Burslem

"In front, on a little hill in the vast valley, was spread out the Indian-red architecture of Bursley - tall chimneys and rounded ovens, schools, the new scarlet market, the grey tower of the old church, the high spire of the evangelical church, the low spire of the church of genuflexions, and the crimson chapels, and rows of little red with amber chimney-pots, and the gold angel of the blackened town hall topping the whole. The sedate reddish browns and reds of the composition, all netted in flowing scarves of smoke, harmonised exquisitely with the chill blues of the chequered sky. Beauty was achieved, and none saw it."
Arnold Bennett's Burslem

More on Burslem...

Listed buildings of Burslem

Historical Burslem

Burslem Churches

Burslem in the 1890's

Burslem Pubs

Burslem Streets

List of potters located in Burslem

Postcards of Burslem...

Swan Square c.1910

Birthplace of...

Josiah Wedgwood

Sir Fred Hayward

Local links...

Royal Doulton Factory & Visitor Center

Moorland Pottery Ltd

Port Vale Football Club

Ceramica Ceramica is a unique experience and a great day-out for the whole family. Follow the path from clay right through to a finished product. See a reconstruction of the inside of a bottle oven, including Josiah Wedgwood's own kiln that was discovered by the Time Team.

Lord of the Manor

Walter Sneyd, Esq. of Keel, is lord of the manor.

"The Big House"

Wedgwood Institute

"BURSLEM, an ancient town, with a market held for a long period by custom, and subsequently sanctioned by an act of parliament, is about three miles from Newcastle and two from Hanley, entitled to the precedence of other towns in this district, as claiming to be the mother, as it is the metropolis, of the Staffordshire Potteries.
1828 journal

In the Doomsday Survey - for even in that early date Burslem was a place of some importance - the town appears, as "Burwardeslyn;" and frequent mention is made of it in ancient documents during the Middle Ages.
1893 journal

Burslem has many historical buildings. As you travel through the mother town of the Potteries you can see the fine examples of Georgian and Victorian architecture. The Old Town Hall was completed in 1857 and its famous golden angel has had many refits over the years. It has recently been given a fresh makeover to mark the ceramic industry in the Potteries.

Burslem town centre still has the street plan of a small medieval market town. Earthenware is still the town's specialty and pottery factories still cluster around the civic buildings and shops sprawl out along the main roads.

Some of the grandeur of Burslem in its heyday can be discerned in the Georgian facade of Wood's Fountain Place Works and the 'Big House' built by Thomas and John Wedgwood.

Obadiah Sherrat, John Walton and other figure-makers worked in Burslem, many attended the art school in Queen Street.

The poorest of the pottery workshops stood by the wall of St. John the Baptist's churchyard.

Many of the buildings and locations Arnold Bennett described in his "Five Towns Novels" still stand and are identifiable today, these include: The Wedgwood Institute, St John's Square (St. Luke's Square), The Town Hall, Swan Bank (Duck Bank & Lane).

Famous potters located in the town have been Price and Kensington, Dunn Bennett, Burgess and Leigh, Enoch Wood.

Dates in the history of Burslem

1448 - Richard Adams and his brother William were fined for 'digging clay by the road' between Burslem and Sneyd.
1563 - Thomas Adams of Burslem left his 'best yron chymney' to his son William and his other chimney to his daughter Ellen.
1662 - 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.
1748 - The burial of the so-called 'Burslem Witch' Margaret Leigh (Peggy Lee).
1759 - Josiah Wedgwood I rented the Ivy House Pottery Works, Burslem, from his uncles John and Thomas Wedgwood.
1764 - Josiah Wedgwood I transferred his rapidly expanding business from Ivy House Works to the Brick House Works (also known as the Bell Works) in Church Street, Burslem.
1761 - Burslem's first Town Hall Built.
1801 - Burslem's population: 6,578
1817 - Waterloo Road from Burslem, through Cobridge to Hanley finished, named after the famous battle of 1815.
1854 - A new Town Hall built in Burslem's Market Square on the site of the original 1761 Town Hall. Completed in 1857 and designed by G. T. Robinson.
1860's - Parkers Brewery founded.
1871 - Burslem created a borough.
1911 - Burslem's third Town Hall completed. It houses the Queen's Theatre. Designed by Russel & Cooper of London.
1958 - Burslem's old Meat Market demolished.

Facts about Burslem from old journals

Burslem is the place where the first clod of that great national undertaking the Trent and Mersey canal, was cut, by the late Josiah Wedgwood, Esq.
The town is pleasantly situate on a rising ground, and contains many admirably arranged manufactories, numerous dwellings for the workmen employed therein, many good houses for the superintendents of the works, and some handsome edifices for the proprietors

Burslem from W. Yates' A Map of the County of Stafford, 1775

Other maps of Burslem

Burslem Town Hall
Burslem has had three Town Halls
on Burslem's Town Halls

Bottle Kilns:

Kilns at Acme Marls
There are 12 bottle & calcining kilns left in Burslem.

Arnold Bennett
Arnold Bennett called the town "Bursley"
on Bennett

Burslem Arms
on Burslem's arms

Parrott & Co
See how pottery was made at a Burslem works

Trade gazetteer entries on Burslem

Burslem: The Wedgwood Family and Enoch Wood.
The changes in the town from George I to accession of Queen Victoria (1714-1837).

Longport: John Davenport & Longport.
The creation of Longport (by the Trent & Mersey canal) between 1760-mid 19thC.

Middleport: Burgess & Leigh - the 'Model' Victorian Potworks.
A tour of a working Victorian potworks - opened in 1888, famous world over for Burleigh ware. A listed building and rescued from the receiver in 1999.

Cobridge: A Victorian Suburb
Rushton Grange, the development of Cobridge as a community, the churches and potworks - also the home of the novelist Arnold Bennett