Beneath the surface of the Potteries lies a little-known world that
encompasses the history of the six towns that historically make up this
area - Stoke, Burslem, Hanley, Fenton, Tunstall and Longton and the
conurbation in North Staffordshire that has grown from these towns. The
towns are closely linked geographically and also through their
association with the ceramic industry, when the area became the biggest
producer of pottery in the country during the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. Caves and underground tunnels can be found throughout the
area and man-made excavations lie beneath the towns that were forged in
the Industrial Revolution. In this book local historian Anthony
Poulton-Smith takes readers on a tour of the Potteries towns and
immediate surrounding area underground, exploring natural and man-made
caves, canal and railway tunnels, hidden routes and cellars with a story
to tell, passageways from houses, churches, hotels and pubs, and secret
military installations. The stories include the bizarre and tragic, and
this fascinating portrait of the Potteries underground will interest all
those who know the area.