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Stoke-on-Trent (About this sound pronunciation (help·info); often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles (19 km) long, with an area of 36 square miles (93 km2). Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme  Stoke forms the The Potteries Urban Area. This, together with the rural Staffordshire Moorlands area, forms North Staffordshire, which in 2001, had a population of 457,165.

The conurbation continues to be polycentric, having been formed by the federation of six originally separate towns and numerous villages in the early-20th century. The settlement from which the federated town (not a city until 1925) took its name was Stoke-upon-Trent, because this was where the administration (and chief mainline railway station) was located. After the union, Hanley emerged as the primary commercial centre in the city, despite the efforts of its rival, Burslem. The three other component towns are Tunstall, Longton, and Fenton.

Stoke-on-Trent, is considered to be the home of the pottery industry in England and is commonly known as The Potteries. Formerly a primarily industrial conurbation, it is now a centre for service industries and distribution centres.

History
Etymology

The name Stoke is taken from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent, the original ancient parish, with other settlements being chapelries. 'Stoke' derives from the Old English stoc, a word that at first meant little more than a 'place', but which subsequently gained more specific – but divergent – connotations. These variant meanings included 'dairy farm', 'secondary or dependent place or farm', 'summer pasture', 'crossing place', 'meeting place' and 'place of worship'. It is not known which of these was intended here, and all are feasible. The most frequently suggested interpretations derive from a crossing point on the Roman road that ran from present-day Derby to Chesterton or the early presence of a church, said by Bede to have been founded in 670 AD. Because 'Stoke' was such a common name for a settlement, some kind of distinguishing affix was usually added later, in this case the name of the river.

The motto of Stoke-on-Trent is Vis Unita Fortior which can be translated as: United Strength is Stronger, or Strength United is the More Powerful or A United Force is Stronger.

Administration

Longton Town Hall.

An early proposal for a federation took place in 1888, when an amendment was raised to the Local Government Bill which would have made the six towns districts within a county of 'Staffordshire Potteries'. It was not until 1 April 1910 that the Six Towns were brought together. The county borough of Hanley, the municipal boroughs of Burslem, Longton, and Stoke, together with the urban districts of Tunstall and Fenton now formed a single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. The combined borough took the name of town of Stoke.

The borough proposed in 1919 to expand further and annex the neighbouring borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Wolstanton United Urban District, both to the west of Stoke: this met strong objections from Newcastle Corporation and never took place. A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill. Ultimately, Wolstanton was added to Newcastle-under-Lyme instead in 1932. Although attempts to take Newcastle, Wolstanton and Kidsgrove (north of Tunstall) were never successful, the borough did however expand in 1922, taking in Smallthorne Urban District, and parts of other parishes from Stoke upon Trent Rural District. The borough was officially granted city status in 1925 with a Lord Mayor from 1928.

The city's county borough status was abolished in 1974, and it became a non-metropolitan district of Staffordshire. Its status was restored as a unitary authority with the local authority as Stoke-on-Trent City Council whilst remaining part of the ceremonial county of Staffordshire on 1 April 1997.

Industry
Pottery

Surviving bottle kilns still form distinctive silhouettes in several parts of the city

Since the 17th century the area has been almost exclusively known for its industrial-scale pottery manufacturing, with such world renowned names as Royal Doulton, Dudson Ltd, Spode (founded by Josiah Spode), Wedgwood (founded by Josiah Wedgwood) and Minton (founded by Thomas Minton) being born and based there. The presence locally of abundant supplies of coal and of suitable clay for earthenware production led to the early but at first limited development of the local pottery industry. The construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal enabled the import of china clay from Cornwall together with other materials and facilitated the production of creamware and bone china.

Colorado Boullions Regina and teapots, vitrified tableware by Dudson Brothers Ltd., as exhibited by artists in London's Pimlico Road, 2003.

However, many other production centres elsewhere in Britain, Europe and worldwide had a considerable lead in the production of high quality wares. It was largely the methodical and highly detailed research and a willingness to experiment carried out over many years, initially by one man, Josiah Wedgwood, and later by other local potters (such as Thomas Whieldon), along with scientists and engineers, that nurtured the development of artistic talent throughout the local community and raised the profile of Staffordshire Potteries. With the industry also came a large number of notable ceramic artists including Clarice Cliff, Susie Cooper, Charlotte Rhead, Frederick Hurten Rhead and Jabez Vodrey.

Coal mining

North Staffordshire was a centre for coal mining. The first reports of coal mining in the area come from the 13th century. Part of the North Staffordshire Coalfield, the Potteries Coalfield covers 100 square miles (300 km2).

On nationalisation of the industry in 1947, around 20,000 men worked in the industry in Stoke on Trent. Notable Collieries included Hanley Deep Pit, Trentham Superpit (formerly Hem Heath and Florence Collieries), Fenton Glebe, Silverdale, Chatterley Whitfield and Wolstanton. The industry developed greatly and even new investments in mining projects were planned within the City boundaries as recently as the 1990s. However, 1994 saw the last pit to close as the Trentham Superpit was shut.

