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Shelton Works
map of Shelton Steel
Works and the Loop Line in 1898
The loop line separates
the Etruria site of Shelton works and Wedgwood pottery works (bottom
centre)
the Trent & Mersey canal runs through the site (centre top to bottom)
Photo of Shelton Steel
Works and the Loop Line c.1950
many of the features in this 1950 photograph can be identified in the
1898 map
The loop line separates
the Etruria site of Shelton works and Wedgwood pottery works (bottom left)
the Trent & Mersey canal runs through the site (bottom right to top)
Accidents will happen!
a derailed train on one of the Shelton lines
| Connecting the
numerous pieces of plant at the Shelton sites was a collection of
rail-borne vehicles, made up of slag bogies, pig bogies and wagons
drawn by a ten-strong, steam locomotive fleet.
In fact Shelton was the first site
to have a rail link; the early loop line. Earl Granville is reported
to have been known to take his locomotives on to the main line North
Staffordshire Railway lines for personal trips to Sandbach. The rail
company on one occasion were alleged to have reprimanded him for his
actions. |
Grange line into Shelton
Works
Trent and Mersey
Canal at Etruria - 1941
photo: The Warrillow Collection - Keele University Library
Picture taken from
Wedgwood pottery works with the Shelton Iron & Steel works spread all
across the background of the picture. Etruria Hall to the upper right.
The bridge over the
canal carried the loop line.
the old loop line
bridge on the Trent & Mersey canal
this photo taken on the opposite side of the bridge shown in
the 1941 photo above.
the Sentinel newspaper works in the distance, these works are
sited where Wedgwood's Etruria works were
Looking backwards along the canal, in the
foreground an old railway bridge
which joined the blast furnace side to the steel converting side
- in the background the new Forge Lane bridge.
Railway line entering the works, the
line to the right now
finished just out of the picture but used to go to the
blast furnaces.
these three photographs around the Shelton Steel
Works
were taken on last day 27th April 2000 when the works completely closed
coal and iron ore mines
The rich seams of
coal and iron ore in the Stoke-on-Trent area were instrumental in
the selection of the Shelton site by the first Earl Granville.
There were numerous coal workings on the Shelton site before the
Levison Gower family took an interest in it but after the lease was
taken up the pits were rapidly developed.
They were all part of the unique
industrial fabric of North Staffordshire. Coal pits were peppered
around the Shelton site and were connected with a myriad of mineral
rail lines.
There was The Grange; the three
Racecourse pits; Rowhurst One and Two; Bootham Pit, Tinkersclough
and the 'daddy' of them all, Deep Pit.
Deep Pit got its name from the fact
that it had the area's deepest shaft, reaching 1,500 feet.
The Racecourse pits, named after a
racecourse which saw its last event in 1840, were almost 1,000 feet
deep.
The company purchased another three
collieries - Florence, Silverdale and Talke - over the next fifteen
years, with a further Holdich Colliery being purchased as late as
1930. |
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