The Staffordshire market town of Newcastle-under-Lyme developed around the twelfth-century castle and was granted a charter by Henry II in 1173. The town's growth between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries was driven by industries including the hat-making trade, silk and cotton mills. Later industries included brick manufacturing, engineering, iron casting and coal mining.
In this book, local author Mervyn Edwards highlights 50 of the town's buildings and structures, which reveal its history, character and changing face across the centuries. No book on Newcastle-under-Lyme's architecture would be complete without a critical analysis of the Borough's approach to building preservation and the gradual erosion of the town's visual appeal. The town still offers some architectural glories, such as the art deco Lancaster Buildings, the elegant Unitarian Meeting House and the majestic tower of St Paul's church that has looked down, forbearingly on all the absurdity that has taken place below it. But to what extent is Newcastle sacrificing its history and identity in the cause of chasing its dreams of economic prosperity?
`Newcastle-under-Lyme in 50 Buildings' examines the Borough's notable architecture and asks how a town so quick to peddle its history has managed to lose so many dignified buildings. Mervyn Edwards is one of many Newcastilians who has regularly expressed a distaste for what appears to be a cavalier attitude towards preserving what's left of the town's building stock. Here, he offers fifty examples - some of them left field and contentious - of the Borough's more remarkable buildings.