Villages of Vision

And so what of the planned settlement in the Potteries? There has been nothing on the scale of Owenstown or the New Towns, with the largest planned settlements locally the municipal estates, which have largely been unremarkable (though the Woodville Estate in Meir, and the Sutton Trust estate in Trent Vale are worthy of examination). However, there have been some developments that – at their time – have been of importance and influence locally and in some instances farther a field.

Etruria

Probably the earliest, and most famous, – both throughout the Potteries and the country – was Etruria, built by Josiah Wedgwood between 1767 and 1773, and was the first example of industrial paternalism in the Potteries. Wedgwood’s first ventures into the pottery industry were in Burslem, where he occupied a number of sites and built The Big House, but as his business developed, he began to search for a new site. He eventually chose the Ridge House Estate between Hanley and Newcastle, and with an eye on the future, his works was built alongside the turnpike road that ran between Newcastle and Hanley, and was to front onto the planned Trent and Mersey Canal (unsurprisingly, Wedgwood was a great influence on the construction of the new waterway, and was treasurer of the venture that built it).

Being an astute businessman, he was aware that the locals were hardworking and loyal, and that well-housed workers produced better work. He was also a deeply humane person for the times, and so to the west of his new works, he built a ‘town’ of forty-two terraced houses for his workers. At the same time he built Etruria Hall for himself to the north-east of the works.

Engraving of Etruria Valley, pre 1840

As production was transferred from Burslem to the new site, further cottages were built, and by the 1820s, there was 126 homes built. The village was not a “model industrial village” in the usual sense, though there were communal bakehouses and shops, and in the mid-1800s a school and chapel was built. There was also not the emphasis on architectural quality as with other examples such as Port Sunlight; Etruria was simple in design: two up two down homes, in brick and tile. One word could quite easily describe the village: functional.

Example of the Wedgwood cottages

Production on the site lasted until 1940, when the business moved to another new purpose-built facility six miles to the south in Barlaston (the company repeated the Etruria trick, building a new factory and housing in a park setting), and the Wedgwood Group remain there to this day.

Today very little remains of Etruria as it was: the last of the Wedgwood factory buildings were demolished in the 1960s when the A53 dual carriageway was constructed, and the vast majority of the housing has also been cleared. What does remain though is of interest: the original Palladian factory building had two ‘roundhouses’ at either end, with one still remaining (this now a Grade II* Listed Building), with the wider site being occupied by the offices and printing facilities of the Sentinel.

Also still standing is the Etruria Wesleyan Methodist Chapel (this is now empty and awaiting a new use), and Etruria Cottage. Etruria Hall has since been renovated and extended, and is now the Moat House Hotel, and part of Festival Park, the 1986 National Garden Festival site which St Modwen went on to horrendously transform into a soulless out-of-town business and retail park.

Etruria Wesleyan Methodist Chapel

Etruria Cottage

Etruria Hall

Round House at Wedgwood's Etruria works
The Roundhouse