Staffordshire Potteries, Manchester & the NorthWest

The Staffordshire Potteries
Day Trips out from Manchester

The famous six towns of Stoke-on-Trent, immortalised by the writer Arnold Bennett (though he created a fictitious five towns), have a tradition of fine pottery-making going back over 300 years. These six towns - Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton - span an area running north to south for about 10 miles following the River Trent and the Trent & Mersey Canal, and all now fall within the City of Stoke-on-Trent - these are the Staffordshire Potteries.

The Potteries are an easy day trip out from Manchester. By car or by train from Piccadilly Station, they are about an hour's travelling time. Easily accessible from the M6 motorway, or by the main A34 trunk road which runs directly into the centre of Stoke.
Fine decorated pottery wares have been made here by companies whose names are now synonymous with history and quality - Wedgwood, Minton, Spode, Royal Doulton and Copeland among them.

Book a Hotel in the Staffordshire Potteries

It is not coincidental that the Potteries came to be in north Staffordshire, for the surrounding towns had ample supplies of coal, clay and water on their doorstep. By the 1680s the area had emerged as the main pottery centre in Britain. By 1760, Josiah Wedgwood had already become a master potter to Queen Charlotte, (wife of King George III), and later set up his first pottery factory at Middleport and later at Etruria. The Etruria "Bone & Flint" factory has recently undergone extensive restoration, financed by the Heritage fund, and was re-opened to the public in 2002.

Regrettably, in the wake of the 2008-2009 credit crisis and resultant recession, the modern Wedgwood factory, just a few miles north on the Trent & Mersey Canal, has closed and workers laid off due to falling sales, the virtual cessation of banking loans and working capital and a more-or-less catastrophic collapse in consumer confidence.

Canals arrived in the late 1770s creating a lifeline to the Mersey in the Northwest and the River Trent and the Humber estuary in the east, so that raw materials and finished goods could be transported quickly and cheaply to all parts of Britain, and thence on to the world. James Brindley's Trent & Mersey Canal runs directly through the potteries, and on its course lie most of the main factories; built in 1777, it is one of the oldest in Britain.

The bottle-shaped brick kiln ovens sprang up all over the region, and many still survive, giving the Potteries their distinctive character. A walk along the towpath of the Trent & Mersey Canal from Longport Marina ( just off the B5051 road and immediately accessible from Junction 16 on the M6 Motorway ) to the top of Stoke Locks at Etruria Junction (a short walk from the A53 Etruria Road or accessed by car from Lower Bedford Street) is a virtual walk through the history of industrial Staffordshire.

Bottle Kilns in Burslem

The original Middleport Pottery alongside the Trent & Mersey Canal

Bottle Kilns below Stoke Lock No.3 on the Trent & Mersey Canal

The James Brindley Monument at Etruria Junction

The old Wedgwood Bone & Flint Mill at Etruria

All in all, there is plenty to see during a day trip. Visit the Stoke Tourist Information Centre to pick up town maps and tourist guides, or get them from any of the following museums and galleries. NOTE: The towns have about 30 Factory Shops all selling their own distinctive brands of pottery and ceramics. These include Argyle China, Aynsley China, Bridgewater Factory Shop, Churchill China, Cobridge Stoneware, Compton & Woodhouse, Hartley Greens & Co, Moorcroft, Moorland Pottery, Portmeirion Potteries, Royal Doulton, Royal Stratford, Royal Winton, Staffordshire Tableware, Tams and Wedgwood-Waterford Factory Shops.
Also enquire about Factory Shops at the Tourist Information Centre.

Royal Doulton
Nile Street, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent ST6 2AJ. Tel: 01782-292434
Email: visitor@royal-doulton.com. Website: www.royal-doulton.com
Visitor Centre open Mon-Sat from 9.30am-5.00pm, and Sundays from 10.30am-4.30pm. Factory Shop and Factory Tours available - prior booking essential. Set in the original Victorian building, world's largest collection of pottery figures. Also theatre, museum, restaurant.

The World of Spode
Church Street, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 1BX. Tel: 01782-744011
Email: visitorcentre@spode.co.uk. Website: www.spode.co.uk
Visitor Centre & Shops open Mon-Sat from 9.00am-5.00pm, Sundays from 10.00am-4.00pm. Please ring for Bank Holiday opening times. Audio-visual presentations, museum, conference facilities, guided tours, hands-on workshops, gift shop and licenced restaurant onsite.

