This week, not a photo but a
stunning painting by renowned artist Vicky Mount - the
painting captures the plethora of kilns with the closely knit
terrace houses, cheek by jowl with the pottery works. The
picture is an idealised picture based on the slum dwellings in
Lower John Street, Longton.
Vicky Mount and other artists
can be found exhibiting at theartbay
galleryin Christchurch Street, Fenton.
This
photograph shows old terraced housing in John Street,
Longton. The John Street area was set back from the
Longton High Street (Uttoxeter Road). Notice how close
the housing is to the pot banks - the factories where
the pottery ware was made and fired.
The housing was
amongst the worst in Stoke-on-Trent and was demolished
in 1935. The fire Station now stands on this location.
"In the Edensor district, in John Street, in
Locketts Lane, and in the area round St. James's
Church conditions in the later 19th century were
probably as bad as anywhere in the Potteries. Even
after the Second World War a square of thirteen
houses at the junction of Normacot Road and
Chelson Street was served by only one tap and one
water-closet."
A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 8
(1963)
