Hanley

HANLEY AREA 

Hanley : High wood, clearing or meadow.

As early as the 13th century, Hanley existed as a 'vill', which could mean a village, parish, manor, or tithing. By the 18th century, it was still merely a cluster of dwellings, primarily located around Upper Green (at the intersection of today's Keelings Lane and Town Road). It was also referred to as Handley Green. 

In 1775, Yates' map records the townships of  'Handley Green and Shelton.'  The pottery industry expanded with the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1777, the associated development of Wedgwood's potteries at nearby Etruria, and then the opening of the Caldon Canal. In 1783, local businessmen formed a corporate charter for Hanley with Shelton it became a market town under an Act of 1813, and by 1830 it was considered one of the largest towns in the area.

In 1910, the borough of Hanley spanned 1,957 acres and encompassed Hanley and Shelton, Birches Head and part of Sneyd Green. The town is one of the six (including, Tunstall, Burslem, Stoke, Longton and Fenton) that federated to form the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910. The borough was granted city status by King George V in 1925

In 2025 the City celebrated its Centenary and amongst the twelve months of activities two local artists were commissioned  to paint a huge mural on the gable end of a building in Hanley called '100 Years-100 Faces'  More below - link here >  https://tldrify.com/1g5f

Hanley before 1930
Photo: source unknown


A postcard from Hanley


Bottle ovens still standing? Page down or click here>

BOTTLE OVENS LONG SINCE GONE


J & G Meakin Ltd.
Eastwood Works from Lichfield Street
The Eastwood Works supported 7 bottle ovens, (3 biscuit, 4 glost)
The Seven Sisters
Source: from their Centenary Booklet   Date: 1951


J & G Meakin Ltd.
Eastwood Works, from the canal
The Seven Sisters (but you can only see 6 in this view)


J & G Meakin Ltd.
Eagle Pottery from the air
Source: from their Centenary Booklet   Date: May 1950 


Meakins. Gate No1
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: October 1970


George L. Ashworth Bros Ltd
Photo: source unknown  Date: c1950


Masons Ironstone, Clough Street
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: c1970


Masons Ironstone, Clough Street
Photo: Courtesy Evening Sentinel  Date: Unknown



Trinity Street
Behind the newly built Vale Telephone Exchange.
Near Hanley loop line railway station.
Possibly the original works of  Charles Ford who was a specialist in
making kiln furniture, stilts and spurs.
Photo: courtesy BT Digital Archives  Date: 7 June 1953


Trinity Street
The new Vale Telephone Exchange being built


Broad Street
Photo: source unknown  Date: unknown


Swinnertons
College Road, Shelton
Photo: source unknown   Date: 1950s


Swinnertons Victoria Pottery, 
 College Road, Shelton
Photo: source unknown  Date: unknown


Brown Westhead and Moor, later Cauldon Potteries
Hanley Park, Shelton
Photo: postcard?  Date: unknown


Ridgway Factory, Shelton
Photo: unknown source  Date: unknown

From Phil Rowley "Here's a photo of the largest [bottle ovens] I know about : they were at the Ridgway factory here on the Caldon canal at Shelton - there were two sets of four standing in a straight line. You can get a rough idea of their height by noticing the size of the doorway into the nearest oven.

To confirm this, some years ago I printed out the photo and then used a travelling microscope to count the number of courses. I then used the average course spacing from the bottle-ovens at Gladstone museum to calculate that they were approximately 80 feet tall. It might have been a case of 'our bottle-ovens are taller than yours' with the other local factories.

The inner firing chamber would be no taller than 20 feet and there's a local story that they were used as air-raid shelters during WWII, when the factory was not producing." April 2020


Wedgwood factory, Etruria 
Photo: source unknown  Date: 1960?


Wedgwood factory, Etruria
Photo:  Keele Warrilow Collection  Date: 1946


Wedgwood factory, Etruria
Photo: source unknown  Date: unknown


Wedgwood factory, Etruria
Photo: source unknown  Date: unknown


Wedgwood factory, Etruria
Photo: unknown source  Date: unknown


Wedgwood factory, Etruria
Updraught stack type bottle ovens
being demolished.
Photo: Source unknown   Date: Unknown


Wedgwood factory, Etruria
Bottle ovens prior being demolished
Photo: source unknown  Date: 1960s


Twyfords Ltd. Etruria Works, Garner Street
Earthenware sanitaryware, updraught ovens
Photo: screenshot taken from the Twyford Film  Date: 1929


Twyfords Ltd.
Sanitaryware bottle ovens under construction
Date: February 1921

back to top>


BOTTLE OVEN and KILN with COLLAPSED HOVEL & CHIMNEY 


 Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Old Town Road, ST1 2LB   
[9a,b] Location: what3words.com/feed.index.lush
National Heritage List for England as Grade II, first listed 25 May 1989. 

