Meir, Staffordshire

Meir Park
Meir Park

 Meir Park shown within Staffordshire
OS grid reference SJ927427
Unitary authority Stoke-on-Trent
Ceremonial county Staffordshire
Region West Midlands
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Stoke-on-Trent
Postcode district ST3
Dialling code 01782
Police Staffordshire
Fire Staffordshire
Ambulance West Midlands
EU Parliament West Midlands
UK Parliament Stoke-on-Trent South
List of places: UK • England • Staffordshire

Meir Park is a suburb in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire situated between Lightwood and Longton.[1][2] Meir Park estate extends from Meir uphill to the Blythe Bridge village hall, which is actually located in Meir Heath.

Contents

Meir Aerodrome

Meir Aerodrome closed in the early 1970s[3] and the site has now become the Meir Park housing estate. The earlier parts have mainly aviation-associated street names. The last official flight was on 16 August 1973 when Fred Holdcroft flew a Piper Tri-Pacer carrying a Sentinel journalist to Manchester.[4] The last unofficial flight "a year or two" later by Eric Clutton was in a home-made folding machine called FRED (Flying Runabout Experimental Design) which the pilot towed home behind his car.[5][6] The light planes used to be parked on the grass alongside the A50 road, opposite the Airport Garage, which remains. Staffordshire Potteries had a factory (now demolished) beside the aerodrome.

Schools

Transport

Meir Park is situated along the A50. At the centre sits the crossroads with the A520. Once a notorious traffic jam site, a new tunnel was built which takes the A50 underneath. The twin tunnels are walled with ceramic panels which were reported to have cost about £1000 each when they began to come loose through rusting of their attachments after a few years.

Meir was served by a railway station from 1894 to 1966.

Nearest Places

References

  1. ^ Cartlidge, Nicholas Jon (1996). A Meir Half Century. Photographs and news both church and secular from the years 1889 to 1939 covering the Meir and its near neighbours. Leek: Churnet Valley Books. ISBN 1897949154. 
  2. ^ Cartlidge, Nicholas (2004). Meir Today, Gone Tomorrow. An affectionate portrait from within living memory. Leek: Churnet Valley Books. ISBN 1904546226. 
  3. ^ Lycett-Smith, Roger (1998). Airfield Focus 34: Stoke on Trent (Meir). Peterborough: GMS Enterprises. ISBN 1870384687. 
  4. ^ Holdcroft, Geoff (9 May 2006). "My father made last flight from Meir". The Sentinel. 
  5. ^ Cartlidge, Nicholas (15 May 2006). "FRED deserves flight accolade". The Sentinel. 
  6. ^ Clutton, Eric (2003). An Aeroplane called FRED. Tullahoma, Tennessee.