Berryhill Fields is an area of grassland in the heart of
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
in England, between the housing estates of
Bentilee
Bentilee is a housing estate in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, between Hanley and Longton, and parallel with Fenton.
History
Built in the 1950s, Bentilee was at that time one of the largest estates in Europe, with around 4,500 propert ...
and Berryhill and the town of
Fenton. It is a
local nature reserve, owned and managed by
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is the local authority of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. As a unitary authority, it has the combined powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council and is administratively separate from the rest of ...
. Its area is .
["Berryhill Fields"]
''Natural England
Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
''. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
History
The earthwork remains of a medieval manor house (Lawn Farm moated site, a
scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
) are within the area. It is thought to have once been the manor house of Fenton Vivian (that later became the town of Fenton), named after Vivian of Standon,
lord of the manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
in the 13th century.
In the first half of the 20th century there were two coal mines on the present Berryhill Fields, and small scale farming. The land was acquired for housing in the 1950s but no building took place. A subsequent plan for open-cast mining was turned down in 1994.
[
]
Regeneration
The site was the subject of a £2 million regeneration project for the Millennium, managed by Groundwork Stoke, as part of the nationwide Changing Places programme, that included creating new pathways to facilitate access for people with disabilities, creating a number of art features, and funding a series of archaeological excavations on the site of the 13th-century moated manor house sited on the fields.
References
External links
Friends of Berryhill Fields website
Groundwork Stoke website
{{Stoke-on-Trent
Areas of Stoke-on-Trent
Grasslands of the United Kingdom
Local nature reserves in Staffordshire
Parks and open spaces in Staffordshire