People with a Staffordshire Library Card can visit their local library to use its public access PCs to view the British Newspaper Archive. The archive holds over 50 million articles from regional and national newspapers. Using the archives will tell you about national and local newsworthy events as they happened.
Month: Sep 2025
Stoke-on-Trent’s Remaining Bottle Ovens
About half of Stoke-on-Trent’s remaining bottle ovens are featured in this short video.
A bottle oven or bottle kiln was a type of kiln used in the ceramic industry. For many years, Stoke-on-Trent’s bottle ovens and kilns symbolised our industrial heritage.
Some were built in the late 18th century. Many were built in the 19th century and a few in the 20th. They remind us that Stoke-on-Trent was once the centre of the world’s pottery industry.
Only 47 bottle ovens are left. They are all listed buildings. Longton has more than any town in the Potteries. Stoke-on-Trent’s remaining bottle ovens will help to make North Staffordshire’s Industrial Landscape a World Heritage Site.
Tunstall News: Stallholders needed for Spooky Market and Halloween Ball
Tunstall Town Centre Community Association needs stallholders for its Spooky Market and Danse Macabre Halloween Ball.
If you would like to have a stall there, please email TUNSTALLTCCA@GMAIL.COM
Tunstall News: Widespread Support for Town Centre Scheme
| There is widespread public support in Tunstall for Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s proposed multi-million-pound scheme to change the character of the town centre. A public consultation was held recently. Seventy-six per cent of the people who took part in it believe the changes proposed for High Street, Tower Square, Butterfield Place and The Boulevard will benefit the town and make it more attractive. The proposed changes are designed to improve accessibility, attractiveness and sustainability, while celebrating Tunstall’s distinct heritage. The two most popular proposals were those for Tower Square and Butterfield Place. Plans for Tower Square include planting new trees, laying new paving and providing new seating. The existing parking spaces will be removed, and new parking facilities will be created behind the clock tower. There will be room for an outdoor market in Butterfield Place and a green space where children can play. Many people want to see the High Street improved. Proposals for High Street include widening the pavements around the town hall and reducing traffic speed to 20mph to make the area safer and more attractive. Councillor Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for transport, infrastructure and regeneration at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said the proposals were part of a package of measures aimed at improving the town centre. The improvements will cost £4.6 million. The council hopes to start work on the project early next year. |
£1.9 million facelift for Longton
Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s proposed £1.9 million investment plan will change the face of Longton.
If it goes ahead, the Longton Improvement Scheme will give the town better public transport and create welcoming open spaces. An improved bus service will reduce congestion in the town centre, making it easier and safer for people to shop there.
The city council’s cabinet is set to approve the scheme on 16 September.
Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for transport, infrastructure and regeneration, said:
Longton has always been more than just a place on the map. It’s a proud town where people raise their families, open their shops, and greet their neighbours in the street.
For generations, people here in Longton have worked hard and looked out for one another. And they deserve a town centre that works just as hard for them.
That’s what this project is about.
We’re making it easier to walk between the bus and rail stations. We’re creating more welcoming public spaces where you can stop and talk to a friend, and we’re building stronger links between the high street and the retail parks. Because when it’s easier and more inviting for people to come into town, local businesses get a real boost.
This is all about giving people a reason to believe in their town again, to feel proud when they bring their family or friends to visit. And if we get this right, the impact will last for years. Because when we invest in our people and our proud spaces, we build something far bigger than bricks and mortar.
Tunstall News: Pour & Market Day
There will be fun for all the family at Tunstall’s local Pour & Market Day on Saturday, October 4th.
The event is being held on Hunt Street Car Park and at the Wheatsheaf. Although there will be an outside bar at the Wheatsheaf from 12.00 pm, the event opens at 2.00 pm and continues until late evening.
There is something for everyone, including a market, fun fair rides, axe throwing and refreshments.
Live music will be played throughout the day.
The event is being organised by Tunstall Town Centre Community Association and the Wheatsheaf.
Tunstall Town Centre Community Association’s mission is to work with businesses and the community to create a thriving, connected and sustainable town.
The Armstrong Whitley Bomber
Did you know that the Armstrong Whitley Bomber was designed by John Lloyd, who grew up in Etruria? He was educated at Hanley High School. When John left school, he became an apprentice at Shelton Bar. During the First World War, he worked at the Royal Aircraft Factory. When the war ended, John went to work for Armstrong Whitworth, becoming the company’s chief aircraft designer in the 1920s.
Free Access to Ancestry at Staffordshire Libraries
Family Historians who are members of Staffordshire Library can grow their family tree at their local library.
Ancestry, the leading genealogy resource on the internet, is ‘packed full of records’. It can help you trace by giving you hints and tips to guide your research.
For more information, contact your local library.
Visit Stoke-on-Trent during its Centenary Year
We strolled through the ‘Street of Life in Stoke’ [at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery] where we envisaged living in the past and gazed in wonderment at the old chemist’s shop with its small wooden drawers filled with pills and potions. Also on display was an antiquated fish and chip shop range, a cosy potter’s cottage and the interior of a village pub.
Friday NewsDesk
North Staffordshire Heritage has had an uneventful week. We have continued to reorganise our filing system, which holds research projects dating back to the 1990s.
Our research project into the Anglo-Saxon justice system is progressing well.
We have been researching the meaning of the Early English place name ‘Tun’.
Some historians suggest that ‘Tun’ was the name the Saxons gave to a fortified village which they built on the site of a Roman villa or small settlement. It has always been accepted that our Tunstall in Stoke-on-Trent dates from 5th or 6th century. If it was built on a Roman site, Tunstall is much older than anyone thought possible.
We hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend. Take care, and we’ll see you again next week.
North Staffordshire Heritage 