Updraught bottle oven, hovel type. With adjacent decorator's muffle kiln. 

J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd., Town Road. The firm was founded in 1891 and the existing factory was built in 1906. According to the 1976 Bottle oven survey 'four ovens are known to have existed on the site' but the aerial survey of the 1950s did show 5 bottle ovens and 3 muffle kilns.

As of Sept 2025 only one bottle oven remains and that is without its hovel.

The updraught hovel oven - its hovel collapsed in late February 2012.

The decorator's muffle kiln - its chimney collapsed sometime in the early 1970s; probably blown down in a gale. No-one knows for sure how and when it happened. The firing chamber, together with its three firemouths was demolished on 16th September 2025. 

The large updraught bottle oven, used for firing glost ware, is thought to have been fired for the last time in 1965. It's interesting to note that the Clean Air Act of 1956  had banned the use of coal-fired bottle ovens from July 1963. The firing chamber was used later for the storage of empty saggars and wood wool (a packing material). The hovel collapsed in February 2012, leaving the firing chamber standing.

The firing chamber stood off-centre within the hovel and had probably been rebuilt sometime in its history. This large firing chamber has 9 firemouths (the 1976 Bottle Oven Survey gives it, incorrectly). It is about 20ft (6m) in diameter and is one of the largest left in Stoke-on-Trent. At one time it was equipped with modern electronic thermocouples to measure the temperature inside the chamber when it was being fired.

Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
From the air
Photo: Source unknown  Date: unknown, probably 1950s


The small muffle kiln was probably used as both a 'hardening-on kiln' and an enamel kiln. The muffle firing chamber was approached from the yard via a small workshop which would have served as a placing room. Two stable-type cast iron doors, backed with firebrick blocks, were in position at the entrance to the chamber in 1975. Both were badly rusted and immovable.

UPDATE: 16 September 2025. The firing chamber of the muffle kiln was demolished on 16th September 2025. 



J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd.
Falcon Pottery, Town Road
Photo: Courtesy of Staffordshire Past Track 1976 more here>
The updraught bottle oven. The hovel collapsed in February 2012


Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
Photo: source unknown  Date: 2010


Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
Photo: Courtesy of Steve Shaw  
Date: February 2012, two weeks before the collapse
 @shawsteve5 Artisan potter, painter, musician



Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
Firemouths of the small muffle kiln
(Demolished September 2025)
Photo: Courtesy of Steve Shaw  Date: February 2012
@shawsteve5  Artisan potter, painter, musician


Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
Collapsed hovel
Photo: unknown source  Date: 2012


Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society  Date: Nov 2019


Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
Firemouths of the muffle kiln
(Demolished September 2025)
Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society  Date: Nov 2019


Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
Entrance to the muffle kiln with stable-type hinged doors
(Demolished September 2025)
Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society  Date: Nov 2019

Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
View inside the muffle rare kiln firing chamber
(Demolished September 2025)
Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society


This short report by the BBC gives details of the pottery site but note that the report wrongly refers to this as the Falcon Works. It is in fact the Falcon Pottery. The Falcon Works is a disused potbank in Stoke with two bottle ovens >


6th August 2024
"Firefighters tackle blaze at historic Hanley potbank as road shut. Crews are dealing with a fire at the historic former Falcon Pottery factory"  
"A Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson has confirmed to us that the fire is 'believed to be deliberate'." Headlines courtesy of StokeonTrentLive



Falcon Pottery fire
Pic: Courtesy Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service
Date: 06 August 2024


Falcon Pottery Arson?
Photo: Courtesy StokeonTrentLive  Date: 06 August 2024



22nd February 2025
First reports of the demolition of the Falcon Pottery pottery emerge. 

Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
Demolition begins
Photo: Courtesy of Jason Adams  Date: 22 February 2025


Stoke-on-Trent City Council Building Control served a Section 78 dangerous structures notice, using powers under the Building Act, requesting the owner of the site to remove and make safe parts of the site. The decision was made due to a number of dangerous incidents occurring on the site during 2023 and 2024.

The dangerous structures notice specifically excluded any work to the bottle oven and kiln which were fenced off during the demolition of the factory.  All of the work was funded by the owner, not SOT Council.

Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
Demolition begins
Photo: Courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS  Date: 24 February 2025


Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
Demolition
Photo: Courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS  Date: 24 February 2025


Falcon Pottery, J. K. Weatherby, Town Road
Demolition of the factory but the bottle oven and kiln 
are fenced off and were not demolished
Photo: Courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS  Date: 24 February 2025


16th September 2025
The small decorator's muffle kiln (Grade II listed) was demolished. 
 
Council STOPS demolition at old pottery factory
Concerns have been raised over the fate of a muffle kiln
Link to Stoke Sentinel article>  






BOTTLE OVENS and KILNS STILL STANDING,  COMPLETE WITH THEIR BOTTLE-SHAPED CHIMNEYS


 Johnson Bros, Trent Sanitaryware Pottery, ST1 3LN   
[12a,b] Location: what3words.com/rental.drill.angel
National Heritage List for England as Grade II, first listed 205 November 1987

Two calcining kilns. 

Two flint calcining kilns at the site of Johnson Bros., Trent Pottery sanitaryware factory, Hanley. Between Botteslow Street and Eastwood Road. Now surrounded by a housing estate. In 1975 there were 3 kilns. The factory closed in 2003.

Before flint can be added to the pottery body recipe it had to be crushed to a very fine powder. In their raw state flint pebbles are impossible to crush as they are too hard. When they are calcined, or burnt, they become brittle and can be crushed and ground with ease. 

Flint pebbles and coal slack were loaded in alternate layers into the bowl of the oven, below ground level. One ton of slack was used for 20 tons of flint. The materials were lit at the bottom of the kiln and allowed to burn naturally. After about 2 days a sufficiently high temperature of about 900°C to 1,000°C would have been reached to transform the flint, and the coal would have burned away. When cool enough to handle the brittle flints were drawn from the opening at the base of the bowl and sent to be crushed and ground.

Johnson Bros. Trent Pottery
Flint Calcining Kiln. Open doorway for charging the kiln.
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: July 1975


Johnson Bros. Trent Pottery
Three flint calcining kilns with one in the process of demolition
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection Date: 20 March 1976


Johnson Bros. Trent Pottery
Between Botteslow Street and Eastwood Road
From the air. On the left of the kilns is the Caldon Canal
Date approx: 2015


Johnson Bros. Trent Pottery
Flint calcining kilns
Photo: Julian Read Collection  Date: April 2017


Johnson Bros. Trent Pottery
Flint calcining kilns
Photo: Courtesy of Philip Shallcross Collection  Date: March 2019


Hanley
Trent Bathrooms, Sanitary Ware Manufacturers 
Eastwood Road, Hanley
Short sequence of photos taken in 2003 
just before the company closed



Smithfield Pottery, Warner Street, ST1 3DH   
[11a] Location: what3words.com/closes.ozone.faded
National Heritage List for England as Grade II, first listed 25 November 1987

Only the bottle shaped hovel chimney survives. No firing chamber.

Updraught potter's bottle oven.  Former Smithfield Pottery, Warner Street, Hanley. Established as a decorating works in 1880 and first operated by Charles Barlow.

Clearly visible from the Potteries Way, Hanley ringroad. Late 19th Century brick, slate roofs, single ridge and two gable ends.  When surveyed in 1975 it had a small separate enamel kiln inside the hovel. The works has been used as part of a brush making company. Later was converted to a restaurant and jazz club. In 2019 used as offices.

Bottle Ovens Smithfield Pottery Potteries Way Hanley 2015 photo courstesy Potteries Bottle Kilns Facebook page
Smithfield Pottery
Warner Street/Potteries Way ringroad.
 Photo: Courtesy of  'Potteries Bottle Kilns' page on Facebook  Date: 2015


Smithfield Pottery
Warner Street/Potteries Way ringroad.
Photo: Courtesy of Philip Shallcross Collection  Date: April 2019


Robert Sherwin Ltd., brush manufacturer, Smithfield Pottery
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: October 1975


Robert Sherwin Ltd., brush manufacturer, Smithfield Pottery
Photo: source unknown  Date: unknown


Smithfield Pottery
No firing chamber. Looking up, inside the empty hovel.
Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society  Date: June 2019 

Clipping from the Evening Sentinel
November 1977
Fortunately, a success!



