Architectural Heritage of Stoke-on-Trent

A series of memoirs by David Proudlove on favourite buildings of his in Stoke-on-Trent -he feels that the architectural heritage of the city is greatly underappreciated.

Now Regeneration Manager for English Partnerships, David previously worked for Stoke-on-Trent City Council with responsibility for promoting the reuse of historic buildings.

‘Welcome to Stoke-on-Trent’ - Winton Square

‘In Praise of Father Ryan’ - Church of the Sacred Heart on Queens Avenue, Tunstall

'Ragged Glory' - Church of St. John the Evangelist, Hanley

‘The Shock of the New (part 1)’ Victoria Hall Extension, Hanley

‘The Works’
The industrial heritage of the potworks

'Libraries gave us power' - each of Stoke-on-Trent’s six towns is blessed with its own public library, and each one is a major architectural statement.

'The Unknown Legends'
Norton-in-the-Moors is where the city meets the moors, and has its roots in coal being home to Norton Colliery and a neighbour of Chatterley Whitfield.

‘Relics’
One of the most historically significant routes in the Potteries is Westport Road in Burslem, which links the Mother Town with Brownhills, just south of Tunstall, the route once being busy with export wagons en route to Liverpool (and on to the rest of the world) and the North.

The end of an era?
There is no single reason for the decline of the local pub, there are many contributory factors: loss and erosion of the communities that underpin the trade of the local; decline of industry and the spread of unemployment; greedy breweries and pub company landlords screwing their tenants to the point where they cannot make a living and move on; the rise of the ‘pub chain’