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Longshaw
- Bennett's Longton
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Bennett referred to
Longton as Longshaw in his Five Town Novels. It is the least
mentioned of the Pottery towns in his Five Town novels . Bennett
compared the conurbation as being akin to Hell.
Pictures of the area
during its industrial growth defy belief with smoke pouring from a
multitude of chimneys in amongst bottle ovens of various shapes and
sizes. The great concentration of these ovens and the situation of
Longton being in a slight hollow, made it the most polluted of all
the pottery towns. |
"For this
the architecture of the Five Towns is an architecture of ovens and
chimneys; for this its atmosphere is as black as its mud; for this it
burns and smokes all night, so that Longshaw has been compared to hell;
for this it is unlearned in the ways of agriculture, never having seen
corn except as packing straw and in quartern loaves; for this, on the
other hand, it comprehends the mysterious habits of fire and pure, sterile
earth; for this it lives crammed together in slippery streets where the
housewife must change white window-curtains at least once a fortnight if
she wishes to remain respectable; for this it gets up in the mass at six
a.m., winter and summer, and goes to bed when the public-houses close; for
this it exists - that you may drink tea out of a teacup and toy with a
chop on a plate.
All the
everyday crockery used in the kingdom is made in the Five Towns -all, and
much besides."
The Old Wives' Tale
"It's a fine day if you
can see the other side of the road"
In Longton [Bennett's
Longshaw] the town with the greatest number of bottle ovens, it used to
be said, "It's a fine day if you can see the other side of the road",
and when the bottle ovens were firing it was almost impossible to see
your hand held in front of your face.
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