83-556: Goldenhill is an area on the northern edge of Stoke-on-Trent , in the Stoke-on-Trent district, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire , England. It is centred along the High Street, part of the A50 road that runs from south-east to north-west. It is about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Tunstall and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-east of Kidsgrove . Its altitude is 700 feet (210 m),
166-513: A civil parish in its own right, on 1 April 1922 the parish was abolished and merged with Stoke on Trent. In 1921 the parish had a population of 5046. The Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist, on High Street, was built in 1841 in Romanesque style. It is a Grade II listed building . In poor condition and with a small congregation, it closed in 2014. In April 2016, after a local consultation, it
249-416: A conurbation around the city. The city is polycentric , formed from the federation of six towns in 1910. It took its name from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent where the main centre of government and the principal railway station in the district were located. Hanley is the primary commercial centre. The other four towns which form the city are Burslem , Tunstall , Longton and Fenton . The home of
332-502: A temperature inversion to occur. As such, the Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle areas are generally not susceptible to severe frosts. The nearest Met Office weather station is Keele University , about four miles west of the city centre. The absolute high temperature is 36.1 °C (97.0 °F), recorded in July 2022. More typically the average warmest day of the year should be 27.0 °C (80.6 °F). Just under fourteen days per year have
415-543: A Grade II listed building dating from 1879, lying between the market place and Queen Street, was in use until 2003, closing after its condition was judged unsafe. At Spring 2002 unemployment was 4.1% or 1,526 people in the Stoke-on-Trent North constituency; almost the same rate as the West Midlands as a whole. In Burslem at 2001 unemployment was 3.2% and declining. In 2005, the building of business park units in
498-516: A city. The public announcement of the elevation to city status was made by the king during a visit to Stoke in June 1925. The county borough was abolished in 1974. Stoke became a non-metropolitan district of Staffordshire. Its status as a unitary authority was restored in April 1997. It remains part of the ceremonial county of Staffordshire. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG23). Since
581-517: A colliery in Goldenhill in which he had a share; by 1820 this had become unsafe and was closed. The Goldenhill Colliery, in Colclough Lane, excavating coal and ironstone , was owned by Robert Williamson in the mid 19th century. It was still operating in the 1920s, but was closed by 1931. The Potteries Waterworks Company, formed in 1847, supplied water to Goldenhill and Kidsgrove by pumping water from
664-420: A community based radio station. In 2007 a social enterprise newspaper, Local Edition , become one of the first newspapers to cover the area regularly. The newspaper covered Burslem, as well as surrounding areas including Tunstall, Middleport and Cobridge, giving a voice to the people in the community. The newspaper ceased publication in 2008 and its archive is online. The Leopard public house, also known as
747-1028: A complex in the city which houses its commercial head office, training centre and a truck tyre re-treading facility. Sainsbury's supermarket and The Co-operative Pharmacy have large warehouses in the city. Vodafone has a large call centre on Festival Park and the UK subsidiary of the lubricant manufacturer Fuchs Petrolub has its head office at its factory in Hanley. There is a steel foundry owned by Goodwin Steel Castings Ltd in Joiner's Square. Premier Foods make Mr Kipling slices and Cherry Bakewells in Trent Vale. The Co-operative Travel had its head office in Burslem, before it merged with Thomas Cook in 2010. Burslem Burslem ( / ˈ b ɜːr z l ə m / BURZ -ləm )
830-584: A formal ceremony. Professional darts player Phil Taylor is from Burslem. Burslem is the site of one of the two campuses of Stoke-on-Trent College ; the College states that it is the largest Further Education college in Stoke and North Staffordshire. The campus specialises in media-production and drama. Stoke Studio College, a studio school for 13- to 19-year-olds opened at the college campus in September 2013. Within