Dudson's, Hope Street, ST1 5BS 
[10a] Location: what3words.com/silly.wells.melt
National Heritage List for England as Grade II, first listed 20 August 1979

Hovel only. Now housing a magnificent museum.

The Dudson Company was established by Richard Dudson in 1800, but went out of business in Summer 2019. One bottle oven remains standing but only the hovel only remains - the firing chamber has gone. 

The hovel is free standing in the central yard of what was the factory premises. It is the sole remaining oven of three which are believed to have existed. The hovel bears a plaque which would indicate that it was originally constructed in l872 at which time Dudsons were mainly involved in the production of ornamental ware, including figures. The hovel itself is 60' high and has an overall diameter of 33'3". The oven is assumed to have been an updraught with hovel and firing chamber - similar to the layout at Gladstone Pottery in Longton. The bottle oven has not been fired since the Second World War. The hovel now houses a magnificent museum of Dudson.

Dudson's, Hope Street
Photo: courtesy Dudson Date: c2010


Dudson's, Hope Street
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: Dec 2018


Dudson's, Hope Street
 Date: July 2022


Dudsons, Hope Street
Looking up inside Dudson Hovel, now a museum
Photo:  Andy Perkin Potteries Heritage Society  Date: Sept 2019


Dudson's Hope Street
Photo by Sid Meir, courtesy Ian Mood Date: 1970



Etruscan Mill, Jesse Shirley's Bone and Flint Mill, Lower Bedford Street, Etruria, ST4 7AF  
National Heritage List for England as Grade II*, first listed 15 March 1993

One rectangular chimney stack with two firing chambers.

Opened in 1857, Jesse Shirley's bone and flint mill is the only remaining operational steam driven potters' mill in the world. It operated until 1972 producing ground bone, flint and Cornish Stone used by the pottery industry. It also produced bone meal used by the agricultural industry to improve soil. Fully restored between 1978 and 1990 the mill is driven by an 1820s Bolton and Watt rotative beam engine.

It is one of the oldest still working and may be the oldest still driving machinery for which it was installed. Steam is raised by a hand-stoked Cornish boiler built at nearby Cliffe Vale in 1903. 

The site’s historical significance was recognised in 1975 when it was designated a Scheduled Monument with the buildings being Grade II* listed. 

The site was officially opened to the public by Fred Dibnah on 6th April, 1991. Now home to Etruria Industrial Museum. It continues to be maintained and operated by volunteers. 

For a self guided tour of the mill click on the link below the image.

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=17LkFEdrnuz



Jesse Shirley's bone and flint mill, Etruria Locks
http://www.etruriamuseum.org.uk/
Photo: courtesy Glyn Baker, Geograph


Shirley's Bone and Flint Mill, Etruria
Gas works and Twyfords sanitaryware factory in distance
Source: unknown  Date: unknown

Cross section through a flint kiln
Photo: courtesy Shirley's Bone and Flint Mill





Joiner's Square Works, (aka Allied Insulators),  Lichfield Street, ST1 3EQ   
[13a] Location: what3words.com/drama.bared.vital
National Heritage List for England as Grade II, first listed 25 September 1979

Updraught bottle oven, skeleton type. 8 firemouths.

Kiln furniture factory, established by William Wentworth Buller in 1860. The factory was used to manufacture a wide range of ceramic materials, particularly electrical insulators. 

The oven is  now part of into the Imperial Court residential complex after refurbishment in 1999.  Housing operated by Stoke-on-Trent Housing Society.


Imperial Court, Joiners Square
Photo: Courtesy of Philip Shallcross Collection  Date: August 2019

Imperial Court, Joiners Square
Photo: Courtesy Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society  Date: July 2019


Imperial Court, Joiners Square
Photo: Courtesy Aitch Tee @notavocation  Date: June 2022


Imperial Court, Joiners Square
Photo: By courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS  Date: March 2023 


Imperial Court, Joiners Square
Photo: courtesy Ceramic Heritage Action Zone, City of Stoke on Trent 
 Date: July 2022


Imperial Court, Joiners Square
Photo: courtesy Ceramic Heritage Action Zone, City of Stoke on Trent
Date: July 2022



IIN OTHER NEWS - Marsh Street, Hanley - '100 Years 100 Faces' Mural  
This has to go in Potteries Bottle Ovens since it is relevant to the activities which continued in Stoke-on-Trent throughout 2025. 

