The Ashes near Endon in Staffordshire is a building of historical significance and is Grade II* listed on the English Heritage Register. [1] It was built in the 17th century probably by Sir John Bellot and was the home of many notable residents for the next three centuries. Today the barns of the property are venues for weddings and other special events. [2]
Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 “The Ashes” paid its tithes to the Cistercian monks at Dieulacres Abbey. In 1561 Hugh Bentley bought the property with his wife Margaret. [3] When he died his son John Bentley inherited the house. He and his wife Ellen Bowyer had only one child Ursula who was his sole heir. In 1612 she married John Bellot (1592-1659) of Moreton and so when John Bentley died in 1638 “The Ashes” was passed into the Bellot family. On John's death in 1659 his son Sir John Bellot (1619-1674) became the owner. [4] It is believed that either he or his father is the builder of the current house. [5]
Sir John Bellot was born in 1619. In about 1650 he married Anne Willbraham (1627-1711), daughter of Roger Wilbraham of Dorfold. When he died in 1674 his son Sir Thomas Bellot (1651-1699) inherited the property. Sir Thomas was a Member of Parliament and for many years represented the people of Newcastle-under-Lyme. He was educated at the University of Oxford and became a barrister. In 1675 he married Susanna Packe and the couple had two sons and three daughters. [6] Their eldest son Sir John Bellot (1676-1714) became the owner in 1699 when Sir Thomas died. However in 1710 he sold the property to John Debank of Wall Grange. [7]
John Debank married in 1721 Jane Wade. Their eldest son Simon Debank (1730-1801) became the owner of “The Ashes” when John died. He married Elizabeth Birtles (1750-1814) in 1771. The notice of marriage read: “On Monday last at Leek, Symon Debank Esq was married to Miss Birtles, an accomplished young lady with a fortune of £50,000 [8] (About £7,000,000 today). The couple lived at “the Ashes” and had one child Jane Debank whose portrait is shown. An article about her life and marriage was in the book called “Staffordshire Women”. [9]
Jane Debank (1773-1840) married William Sneyd (1767-1851) in 1796 and “The Ashes” was passed to the Sneyd family with her large inheritance. This couple built Ashcombe Park which still stands today. Their fourth son Thomas Sneyd (1800-1882) inherited “The Ashes” in 1851 and after his death in 1882 his son Major General Thomas William Sneyd (1837-1918) became the owner. [10] In about 1900 he decided to sell the property and it was bought by the Williamson family.
George Henry Williamson (1877-1967) was a horse breeder [11] and farmer. He was born in 1877 in Cheddleton. His father was John Williamson of Hazelhurst, Cheddleton. In 1902 he married Charlotte Adams (1879-1955) who was the daughter of George Henry Adams of Endon. The couple had four children Eric Hazelhurst Williamson (1903-1992), George Henry Williamson (1905-1984), Evelyn Bessie Williamson (1909-2004) and John Myott Williamson (1911-1995). The three boys eventually left “The Ashes” but Evelyn Bessie (called Bessie) stayed there for the whole of her life and died there in 2004 at the age of 95.
Leek is a market town and civil parish in the county of Staffordshire, England, on the River Churnet. It is situated about 10 miles (16 km) north east of Stoke-on-Trent. It is an ancient borough and was granted its royal charter in 1214.
Endon is a village within the Staffordshire Moorlands district of Staffordshire, England. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Leek and 6 miles (9.7 km) north-northeast of Stoke-on-Trent. Endon was formerly a township in civil parish of Leek.
Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal which opened in 1779. It runs 18 miles (29 km) from Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, to Froghall, Staffordshire. The canal has 17 locks and the 76-yard (69 m) Froghall Tunnel.