913-497: A large retailer of mobile phones started by John Caudwell , until it ceased trading in September 2014. Stoke City Football Club has been a major symbol of the city since the early 20th century, having spent most of its history in the highest two divisions of the English league, constantly attracting large crowds and signing or launching the careers of many high-profile players – most notably Stanley Matthews and Gordon Banks . The club
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#1732854617415996-579: A market held for a long period by custom, and subsequently sanctioned by an act of parliament, is about three miles from Newcastle and two from Hanley, entitled to the precedence of other towns in this district, as claiming to be the mother, as it is the metropolis, of the Staffordshire Potteries ." "In the Doomsday Survey – for even in that early date Burslem was a place of some importance – the town appears, as "Burwardeslyn;" and frequent mention
1079-441: A museum two years after its closure in 1976. The museum closed in 1991 and the site became a local nature reserve . It was declared a scheduled monument by English Heritage in 1993. The abandoned subterranean mines are inaccessible, though they still add complications to many building projects and occasionally cause minor tremors, detectable only by specialised equipment. The iron and steel industries occupied important roles in
1162-484: A six-mile radius from Burslem there are three universities; Staffordshire at Shelton, Keele University , and Manchester Metropolitan 's large Art & Design campus at Alsager . The town is elevated and is not prone to flooding. The town's municipal park , designed by the landscape architect Thomas Hayton Mawson , was opened in 1894. It is protected by a Grade II* designation on the Register of Parks and Gardens . It
1245-453: A steam pumping plant in Tunstall, built in 1854, to a new reservoir on the higher ground at Goldenhill. The Potteries Loop Line , built in 1873, was extended to Goldenhill in 1874 and Goldenhill railway station was opened. The Loop Line, including Goldenhill station, was closed to passengers in 1964. Goldenhill was formerly a chapelry in the parish of Wolstanton , from 1894 Goldenhill was
1328-597: A temperature of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or above. The absolute minimum temperature stands at −13.3 °C (8.1 °F), recorded in January 1963. In an average year, 48.3 air frosts are registered. Rainfall averages around 806 mm a year. Stoke is at the centre of the Stoke-on-Trent Green Belt, which is an environment and planning policy that regulates the rural space in Staffordshire surrounding
1411-456: Is Trentham Monkey Forest , which houses 140 Barbary macaques in a 60-acre (240,000 m ) enclosure that visitors can walk through. The Alton Towers Resort is 10 miles (16 km) east of Stoke-on-Trent and is one of the United Kingdom's best-known attractions. The Waterworld indoor swimming complex on Festival Park near Hanley is also a significant children's attraction. Each of
1494-650: Is a traditional Friday street market, and street carnivals in May and December. The major football club Port Vale is based in Burslem at Vale Park . The team currently plays in League Two, England's fourth division. Near to the town is Burslem Golf Club, a 9-hole course which once had singer Robbie Williams as a Junior Captain. It was opened on 28 September 1907 by vaudeville entertainer and golfer Sir Harry Lauder . On 29 September 2007 his great-nephew Gregory Lauder-Frost as guest-of-honour rededicated it for another century in
1577-601: Is about 60 minutes away by train. Burslem railway station which was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway opened on 1 November 1873 on the Potteries Loop Line . It closed in the 1960s and the site and trackbed are now a greenway. Burslem's most famous sons include the potter Josiah Wedgwood , the watercolour painter James Holland (1800–1870), Ian " Lemmy " Kilmister, the founder, bassist and lead singer of Motörhead , and Robbie Williams , who
1660-487: Is also one of four counties or unitary districts that compose the Shropshire and Staffordshire NUTS 2 region. Stoke-on-Trent is often known as "the city of five towns", the name given to it by local novelist Arnold Bennett , and is the only polycentric city in the UK. In his novels, Bennett used mostly recognisable aliases for five of the six towns, although he called Stoke "Knype". Bennett said that he believed "Five Towns"
1743-527: Is currently based in the School of Art, after the Venetian Gothic Wedgwood Institute closed for safety reasons early in 2009. Ceramica was a new award-winning ceramics family attraction, based in the imposing old Town Hall and funded by Millennium Lottery money but due to the loss of council funding has been closed. The Queen's Theatre has regular concerts and an annual pantomime. There