The city celebrated its centenary of being granted city status in 1925. The mural, was painted on the gable end of a building which, at one time, was a pub called the Star Inn, in Marsh Street, Hanley. The mural is entitled '100 Years - 100 Faces'

The unpainted gable end of a property in
Marsh Street, Hanley. Waiting for its mural

The mural features 100 portraits to honour the people who have shaped the city's cultural identity. The artwork was commissioned by the Stoke-on-Trent City Centre BID (Business Improvement District - an organisation supporting and promoting the city centre) and created by local artists Rob Fenton @thisisrobfenton and Alastair Barnett @abarnett.artist. They painted a mural that feels contemporary but is deeply rooted in the city's heritage. It was unveiled to the public on Saturday 13th September 2025.

The mural - '100 Years 100 Faces'
TW in real life bottom right
Photo: Pam Woolliscroft Collection  Date: 18 Sept 2025


Yours truly is absolutely delighted at being nominated and selected for inclusion in the mural. I can be seen top right and just left of the flame of the Olympic torch.  The depictions of the bottle ovens were based on my paintings. On the far top left is the Conway Pottery in Fenton (now demolished). On the far top right is the award winning Gladstone Pottery Museum in Longton.

Part of the completed mural - far right

Terry Woolliscroft with the artists 
Rob Fenton and Alastair Barnett 
Photo: Pam Woolliscroft Collection  Date: 18 Sept 2025


All 100 faces featured: 
Commander Nathan Gray, Reginald Mitchell CBE, Rita Baines MBE, George Bennions, Andy Edwards, Arnold Machin, Phil Hardaker, Arnold Bennett, Lemmy, John Baskeyfield, Gertie Gitana, Kirsty Bertarelli, Havergal Brian, Jackie Trent, Chris Burton, Mike Lloyd, Slash, Robbie Williams, Bruno Brookes, Sam Plank, Eric Newton, Don Shelley, Jazmin Sawyers, Nathan Heaney, Tut Whalley, Kendo Nagasaki, Eddie Hall, Sir David Lee Pearson, Imran Sherwani, Angela Smith, Neil 'Nello' Baldwin, Luigi 'Lou' Macari, Keith Brymer Jones, Emma Bailey, Jessie Tait, Lorna Bailey, Susie Cooper, Emma Bridgewater, Clarice Cliff, William Moorcroft, Roger Bairstow, Maureen Flowers

Phil the Power' Taylor, Eric Bristow, Carol Shanahan, John Rudge, Daniel Flynn, Fred Hughes, Ray Johnson, June Cartwright, Angela Glendenning, Jane Sawyers, Levison Wood, Joe Monks-Neil, Eustace Lycett Luke Hamnett, Anthea Turner, Jonathan Wilkes, Freddie Jones, Neil Morrisey, Deborah McAndrew, Nicholas Hancock, Rachel Shenton, Nick Degg, Martin Tideswell, Peter Cheeseman, Arthur Berry, John Wain, Sir Brian Fender, Terry Woolliscroft, ClIr Doug Brown, Lillian Dodd, Lyn Sharpe Majid Khan, Tristram Hunt, Mike Wolfe, Jack Ashley, Florence Jessie MacWilliams, Liz Barnes, Bob Taylor, Danni, Wyatt-Hodge, Brian Barber, Dawnie Reynolds, Sydney Morris, Lloyd Cooke, John Caudwell

Mo Chaudry, Denise Coates, Peter Coates, lan Dudson, Gareth Higgins, John James Wright, Terry Holdcroft, Ralph Goodwin, Sir Barnett Stross, William Thomas Astbury, Dorothy Griffiths, Millicent Duchess of Sutherland, John Grocott, Stanley Matthews, Gordon Banks.

Links to the local newspaper coverage - links open in a new window

Stoke-on-Trent City Centre BID - Business Improvement District https://www.stokeontrentcitycentre.co.uk/stoke100



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