Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent is a unitary authority in Staffordshire, within the West Midlands region, formed in 1910 by the federation of six towns: Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall, Longton, Fenton and Stoke-upon-Trent. The city centre around Hanley houses civic, retail and transport hubs; the mainline railway station and sections of the Trent and Mersey Canal cross the district. The built area follows a valley pattern rather than a single core, with residential streets, former industrial sites and pockets of green space arranged along former clay and coal workings.

The area grew around the ceramics industry, where local deposits of clay and coal supported factories and kilns for over two centuries. Names such as Wedgwood, Spode and Royal Doulton have historic ties to sites within the district, and museums including the Potteries Museum and the Gladstone Pottery Museum preserve industrial equipment, kiln sets and finished wares. Local street patterns and former factory rows still reflect that industrial past, and canals and feeder arms remain part of the transport landscape that once moved raw materials and finished ceramics.