Renowned for their illustrious ceramic manufacturing heritage, the
Staffordshire Potteries originally centred upon six towns: Tunstall,
Burslem, Hanley, Stoke-upon-Trent, Fenton and Longton. The modern city
of Stoke-on-Trent was created from these six towns and around fifty
villages. In The Potteries Through Time, author Mervyn Edwards presents
a nostalgic visual chronicle of the towns and villages in the Potteries
across the decades. In his previous Through Time books, Mervyn Edwards
focused upon each of the six towns individually. This latest volume
explores the hills and hollows between the centres whilst also offering
new archive photographs of the main towns. We find shabby backstreets
cowering in the shadow of enormous coal tips - the Potteries' own 'black
hills' - and there are industrial hotspots and busy suburbs. Then there
are the proud old chapels and pubs and the even prouder people that
patronised them. Stoke-on-Trent was not a pretty place, but as the
proverb tells us, 'where there is muck there is brass', and the
fascinating landscape came to be captured by all manner of writers,
artists and photographers. This collection of archive photographs is an
engaging book that charts changing times and the shifting identity of
the Potteries. It will be of immense interest to local residents,
visitors and all those with links to the area.
