Abbey Hulton Streets Past & Present

Abbey Hulton is a district on the north-eastern side of Stoke-on-Trent, taking its name from the medieval Cistercian Hulton Abbey founded in 1223. For centuries the area remained largely rural farmland and woodland, crossed by ancient routes linking Hanley, Sneyd Green, Milton and Leek.

The district changed rapidly during the 1920s and 1930s following major housing development after the First World War, when new estates were built to re-house families from the older pottery towns.
From 1933 the Sutton Dwellings Trust was responsible for building 403 houses in Abbey Hulton. The houses are now managed by Clarion Housing Group. (as at 2026).
Today many street names still reflect the area's historic connections with the Cistercian Abbey, local farms, transport routes, former landowners and the Sutton Trust.

This page lists the streets and roads of Abbey Hulton based on local authority records dated January 2000, including historic and renamed streets, listed buildings and links to related historical information.

[For the wider history of the area see the Abbey Hulton district history page]

Street name	1950s renaming
Abbey Lane »		Names such as 'Abbey' and 'Abbots' reflect the connection to the Hulton Abbey of 1223-1538.
Abbey Road »
Abbey Street
Abbey Terrace	Abbey Terrace & Trent Terrace were subsumed into the existing Leek Road	Houses were renumbered
Abbots Road
Abbotts Place
Alstonfield Avenue
Beard Grove	Was Grove Road	Named after Alderman George William Beard, who was a local councillor and served as the Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent (1947–1948).
Benedict Place		From the Benedictine monastic order - reflecting the connection
Birches Head Road		From Caldon Canal to Leek Road. Listed building: Abbey Farm House.
Birchfield Road
Blakelow Road		In 1880 the Blackelow and Greasleyside Colliery was situated here, by 1900 this had disappeared and been replaced by two buildings (probably farms) named White House and Lower Blakelow.
Braemore Road
Brieryhurst Close
Butts Green
Carmount Road
Chapter Walk		Chapter Walk and Cloister Walk are Abbey related names.
Cleadon Place
Cloister Walk
Cluny Place		Cluny Place is part of the naming convention that ties the area to its medieval history. It is named after the Cluniac Order, an influential branch of Benedictine monks.
Crestbrook Road
Croxden Road
Eaveswood Road
Elmcroft Road
Elmsmere Road
Fishpond Way		The endowment of Hulton Abbey included a fishery, presumably in the Trent. Traces of the abbey's fishponds near the river are still visible.
Friars Place		Friars Place and Friars Road reflect the connection with Hulton Abbey.
Friars Road
Grantham Place
Greasley Road		Greasley Road derives its name from the Blackelow and Greasleyside Colliery which was situated in 1880. A tablet formerly situated in Greasley Road commemorated the building of 403 by the Sutton Dwellings Trust from 1933.
Greenfield Road	Renamed to Tanners Road	Greenfields derived its name from Greenfields Nursery (appears on a 1881 map)
Greenway Place
Greyfriars Road
Grove Road	Renamed to Beard Grove
Hadleigh Road		The Sutton Trust Community Group is located in Hadleigh Road
Holehouse Road		Name derives from Holehouse Farm
Hulton Road
Jersey Close	Renamed to Texas Close
Kennermont Road
Kyffin Road		Named after Kyffin George Vaughan, a trustee during Sutton Dwellings Trust's major expansion years in the 1920s and 30s.
Leek Road	Abbey Terrace & Trent Terrace were subsumed into the existing Leek Road
Newhouse Road
Newstead Road
North Place
Priory Road
School Road
Shelley Road		Named after Sir Charles Shelley, an early trustee of the the Sutton Dwellings Trust who helped establish the Trust's national operations.
South Road
St. Bernard Place		Named after St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the 12th-century primary reformer of the Cistercian order.
Tanners Road	Was Greenfield Road	Tanners Road refers to the tannery operated by the monks of the nearby Hulton Abbey.
Taylor Road		Named after Sir Robert Taylor, a key figure in the Sutton Dwellings Trust's governance during the development of the Stoke-on-Trent estates.
Texas Close	Was Jersey Close	A unique change that replaced "Jersey" with "Texas," possibly following a theme of using international or state names
The Square	The Square became an extension of Whitehouse Road.	Houses were renumbered
Tranter Road		Named to honour Alderman Harry Tranter, He was the Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent from 1949 to 1950.
Trent Terrace	Abbey Terrace & Trent Terrace were subsumed into the existing Leek Road	Houses were renumbered
Uplands Road
Whitehouse Road	The Square became an extension of Whitehouse Road. Houses were renumbered at that time.	Whitehouse Road derives its name from a property named White House (probably a farms) which is shown on a 1900 map.
Woodhead Road		Name derives from a building named Wood Head (appears on a 1881 map) The remains of Hulton Abbey are located at the junction of Woodhead Road and Leek Road.

Introduction to the maps -

The following Ordnance Survey maps show a section of Abbey Hulton from 1880, 1900 and 1940 show the rapid development of Abbey Hulton from a largely rural and industrial landscape into a growing residential suburb of Stoke-on-Trent.

All three maps show the important transport corridor formed by Leek Road, the Caldon Canal, the River Trent and the Biddulph Valley Branch mineral railway running side-by-side through the western side of the district.
Several long-established buildings and routes can also be traced through the maps, including Abbey Villas, Abbey Terrace and Abbey Lane.
Abbey Terrace, shown on all three maps, later disappeared as a separate street name when it was incorporated into Leek Road as part of the Stoke-on-Trent street renaming programme of the 1950s.

Corresponding locations on all maps have been marked using matching coloured markers.

1880 OS map
Staffordshire XII.14; National Library of Scotland

In 1880 Abbey Hulton was still largely rural with collieries, tramways, scattered housing and farmland dominating the landscape.

Abbey Lane, shown in blue, appears only as an unnamed track leading from the Hanley & Bucknall Colliery to a tramway connected with the Blackelow and Greasleyside Colliery - both these names would later be reflected in housing streets.

Leek Road already formed the main route through the area, accompanied by the Caldon Canal, River Trent and the Biddulph Valley Branch railway. Abbey Villas and Abbey Terrace can both be seen fronting Leek Road.

1900 OS map
Staffordshire XII.14; National Library of Scotland

By 1900 the unnamed track had become Abbey Lane. The Hanley & Bucknall Colliery is still in existence but by 1924 was marked as 'disused' and the earlier Blackelow and Greasleyside Colliery had disappeared and been replaced by two buildings named White House and Lower Blakelow.

The map still shows Abbey Hulton as largely open countryside, some industrial activity (Abbey Works - an earthenware pottery) and transport links continued to shape the area.

Many later street names can already be traced in these earlier features and place names.

1940 OS map
Staffordshire XII.14; National Library of Scotland

The 1940 map shows the beginning of the major interwar housing development which transformed Abbey Hulton during the 1920s and 1930s. Housing had appeared at the lower end of Abbey Lane and new streets were beginning to spread across former colliery and farmland sites.

At the upper end of Abbey Lane a school and several new residential streets are shown, including Whitehouse Road and Greasley Road, both reflecting earlier local names already visible on the older maps.

The Hanley & Bucknall Colliery had disappeared by this time and the district was rapidly becoming suburban in character.

Page History:

Page created: 7 April 2007
Updated: 24 December 2002 - layout improvements
Last Updated: 11 May 2026 - Major revision and expansion; updated with improved navigation, historical notes, 1950s street renaming information, listed buildings, street name origins and historic OS maps showing the development of Abbey Hulton between 1880 and 1940.