Timeline of Stoke-on-Trent and The Potteries

Roman and Medieval
c.70 -400	The Romans Roman roads crossed the Stoke area, notably Rykeneld Street, linking Meir and Chesterton with Derby and Chester. Roman remains have also been found at Trent Vale in the form of a kiln and pottery workshop.	The Romans in Stoke-on-Trent
c.650 -850	The Saxons The Stoke area forms part of the Kingdom of Mercia; nearby finds such as the Staffordshire Hoard and the Sandbach Crosses reveal the wealth, craftsmanship and Christian culture of Saxon Staffordshire. The first church on the Stoke site was built of wood in 670. This was replaced by a stone building in 805 the remains of this old Anglo-Saxon church are seen in a fragment of a preaching cross and a baptismal font.	The Saxons in Stoke-on-Trent
1066	Domesday The Domesday Book does not mention a village at Stoke, but does record the existence of a church. This site served the neighbouring village of Penkhull, a hilltop settlement which remained an important town or village until the 19th century. The word Stoke seems to be derived from the Old English for a holy place.	Extracts of the 1087 Domesday Book relevant to Stoke-on-Trent Penkhull, a hilltop settlement
1282	Coal and ironstone mining in the Stoke-on-Trent area, part of the North Staffordshire Coalfield, dates back to at least the 13th century. The industry, known for rich seams like the Great Row, fuelled the local pottery industry and ironworks	Natural resources in the area
1467	The Great Row coal seam was being mined and used for firing pottery.	Pottery from the 1400's found under Burslem Art School

Early Pottery Industry (1600-1750)
1662	Starting as a small community of farmer-potters in the mid-seventeenth century, the trade of making butter for the easier marketing of butter developed in the town of Burslem. Thus Burslem earned the position of mother town of the Potteries. Before 1700, potters were criticised for digging holes in the roads to obtain clay - a practice which gave rise to the term ‘potholes’. Good red-burning clays and excellent long flame coal (essential for firing pottery ovens) could be dug from the surface along a belt running in a Northwest/ Southeast line, due to geological formation causing outcropping of these materials.	Butterpots An Act of Parliament called upon Burslem butter-pot makers to to restrict the weight of the pots to about six pounds, to that a twenty-pound load could contain a stone of butter.
1693	Elers Brothers in Staffordshire - salt glazing, sprigging and casting.	Use of Salt Glaze and the Elers brothers Shaw's account of the Elers Elers Brothers
1726	The grinding of flint in water was patented in 1726 by Thomas Benson and on improving the method in 1732. James Brindley, improved the method still further in about 1757 and his method was used until recently.	Wet grinding of flint
1730	Josiah Wedgwood was born in Burslem, Staffordshire, on July 12, 1730, into a family with a long tradition as potters. At the age of nine, after the death of his father, he worked in his family's pottery.	Master Potters in Georgian Burslem Josiah Wedgwood 1730-1795
1740	By 1740 Stoke-on-Trent was already the centre of pottery production for England.

1755	Sadler and Green of Liverpool use transfer prints to decorate pottery
1760	Methodism - John Wesley regularly visits the area between 1760-1790.	John Wesley's visits to the Potteries The Christian heritage of the Potteries
1762	1762 Josiah Wedgwood introduces Queensware, a cream coloured earthenware. A gift of a tea set to Queen Charlotte, consort of George III, produced a appointment of Wedgwood as Potter to Her Majesty in 1765.	Queensware
1766	James Brindley begins the Grand Trunk Canal (Trent and Mersey).	Brindley
1768	Cookworthy uses Cornish stone and china clay to produce a type of porcelain.	Mr. Cookworthy's patent
1776 -1800	Josiah Spode II introduces bone china.	Josiah Spode II Bone china
late 1700s	Development of transport in the late 1700's:
Canals - The Potteries is a landlocked area but the introduction of canals opened access to the Trent and Mersey. The cutting of the canals was essential for the future of the pottery industry. It meant that bulky raw materials could be brought in and that the delicate finished products could be transported across the world via the main eastern and western ports. Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley were key figures in the development of the canal system in North Staffordshire. Wedgwood cut the first sod of the Trent and Mersey canal in 1766 but the construction work took eleven years to complete (in 1777). Brindley died before the work was finished.
Turnpike Roads - The town of Stoke only began to really emerge with the arrival of the Derby and Uttoxeter to Newcastle turnpike road, the first turnpike in the area. Control of the turnpike highlighted the political battle to retain control of the area waged between the medieval borough of Newcastle and the growing industrial towns of the Potteries.

