Steve tells me that the Adams’s were among the pioneers of North Staffordshire’s pottery industry.

“They intermarried with other top families so much that their connections were felt in most public services. But their ceramic activity was the mainstay. Even their large potteries until recent times were managed by family members who were 11^th and 12^th generations in direct descent from the original founder. But it’s such a complicated genealogy that the best place to direct you to is Tunstall Park.”

Steve leads me to the well-known Adams Clock Tower where the inscription on a marble plaque tells us it was erected in 1907 by the workpeople and firm of William Adams & Co, of Greenfield, Greengates, and Newfield. A number of other commemoration stones on the tower outline the family’s history; the earliest mentions William Adams 1307. Then there’s landowner Richard in 1487, another William in 1590, and John Adams chief constable of Tunstall Manor Court 1616.

William Adams held lands in Tunstall 1307

“It’s difficult to track because they were so productive throughout Stoke on Trent and most took William as their first name,” says Steve. “The ones we’re interested in are from the Greenfield and the Greengate side. They settled along an ancient lane from Tunstall to Chell known as Furlong Road. It was obviously rural when William Adams (1745-1805) established himself here. But it was his son also William (1798-1865) an important producer of American scenic and historic china who built Greenfield Pottery in 1834. A cousin, yet another William Adams (1745-1805) built Greengate where he produced Queensware, Jasper and Basalt. Both works were carried on by their sons until all the Adams potteries merged in Tunstall under William and Percy W. L. Adams. Some of their designs were still made with their back-stamp under the Wedgwood name, a group they joined in 1966. Are you keeping up?” he laughs.

The ubiquitous and prolific potting family has long gone. But I did discover that there was still an Adams family living nearby – 62 year old resident Bob Adams of Clandon Avenue is its head.

“My family moved here in 1982,” says Bob. “There were two potteries and our estate lay between them. The Clandon Estate was developed in 1961 and was quite modern for its time although it was built on one of Adams’ waste tips and a nearby marl hole. The community amenities have gone as you’d expect. Katie Bean’s shop has gone. Another traditional shop JB Leese closed; a chip shop and Heath’s grocers. And I remember a woman named Mary Brock who wore a sacking apron. Potbanks came to disfigure pleasant pastures. Now they have gone and new houses are taking their place in regeneration.”