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#17328546174151826-435: Is emerging as a centre for small, freelance creative businesses working in sectors such as fine art, animation and crafts as well as pottery. The number of shops in the town centre have markedly declined, hit by the impact of nearby out-of-town retail parks that offer free parking. However, the evening economy is still active with a wide range of bars and restaurants mainly serving English and Indian food. The Market Hall ,
1909-536: Is made of it in ancient documents during the Middle Ages." At the 1991 census count, the population of Burslem was 21,400. A study by consultants Atkins, working from the United Kingdom Census 2001 data, showed that the Burslem population is steady and has not declined despite a manufacturing decline during the 1980s and '90s. Traditional Victorian architecture and Edwardian period terraced houses dominate
1992-513: Is one of the six towns that along with Hanley , Tunstall , Fenton , Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England . It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent. The population of the town was included under the Burslem Central ward and had a population of 6,490 in the 2021 Census. Burslem is on the eastern ridge of
2075-462: Is the largest body of water in Stoke-on-Trent and has a nature reserve. Queens Park or Longton Park in Dresden is one of the city's heritage parks and is famous for its horticulture and lakes. It houses several buildings including a clock tower and three bowling pavilions. Stoke-on-Trent was a world centre for fine ceramics—a skilled design trade has existed in the area since at least the 12th century. In
2158-553: Is the setting for one of his most famous works, the Clayhanger trilogy. Burslem's centre benefits from having an almost-intact medieval street-plan and countless fine old buildings, and a townscape which almost-totally escaped re-development during the 1960s and 1970s. After being under-used for years, the Burslem School of Art has been refurbished at a cost of £2.1m and offers several large free art galleries. The free Public Library
2241-468: Is unknown which of these was intended here, and all are plausible. The most frequently suggested interpretations derive from a crossing point on the Roman road that ran from present-day Derby to Chesterton or the early presence of a church , said to have been founded in 670 AD. Because Stoke was such a common name for a settlement, some kind of distinguishing affix was usually added later, in this case,
2324-560: The 2011 census , the population of the city was 249,008. This was a modest increase from the 240,636 recorded in the 2001 census . 50.2% of the population is female. 91.68% of the population of Stoke-on-Trent were born in the UK. 86.43% of the population identified themselves as White British , 4.19% identified as British Pakistani , and 1.88% identified as Other White . 1.35% identified as Other Asian and 1.36% as Black . Regarding religion, 60.89% described themselves as Christian , 6.02% as Muslim and 25.19% had no religion. 14.28% of
2407-556: The A50 road – Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton. Although the city is named after the original town of Stoke, and the City Council offices are located there, the city centre is usually regarded as being in Hanley, which had earlier developed into a major commercial centre. As well as Newcastle-under-Lyme , other nearby towns include Crewe , Nantwich , Congleton , Biddulph , Kidsgrove , Stafford , Uttoxeter , Eccleshall , Cheadle , Stone and Leek . As well as
2490-649: The National Cycle Network . The Trent and Mersey canal is said to see over 10,000 narrowboats a year using it. The former Burslem Canal was constructed in 1805 and remained open until 1961 when it was breached. The Burslem Canal was a branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal running from the junction near to Newport Lane (opposite the old steel works) through to the Furlong Lane area of Middleport. The nearest international airports are Manchester and Birmingham ; each
2573-771: The pottery industry in England, it is known as The Potteries . It is a centre for service industries and distribution centres . It formerly had a primarily heavy industry sector. The name Stoke is taken from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent , the original ancient parish , with other settlements being chapelries . Stoke derives from the Old English stoc , a word that at first meant little more than place , but which subsequently gained more specific – but divergent – connotations. These variant meanings included dairy farm , secondary or dependent place or farm , summer pasture , crossing place , meeting place and place of worship . It
