Longton is one of the six towns which

amalgamated Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan ama ...

to form the county borough of

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

in 1910, along with

Hanley Hanley is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. Hanley is the ''de facto'' city centre, having long been the ...

, Tunstall, Fenton,

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent. T ...

and

Stoke-upon-Trent Stoke-upon-Trent, commonly called Stoke is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Burslem, Fenton, Longton and Tunstall form the city of Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England. The town was incorporated as a municipal borough in 18 ...

History

Longton ('long village') was a market town in the parish of Stoke in the county of Staffordshire. The town still has a market housed in an attractively renovated market hall. Coal miners in the

and Longton area ignited the 1842 general strike and associated Pottery Riots. In March 1865, Longton and Lane End were incorporated as the Borough of Longton. On 1 April 1910, the town was federated into the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent.

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboratio ...

referred to Longton as ''Longshaw'', one of the "five towns" featured in his novels set in the

Staffordshire Potteries The Staffordshire Potteries is the industrial area encompassing the six towns Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Stoke and Tunstall, which is now the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. North Staffordshire became a centre of cer ...

Longton - Aynsley Works - south-west side

Industry

The district has a long history as a base for the

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

industry, such as Paragon China and Aynsley, and several major manufacturers still have a presence, along with

Gladstone Pottery Museum The Gladstone Pottery Museum is a working museum of a medium-sized coal-fired pottery, typical of those once common in the North Staffordshire area of England from the time of the industrial revolution in the 18th century to the mid 20th cent ...

. Roslyn Works, which adjoins the latter, is now home to several small-scale manufacturers of ceramics.

Florence colliery Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, which opened in the 19th century, was one of the pits of the

North Staffordshire Coalfield The North Staffordshire Coalfield was a coalfield in Staffordshire, England, with an area of nearly , virtually all of it within the city of Stoke on Trent and the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, apart from three smaller coalfields, Shaffalong ...

. It was connected underground to another pit at

Hem Heath Hem Heath is a village in Stoke-on-Trent just south of the Bet365 Stadium The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship cl ...

. It was closed in the 1990s.

Landmarks

Public buildings

Longton Town Hall, which was completed in 1844 and was the local seat of government until 1910, was being stripped out by contractors when it was saved from demolition in 1986.

Industrial buildings

Bottle oven, Minkstone Works, Longton - geograph

There are fewer than 50 surviving

bottle oven A bottle oven or bottle kiln is a type of kiln. The word 'bottle' refers to the shape of the structure and not to the kiln's products, which are usually pottery, not glass. Bottle kilns were typical of the industrial landscape of Stoke-on-Trent ...

s in the city of Stoke-on-Trent (and only a scattering elsewhere in the UK). The kilns of the

, along with others in the Longton

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

represent a significant proportion of the national stock of the structures. The bottle ovens of Longton have been promoted as a tourist attraction. In the 21st century, the condition of some of the bottle ovens has given cause for concern. A Stoke-on-Trent Ceramic Heritage Action Zone was created with the double function of regenerating Longton and surviving bottle ovens throughout the city.

Transport

In 1997 Longton's

one-way system One-way traffic (or uni-directional traffic) is traffic that moves in a single direction. A one-way street is a street either facilitating only one-way traffic, or designed to direct vehicles to move in one direction. One-way streets typical ...

was bypassed when a new section of the A50 was opened. It runs from

Blythe Bridge Blythe Bridge is a village in Staffordshire, England, south-east of Stoke-on-Trent. Etymology Blythe Bridge is so called as it is built around the site of a bridge over the River Blithe (spelt differently from the name of the village itself), a ...

to Queensway (a section of the A500), going through Longton in a

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

Longton is served by a railway station on the

Crewe–Derby line The Crewe–Derby line is a railway line in central England, running from Crewe in a south-easterly direction to Derby, via Stoke-on-Trent and Uttoxeter. Passenger services on the line are provided by East Midlands Railway. History This line ...

. It was opened by the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based i ...

on 7 August 1848. A new

bus interchange A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city bus, city or intercity bus, intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus ga ...

was opened adjacent to it in 2003 on the site of a former

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

supermarket. Longton - geograph

Education

Secondary schools in the area include

St Thomas More Catholic Academy St Thomas More Catholic Academy is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in the Longton area of Stoke-on-Trent in the English county of Staffordshire. The school is named after Saint Thomas More, a sixteenth century elder statesma ...

and Stoke Studio College. Together with

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, then in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, Longton was host to the first

Workers' Educational Association The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...

tutorial classes.

R. H. Tawney Richard Henry Tawney (30 November 1880 – 16 January 1962) was an English economic historian, social critic, ethical socialist,Noel W. Thompson. ''Political economy and the Labour Party: the economics of democratic socialism, 1884-2005''. 2nd ...

, known as "the patron saint of adult education",Elsey, B. (1987) 'R. H. Tawney – Patron saint of adult education', in P. Jarvis (ed.) "Twentieth Century Thinkers in Adult Education", Beckenham: Croom Helm taught the classes for three years starting in January 1908.

Retail

A new shopping precinct, the Bennett Precinct, opened in 1962. It is now named Longton Exchange. In 2003 a

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

Extra

hypermarket A hypermarket (sometimes called a hyperstore, supercentre or superstore) is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including ...

was built (there are other Tesco stores at Meir). Since then, other major retailers such as

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...

