Maer is a rural village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire, England. It is named after the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme, where the council is based. The borough also includes the town of Kidsgrove ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England, to the west of the pottery manufacturing city 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. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

. The parish church of St Peter dates from 1612. It has a funeral monument to Sir John and Lady Bowyer. Maer's main feature is the large 17th-century stone-built country house, Maer Hall, built on a slope above a small lake, or "mere", which gave the house and estate its name. The hall became the home of

Josiah Wedgwood II Josiah Wedgwood II (3 April 1769 – 12 July 1843), the son of the English potter Josiah Wedgwood, continued his father's firm and was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-upon-Trent (UK Parliament con ...

and was frequently visited by his nephew

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

, who went on to marry Josiah's daughter Emma at St. Peter's Church, which stands higher on the hillside, close to the hall. When she was young, Emma helped her older sister Elizabeth with the Sunday School, which was held in Maer Hall laundry, giving sixty village children their only formal training in reading, writing and religion. The grave of Josiah Wedgwood II and his wife Elizabeth in the churchyard has a view down over the hall. Nearby is Berth Hill, an Iron Age hillfort.

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Villages in Staffordshire Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme {{Staffordshire-geo-stub

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