Heritage and History
This sub-committee was set up initially to research into the possibility of restoring and maintaining the railings which formerly fronted the Hartshill Orthopaedic Hospital and were erected as a Memorial to Rosemary, Viscountess Ednam, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, who was President of the Hospital and carrying out a fund raising appeal to build extensions to the Hospital at the time of her death in an air crash in 1930. The railings, designed by Gordon Mitchell Forsyth and sculpted by William Ruscoe were installed in 1931. They were removed in 2003 and completely restored and replaced, with some new railings created. The fact that they survive and remain in position is largely due to the efforts of Joan Baggaley, a local historian. The details of her campaign which involved local MPs can be found in her book on local hospitals - "Castles in the Air". They are now the responsibility of the owners of the houses built on Hartshill Road in 2004, each side of the entrance to Rosemary Ednam Close, to which they form the frontage. Largely through the initiative of the Residents' Association the Railings were repainted in 2018.
Here is a leaflet which gives a description of the memorial plaques of which there are twelve, seven show the Orthopaedic Hospital seal, there are one each of a griffin, a mythical beast with the body of a lion and head and wings of an eagle, two girls skipping; two girls bowling hoops; three boys running and four boys in a swimming pool, all showing healthy activities which might be the goal of those treated for their disabilities. The photographs were taken before the repainting.
Here are extracts from Joan Baggaley's book "Castles in the Air"
Hartshill Conservation Area
This is a copy of the Conservation Area document which contains much interesting information on the development of Hartshill from the eighteenth century
The Hartshill Heritage Trail
To increase interest in the heritage of Hartshill and the buildings in the Conservation Area and beyond the Association was involved in the production of the Hartshill Heritage Trail leaflet, which was researched and created by Jordan White, a student at Staffordshire University, with the help of Janet Wright, a member of the Residents' Committee and Geography subject leader at the University, together with Rosie Duncan, the University cartographer.
The Hartshill Heritage Trail was launched with an address by Dr Tristram Hunt, Historian and MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central on 18 May 2013.