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2656-575: The repair shops of the North Staffordshire Railway and was the home of independent railway locomotive manufacturers Kerr, Stuart and Company from 1881 to 1930. Shelton Steel Works and the mining operations were heavily involved in the World War II industrial effort. Central to the RAF 's success was the Supermarine Spitfire designed by Reginald Mitchell who, whilst born at 115 Congleton Road in
2739-476: The "Six Towns" were brought together. The county borough of Hanley, the municipal boroughs of Burslem, Longton, and Stoke, together with the urban districts of Tunstall and Fenton now formed a single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. In 1919, the borough proposed to expand further and annex the neighbouring borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Wolstanton United Urban District , both to
2822-433: The 17th century, the area has been almost exclusively known for its industrial-scale pottery manufacturing. Companies such as Royal Doulton , Dudson , Spode (founded by Josiah Spode ), Wedgwood (founded by Josiah Wedgwood ), Minton (founded by Thomas Minton ) and Baker & Co. (founded by William Baker) were established and based there. The local abundance of coal and clay suitable for earthenware production led to
2905-410: The 1930s to the 1980s is evoked by the paintings and plays of Arthur Berry . Burslem contains Britain's last real working industrial district (i.e. where people live within walking distance of the factories of a single heavy industry, in this case, the potteries) and thus much of the nineteenth-century industrial heritage, buildings and character have survived intact. "Burslem, an ancient town, with
2988-550: The 1980s Florence Colliery in Longton repeatedly set regional and national production records; in 1992 the combined Trentham Superpit (Hem Heath and Florence) was the first mine in Europe to produce 2.5 million saleable tonnes of coal. Today the mines are all closed, though the scars of mining remain on the landscape. Slag heaps are still visible on the skyline, now covered with flora and fauna. The Chatterley Whitfield site reopened as
3071-478: The 2011 census, Burslem Central and Burslem Park. At the 2011 census the ethnic demographics of the Burslem Central ward were: At the 2011 census the ethnic demographics of the Burslem Park ward were: Industrial scale pottery production has drastically declined since the 1970s; but specialist makers ( Steelite ) and smaller producers of high-value ceramics ( Burleigh , Wade , Moorcroft ) are thriving. Burslem
3154-503: The 21st century it became a live music venue and was extensively renovated, but it did not reopen after the COVID lockdown . In January 2021 it was sold to a development company who proposed redeveloping the rear into luxury apartments while retaining the pub; in February 2021 Stoke-on-Trent City Council declared it an Asset of Community Value. The following January, an illegal cannabis grow
3237-521: The City boundaries as recently as the 1990s. However, 1994 saw the last pit to close as the Trentham Superpit was shut. The Stoke mining industry set several national and international records. Wolstanton Colliery, when modernised, had the deepest mining shafts in Europe at 3,197 ft. In 1933, Chatterley Whitfield Colliery became the first Colliery in the country to mine one million tons of coal. In
3320-693: The Fowlea Valley, the Fowlea being one of the main early tributaries of the River Trent . Burslem embraces the areas of Middleport , Dalehall, Longport, Westport, Trubshaw Cross, and Brownhills. The Trent & Mersey Canal cuts through, to the west and south of the town centre. A little further west, the West Coast Main Line railway and the A500 road run in parallel, forming a distinct boundary between Burslem and
3403-566: The George Hotel in the 1860s before murdering his wife Jane at his father's house in Boston, Lincolnshire . Despite pleas for clemency he was hanged at Lincoln Castle on 1 April 1872 and his body interred with other executed felons in the interior of the Castle's Lucy Tower, where it can still be seen. William Clowes , one of the founders of Primitive Methodism , was born in Burslem as was John Bennett
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3486-557: The Leopard Inn, dates to the late 18th century. The building was refronted about 1830 and expanded in the 1870s with the addition of more than 50 bedrooms in the rear. In 1765 it was the location of the first meeting between Josiah Wedgwood , Thomas Bentley , Erasmus Darwin and James Brindley to discuss the building of what became the Trent and Mersey Canal ; as The Tiger, it appears in several of Arnold Bennett 's "Five Towns" novels. It