1782	In 1782, following James Watts' patent rotary motion steam engine, Josiah Wedgwood ordered one for his Etruria works and this was installed in 1783. By 1785 Staffordshire was second only to Cornwall in the number of steam engines in the county. By 1795 Staffordshire had installed more Watt steam engines than any other county in England.
1800	By 1800 a network of turnpiked road served North Staffordshire and the surrounding country.
1807 -1812	Primitive Methodism - Strongly associated with working class evangelism, Primitive Methodism was born after a series of emotional open air meetings at Mow Cop on the Cheshire and Staffordshire border between 1807 and 1812. Hugh Bourne and William Clowes, both extremely active Methodists, had been expelled from their respective circuits for continuing to organise large and illegal open air meetings. Methodism has been a strong Christian movement in the Potteries ever since Wesley's regular visits between 1760 and 1790.	Methodist divisions in Stoke-on-Trent Primitive Methodism
1840	Report on child labour in the potteries -In 1840 the House of Commons set up a commission to inquire into the state of children employed in the mines and manufactories. Samuel Scriven visited the area of Stoke-on-Trent from December 1840 onwards to collect evidence	Scriven's Report on Child Labour in the pottery industry
1841	Shelton Iron and Steel Company The North Staffordshire area is known for its pottery industry. It is less well known for its iron and steel mills. These were located close to Wedgwood's Etruria. In its heyday the works stretched across Etruria Valley. It had a 10,000-strong workforce, five coal mines, steelworks and rolling mills, blast furnaces and a bi-products factory.	Shelton Iron and Steel Co
1842	1842 – Pottery Riots and Chartist unrest across Hanley, Shelton and Longton Riots in the Potteries centred around Chartist demands - Stoke-on-Trent potters and colliers were involved in the charter, resulting in riots, imprisonment & deportation.	Chartism and Stoke-on-Trent
Railways - The canal network had been essential in opening up the local pottery industry to the world markets. It was however, a slow means of transport. During the 1840s a national railway system, faster and more economical, competed with and destroyed the canal companies as viable forms of transport. Stoke station completed in 1848, became the centre of the North Staffs Railway Company, the lines of which were compared with an octopus, reaching out around the growing city and beyond.

It was not until 1898 that any restriction on age was introduced into the pottery industry.

After 1st August 1898 no person under 14 years of age, and after 1st August 1899 no person under 15 years of age shall be employed in: Dipping house or in processes which created lead containing dust.

After 1st January 1899 all workshops had to be ventilated, and workplaces cleaned at the end of the day.
In 1899 it was decreed that no more than 5% standard solubility of lead would be allowed in glazes, but this was hard to enforce.

On the Dangerous Processed in the Potting Industry

Federation and City Growth (1900-1950)
1910	Federation of the 6 Towns -During the 19th century, each of the six towns appointed local commissioners responsible for services such as street improvements, lighting, etc. From the middle years of the century local boards of health were appointed with greater responsibilities. Stoke became a borough in 1874, Hanley in 1857, Longton in 1865 and Burslem in 1878. Fenton and Tunstall were created urban districts in 1894. This structure remained in place until 1910 when the towns joined to form the County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent. There has always been close rivalry between the six towns. This is best expressed in the town halls each have built. These are striking buildings, standing out amongst the terraced streets and potbanks, competing with other municipal and institutional buildings in the local landscape. In 1910 the population of Stoke-on-Trent was 240,000	Federation of the six towns
1925	5 June 1925 - Stoke-on-Trent granted city status It was not until 1924 that Stoke-on-Trent became a city. The early years of the county borough were marked by the Great War, restricting development of services. The borough also had designs on expanding its boundaries into the surrounding areas. A Royal Letter Patent was granted by George V on 5 June 1925.
1938	1938 half the workforce of Stoke-on-Trent worked in pottery factories. Around 2,000 coal fired bottle ovens in use.	coal fired bottle ovens
1942-1952 The pottery industry had survived the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Depression of the early 1930s but the outbreak of war in September 1939 brought about irrevocable change. The industry was subjected to change in the form of concentration. Factories were closed to release people for war work in the Armed Forces or in munitions factories. Workers left in the potteries were amalgamated into the reduced number of works licensed by the Board of Trade to produce ware. Ten Plain Years: The British Pottery Industry 1942-1952 1948 79,000 employed in pottery industry 1949 the use of all lead glazes which were not low solubility was prohibited. Since 1949 there have been no deaths from pottery industry related lead poisoning.

1958	438 coal fired bottle kilns in use, 654 tunnel and other gas/electric kilns. 298 pottery factories in operation - 70,184 employed in pottery industry. Pottery industry industry highly concentrated in North Staffordshire - Of pottery workers in country 94% general earthenware workers worked in North Staffordshire.
1960s	1965 - no coal fired bottle ovens in use. 1968 - 62,000 employed in pottery industry.
1986	National Garden Festival Stoke was chosen as the site for the National Garden Festival in 1986. It was located around Wedgwood's Etruria, reclaiming an expanse of land devastated by the effects of heavy industry and especially Shelton Iron & Steel Works. The site is now Festival Park, a complex of leisure and business facilities attracting visitors from the Midlands area and beyond and contributing to the City's economic infrastructure	National Garden Festival Stoke-on-Trent
1990s	1991- 285 pottery factories 1991 22,497 employed in pottery industry. 1995 the population of Stoke-on-Trent was just below 250,000 1997 Unitary Status -In 1997 the City became a unitary authority reclaiming services lost to the county of Staffordshire in the local government restructuring in the 1970s. As the new millennium starts there are still about 20,000 people directly employed in the pottery industry and a further 20,000 in allied industries (machinery suppliers, colour & glaze producers).

Post-war Change (1950-2000)
1955	A 1952 Trade Journal of Stoke-on-Trent gives an insight into into Industry in North Staffordshire	Prestige and Progress