The Wedgwood Story
Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent. Tel: 01782-204218. Fax: 01782-374083.
Website: www.wedgwood.com
Large Factory/Museum/Tours about 4 miles south of Stoke centre at Barlaston. Open Mon-Fri from 9.00am-5.00pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10.00am-5.00pm. Visitor Centre includes factory tour, exhibitions, shop, licenced 200 seater restaurant and smaller bistro.

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery
Bethesda Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent ST1 3DE. Tel: 01782-232323.
Email: museums@stoke.gov.uk. Website: www.stoke.gov.uk/museums
Open from around 10.00am-4.00pm in winter and until 5.00pm in summertime, afternoons on Sundays. Please phone for precise opening details.
Displays of Staffordshire ceramics (naturally). Interactive displays, crafts shop, souvenirs, books, etc.

Gladstone Pottery Museum
Uttoxeter Road, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent ST3 1PQ
Tel: 01782-319232. Fax: 01782-598640.
Email: gladstone@stoke.gov.uk.Website: www.stoke.gov.uk/gladstone
Open Wed-Sun from 10.00am-4.00pm, except Christmas and New Year. Pottery throwing and decoration demonstrations. Exclusive Chintz Tearoom.

Etruria Industrial Museum
Lower Bedford Street, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 7AF.
Tel: 01782-233144. Fax: 01782-233145.
Email: museums@stoke0001.stoke-ccgov.uk. Website: www.stoke.gov.uk/museums.
Open Wed-Sun from 10.00am-4.00pm. Recently closed for extensive refurbishment, due to reopen late autumn 2001.
Britain's only surviving steam powered potter's mill with 1820s beam engine, located in the old Bone and Flint Mill below Stoke Lock No.2.
Visitor Centre with changing exhibitions. Blacksmith's forge and canal-side setting. Mill in steam from April to December. Designated an outstanding Museum.

See also:
Street Map of Etruria and environs.

The Dudson Museum
The Dudson Centre, Hope Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent ST1 5DD. Tel: 01782-821075.
Open Mon-Fri from 10.00am-3.00pm. Exhibition of 200 year old family tableware pottery. Visit the bottle kiln, and see exhibits of Dudson pottery including figurines, jasperware, stoneware and hotelware. Café and shop on site.

Potteries Antique Centre
271 Waterloo Road, Cobridge, Stoke-on-Trent ST6 3HR.
Tel: 01782-201455. Fax: 01782-201518.
Email: info@potteriesantiquecentre.com. Website: www.potteriesantiquecente.com.
Open Mon-Sat from 9.00am-5.30pm and on Sundays from 10.00am-4.30pm.
A good place to buy pottery antiques - large selection of local pottery including Doulton, Wade and Wedgwood, etc. Also antique furniture, jewellery and other collector's items. Specialise in local manufacturers.

Ceramics Search
(Top of Hill Antiques) Bursley Pottery, 12-14 Nile Street, Burslem,
Stoke-on-Trent ST6 2AF. Tel: 01782-834506.
Email: ceramic.search@mcmail.com. Website: www.ceramicsearch.co.uk.
A search service for out-of-production collectibles (Wedgwood, Doulton, Beswick, Moorcroft, Wade, Coalport, etc. Also collectibles on sale including furniture and antiques in 12 Georgian showrooms. Feel free to browse.

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See Also:

The Great British Antiques Web
Website: http://www.gbaw.co.uk. Email: enquiries@gbaw.co.uk
Contact details: PO Box 64, Kingswood, Bristol BS30 9ZT. Tel: 0117-904 9994.
Extensive information of the British antiques market including....... Dealers, Fairs, Centres and Shippers together with a Free Message Board, Trade News and even a selection of Hotels and B&B's in some of the best antiques areas of the country.

Search for Doulton
Website: http://www.search4doulton.com. Email: enquiries@search4doulton.com
Contact details: PO Box 64, Kingswood, Bristol BS30 9ZT. Tel: 0117-904 9994.
Exclusively for worldwide collectors of discontinued Royal Doulton, Beswick and Royal Crown Derby. Trade & Private Sales of Discontinued Pieces, Order New Online, Message Board, Fairs & Events, Reference Books, Specialist Worldwide Dealers