Tag: Caldon Canal

Photo Walks in the Staffordshire Moorlands

GRAIN Project’s Autumn 2025 Staffordshire Moorlands Photo Walks

Etruria Industrial Museum

This video showcases Etruria Industrial Museum. The museum is housed in a 19th century steam powered potter’s bone and flint mill. Built in 1857, the mill is a Grade II* listed building.

The museum is at Etruria Junction, where the Caldon Canal joins the Trent & Mersey Canal.

There is a statue of James Brindley (1716–1772) at the junction, which was the site of Etruria Wharf. A tramway ran from the wharf to Hanley/City Centre. The site of Stoke-on-Trent’s first public hospital is near the museum. Built in 1803, the hospital was called the Dispensary and House of Recovery.

1970s Photographs of Etruria

The area was named by Josiah Wedgewood when he built his new pottery works here in 1769 (it was named after the region of Etruria in Italy in an early example of somewhat fanciful marketing). By the early 1970s, the pottery works had been moved, and the old canal was caught in the doldrums between commercial and leisure traffic.

Capturing Etruria

Note: We viewed Alan’s photographs with great interest and were most impressed by their quality.

During the late 1960s, David photographed the Trent & Mersey and the Caldon Canal for a group of canal enthusiasts opposing British Waterways’ plans to close the canal and turn it into a feeder channel for the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Hanley and Shelton in the 18th century

During the 18th century, Hanley and Shelton became the most important towns in the Potteries.

Between 1762 and 1801, their populations increased from 2,000 to 7,940. Hanley’s first church, St. John’s, was erected in 1738 and enlarged in the 1760s. Stage coaches called at the Swan Inn. Horse-drawn wagons carried pottery to the Weaver Navigation at Winsford and returned carrying ball clay and household goods.

A covered market, designed by architect James Trubshaw, was built on Town Road in 1776.

The Trent and Mersey and the Caldon Canals stimulated economic expansion. Entrepreneurs opened factories, collieries and ironworks. Families from the surrounding countryside flocked to Hanley and Shelton looking for work. New houses were built to accommodate them.

In 1791, a trust was formed to manage the market and build a town hall. The trustees leased land in Market Square, where they erected a town hall. Markets were held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. A fortnightly cattle market was established at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1813, Parliament gave the trustees the power to regenerate Market Square. They demolished the town hall, replacing it with a poultry market. A lockup was also built where those arrested were held before being brought to court.

Revised 04.06.2025