Stoke-on-Trent (the Staffordshire home of pottery)

Staffordshire (and in particular Stoke-on-Trent) is of course known for its pottery. These handmade clay wonky bowls are made by hand.

Oxford Clay has a great e-book on 30 ways to make your pottery greener. It includes which ingredients to use and avoid, eco-friendly tools and recipes (including one without oxides).

Its own pottery is made with clay that’s fired with clean energy, and uses vegan tools and ingredients. This potter creates ‘green’ colours by recycling copper from broken electronics, and ‘blue colours’ by recycling broken glass and bottles from around the city of Oxford!

The six towns of Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent is made up of six towns, Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Stoke-upon-Trent, and Tunstall. Over time, they grew together, but each kept its own character. What joined them most closely was pottery.

The area had what potters needed nearby. There was clay for shaping ware, coal for firing kilns, and water routes for moving goods. Because transport matters as much as raw material, the Trent and Mersey Canal changed everything. Pots could leave the area more easily, and supplies could come in with less trouble.

As demand grew in Britain and abroad, workshops became factories. Streets filled with ovens, workshops, and yards. Families often had some link to the trade, whether in moulding, painting, firing, packing, or selling. That is why the area became known as The Potteries.

Out walking? Follow the Countryside Code to keep all creatures safe. Keep dogs away from steep banks, mushrooms (and other toxic plants/trees) and on leads during nesting season (and near barnyard friends and wild ponies).

Locals from Stoke-on-Trent

Robbie Williams grew up here (his parents ran a pub), as did Motorhead’s Lemmy (the Ace of Spades).

After 15 years of taking drink and drugs, Lemmy asked for a blood transfusion. But doctors who ran tests said his body was so toxic, that fresh blood may have killed him!

Slash (guitarist with band Guns’n’Roses) spent his childhood here, before his family emigrated. He recalled that when touring in England, visiting relatives ‘downed every drop of cider in our dressing room. Our booze would have killed anyone but us!’

Another local was Captain Edward Smith, who was in charge of the Titanic when it sank, and his body was never found. Many people criticised the 1997 blockbuster, as it depicted him and his crew as reckless, going too fast through ice-berg waters.

In fact, the conditions meant that icebergs were impossible to spot until near the end, and survivors said he was frantically directing crew, and helping passengers to escape right until the end. One onlooker even reported that he drowned, trying to save a child.