The Stoke mining industry set several national and international records. Wolstanton Colliery, when modernised had the deepest mining shafts in Europe. In 1933, Chatterley Whitfield Colliery became the first Colliery in the country to mine 1 million tons of coal. In the 1980s Florence Colliery in Longton repeatedly set regional and national production records and in 1992 the combined Trentham Superpit (Hem Heath and Florence) was the first Mine in Europe to produce 2.5 million saleable tonnes of coal.

Today the mines are all closed, though the scars of mining still remain on the landscape. Slag heaps are still visible on the skyline, now covered with flora and fauna. The abandoned mines underground are inaccessible, though still add complications to many building projects and occasionally cause minor tremors, detectable only by specialized equipment.

Steel

Other industries have also occupied important roles in the development of the city both before and after federation. Notably the iron and steel making industry located in the valley at Goldendale and Shelton below the hill towns of Tunstall, Burslem and Hanley. Shelton Steelworks production of steel ended in 1978 and instead of producing crude Steel concentrated on rolling Steel Billet train loaded in from Scunthorpe. The Rolling Plant finally closed in 2002. From 1864 to 1927 Stoke housed the repair shops of the North Staffordshire Railway and was also the home from 1881 to 1930 of independent railway locomotive manufacturers Kerr Stuart & Co. Ltd.

Shelton Steel Works as well as the mining operations were heavily involved in the World War II industrial effort. Central to the RAF's success was the Supermarine Spitfire designed by Reginald Mitchell who, whilst born at 115 Congleton Road in the nearby village of Butt Lane, Kidsgrove had his apprenticeship at Kerr Stuart & Co. Ltd's railway works.

Other

The Michelin tyre company also has a presence in Stoke-on-Trent and in the 1920s built their first UK plant in the city. As recently as the 1980s nearly 9,000 workers were employed at the plant. Nowadays around 1,200 are employed at the site.

Religion

Hugh Bourne, founder of Primitive Methodism

Primitive Methodism was founded by Hugh Bourne a native of Stoke. He originally followed the Wesleyan form of Methodism but in 1801 he reformed the Methodist service by conducting it outside. By 1811 with his brother he founded the first chapel in Tunstall. He promoted Sunday schools as a method of improving children's education as well as treating women as equals. He also was involved in the temperance movement. It was from the Primitive Methodists that many early trade unions found their early leaders. Also of note is John Lightfoot a 17th century churchman and rabbinical scholar.





Geography

Tunstall Tower Square.

Stoke-on-Trent is situated approximately half-way between Manchester and Birmingham and the city adjoins the town and borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, which is administered separately and situated to the west. To the east is the Peak District, which includes part of the Staffordshire Moorlands District, as well as parts of Derbyshire, Greater Manchester and West and South Yorkshire.

Stoke-on-Trent is often known as "the city of five towns", because of the name given to it by local novelist Arnold Bennett. In his novels, Bennett used mostly recognisable aliases for five of the six towns (although he called Stoke "Knype"). However, Bennett said that he believed "Five Towns" was more euphonious than "Six Towns", so he omitted Fenton (now sometimes referred to as "the forgotten town").

Stoke-on-Trent City Centre, viewed from Festival Park

A city like Stoke made up of multiple towns is known as a conurbation (although in this case the conurbation is bigger than Stoke itself, because the urban area of Stoke is now continuous with that of administratively-separate Newcastle).

The six towns run in a rough line from north to south along the A50 road - Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton. Although the city is named after the original town of Stoke, and the City Council offices are located there, the city centre is usually regarded as being in Hanley, which had earlier developed into a major commercial centre.

Suburbs

As well as the Six Towns, there are numerous suburbs including Abbey Hulton, Adderley Green, Baddeley Green, Bentilee, Birches Head, Blurton, Bucknall, Bradeley, Cliffe Vale, Etruria, Fegg Hayes, Hartshill, Heron Cross, Meir, Meir Park, Meir Hay, Middleport, Milton, Penkhull, Shelton, Smallthorne, Sneyd Green, Trentham and Trent Vale.

Demographics

Based on the 2001 census, the total population of the city is 240,636 in 103,196 households This was a decline of 3.5% since 1991. 51.3% of the population is female. 96.3% of the population of Stoke-on-Trent were born in the UK. 94.8% of the population identified themselves as white, 2.6% as Asian British Pakistani, 0.5% Asian British Indian and 0.3% as Black Afro Caribbean. With religion, 74.7% described themselves as Christian, 3.2% Muslim and 13.4% had no religion. In the same census, 19.9% were identified as under 15 and 21.0% over 60. The average age of residents was 38½. A total of 24.2% of non-pensioner households were recorded as having no working adults.