Almington, the Hall 1911

Leawood Pitts, High Offley

My Great Great Grandfather was  a farmer and the owner of Leawood Pitts from around 1848 to 1892. His name was John Clemson and he farmed about 46 acres. He had a wife, Mary, and seven children. I have a photograph of the farmhouse taken sometime during that period, and also some historical information. I thought this might get the Memories of High Offley page started.

My life there

I remember the days when I lived on a farm that was owned by Mark Carter from Eccleshall Castle. I had so much fun living in Eccleshall that I didn't want to move when the farm was sold. I had loads of friends and good memories, I remember when all the children were given a Silver Jubilee coin at school, the walks to the church from Lonsdale School, and to the common at the top of the junction of Kerry Lane and we had to pass by the Jacksons' place, I was friends with their son Carl. I also remember the Royal Oak pub because my mum and Joyce Robinson worked there for Geoff Hurst the footballer who owned it at that time. The chip shop down the side of the Oak when they used newspaper to wrap your chips, they sold a Ford Anglia to my dad. The Badger that was then called the Railway Inn and owned by Ron and Connie. I had a best mate like all children, she was Marie Shenton, she lived in the flats on Castle Street then moved to the Burgage, we had fun when at school. I had 3 brothers and we had to walk down Blurtons Lane to catch a school bus that was from the 30s on the cross roads of Ellenhall and Stafford road. On those hot summer days we would go down to the river and wade in the water, fetch cows in for milking with dad, potato picking, baleing, those were the days, everything has changed now. We made our fun, children now want it given to them. I also remember the day Mr Mark Carter was out hunting and because he owned the house we lived in he had right of way striaght through our garden and me and my brothers followed then for a bit. I would do anything to move back and catch up with old friends and live on a farm once again. My son is going to Bishop Lonsdale this September, I hope he enjoys it and he is learning cricket down at Eccleshall already and making friends with children from that school. I believe that it is a friendly place to live and is changing all the time but as long as the history stays.

Wonderful Times Too

I read John Grehan's contribution with great interest. I too enjoyed the air raid shelters and LMS Station at Cold Meece, though four or five years later than his own expeditions. I too attended St Joseph's and the two boys in the taxi with John were my older brothers. By the time I went to "St Joe's", the taxi service was not available and I was taken in my mother's car the three miles to the nearest bus stop for Stoke on Trent. As a teenager, I attended a party in one of the inhabited houses next to "Meece House", the abandoned stately home. Naturally a deputation of us party goers ventured in to the then stable structure. In the garage was an old Alvis car, completely intact. Incredible, really.

My Dad was something of a local historian and wrote articles of local interest for the "Evening Sentinel" newspaper. Later these were compiled to make a local bestseller "Murders Myths and Monuments of North Staffordshire". One of the stories told of the air race where the winning aircraft passed over Meece House and the plaque that marks the spot. I remember fighting my way through the nettles with my Dad armed with his camera to get a photo of the plaque. Many of my childhood memories feature my Dad's research trips for his writing and I became steeped in the events and locations of the vicinity. I look back now and share John Grehan's view. We were priveleged indeed; my own son is only allowed to venture as far as I can see. Bike rides to disused buildings are out of the question.

Wonderful Times

My father moved to Cold Meece in 1960 to take up his job as a prison officer at the nearby Drake Hall open prison, and we stayed there for a couple of years before we moved to live at the prison itself.

At the time I was between 9 and 11 years old and, for a child of that age, it was a wonderful place to grow up. It was so rural that there was little risk of being knocked over by cars, and we were free to wander all over the place, only returning home for food and, occasionally, money for the ice cream van.

There were two wonderful structures that we had ready access to which are worthy of special mention :-

- There was an old abandoned stately home, which we kids used to play in. At that time it was in a stable condition so it was relatively safe to play in. I remember that the house had its own dog's graveyard outside for the family pets who had passed away. There was a metal plaque on the outside wall referring to someone famous who had flown over the house on one of the first flights. There was also a pond which contained perch and other catchable fish.

- Even better than that was the abandoned railway station that had been used by the local ordinance factory during the war. We could play throughout the entire station and its adjacent air raid shelters.

The other strange highlight for me, was that when I passed my 11 plus and had to go to St Joseph's College, a catholic grammar school at Stoke, myself and two other boys from Swynnerton needed a taxi to take us to the nearest bus stop from which we could catch a bus to school!

All in all, I look back on my spell in Cold Meece with great affection and with fond memories.

Growing Up

My sister Pat and I lived first in Sutherland Road then Monument Lane. We went to Granville Secondary Modern in Stone. I loved growing up in Tittensor as it was a lovely village, my best mate was Sandra Wagg. My maiden name was Powell. It would be nice to hear from anyone who lived there.