‘Take care of your cultural inheritance or you might lose it’
THE debate on the opening and use of the Nicholson Museum and Art Gallery/institute, a monument to Victorian public spirit, might be enlightened by a cautionary tale from the Potteries.
On January 22, the Leopard pub burnt down. It was not just any pub but a listed building of great age and reputation. In 1765 Josiah Wedgwood wrote about his dining there with James Brindley to plan the canal system to convey his products to the rest of the world.
Over the centuries it reflected the succeeding phases of Potteries life from the age of stagecoaches to Elvis impersonators.
But recently it ran into difficulties and in 2020 a change of ownership and covid closed it down.
The new owners, Daneets Developments of Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, had little personal contact or involvement with the area.
The Leopard deteriorated with frightening speed. I passed it every day and saw the broken windows and through them the rotting furnishings.
There was no security. A child of eight could have got in. In midjanuary the police mounted a drugs raid and found a cannabis farm.
The chairman of Burslem History Club, Mervyn Edwards, wrote to the Sentinel drawing attention to the vulnerability and dilapidated condition of one of our iconic buildings.
His misgivings were justified. A few days later the fire broke out.
Investigations continue. Four men were arrested and released. As our local councillor, Jane Ashworth, says, this disaster should at least force the city to take better care of the historic buildings we have left.
In April, Burslem History Club welcomes Cath Walton, the Leek historian, to speak on ‘Leek and the French Connection.’
Her last visit to us was at the Leopard. Now the venue will be Burslem Scout Hut. Local history has wider ramifications than one might think.
When I was living in Reading 20 years ago one of the showpieces at the local museum was the copy of the Bayeux Tapestry as woven by the ladies of Leek.
People enjoyed photographing each other wearing an imitation crown on a mock-up throne. It was
a great tourist draw. Local history is not completely local.
It is more a fluid network than a collection of clearly defined territories.
It is not only the Potteries that should learn from this blow. Take care of your cultural inheritance or you might lose it.
Margaret Brown