The Churnet Valley Railway is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway in the Staffordshire Moorlands of Staffordshire, England. It operates on part of the former Churnet Valley Line.which was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway. The railway is roughly 10.5 miles (16.9 km) long from Kingsley and Froghall to Ipstones. The land from Leek Brook Junction to Ipstones was opened by Moorland & City Railways (MCR) in 2010 after they took a lease out from Network Rail. This has subsequently been purchased by the Churmet Valley Railway. The main stations along the line are Kingsley and Froghall, Consall, Cheddleton and Leek Brook. Work has begun to extend the line to the town of Leek which will act as the northern terminus of the line. The line between Leek and Waterhouses has also been reopened as part of the heritage railway far as Ipstones.
Staffordshire Moorlands is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Karen Bradley, a Conservative who served as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport between 2016 and 2018, before she became Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2018 to 2019. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years. This seat has seen a swing to the Conservatives at the past four elections.
Cheddleton is an ancient parish and village in the Staffordshire Moorlands, near to the town of Leek, England.
Sir Walter Wagstaffe Bagot, 5th Baronet of Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire was an English Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1724 and 1768.
This is a list of the sheriffs and high sheriffs of Staffordshire.
Brocton Hall is a building of historical significance and is listed on the English Heritage Register. It was built in 1760 by William Chetwynd and remained in the Chetwynd family until 1923 when it was sold to the Golf Club. Today the building is still used as a clubhouse and is also a venue for weddings.
The Bellot Baronetcy, of Moreton in the County of Chester, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 30 June 1663 for John Bellot of Great Moreton Hall, near Astbury, Cheshire, who was High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1661. He came from an ancient Cheshire family, and was the eldest son of John Moreton and Ursula Bentley. The second Baronet was several times Member of Parliament for Newcastle under Lyme. The baronetcy became extinct on the death of the fourth Baronet in 1714. The Moreton estate was sold on his death.
Madeley Old Manor, was a medieval fortified manor house in the parish of Madeley, Staffordshire. It is now a ruin, with only fragments of its walls remaining. The remnants have Grade II listed building status and the site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The Tudor manor house is illustrated by Michael Burghers as it appeared in 1686 in Plot's History of Staffordshire, together with the formal gardens and a later east frontage. It is situated a short distance to the south of Heighley Castle, a mediaeval seat of the Audley family.
Thomas Trentham (1538–1587) was an English politician.
North Rode Manor is a country house standing to the north of the village of North Rode, Cheshire, England. The house was built between 1838 and 1840 for John Smith Daintry, a banker and silk manufacturer from Macclesfield, on the site of an earlier house that had been destroyed by fire. Alterations have been carried out since it was originally built. The house is constructed in stuccoed brick with ashlar dressings and slate roofs. It is in two storeys. The entrance front has five bays, the two on the left protruding forwards. The entrance porch dates from the 19th-century and is supported by paired Tuscan columns. To the right of this is a canted bay window. On the right side of the house is another canted bay window, and on the left side is a tower with a pyramidal roof. The house is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. The authors of the Buildings of England series describe it a "sprawling white house in Regency Gothic".
Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Sneyd, of Keele Hall was an English politician who served in the Parliament of Great Britain and as High Sheriff of Staffordshire.
Sir Thomas Wardle was a British businessman, known for his innovations in silk dyeing and printing on silk. He collaborated with the designer William Morris, who visited his dyeworks in Leek, Staffordshire to learn how to use natural dyes. He was knighted by Queen Victoria for his services to the silk industry.
Rushton is a civil parish in Staffordshire, England. The village within the civil parish, usually known as Rushton Spencer, is about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Leek and 7 miles (11 km) south of Macclesfield, on the A523 road which runs between these towns.
Elizabeth Wardle (1834–1902) was an English embroiderer. In 1857 she married the silk dyer Thomas Wardle, a distant cousin. Thomas was later knighted for his services to the silk industry.
Longsdon is a village and civil parish in the Staffordshire Moorlands district of Staffordshire, England, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of Leek, on the A53 road.
Ashcombe Park is a country house and estate near Cheddleton, in Staffordshire, England.
John Sneyd (1734–1809) was an English landowner, at Bishton Hall near Colwich, and Belmont Hall near Ipstones, Staffordshire, and High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1763. He was a prominent citizen of Lichfield. He was known also as a botanist, agriculturist and tree-planter.