Town was worse off for demolition of old buildings in late 20th century
Some 15 years ago, Post & Times writer GEOFF BROWNE looked at some of Leek’s more historic buildings in detail...
THE last half of the 19th century is celebrated as a time when Leek gained some outstanding buildings. The last half of the 20th century is more likely to be remembered for how much we have demolished. We are lucky that we still have the Brindley Mill, because that was an early casualty — half of it was knocked down for road widening soon after the Second World War.
Most of the houses in Mill Street that went the same way may not be missed but here and there Leek had odd pockets of cottages that in some other towns might have been preserved as trendy little residences or even specialist shops.
With the clearance of Mill Street and Petty France behind the Old Church, a whole area laden with Leek history was cleared away.
Fortunately, some interesting buildings on Clerk Bank survive, and a cottage that has just gone up for sale is proof of the antiquity of the area.
It stood derelict but restoration has shown it is of cruck beam construction, which dates it to medieval times.
Fifty years ago, Mount Pleasant Methodist Church on Brow Hill still had large congregations twice every Sunday, and the idea of knocking it down would have been unthinkable, but 30 years ago down it came, and with it another corner of old Leek.
The chapel portico and gateposts are preserved in the approach to the Beth Johnson flats which now stand on the site. Some of the old memorials remain in what was the chapel burial ground.
Between Brow Hill and Clerk Bank is an old passageway which everyone calls Naylor’s Yard, but which is officially Naylor Yard, without the apostrophe. About 40 years ago, some of the property seemed to be used as workshops or were becoming derelict, but it is now a quiet, attractive little corner of wellpreserved buildings.
And beyond Brow Hill, Mount Pleasant and St Edward’s Church of course stood Petty France.
For years we have believed that this small group of terrace cottages was so-called because French prisoners from the Napoleonic wars lived there between 1803 and 1812. Today that view is being questioned, but the name remains as part of our vanished history.
The people who actually lived there in our times were more likely to call their patch “Back o’t’ Church” than Petty France.
Fifty years ago Back o’t’ Church was still a thriving little community; when I was a child I was sometimes taken to visit a relative who lived in one of the small courtyards.
His house was in the part where Church
Lane turned at right angles; the main street of Petty France was Ball Lane, which went down to Brough Park at a steep angle. There was even a corner shop.
In those days Leek still had lots of courts, small yards containing a few houses, reached by an entry or narrow roadway off a street, and there was no shortage of demand for such affordable houses, even if they did lack a bathroom or inside lavatory.
One evening, about 40 years ago, I took a stroll round Back o’t’ Church and shot off a roll of film, not particularly seeking to create an historic record of Leek, more a photographic essay of the town. Some of the pictures have long shadows because of the evening light, but as a look back at a vanished part of old Leek they have acquired some sort of historic value. You are unlikely to find a man cutting the chapel graveyard grass with a scythe today.
Clockwise from left, most people had moved out of Petty France when Geoff took this picture about 55 years ago; evening shadows in Petty France signify the end of an era as old cottages await demolition; Naylor Yard, between Brow Hill and Clerk Bank; scene of dereliction in Ball Lane, as the old houses lie empty; these ancient cottages on Clerk Bank are believed to be of medieval origin. The sign on the wall points to Mount Pleasant Chapel, which was demolished in the 1970s.