3569-574: The Old English personal name Burgweard and the former Forest of Lyme (reflected in the nearby town of Newcastle-under-Lyme ). As far back as the late 12th century, a thriving pottery industry existed, based on the fine and abundant local clays . After the Black Death , Burslem emerges in the records as a medieval town – St John the Baptist's Church on Cross Hill, with a stone tower dating from 1536,
3652-703: The Six Towns, there are numerous suburbs. These include Abbey Hulton , Stockton Brook , Adderley Green , Ball Green, Baddeley Green , Bentilee , Birches Head , Blurton , Bucknall , Bradeley , Chell , Cliffe Vale , Cobridge , Dresden , Etruria , Fegg Hayes, Florence, Goldenhill , Hartshill , Heron Cross , Meir , Meir Park, Meir Hay, Middleport , Milton ,Newstead,Normacot, Norton le Moors , Oakhill, Packmoor, Penkhull , Sandyford, Shelton , Smallthorne , Sneyd Green , Trentham , Trent Vale and Weston Coyney . Blythe Bridge , Werrington and Endon , although outside
3735-584: The Trentham and Goldenhill golf courses, Hem Heath Wood Nature Reserve, Meir Heath, Barlaston Common, Caverswall Cricket Club, Park Hall Nature Reserve, Chatterley Whitfield Country Park and Enterprise Centre, the villages of Baddeley Edge and Ravenscliffe, Bucknall Reservoir, Caldon Canal, the River Blythe, and the Head of Trent, Wedgwood Museum and estate , Strongford Treatment Works and Trent Vale Pumping Station. In
3818-543: The Woodall Memorial Congregational Church, in memory of William Woodall MP . In 1910, the town was federated into the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent , and the borough was granted city status in 1925. The new town hall was built in 1911 on Wedgwood Place, in neo-classical style, designed by Russell and Cooper. Many of the novels of Arnold Bennett evoke Victorian Burslem, with its many potteries, mines, and working canal barges. The Burslem of
3901-604: The abutting town of Newcastle-under-Lyme . To the south is Grange Park and Festival Park, reclaimed by the Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival . The Domesday Book shows Burslem (listed as Bacardeslim ) as a small farming hamlet, strategically sited above a ford at Longport , part of the major pack horse track out of the Peak District and Staffordshire Moorlands to the Liverpool /London road. The name refers to
3984-831: The area come from the 13th century. The Potteries Coalfield (part of the North Staffordshire Coalfield) covers 100 square miles (300 km ). Striking coal miners in the Hanley and Longton area ignited the nationwide 1842 General Strike and its associated Pottery Riots . When coal mining was nationalised in 1947, about 20,000 men worked in the industry in Stoke-on-Trent. Notable Collieries included Hanley Deep Pit, Trentham Superpit (formerly Hem Heath, Stafford and Florence Collieries), Fenton Glebe, Silverdale , Victoria, Mossfield, Parkhall, Norton, Chatterley Whitfield and Wolstanton . The industry developed greatly, and new investments in mining projects were planned within
4067-476: The century pottery manufacture became more concentrated in Tunstall, which had 13 potteries by 1834, compared with two in Goldenhill; in 1863 there were 19 potteries in Tunstall and one in Goldenhill, which closed soon afterwards. There was coal mining on a small scale in the 1700s. James Brindley , builder of the Harecastle Tunnel in the 1770s, built a branch canal from the tunnel to an underground wharf of
4150-414: The city and Newcastle-under-Lyme, and extending into Cheshire. It is in place to prevent urban sprawl and minimise further convergence with outlying settlements such as Kidsgrove and Biddulph . First defined in 1967, the vast majority of area covered is outside the city. There are some landscape features and places of interest that are covered by the designation, mainly along its fringes. These include
4233-417: The city's boundaries, are part of the built-up area. Stoke-on-Trent, as with all of the United Kingdom, experiences a temperate maritime climate , lacking in weather extremes. The local area is a little more elevated than much of Staffordshire and Cheshire, resulting in cooler temperatures year-round compared to the nearby Cheshire Plain. On calm, clear nights this is often reversed as cold air drainage causes
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#17328546174154316-457: The city. Fine china manufacturer Dudson have premises in Hanley and Burslem. Churchill China have their main factory in Tunstall. Hotelware manufacturer Steelite is based in Middleport at the former Dunn Bennett site. About 9,000 firms are based in the city. Amongst the more notable are Bet365 , founded by local businessman and Stoke City chairman Peter Coates , and formerly Phones4U ,
