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| Barlaston Hall, 24 March 1999 | Barlaston Hall, 24 March 1999 | |
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| Wedgwood Memorial College, Barlaston, 5 January 2003 | Wedgwood Memorial College, 7 February 1999 |
Barlaston Hall stands close to the Wedgwood factory and visitor centre. It was built by Thomas Mills between 1756 and 1758; the architect was Sir Robert Taylor. It has been subject to major restoration by English Heritage in the 1990s. The area was subject to subsidence as a consequence of coal mining and considerable work was needed to stabilise the hall. It has a basement that is almost underground and the main rooms on the first floor. The windows are octagonal instead of rectangular but the house has many Palladian features. It is said that when the house was seen for the first time by the nearby lady of Trentham Hall, she asked "Who owns that vulgar red house?" It was then covered in stucco and the scoring of the bricks necessary for securing this are still visible. During the Second World War, the Bank of England dispersed activities to the ballroom at Trentham Hall and to Barlaston Hall. The stucco was then removed as it was believed it made the building too visible to enemy aircraft.
Wedgwood Memorial College was the first adult education college of its type. When it began in 1945, it was housed in Barlaston Hall. It now occupies two large houses in Station Road, The Limes and Estoril. It is a member of the Adult Residential College Association. The college runs a wide range of courses and full details can be found on the college's website. At The Limes there is an arboretum. Recently a new building, Esperanto House, has been erected on the Estoril site to house the library of the British Esperanto Association.
Sources:
English Country Houses, a course by John Champness at Wedgwood Memorial
College, 22 to 24 March, 1999.
About Barlaston
Genealogy in UK and Ireland (Genuki) has a page on Barlaston
