by zteve t evans

Created on: January 03, 2010

Historic Burslem

Burslem in  Stoke-on-Trent,  Staffordshire is a very ancient town.  Many buildings in and around the town centre dating from the 18th and early part of the 19th century are still in use today.  

Mother town of the Potteries

When the Trent and Mersey Canal came into use around 1760-80 and with improvements to roads the pottery industry boomed.  Using local clays to make pottery and locally mined coal for firing the bottle-kilns the town gained a fine reputation for producing quality pottery economically.  

Burslem was the first of the local towns to develop industrially becoming one of the most productive and largest manufacturing towns in the area. For this reason it is often called the ‘Mother Town of the Potteries’ and along with Hanley, Stoke, Longton, Fenton and Tunstall make up the modern city of Stoke-on-Trent today and also known collectively as  'the Potteries.'

Josiah Wedgwood

With Burslem being at the forefront of the pottery industry some of the biggest and most famous names in ceramics have produced fine pottery and tableware in the town.  Josiah Wedgwood,  one of the great innovators of the pottery industry  was born in Burslem in 1730 and many other famous producers of ceramics such as  Moorcroft, Royal Doulton, Burleigh, Price and Kensington, Royal Stafford, Steelite and Dudson had there homes there.

Pubs

Dating from Elizabethan times the  George Hotel  is well known through out the region and makes a good choice for staying in the Potteries.

The Leopard  in Burslem is one of Stoke-on-Trent’s most historic pubs and dates back to the 18th century.  It was in this pub that Josiah Wedgwood met with James Brindley, Erasmus Darwin and Thomas Bently resulting in the building of the Trent and Mersy Canal, a project that helped spark the pottery boom of the era and lay the foundation for later success.

Robbie Williams – a Port Vale Fan

Today probably the most famous person from Burslem is singer Robbie Williams whose family home was once the Red Lion on Moorland Road.  He still has strong associations with the area and is a great fan of Port Vale Football Club who play in the Coca Cola Football League Two at Vale Park.

Eating Out

Burslem has a variety of restaurants and cafes and many pubs also serve food and there are also Indian and other ethnic takeaways and fast food outlets to suit all pockets and tastes. Historic

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>