4399-468: The costs of maintenance and repair. The ashes of the novelist Arnold Bennett were interred in his family tomb in the cemetery, following his death in 1931. The nearby A500 gives access to the M6 motorway . Longport railway station offers direct connections south into Stoke, east to Derby and Nottingham , and north to Crewe and Manchester . The town is straddled by two major off-road cycle paths, part of
4482-404: The development of artistic talent throughout the local community and raised the profile of Staffordshire Potteries . This was spearheaded by one man, Josiah Wedgwood , who cut the first sod for the canal in 1766 and erected his Etruria Works that year. Wedgwood built upon the successes of earlier local potters such as his mentor Thomas Whieldon and along with scientists and engineers, raised
4565-463: The development of the city, both before and after the federation. Especially notable were those mills located in the valley at Goldendale and Shelton below the hill towns of Tunstall , Burslem and Hanley. Shelton Steelworks ' production of steel ended in 1978—instead of producing crude steel, they concentrated on rolling steel billet which was transported from Scunthorpe by rail. The rolling plant finally closed in 2002. From 1864 to 1927 Stoke housed
4648-560: The early (initially limited) development of the local pottery industry. The construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal (completed in 1777) enabled the import of china clay from Cornwall together with other materials and facilitated the production of creamware and bone china . Other production centres in Britain, Europe and worldwide had a considerable lead in the production of high-quality wares. Methodical and highly detailed research and experimentation, carried out over many years, nurtured
4731-555: The firm's Indonesian factory. Portmeirion is based in Stoke town, and now owns the Spode and Royal Worcester ceramics brands. Ceramics firm Emma Bridgewater is based in Hanley. Burleigh Pottery is in Middleport. Wade Ceramics is in Etruria. Moorcroft and Royal Stafford are based in Burslem. Aynsley China is in Longton, and is one of the last remaining manufacturers of bone china in
4814-555: The highest point in Stoke-on-Trent. Goldenhill is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. The village existed by 1670, and is shown in Robert Plot 's map of Staffordshire dated 1682. In 1775 it was nearly as large as Tunstall, and grew further during the 19th century. It is thought there was pottery manufacture of coarse ware in Goldenhill during the 16th century. At the beginning of the 19th century there were six potteries works. During
4897-502: The huge Chatterley Whitfield Colliery as a mining museum since it has been given scheduled monument status. The Elizabethan Ford Green Hall is a 17th-century farmhouse which is now a historic house museum in Smallthorne . Although Trentham Gardens is in the Borough of Stafford , it is just south of the city and is considered by many locals to be part of Stoke-on-Trent. Next door
4980-519: The late 1980s and 1990s Stoke-on-Trent was hit hard by the general decline in the British manufacturing sector. Numerous factories, steelworks , collieries , and potteries were closed, including the renowned Shelton Bar steelworks. This resulted in a sharp rise in unemployment in the 'high-skilled but low-paid' workforce. The pottery firm Wedgwood and its subsidiary Royal Doulton are based nearby Barlaston , although much production now takes place in
5063-807: The major pottery companies based in Stoke-on-Trent have factory shops and visitor centres. The £10 million Wedgwood Museum visitor centre opened in the firm's factory in Barlaston in October 2008. The Dudson Centre in Hanley is a museum of the family ceramics business, which is partly housed in a Grade II listed bottle kiln. It is a volunteer centre. Burleigh in Middleport is the world's oldest working Victorian pottery. There are smaller factory shops, such as Royal Stafford in Burslem, Moorcroft in Cobridge and Emma Bridgewater in Hanley. There are ambitious plans to open
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#17328546174155146-436: The name of the river . The motto of Stoke-on-Trent is Vis Unita Fortior which can be translated as: United Strength is Stronger, or Strength United is the More Powerful, or A United Force is Stronger. An early proposal for a federation took place in 1888 when an amendment was raised to the Local Government Bill which would have made the six towns into districts within a county of "Staffordshire Potteries". On 1 April 1910
