The early Stoke Potters & the Newcastle canal:

The works of three early potters of Spode, Minton & Wolfe (later Adams) were located alongside the Newcastle-under-Lyme to Stoke canal.

The Newcastle-under-Lyme to Stoke canal was a 4 mile level canal from the Trent & Mersey Canal at Stoke to Newcastle-under-Lyme.
It was authorised by an Act of 1795 and completed in about 1800, part closed in 1921 and abandoned in 1935 - subsequently filled in.
It was very little used, except by Spode, Minton and Wolfe whose pottery works were adjacent to it's Stoke terminal. As a dividend earner, it was a disastrous failure.

1898 OS map showing the junction between the Newcastle canal and the Trent and Mersey canal.

After passing under Church Street the Newcastle canal runs alongside the Spode works and behind the Town Hall (red square). 

Present day hints of the earlier existence of the canal are found in "Aqueduct Street" (purple square) which is alongside the town hall - this name reflects the presence of the aqueduct which carried the canal over the fowlea brook (light blue) which went into a culvert under Brook Street (green square).

The yellow square show the junction of the Newcastle canal with the Trent & Mersey canal.

"Aqueduct Street" alongside Stoke  town hall

This photo taken from the footpath on the Trent and Mersey Canal

The sign pinpoints the junction of the Newcastle Canal where it ran into the Trent & Mersey Canal near Glebe Street (just opposite the railway station).
Until the early 1970's there was a 100 yard stretch of navigable Newcastle Canal here which was used as moorings for Stoke Boat Club, this stretch was wiped out when the huge A500 by-pass was built.

On the far side of the Civic Centre is the Spode Factory and museum.

The three potters alongside the Newcastle canal:

Thomas Minton

Somewhere about 1788 or 1789  Thomas Minton left London and settled at Stoke, where for a time he continued to work as an engraver, at one of the Bridge houses which had been built by Thomas Whieldon, the first partner of Wedgwood.

Four years later, determining to become a potter, he bought a piece of land and built for himself a modest factory, consisting of one 'bisque' and one 'glost' oven, with a slip house and other necessary accommodation.

It is evident that he and his partners had become a fairly flourishing concern by 1800, for in that year their turnover was £17,427.

Minton Works alongside the Newcastle canal - London Road - Stoke
Above the tunnels of the Newcastle-under-Lyme to Stoke canal is a flint mill - to the left are the imposing buildings of Minton, with a long three-storyed building, rising to four storeys in the centre. 
 

Josiah Spode

Josiah Spode, was an apprentice of Whieldon in 1749 (as was Josiah Wedgwood).

Spode with a potter named John Turner worked in the pottery which occupied the very site on which the Spode factory stands today. But in that same year (1762) Turner left and Spode took his place as manager, continuing in that capacity for eight years; until, in 1770, he took over the works on mortgage, becoming sole proprietor and complete owner in 1776.

1927 aerial photo centered on Spode's pottery factory in Stoke
 behind Spode's works is the Newcastle Canal

[Stoke-on-Trent Public Health Department]

- click for larger picture -

The Spode pottery works in the centre of the photograph with it's frontage on Church Street (Green).
 The dark blue line behind Spode's works is the Newcastle Canal
and the light blue line is the Fowlea Brook.
The turquoise line is Elenora Street, the violet line is Hartshill Road and the pink line is Liverpool Road.

The Big Works of Thomas Wolfe

Thomas Wolfe had occupied the Big Works by 1781 it was on the north-east side of the Newcastle canal - opposite  Spode's pottery works. 

In 1818 Thomas Wolfe's widow Rachel let the two works to William Adams. The famous Adams family continued to work the old Wolfe factories until c.1862.
In the 1870's Wolfe Street (part of which is now Kingsway) was run through part of the Big Works.

Thomas Wolfe also manufactured china at the Islington China works (Liverpool) between 1792 and 1818. Firstly with John Davenport (1792-1800); then with Miles Mason and John Lucock and Wolfe & Co (1796-1800); lastly with is son-in-law Robert Hamilton (1800-1818).

He also had business partnerships with Josiah Spode.

Stoke-upon-Trent c.1819 - The view is along Church Street, London Road to the right

The railings in front of the works is the Newcastle Canal - the canal went underneath
Church Street and the Wheatsheaf Inn and then ran alongside Spode's and Wolfe's works.

To the immediate left is the Wheatsheaf Public House (a coaching inn).
Next the Wheatsheaf is Wolfe's "Big Works"
To the right of the picture is Wolfe's china factory - the Bridge Bank works

picture: "Ten Generations of a Potting Family"