Leek is a market town and civil parish in the Staffordshire Moorlands District of Staffordshire, England. The town lies on the River Churnet, north east of Stoke-on-Trent. In 2021, it had a population of 19,385.
Leek is an ancient borough and was granted its royal charter in 1214. It is the administrative centre for the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council. King John granted Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, the right to hold a weekly Wednesday market and an annual seven-day fair in Leek in 1207.
Leek's coat of arms is a saltire shield. On the top is the Stafford knot, either side is the Leek double sunset and below a gold garb. The crest is a mural crown with three mulberry leaves on a mount of heather on top of which a moorcock is resting his claw on a small-weave shuttle. The motto translates to: "Our skill assisting us, we have no cause for despair."
History Leek (Lee, Leike, Leeke) formed part of the great estates of Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia; it escheated to William the Conqueror who held it at the time of the Domesday Survey. Later it passed to the earls Palatine of Chester, remaining in their hands until Ralph de Blundevill, earl of Chester, gave it to the abbey of Dieulacresse, which continued to hold it until its dissolution. The same earl in a charter which he gave to the town (temp. John) calls it a borough and grants to his free burgesses various privileges, including freedom from toll throughout Cheshire. These privileges were confirmed by Richard, abbot of Dieulacresse, but the town received no royal charter and failed to establish its burghal position.
The Wednesday market, which is still held today, dates from a grant of John to the earl of Chester; in the 17th century, this was very considerable. A fair, also granted by John, beginning on the third day before the Translation of Edward the Confessor is still held. The silk manufacture which can be traced to the latter part of the 17th century is thought to have been aided by the settlement in Leek of some Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the town was famous for its ale. Prince Charles Edward Stuart passed through Leek on his march to Derby (1745) and again on his return journey to Scotland. A story in connection with the Civil Wars is told to explain the expression "Now thus" occurring on the tombstone of a citizen, who by this meaningless answer to all questions sought escape on the plea of insanity.
The (18 & 19 Vict. c. cxxxii) formed the Leek Improvement Commissioners to provide services for the town. They were later succeeded by Leek Urban District Council.
Economy
The town has had a regular cattle market for hundreds of years, reflecting its role as a centre of local farming. Following the Industrial Revolution it was a major producer of textiles, with silk working in particular coming to dominate the industrial landscape. However, this industry has now ceased.
The mills from the town's textile era remain and many have now been converted into housing.
Britannia Building Society had its headquarters in the town and was a large local employer. Irish agricultural cooperative Ornua has its UK headquarters located in Leek, producing and purchasing butter and cheese and employing over 700 staff.
Geography
Most of the town is at or above and is surrounded by the higher countryside of the Staffordshire Moorlands which is situated on the southern uplands of the Pennines.
Leek is built on the slope and crown of a hill which is situated just a few miles south of the Roaches; a gritstone escarpment which rises steeply to .
The town is situated at the foot of the Peak District National Park and is therefore sometimes referred to as the "Gateway to the Peak District", although the town is more often referred to as the "Queen of the Moorlands".
Architecture and development Listed buildings include the original parish church, St Edward the Confessor's, and a Victorian church, All Saints', designed by Richard Norman Shaw.
Many Victorian period buildings still stand in the town:
Sugden buildings
Many of Leek's buildings were built by the family architectural practice of the Sugdens. In 1849, William Sugden (born 1821 in Keighley) came to Leek. He was an architect and his work on the design of the railway stations for the Churnet Valley Railway brought him to the area. In the following year, William's son, Larner Sugden, was born. After schooling in Yorkshire, Larner returned to Leek in 1866 to be apprenticed to his father as an architect, and thus was formed the famous Sugden & Son (Architects), whose influence on the town was to be profound.
The firm had offices in Derby Street. The building still survives, the ground floor now being occupied by Boots the Chemist. Larner was a great supporter of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and so Leek's development was in sympathetic hands.
The architectural output from Sugden & Son was both prolific and varied; some of the buildings designed by the Sugdens are as follows:
the Congregational Church with its spire, (now Trinity Church), built in the Victorian Gothic Revival style (1863) Myatt's Mill in Earl Street (1864) Mill Street Methodist Chapel and Ragged School (1870) the Cottage Hospital, in memory of silk manufacturer James Allsop (1871) their own houses in Queen Street, complete with monograms for William, Larner and for Larner's French wife (1877) West Street School (extended in 1881) the District Bank, which exhibits a strong Richard Norman Shaw influence (1882) the Leonard Street Police Station in Scottish baronial architecture (1891); this last was probably the last joint venture of the father-and-son team because William Sugden died in 1892.