5229-464: The nearby village of Butt Lane , had his apprenticeship at Kerr, Stuart and Company's railway works. The Michelin tyre company has a presence in Stoke-on-Trent, and in the 1920s built their first UK plant in the city. In the 1980s nearly 9,000 workers were employed at the plant. In 2006 about 1,200 worked there. RAF Meir was located on the outskirts of the city. Stoke-on-Trent is between Manchester , Wolverhampton and Birmingham and adjoins
5312-478: The number of repeat visits; around 80 per cent of visitors have previously been here. Burslem has a variety of strong tourist attractions; Burleigh, Moorcroft, Festival Park, its many pubs , and the Trent & Mersey Canal. The Old Town Hall is one of the largest buildings in Burslem. It also has the legacy of novelist Arnold Bennett , who refers to the town and many of its streets with thinly disguised names: e.g. Burslem/"Bursley", Swan (Square and Pub)/"Duck". It
5395-450: The population was retired and 5.61% were students. The city's ceramics collection is housed in the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Hanley. Etruria Industrial Museum on the Caldon Canal , and Gladstone Pottery Museum in a former potbank in Longton are dedicated to the city's industrial heritage. There is Stoke Minster which is located in the Stoke-upon-Trent area and is the only official church with Minster status . Most of
5478-410: The pottery business to a new level. Josiah Spode introduced bone china at Trent in 1796, and Thomas Minton opened his manufactory. With the industry came a large number of notable 20th-century ceramic artists including Clarice Cliff , Susie Cooper , Charlotte Rhead , Frederick Hurten Rhead and Jabez Vodrey . North Staffordshire was a centre for coal mining. The first reports of coal mining in
5561-420: The site of the Shelton Bar steelworks . The Peak District National Park begins just ten miles north-east of Burslem. The cemetery, to the east of Sneyd Hill Park, was laid out in 1879 as a combined burial ground and recreational park. It covers 11.4 acres, and comprised walks, rides, lodges and a chapel, situated at the centre. The chapel was demolished by the council in 2008 on the basis of lack of use and
5644-405: The six towns in Stoke-on-Trent has at least one park. At nine hectares, Burslem Park is one of the largest registered Victorian parks in the UK. Park Hall Country Park in Weston Coyney is a national nature reserve , and its sandstone canyons are a Site of Special Scientific Interest . Hartshill Park in Stoke is a nature reserve. Bucknall Park is home to the City Farm. Westport Lake in Longport
5727-405: The six towns that make up the city. Hill Top Methodist Church and Sunday School opened on Westport Road in 1836. The railway station opened in 1848. The Burslem School of Art was founded in 1853. A new town hall was built in the market place in 1854, designed by G. T. Robinson of Leamington in elaborate baroque style. In 1906, the United Reformed Church was opened on Moorland Road, initially named
5810-427: The town of Newcastle-under-Lyme to the west. It lies on the upper valley of the River Trent at the south-west foothills of the Pennines , near the uplands of the Peak District to the north-east and the lowlands of the Midlands and Cheshire Plain to the south and west. The city ranges from 96 to 250 metres (315 to 820 ft) above sea level. For Eurostat purposes, it is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG23); it
5893-574: The town. Further business parks are planned for 2006/7 just to the north in Chatterley Valley, and the south in Etruria Valley. In 2019 it was reported that the town's last bank had closed, leaving the town without any free to use cash machines , making it the first large town in the UK without one. Local television services is provided by BBC Midlands Today and ITV News Central . Local radio stations are BBC Radio Stoke , Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire , Greatest Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire , 6 Towns Radio and HitMix Radio ,
5976-543: The town. New housing developments are underway on the Sadlers Factory site and around Woodbank Street. Heavy industrial employment (mines, steel and pots) has left a legacy of ill-health among many older people, but there is the Haywood Hospital (High Lane, Burslem) and the new £300-million University Hospital of North Staffordshire is just three miles away by road. There were two electoral wards covering Burslem at
