Wood's Works in 1840

The views below are  taken from Ward's book and shows the east front of the Fountain Place Works occupied by Enoch Wood & Sons in about 1840. 

The rear is also shown - remember that when the Woods factory was build Newcastle Street was not in existence and all travelers to and from Burslem and Newcastle-under-Lyme had to go via Old Pack Horse Lane which ran between the two parts of Woods factory. Traveling from Burslem you would enter the magnificent arched fort-like gate and traveling into Burslem would afford a long view of the Wood house and vast factory perched atop of the hill as you slowly walked or rode up it.

The frontage of Woods factory in 1840

The carts in the forefront of the picture were bringing 
coal from the firm's colliery at Bycars. 
Pack Horse Lane was entered through the arch.

The embattled frontage visible above was replicated on the south west side of the works which faced the Fowlea valley. Here a succession of walls and towers gave the whole complex the appearance of a medieval walled city and would have impressed every visitor who approached the town from Newcastle and Longport. 

Behind the walls was an extensive private garden attached to the mansion house occupied by Enoch Wood (see 1832 map). Below the walls stood the firm's flint mill embellished with arched windows and embattled gables looking more like a church than an industrial building. The mill was demolished in c.1880. 

Its former location, by Lyndhurst Street, is shown on the extract from the 1878 Ordnance Survey map. 

The rear of Woods factory.

The house can be seen left of centre, with the walled 
garden spreading out down the hill.

By the time of these pictures  the firm occupied the whole of the area between Newcastle Street and Hall Street. The carts in the forefront of the picture were bringing coal from the firm's colliery at Bycars. In the centre right is the main factory frontage built in l789 which is now (2000) being converted into housing accommodation.

Many of the feature in the pictures can be found on an 1851 Ordnance Survey map showing the factory site. 

In 1800 the firm's insurance policy valued the buildings and contents at £3,500. The policy included the Old Packhorse Inn let to Joseph Moreton as well as the factory and Enoch Wood's house