Description:These boys are skating on the moat that surrounded Thistleberry Castle. It was a fake castle in the grounds of Thistleberry House, built by Samuel Mayer, a Burgess in Newcastle-under-Lyme since 1820 just like his father.
Being a Burgess meant that Mayer could own land and serve on the council. The right for the Burgesses to vote in a new mayor had been granted by King Henry III in 1225 but was later taken away by the town council. Mayer fought to get reinstated and he managed it in 1832 and was promptly elected mayor as a thanks from the Burgesses. He died in 1838 at the age of 71.
Thistleberry House and the Castle folly were demolished in the 1950s and have been replaced by a hotel. The folly had been in ruins since 1911.