6059-663: The west of Stoke. This never took place, due to strong objections from Newcastle Corporation. A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill. Ultimately, Wolstanton was instead added to Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1932. Although attempts to merge Newcastle, Wolstanton and Kidsgrove (north of Tunstall) were never successful, the borough expanded in 1922, taking in Smallthorne Urban District and parts of other parishes from Stoke upon Trent Rural District . The borough
6142-443: Was a Methodist New Connexion chapel. Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke ) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire , England, with an area of 36 square miles (93 km ). In 2022, the city had an estimated population of 259,965. It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and is surrounded by the towns of Newcastle-under-Lyme , Alsager , Kidsgrove and Biddulph , which form
6225-494: Was a coaching inn and after the rear extension, a major commercial hotel, but reduced demand for rooms led to the extension being closed off in 1956. The rediscovery of this section of the building in 2007 led to tales of hauntings and ghost tours. Bass Breweries bought The Leopard in 1965 and renovated the restaurant, which they named the Arnold Bennett Suite. The building was Grade II listed on 18 April 1972. In
6308-455: Was a major shareholder in Port Vale and whose family are still resident in the area. Darts legend and 16-time world champion Phil Taylor was born, raised and also worked in the town. In the 17th century, Molly Leigh was resident of the town, she was accused of being a witch before her death in 1748. Painter James Astbury Hammersley also came from Burslem. William Frederick Horry owned
6391-697: Was based at the Victoria Ground in Stoke-upon-Trent from 1878 until 1997 when it moved to the Britannia Stadium (now the Bet365 Stadium ) at Trentham Lakes. This was one of the early stages of regeneration in the Trentham area of the city, which included the regeneration of Trentham Gardens several years later when retail and food outlets were added to the visitor attraction. Trentham Monkey Forest opened nearby in 2005. The Michelin tyre company has
6474-495: Was decided that the War Memorial in the grounds of the church would be relocated to Goldenhill Methodist Church. The Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph, built in 1951–1953, is on High Street. The present-day Methodist Church is on High Street. There was originally a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel built on High Street in 1822; it was replaced in 1868. A Primitive Methodist chapel was built at Goldenhill in 1833. From 1892 to 1900 there
6557-482: Was discovered inside the vacant building, and it was then badly damaged in a suspected arson fire. The city council announced the formation of a Heritage Congress to protect historic properties in Stoke-on-Trent. In June 2024, the owners submitted a proposal to convert the building to a shop and 17 one-bedroom assisted living flats. Around 5 million tourists visit Stoke-on-Trent each year, supporting around 4,400 direct jobs. Stoke shows its popularity through
6640-432: Was extended in the 18th century, and is still standing and in use. Until the mid-1760s Burslem was relatively cut off from the rest of England: it had no navigable river nearby, and there were no good and reliable roads. By 1777 the Trent and Mersey Canal was nearing completion, and the roads had markedly improved. The town boomed on the back of fine pottery production and canals , and became known as The Mother Town of
6723-463: Was granted city status in 1925, with a lord mayor from 1928. When the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent initially applied for city status in 1925, citing its importance as the centre of the pottery industry, it was refused by the Home Office as it had fewer than 300,000 inhabitants. The decision was overturned, when a direct approach was made to King George V , who agreed that the borough ought to be
6806-468: Was laid out on derelict land next to the Potteries Loop Line . Mawson also used reclaimed land as the site of Hanley Park , which he designed around the same time. Both parks include water features. There are also later examples of reclaimed green space near Burslem, such as the Westport Lake , a 1970s project, and the legacy of the 1986 National Garden Festival , which imaginatively reclaimed part of
6889-404: Was more euphonious than "Six Towns", so he omitted Fenton, now sometimes referred to as "the forgotten town". As it is a city made up of multiple towns, the city forms a conurbation . In this case, the conurbation is bigger than Stoke itself, because the urban area of Stoke is contiguous with that of administratively separate Newcastle. The six towns run in a rough line from north to south along
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