Tag: Newfield

Arthur’s Memories of Victorian Tunstall

These shops in High Street, Tunstall, built in 1898, were designed by Absalom Reade Wood. Many local historians believe that Absalom was North Staffordshire’s leading architect.

In 1935, Arthur Cotton shared his memories of late Victorian Tunstall with a Sentinel reporter.

Arthur, who was born at Goldenhill in 1857, became an estate agent with an office in Market Square (Tower Square). He and his wife, Gavina, lived in Tunstall. They had six children – four boys and two girls. The family were Methodists. They worshiped at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Wesley Place (Wesley Street).

Arthur took a keen interest in local politics and joined the Liberal Party. He became a Staffordshire County Councillor and an Urban District Councillor in Tunstall.

From 1905 to 1907, he was chairperson of the Urban District Council.

Arthur opposed the scheme to amalgamate the six towns and create the County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent. He believed it would undermine local democracy by transferring power from councillors to senior local government officials.

A man with a retentive memory, Arthur was a local historian. He told the Sentinel what Tunstall was like during the latter part of the 19th century, saying:

During the past 70 years or so, the district has changed beyond all recognition. The Tunstall of my boyhood days was an industrial town of small pottery factories. Many of them have long since disappeared, giving way to an industrial era that demands fewer factories, but bigger ones.

Many small collieries were scattered throughout the district. There were collieries at Goldenhill, Clanway, Newfield, Greenfield, Scotia and on the slopes leading up to High Lane… All these have ceased to exist because of flooding.

There were hardly any public buildings in the town. The old town hall stood in the centre of Market Square [Tower Square].

Much of the land now occupied by streets, houses, and factories was open country. The public library was built in Phoenix Park, which local people called Cope’s Running Ground. The Memorial Gardens were laid out in the park.

(Edited by the History Factory 30.05.2025)

Tunstall’s 18th Century Pottery Industry

Some jasper made at Adams’ Greengates Pottery in Tunstall was equal to, if not superior to, jasper made by Wedgwood at Etruria

William Adams’ Greengates Pottery in Tunstall.

During the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution changed the face of Britain, making it the ‘workshop of the world’. 

Earthenware factories were built in Tunstall, a township that included Sandyford, Newfield and Furlong. At the end of the 18th century, there were seven factories making pottery. Small coal and ironstone mines were scattered throughout the district. Blue bricks and tiles were made in the Chatterley Valley. 

As early as 1735, William Simpson was making earthenware in the township. By 1750, Enoch Booth had a factory near a field called Stony Croft. The factory made cream coloured ware glazed with a mixture of lead ore and ground flint. 

In 1763, Admiral Smith Child built Newfield Pottery, where he produced earthenware. By the 1780s, two brothers, Samuel and Thomas Cartlich, were making pottery and mining coal at Sandyford. There were brick kilns, coal mines, a flint mill and a crate maker’s workshop at Furlong. 

During the 1740s, George Booth and his son Thomas leased a pottery factory. on an estate called Will Flats, next to Furlong Lane. In 1779, Burslem pottery manufacturer William Adams rented the factory and part of the estate.

On 1 March 1784, William purchased the factory and the land he had been renting. He changed the estate’s name from Will Flats to Greengates and demolished the old factory.

William built Greengates Pottery (shown above), where he made high-quality stoneware and jasper ornaments for the luxury market. He employed Swiss modeller Joseph Mongolot. Joseph helped him create models for moulds to produce the bas-reliefs for jasper and stoneware. 

Pottery produced by William was sold to wealthy customers. Some purchased ware from his showrooms in Fleet Street, London. Others visited the Greengates factory’s showrooms where they bought tea sets, dinner services, jasper, and stoneware ornaments.  

In his book, Marks and Monograms on Pottery and Porcelain, William Chaffer mentioned the quality of Adams’ jasper. He said some of it was “equal to, if not superior to” jasper made at Etruria by Wedgwood.

Revised: July 2025