No 8 -  Tunstall 
Oldcourt Pottery

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'Beyond here Lies Nothing'

"...foreman says these jobs are going boys, and they ain’t coming back"
- Bruce Springsteen

Pottery Village of Sandyford

Around a mile north of Tunstall along the A50 lies Sandyford, an “historic pottery village” as local street signs proclaim it. However, nothing much remains of the industry for which our city is famous in Sandyford, and the village is now essentially a suburb of nearby Tunstall.

But as Sandyford was once a pottery village, much the same can be said of Tunstall: Tunstall was once a pottery town. As with Sandyford, there is little left of the pottery industry in Tunstall: no bottle ovens remain, potworks are few and far between and manufacturing is virtually non-existent, with highly skilled jobs replaced by opportunities to stack shelves or serve junk food.

the Trent and Mersey Canal (in blue) which passes through the area around a mile to the west of Tunstall and the route of the former Loop Line (in red) to the east 

Some of the first examples of pottery activity in the Potteries were to be found in Tunstall, with manor court rolls from the 1300s highlighting several men in the area named Le Potter and Le Thrower. 

The real growth of the industry in Tunstall followed the opening of the Trent and Mersey Canal – which passes through the area around a mile to the west of the town – in the late 1700s, with further growth following the opening of the Loop Line which gave Tunstall its first rail links in the 1800s. 

Potters such as William Adams – who had interests over in Burslem – capitalised on these new innovations to expand their businesses, developing works such as Greengates Pottery, the design of which was heavily influenced by Wedgwood’s works in Etruria. Other major players included W.H. Grindley, Admiral Smith Child, and the Johnson Brothers. Potworks dominated the heart of Tunstall, with works such as the Phoenix Works, the Unicorn Pottery, Woodland Pottery, and Alexandra Pottery all prominent.

 

The town centre as we know it today was created through three main developments. 

• Firstly, several local landowners pooled their resources and expertise, and acquired an area of land from lord of the manor, Walter Sneyd, and began to lay out the town to a new urban plan, which included the development of Tower Square. 

• Secondly, there has been a continuous process of redevelopment throughout the town; for example, during the 1880s, the Phoenix Works was redeveloped to deliver new housing to higher standards, which also saw the construction of Forster Street, which linked the north of the town to the Tower Square area. 

• And thirdly, road building has strongly influenced the shape and development of the town.

Tunstall reached its heyday during the 1960s and 1970s, with local potworks employing thousands of local people that swarmed onto the town’s streets, using local services and supporting local businesses. Things changed during the 1980s and the introduction of Thatcherite policies that shifted the nation’s economic priorities, and undermined industry, which sent Tunstall and similar communities into decline.

By the 1990's many of Tunstall’s potworks were staring down the barrel of a gun, and many underwent redevelopment just as the Phoenix Works had just over a century earlier: 

• Woodland Pottery, the former home of W.H. Grindley, closed its doors and was demolished to make way for the Asda superstore. 

• The Unicorn Pottery and adjacent sites were flattened to enable the development of Jasper Square, 

• with the Johnson Brothers’ Alexandra Pottery following to create Alexandra Square, Dransfield Properties’ grim and soulless out-of-town retail park. 

Former Elected Mayor Mike Wolfe has stated that he always felt that this was Tunstall’s future role. Yes, well, thanks Mike.

Oldcourt Street

And so today, there is little left of the pottery industry in Tunstall. But tucked away in the backstreets of Tunstall is a small potworks, a hidden gem. Oldcourt Pottery is visible from Ravensdale and the D-Road, but if you are standing on Tunstall High Street, you would know nothing of it.

Oldcourt Pottery at the junction of Roundwell and Oldcourt Streets

Oldcourt Pottery stands forlornly at the junction of Roundwell and Oldcourt Streets, and is a five storey Victorian building, constructed of red/brown local brick, with plain clay tiled roofs, and arched window and door openings. The building is unusually designed in comparison with other potworks from the Victorian-era, and it has been suggested that it may originally have been a brewery. 

The building has changed hands a number of times in recent times, and different proposals have been mooted for it, such as residential conversion, and the opening of a gym. But nothing firm or sustainable has come to fruition, and the future of the building will remain uncertain for the foreseeable future.

Given Oldcourt Pottery’s uncertain future, and that there is little left of the pottery industry in Tunstall, should consideration be given by English Heritage to grant Oldcourt Pottery some statutory protection, and preserve what is a vivid reminder of Tunstall’s pottery heritage?

 Dave Proudlove September 2012