from the chapter about the boat people who lived and worked on the Trent & Mersey Canal, he tells the story of the Kidcrew Buggut – a ghost that haunts the Brindley Tunnel which runs under Harecastle Hill.
The Kidcrew Buggut
“Lor, bless yer, lad, don’t yer know? Did yer never hear tell o’ it? Well, gaffer, years ago, in the very middle o’ the tunnel right atween Tunstall on the one side and Kitcrew (Kidsgrove) junction on the other, two men murdered a woman and thew her body inter the tunnel and because it wor a deed o’ violence, and her life wor taken from her before it wur axed fur, that ‘ere ‘oman have never lain quiet.
“But years ago as it wor, she’d appear, sometimes in the form o’ a white horse, sometimes like a female without a ‘ead, but whenever her comes, trouble’s sure to foller. Never wor there an accident at the collieries but the Kitcrew Buggut wor sure to come to tell o’ it. Somebody ‘ll die, or be murdered or drowned in the cut (the canal) or coal mine when that ‘ere ghost appears.”
Llewellin took this version of the story from L.T. Meads’ “Water Gipsies” and went on to say:
“The more recent tradition was that the ghost appeared at times in the Squire’s garden at Clough Hall. On more than one occasion the buggut scared ‘men on evil bent,’ and on other occasions terrified those who saw it.
“I feel it is my duty to say that contrary to local tradition the ‘buggut’ is not obliging enough to tell us of forthcoming disaster. Would that it could, for in my time as Vicar of Kidsgrove we have suffered from a terrible fire following an explosion which killed some men and maimed others, a general strike leaving almost irreparable ruin in its train, and thirdly a flooded mine accompanied by further sad fatalities.”
Edited by David Martin
Photograph Copyright The Phoenix Trust 2012
PH/DM
NewsDesk – Tourists could bring prosperity to Kidsgrove
July 17th, 2012
Mow Cop
Members of Stoke-on-Trent North Constituency Labour Party were told by The Phoenix Trust’s chief executive, David Martin, that heritage tourism could bring prosperity to Kidsgrove.
Addressing a Constituency meeting in Kidsgrove town hall, David said:
“Tourism is one of Britain’s most important industries. The tourist industry has an annual income of £125 billion and employs 2.7 million people. Experts say that each visitor to a tourist attraction spends between £47.50 and £65 in the town where it is situated. Last year, Birmingham had 32.8 million visitors who spent £4.6 billion.
“At the end of the 1980s, Blaenavon in South Wales was a run down former mining town surrounded by industrial wasteland. Heritage based regeneration began there in the 1990s. Blaenavon became a World Heritage Site in 2000 and since then aggressive marketing has made it a major tourist attraction.
“Figures produced by the Welsh Economic Research Unit show that between 2001 and 2011 tourists visiting Blaenavon spent £50 which played a major role in revitalising the local economy. The Welsh Development Agency estimated that visitors spent £6.5 million there in 2011 and believes they will spend more than £7 million this year”
Historically, there is nothing to prevent North Staffordshire’s Industrial Landscape and the Churnet Valley being made a World Heritage Site. Our region has four things that merit World Heritage Site status in their own right. They are:
- Biddulph Grange,
- Chatterley Whitfield Colliery,
- The Wedgwood Institute and
- The Harecastle Tunnels.
David went on to say that over the past few weeks The Phoenix Trust had been discussing with Councillors Margaret Astle, Kyle Robinson, Reg Bailey and Terry Turner ways in which Kidsgrove’s heritage could be used to regenerate the town and the surrounding area.
He said that as a result of these discussions, The Kidsgrove and District Heritage Centre Association has been formed whose aims and objectives include creating a heritage centre and initiating heritage based community regeneration projects.
The Phoenix Trust and The Kidsgrove and District Heritage Centre believe that the Trent and Mersey Canal corridor between the Harecastle Tunnels and Hardings Wood can be used to give Kidsgrove a heritage tourist industry. Kidsgrove already has the basis of a major tourist industry and overseas visitors would come to see:
- The Harecastle Tunnels,
- James Brindley’s grave at Newchapel,
- The site of the Primitive Methodist Camp Meeting at Mow Cop and
- Reginald Mitchell’s birthplace in Butt Lane.
Boat trips could be run through the Harecastle Tunnel and heritage trails are being devised to take visitors to Newcastle and The Potteries.
Photograph © Copyright Galatas and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
PH/ND
Kidsgrove NewsDesk – Former mining area could build its future on the past
May 28th, 2012A preliminary report being prepared by The Phoenix Trust indicates that building a marina on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Kidsgrove could give the town a heritage based tourist industry which would play a leading role in its regeneration.
The report says: “Kidsgrove already has the basis of a major tourist industry which would attract visitors from home and overseas.
“Its main attractions are:
- the Harecastle Tunnels and the Trent & Mersey Canal which merit World Heritage Site status in their own right
- Mow Cop’s links with Primitive Methodism
- St. Saviour’s ‘the historic tin church’ in The Rookery
- James Brindley’s grave at Newchapel, and
- Reginald Mitchell’s birthplace in Butt Lane.”
Each former mining community in the district retains its original character and architectural heritage which would attract both the casual visitor as well as the professional historian.
Many of the former railways and tramways which have become walkways and footpaths could easily be transformed into heritage trails.
Bath Pool has the potential to become a major tourist attraction and the playing fields at Birchenwood Country Park could become a regional centre for a wide range of sporting activities.
PH/DJM
