Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent, often known as Stoke, is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It had an estimated population of 259,965 in 2022,[6][7] making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire and one of the largest cities of the Midlands. Stoke is surrounded by the towns of Alsager, Biddulph, Cheadle, Kidsgrove, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stone, which form a conurbation around the city.
The city is polycentric, formed from the federation of six towns in 1910. It took its name from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent, where the main centre of government and the principal railway station in the district were. Hanley is the primary commercial centre. The other four towns which form the city are Burslem, Tunstall, Longton, and Fenton.
As the home of the pottery industry in England, the area is known as The Potteries. It is a centre for service industries and distribution centres. It formerly had a primarily heavy industry sector.
Toponymy
[edit]The name Stoke is taken from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent, the original ancient parish, with other settlements being chapelries.[8] Stoke derives from the Old English stoc, a word that at first meant little more than place, but which subsequently gained more specific – but divergent – connotations. These variant meanings included dairy farm, secondary or dependent place or farm, summer pasture, crossing place, meeting place and place of worship. It is unknown which of these was intended here and all are plausible.
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The most frequently suggested interpretations derive from a crossing point on the Roman road that ran from present-day Derby to Chesterton or the early presence of a church, said to have been founded in 670 AD. Because Stoke was such a common name for a settlement, some kind of distinguishing affix was usually added later, in this case, the name of the river.
The motto of Stoke-on-Trent is Vis Unita Fortior, which can be translated as: United Strength is Stronger, or Strength United is the More Powerful, or A United Force is Stronger.[9]
History
[edit]Administration
[edit]An early proposal for a federation took place in 1888 when an amendment was raised to the Local Government Bill which would have made the six towns into districts within a county of Staffordshire Potteries. On 1 April 1910 the "Six Towns" were brought together. The county borough of Hanley, the municipal boroughs of Burslem, Longton, and Stoke, together with the urban districts of Tunstall and Fenton now formed a single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent.[10]
In 1919, the borough proposed to expand further and annex the neighbouring borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Wolstanton United Urban District, both to the west of Stoke. This never took place, due to strong objections from Newcastle Corporation.[11] A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill.[12] Ultimately, Wolstanton was instead added to Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1932. Although attempts to merge Newcastle, Wolstanton and Kidsgrove (north of Tunstall) were never successful, the borough expanded in 1922, taking in Smallthorne Urban District and parts of other parishes from Stoke upon Trent Rural District.[13]
The borough was granted city status in 1925, with a lord mayor from 1928. When the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent initially applied for city status in 1925, citing its importance as the centre of the pottery industry, it was refused by the Home Office as it had fewer than 300,000 inhabitants. The decision was overturned, when a direct approach was made to King George V, who agreed that the borough ought to be a city. The public announcement of the elevation to city status was made by the king during a visit to Stoke in June 1925.[13]
The county borough was abolished in 1974. Stoke became a non-metropolitan district of Staffordshire; its status as a unitary authority was restored in April 1997. It remains part of the ceremonial county of Staffordshire. For Eurostat purposes it is a ITL 3 region (code TLG31).
Under current local government reorganisation plans, the current unitary authority of Stoke-on-Trent, along with all district councils in Staffordshire, as well as the county council, will be abolished in 2028, with the area forming part of a new North Staffordshire unitary authority, along with the two-tier districts of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire Moorlands.[14][15] It is planned that charter trustees will be used to continue Stoke-on-Trent's city status, and mayoralty.[16]
Industry
[edit]Pottery
[edit]
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Since the 17th century, the area has been almost exclusively known for its industrial-scale pottery manufacturing.[17] Companies such as Royal Doulton, Dudson, Spode (founded by Josiah Spode), Wedgwood (founded by Josiah Wedgwood), Minton (founded by Thomas Minton) and Baker & Co. (founded by William Baker) were established and based there. The local abundance of coal and clay suitable for earthenware production led to the early (initially limited) development of the local pottery industry. The construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal (completed in 1777) enabled the import of china clay from Cornwall together with other materials and facilitated the production of creamware and bone china.
Other production centres in Britain, Europe and worldwide had a considerable lead in the production of high-quality wares. Methodical and highly detailed research and experimentation, carried out over many years, nurtured the development of artistic talent throughout the local community and raised the profile of Staffordshire Potteries. This was spearheaded by one man, Josiah Wedgwood, who cut the first sod for the canal in 1766 and erected his Etruria Works that year.
Wedgwood built upon the successes of earlier local potters such as his mentor Thomas Whieldon and along with scientists and engineers, raised the pottery business to a new level. Josiah Spode introduced bone china at Trent in 1796 and Thomas Minton opened his manufactory. With the industry came a large number of notable 20th-century ceramic artists including Clarice Cliff, Susie Cooper, Charlotte Rhead, Frederick Hurten Rhead and Jabez Vodrey.
Coal mining
[edit]
North Staffordshire was a centre for coal mining. The first reports of coal mining in the area come from the 13th century.[18] The Potteries Coalfield (part of the North Staffordshire Coalfield) covers 100 square miles (300 km2).[18]
Striking coal miners in the Hanley and Longton area ignited the nationwide 1842 general strike and its associated Pottery Riots.[19]
When coal mining was nationalised in 1947, about 20,000 men worked in the industry in Stoke-on-Trent. Notable collieries included Hanley Deep Pit, Trentham Superpit (formerly Hem Heath, Stafford and Florence Collieries), Fenton Glebe, Silverdale, Victoria, Mossfield, Parkhall, Norton, Chatterley Whitfield and Wolstanton.[18] The industry developed greatly and new investments in mining projects were planned within the City boundaries as recently as the 1990s.[20] However, 1994 saw the last pit to close as the Trentham Superpit was shut.[21]
The Stoke mining industry set several national and international records. Wolstanton Colliery, when modernised, had the deepest mining shafts in Europe at 3,197 ft.[22] In 1933, Chatterley Whitfield Colliery became the first Colliery in the country to mine one million tons of coal. In the 1980s, Florence Colliery in Longton repeatedly set regional and national production records; in 1992, the combined Trentham Superpit (Hem Heath and Florence) was the first mine in Europe to produce 2.5 million saleable tonnes of coal.
Today the mines are all closed, though the scars of mining remain on the landscape. Slag heaps are still visible on the skyline, now covered with flora and fauna. The Chatterley Whitfield site reopened as a museum two years after its closure in 1976. The museum closed in 1991 and the site became a Local Nature Reserve. It was declared a scheduled monument by English Heritage in 1993.[23][24] The abandoned subterranean mines are inaccessible, though they still add complications to many building projects and occasionally cause minor tremors, detectable only by specialised equipment.[25]
Steel
[edit]The iron and steel industries occupied important roles in the development of the city, both before and after the federation. Especially notable were those mills located in the valley at Goldendale and Shelton below the hill towns of Tunstall, Burslem and Hanley. Shelton Steelworks' production of steel ended in 1978—instead of producing crude steel, they concentrated on rolling steel billet which was transported from Scunthorpe by rail. The rolling plant finally closed in 2002.[26] From 1864 to 1927, Stoke housed the repair shops of the North Staffordshire Railway[27] and was the home of independent railway locomotive manufacturers Kerr, Stuart and Company from 1881 to 1930.