The Sugden masterpiece was, perhaps, the Nicholson Institute, built in the Queen Anne style, in 1882. That this building is tucked away behind the 17th-century 'Greystones' is a further indication of Larner's regard for old buildings. Larner would not countenance demolition of the old building, and so, as the Nicholsons owned the land to the rear, that is where the institute was built. Larner cleverly incorporated the busts of Shakespeare, Newton, Reynolds and Tennyson into the building representing 400 years of artistic and scientific achievement from the 16th to the 19th century and embracing literature, science, art and poetry.
In 1899, came the Technical Schools and the Co-operative Society Hall. Although the original town centre cattle market was demolished and replaced with a bus station and shopping centre in the 1960s, the new cattle market was built on the edge of town adjacent to the railway station. Later, this was one of those closed following Dr Beeching's recommendations; a supermarket now stands on the site.
The Nicholson War Memorial was dedicated in 1925.
Leek offers some contemporary architecture, most notably the alterations and refurbishment to Trinity Church on Derby Street (2011) and new teaching building on Horton Street for Leek College (2013).
Education All Saints' Church of England First SchoolAll Saints' Church of England First School., Allsaints-leek.staffs.sch.uk, Retrieval Date: 22 August 2007. Churnet View Middle School St Edwards Middle School Leek High School Westwood College Westwood First School Leek School of Art, part of Buxton & Leek College
The town retains the three-tier schooling system. St. Edwards Academy (previously St. Edwards Middle, then St. Edwards Junior High) has the highest student capacity of any 'middle school' in Staffordshire, at 768 students.
Transport Buses The town of Leek is served by First Potteries. There is a generally hourly service on route 18 to Hanley and 16 on an alternative route via Cellarhead. There are also bus services to the nearby towns of Buxton and Macclesfield.
Railway The nearest station is at , for local stopping Northern Trains services to , and at for Avanti West Coast inter-city services between and Manchester Piccadilly.
The former Leek railway station was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway on 13 July 1849. The Stoke–Leek line lost its passenger service in 1956, whilst the Northern section of the Churnet Valley line to Macclesfield was closed in 1960; the Southern section to closed in 1965. Leek station was closed in 1965 and was completely demolished in 1973; the site is now occupied by a Morrisons supermarket.
Heritage The Churnet Valley line now operates as a heritage railway and is located to the south of the town; services run between and .
Another section of the former trackbed is occupied by the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway, a tourist line which runs beside Rudyard Lake, to the north-west of Leek.
Future Plans are afoot to build a new station roughly south of the original, as part of bigger plans to develop the Barnfield area of Leek as a tourist attraction. The re-introduction of a railway service is being directed under the Reconnect Leek banner, and forms part of proposals to reopen the Stoke–Leek line, which survived as a goods-only line to serve the former sand quarry at Oakamoor.
Tourist attractions and leisure In Leek Leek's double sunset on and around the summer solstice attracts many tourists. This event, first recorded by Robert Plot, occurs when the sun sets behind the Cloud, subsequently partially reappearing in the hollow of the hill's steep northern side, before setting again. Plot's detailed account can be found in his book The Natural History of Staffordshire. Traditionally, the best location for seeing the double sunset was in the grounds of the parish church, but it is no longer visible from there. Locations to witness the spectacle are from Lowe Hill, on the outskirts of the town, and from the private road to Pickwood Hall, off Milltown Way. The phenomenon and its possible observation points are described in detail in Jeff Kent's book, The Mysterious Double Sunset.The Mysterious Double Sunset, by Jeff Kent,
Every year in May, Leek Arts Festival takes place, celebrating the cultural heritage of the town. According to the festival's website, it began as a weekly event but soon expanded to last a whole month.
Leek came second in the Telegraph's "High Street of the Year 2013", behind winner Deal in Kent.The Daily Telegraph Telegraph online article
Parks and gardens
Parks and open spaces in Leek include Westwood Recreation Ground and Woodcroft Recreation Ground, which are west of the town centre, and Pickwood Recreation Ground to the east."Parks and open spaces" Staffordshire Moorlands District Council. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
Brough Park lies immediately north of the town centre. There is formal landscaping, paths, a variety of trees and a lake."Brough Park, Leek" Staffordshire Moorlands District Council. Retrieved 12 November 2022. The park originated in 1913 when W. S. Brough, a local businessman, gave acres of his Ball Haye Hall estate to Leek Urban District Council (LUDC); a further acres was given in 1921 by Joseph Tatton, and the park was opened in 1924. There were tennis courts and a bandstand; a bowling green was opened in 1923, and swimming baths were opened in 1975.A P Baggs, M F Cleverdon, D A Johnson and N J Tringham, 'Leek: Leek and Lowe', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 7, Leek and the Moorlands, ed. C R J Currie and M W Greenslade (London, 1996), pp. 84-169. British History Online. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
North of the park is Brough Park Fields Nature Reserve, about of open meadows and young woodland; there are walking trails, with views towards the Roaches."Brough Park Fields" Staffordshire Moorlands District Council. Retrieved 12 November 2022."Brough Park Fields" Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, Retrieved 13 November 2022.