No 75 -  The Staffordshire Potteries Water Board, Hanley

"During the forty years that the town (Hanley) has possessed its own municipality, the borough has been very greatly improved. The streets are wide and well paved, being admirably lighted by the British Gas Light Company Limited; while there is an excellent water supply by the Staffordshire Potteries Water Works Company. The drainage system has been carried out upon the most improved principles, the configuration of the district admirably lending itself to a perfect system of sewage; and the death rate of the borough is remarkably low for an industrial town."

1893 advertising and trade journal 
- A descriptive account of The Potteries

Inside the entrance is an attractive Minton Hollins mosaic floor panel based on the initials of the original company.

One of the first meetings of any significance about water supply was held at the Old Town Hall, Hanley, in 1845, when it was decided to employ the services of a competent engineer to investigate the feasibility of obtaining a pure supply for the towns of Hanley and Shelton. The man appointed, a local engineer, Liddle Elliot, reported that the water from Cere's Well, at Wall Grange, was of excellent quality and sufficient for the needs of the towns. At a public meeting, a sample from Wall Grange was tested and found to be vastly superior to previously-available supplies.

In September, 1846, it was decided to form a waterworks company, with the Duke of Sutherland as Patron and a board of 13 directors, with William Davenport, of Maer Hall, as chairman. Two immediate appointments were Liddle Elliot as engineer and Charles Baines as secretary. A Royal Assent gave the go-ahead for works at Wall Grange to pump water to a reservoir at Ladderedge; the scheme included a gravitation main to a reservoir in Hanley, and distribution by pipes to Hanley, Shelton, Stoke, Burslem, Tunstall, Fenton, Trentham and Newcastle.

Construction began immediately, but a steam beam engine, specially made by a Cornish firm, was lost when the ship carrying it was wrecked in the Mersey. A replacement engine, named "The Stafford," was successfully installed, and the first pumping station fully operational by September, 1849."

Neville Malkin 27th August 1975