{"id":6142,"date":"2018-08-19T12:55:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T11:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potbanks.wordpress.com\/?p=6142"},"modified":"2018-08-19T12:55:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-19T11:55:00","slug":"fletcher-moss-a-new-source-on-mid-staffordshire-folk-lore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/2018\/08\/19\/fletcher-moss-a-new-source-on-mid-staffordshire-folk-lore\/","title":{"rendered":"Fletcher Moss, a new source on North Staffordshire folk-lore"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m pleased to find a new and previously unknown source on Staffordshire folklore, and it’s a subtantial 330-page book.<\/p>\n

Fletcher Moss, Folk-lore, old customs and tales of my neighbours<\/a><\/em>, 1898.<\/p>\n

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It may have been overlooked by Staffordshire folklorists and bibliographers because the author was located at Didsbury in Cheshire, now swamped as a suburb of south Manchester. Although the author writes that Stockport was the market town for Didsbury (“they knew little or nothing of Manchester” back then, he writes).<\/p>\n

More importantly, the preface to his book states that he also draws heavily on the lore of his father’s family in rural north Staffordshire: at Standon Hall (a few miles south-west of Trentham) and Mees [Hall], and Walford (about three miles west of Stone). Standon Hall is also where the author passed his childhood<\/strong> and he frequently returned to visit. It is not to be confused with the rather ugly new Hall built in the village in 1910 and which later became a hospital. The author grew up at what is now Standon Old Hall, which apparently goes back to the 11th century but is seen here after what appears to have been a partial restoration…<\/p>\n

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But where was “Mees”? The place escapes the modern map makers, but the author elaborates in another book: “My father was born at Mees Hall, which is in Eccleshall parish, on the Staffordshire border, near to Standon church and parish.” So again, near to Trentham and the Potteries.<\/p>\n

Possibly the same as what was later known as Meece Old Hall, Ecceleshall.<\/p>\n

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It looks very promising and I’ll be having a read, and noting any especially nice bits of local folklore. (Update: the information has now been extracted, as “The North Staffordshire folk-lore of Fletcher Moss”<\/a><\/em>).<\/p>\n

Moss also produced seven (some say nine) volumes of Pilgrimages to old homes<\/em>, substantial books containing short accounts of his visits to various antiquarian and architectural gems. <\/p>\n

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He was such a fine fellow they named the local pub after him, in Didsbury, ‘The Fletcher Moss’. His home environment at Didsbury certain appears to have been conducive to his collecting of folklore…<\/p>\n

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Regrettably his photographic archive appears to have perished, and the National Archive can only suggest some papers in the Manchester local archives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m pleased to find a new and previously unknown source on Staffordshire folklore, and it’s a subtantial 330-page book. Fletcher Moss, Folk-lore, old customs and tales of my neighbours, 1898. It may have been overlooked by Staffordshire folklorists and bibliographers because the author was located at Didsbury in Cheshire, now swamped as a suburb of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}