Parker House, Leek

Church street Leek, Staffordshire. Parker house is now home to the Foxlowe arts centre. It may be named after one of the numerous members of the parker family practising law in the 17th Century. Thomas Parker, born in Leek in 1666, became Earl of Macclesfield and Chancellor of England. Good for him. It seems likely that this is where the name 'Parker House' comes from. Nowadays you can pop into the Foxlowe for a cream tea and take your dog out into the garden at the back and feed it leftovers. My own dog is very fond of a biscuit so long as its been dunked in tea first.

More info look here
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol7/pp84-169
And here
http://ukga.org/england/Staffordshire/towns/Leek.html

Leek Town Council, Leek

Leek Town Council, Leek Staffordshire Moorlands

Wrought iron sign hanging outside the Leek town council offices. It looks more like a pub sign than a civic building. The coat of arms was granted in 1956. The Staffordshire knot represents the county of Staffordshire, the 2 suns are Leeks 'double sunset' which can be seen around the time of the summer solstice and features in the Nicholson coat of arms. The wheatsheaf at the bottom symbolises agricultural history or possibly hope for abundance from the arms of the Earl of Chester. 

The mural crown represents civic government with the mulberry leaves symbolising the silk industry. The heather and bird - a moorcock - represent the Moorlands. The motto translates to "Our skill assisting us, we have no cause for despair."


Leek is a great little town; always busy on the weekend with tours at the Nicholson memorial, indoor and outdoor markets, special events and festivals and of course hundreds of dogs strutting around the place!

see also the Police station and superintendent's house in LEEK

More about Leek here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leek,_Staffordshire
More about the coat of arms on this page: http://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/staffs.html
Leek town council website here;  http://www.leektowncouncil.co.uk/
More about the double sunset here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_sunset

Cadbury's Cocoa Essence

Cadbury's Cocoa Essence

Spotted in York Castle museum, York.

Cadbury's began in 1824 when John Cadbury opened a Grocer's in Birmingham. Among his products was cocoa and drinking chocolate. Fast forward to 1842 and the shop was selling 16 types of drinking chocolate and 11 varieties of cocoa.

In 1866 The Cadbury brothers had taken over the shop and bought an innovative dutch press which could mass produce cocoa powder. The way the press worked meant no more starchy additives added to the essence and transformed the British cocoa business. They could now market it as "Absolutely pure. Therefore best" which boosted sales and flung the company forwards from small business to worldwide cocoa producer. Who knows, without the cocoa essence maybe another company would have bought the dutch press and we'd all be eating Gray's Dairy Milk instead.

Personally I don't like the Bourneville pure cocoa today, I find it quite grainy so I always go for Asda's own brand or the co-op fairtrade.


More info about the history of Cadburys;  Cadbury - the story

Police Station, Leek

Leonard Street Police station and superintendents house, Leek.

Carved in stone with decorated shield, columns and archway with stained glass.

Built in 1891 by Sugden and Son, probably the last building they completed together before the Father's death in 1892. A beautiful old building with turrets that wouldn't look out of place at Hogwarts. And if you had a hankering to live here you could because it's now been converted into flats. I've no idea if the former cells have also been converted, but it's be a fun story. I suppose the entrances are around the back but just imagine inviting guests over and opening that big, black door with the stained glass windows above it.

Leek is a great little market town full of dogs and it seems like every weekend there is another festival and the local radio station are set up in the square. There was a huge wild west festival in the summer with a line dancing tent, wild west town set up in the park and a shootout! Great fun! Classic cars and military vehicles are regular visitors up and down the pedestrianised shopping centre and food festivals are happening most market days. You'd be unlucky to arrive on a weekend when nothing was happening. Tons of charity shops, antique shops, tea-rooms and an indoor market that's still going strong. If you're looking for a day out with your granny and your dog you'll like it here.

Look at the town council sign and the coat of arms.

more about Leek here: http://www.leekonline.co.uk/ and the history here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leek,_Staffordshire
For what's going on in Leek; http://www.leektowncouncil.co.uk/

Slaughterhouse Bar, Shambles Tavern

Slaughterhouse Bar, Ye old Shambles Tavern, the Shambles, York.

Ye old shambles tavern is located in the Shambles, said to be the best preserved medieval street in Europe. Originally a street of butchers, animals were slaughtered at the back of the premises hence the name 'slaughterhouse bar'. It's a 15th street and to protect the meat from direct sunshine the buildings were built close together and actually lean inwards. It's a huge tourist draw and always full of tour groups with camera and audio tours.

The Shambles Tavern serves around 60 different types of bottled beer from 16 micro breweries. Ask what kind of ales they have and you'll be taken to choose from a massive selection! They also served quite delicious food when we stopped there for some lunch. Recommended.

Another fun fact, back in the 15th century there was so much offal and blood around the place that twice a week it was washed right down the centre of the street. Literally a river of blood and guts. Pretty disgusting.

More information about the shambles here http://www.insideyork.co.uk/what-to-see/shambles.html  and here; http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/medieval/the-shambles
As far as I know the bar itself doesn't have a website but they do have a facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/YeOldShamblesTavern/timeline
 

Liptons vintage tea poster

"Direct from the tea gardens to the teapot."

Spotted in York Castle Museum in the Victorian street recreation.

Thomas J Lipton opened his first store in Scotland in 1871 and it wasn't until the 1890s when he started selling tea after years refusing to stock the more well-known London tea companies. Liptons was a successful, thriving food retailing business which allowed Lipton the opportunity to move into tea in a big way. He went to India and started his own tea plantations in order to cut out the middleman, grow his own tea for a lower cost and package it in smaller quantities. Pre-packaged tea was new; before Lipton it was weighed out for the customer at the point of sale.

Selling in smaller, pre-measured quantities allowed Lipton to wrap it in attractive packaging and allow a wider consumer base of less affluent customers. Lipton employed aggressive marketing strategies; posters, parades, publicity stunts to ensure that Liptons became a market leader.

Lipton was knighted and became a celebrity of his time.

A quick google search should bring up any number of pages with the very interesting story of his life and empire.

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