Category: North Staffordshire Heritage

News Desk

Stoke-on-Trent College

Tunstall was a major shopping centre

Between 1738 and 1800, the township’s population rose from 200 to 800. By 1811 it had risen to 1,677. In 1821, the population was 2,622. Between 1831 and 1841 it increased from 3,673 to 6,979. Tunstall was no longer an industrial village. It had become a town with shops and markets that attracted customers from Butt Lane, Kidsgrove, Mow Cop, Harriseahead, Biddulph, Brindley Ford, Packmoor, Chell and Goldenhill. 

Exploring the pottery industry’s history

Starting on Friday, 2nd February 2024, Miranda Goodby, the former head of ceramics at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, is running a six-week course exploring the social history of the pottery industry.

The course at Newcastle’s Brampton Museum costs £80. Students will learn about Newcastle’s forgotten pottery industry, the growth of the Staffordshire Potteries in the 18th and 19th centuries, working conditions in the industry and the dramatic changes that took place in the 20th century.

More details can be obtained from the Brampton Museum.


Money to Save Heritage Buildings

Re-Form Heritage, a Stoke-based charity that owns Middleport Pottery, is getting money to help save dilapidated buildings in Stoke-on-Trent.

The money from the Architectural Heritage Fund’s Heritage Development Trust will help to preserve historic buildings and kick-start the regeneration of key heritage sites in the Potteries.

Work Continues on History Centre

The construction site was recently visited by Staffordshire County Council’s Prosperous Overview and Scrutiny Committee, who were pleased to see the progress that has been made on the project.

If you would like to watch a video of the construction so far please visit the link to our YouTube channel: timelapse video.

We are looking forward to more progress in 2024 with key milestones including topping out the strongroom extension, the installation of the glazing for the exhibition area and finally the site handover.

End of Year Construction Update

Tunstall Was a Prosperous Town

The Old Wheatsheaf Inn on High Street, Tunstall

By the beginning of the 1830s, Tunstall was a prosperous industrial and market town.

Between 1821 and 1831, its population had increased from 2,622 to 3,673. By 1841, the population had risen to 6,979.

At the end of the 1830s, there were 17 firms manufacturing pottery. Twelve made earthenware. Three produced earthenware and china. Two manufactured china figures and Egyptian blackware. The Trent & Mersey Canal ran through the Chatterley Valley, where there were two brick and tile works, a factory making chemicals and a coal wharf. Coal and ironstone were mined at Furlong, Greenfields and Clanway.

The east side of Liverpool Road (now High Street) between the Highgate Inn and the Old Wheatsheaf Inn had been developed. There were shops on Liverpool Road and in the Market Place (now Tower Square) where markets were held on Mondays and Saturdays.

The markets opened early in the morning and closed late at night. They were general markets with stalls selling household goods, furniture, shoes and clothing, fruit and vegetables, dairy produce, meat, fish and poultry.

Saturday was the busiest day of the week for shopkeepers and innkeepers. The market attracted customers from Butt Lane, Kidsgrove, Mow Cop, Harriseahead, Packmoor, Biddulph, Chell and Goldenhill. The roads leading to Tunstall were crowded, with people coming to shop there.

Photograph © Copyright Dave Bevis and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.