Matalan Matalan is a British fashion and homeware retailer based in Knowsley, Merseyside. It was established by John Hargreaves in 1985, and is still owned by the Hargreaves family. , the company employed over 13,000, and had 230 stores in the United K ...

, Wilko and

B & M B&M European Value Retail S.A., trading as B&M, is a British-Luxembourg variety store chain founded in 1978 and incorporated in Luxembourg. It employs over 32,000 people. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FT ...

have opened new premises. Building firm St. Modwen's opened an £8 million retail complex in April 2012. The stores there include

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

Pets at Home Pets at Home is a British pet supplies retailer selling pet products including food, toys, bedding, medication, accessories and pets. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The first stor ...

Smyths Smyths Toys Superstores is an Irish multinational chain provider of children's toys and entertainment products with over 200 shops throughout Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and France. The business is owned by the Smy ...

and

Currys Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones. E ...

. Other local businesses like Hylands and Bevans have also thrived in the area.

Nightlife

Jollees Cabaret Club Jollees was a live music and cabaret venue in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom. The venue was re-established in March 2016, after having closed in 1992. The original venue was opened in October 1973 and was the largest capacity cabaret ...

was a very popular nightspot in the 1970s, attracting some of the biggest names in entertainment. In the early 1990s,

Shelley's Laserdome Shelley's Laserdome was a night club in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was at the heart of the house and rave scene in the early 1990s, helping to launch the career of DJ Sasha and featuring regular appearances from Carl Cox ...

became widely known throughout the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

as a

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

venue, but it was forced to close in 1992.

Notable people

* Sir John Edensor Heathcote (c.1757–1822) Stoke-on-Trent industrialist, owner of Longton Hall, which he rebuilt in 1778. *

John Aynsley John Aynsley (1823 – 7 February 1907) was an English potter who established the Portland Works in Longton, Staffordshire. Biography John Aynsley's family had been producing fine bone china since 1775. He was born in Longton, Staffordshire in ...

(1823–1907) English potter who established the Portland Works in Longton *

Percy Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...

(1860-1937) was a major force in developing

Shelley Potteries Shelley Potteries, situated in Staffordshire, was earlier known as Wileman & Co. which had also traded as The Foley Potteries. The first Shelley to join the company was Joseph Ball Shelley in 1862 and in 1896 his son Percy Shelley became the s ...

, born in Longton. * Frederick Arthur Challinor (1866–1952), was a British composer. *

Ernest Albert Egerton Ernest Albert Egerton VC (10 November 1897 – 14 February 1966) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth for ...

(1897–1966) English recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

* William Thomas Astbury (1898–1961) English physicist and

molecular biologist Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

who made pioneering

X-ray diffraction X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...

studies of biological molecules. * Gordon Mons Higginson (1918-1993) British purported spiritualist medium. *

Charles Tomlinson Alfred Charles Tomlinson, CBE (8 January 1927 – 22 August 2015) was an English poet, translator, academic, and illustrator. He was born in Penkhull, and grew up in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Life After attending Longton High Sc ...

(1927–2015) English poet, attended

Longton High School Longton High School was a school in Longton and later Meir, Staffordshire from 1760 to 2010. History The school was founded in 1760 with an endowment from John Bourne and was known as the Longton Free School. By 1763, enough money had been prov ...

Freddie Jones Frederick Charles Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (12 September 1927 – 9 July 2019) was an English actor who had an extensive career in television, theatre and cinema productions for a ...

(1927–2019) actor; his many roles on film and television included

Sandy Thomas Sandy Thomas is a fictional character from the British soap opera ''Emmerdale'', played by Freddie Jones. Sandy was introduced as the father of Ashley Thomas ( John Middleton). He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 6 ...

in ''Emmerdale''. * Andrew Evans (born 1950s) a soldier from Longton, stationed at Whittington Barracks, was wrongfully convicted and served 25 years in custody after confessing to the 1972 murder of Judith Roberts, a 14-year-old schoolgirl from Tamworth.

Sport

* William (Billy) Weston (1847-1935) Australasian billiards player, emigrated from Longton aged 3. * George Arthur Gallimore (1886–1949) English professional footballer who made 77 appearances for

Stoke City F.C. Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

* Henry "Harry" Colclough (1888–1955) English international footballer, who made 83 appearances for

Crystal Palace F.C. Crystal Palace Football Club is a professional football club based in Selhurst in the Borough of Croydon, South London, England, who compete in the Premier League, the highest level of English football. Although formally created as a profes ...

* William Wootton (1904–2000) English footballer, made 56 appearances for

Port Vale F.C. Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

* Norman Henry Hallam (1920–1997) was an English footballer, made 63 appearances for

* Philip Adrian "Phil" Heath (born 1964) former professional English footballer, made 297 appearances.

Trivia

* Longton is the birthplace and home of Alan Povey's character

Owd Grandad Piggott Owd Grandad Piggott is a fictional character created by author Alan Povey based on a real-life person. The Owd Grandad Piggott stories are best known in Povey's home town of Stoke-on-Trent where they have often been heard on BBC Radio Stoke, r ...

* Black Country folk singer/songwriter, Neil Morris, now lives near Longton

Gallery

File:Sutherland Institute, Longton - geograph.org.uk - 122101.jpg, Sutherland Institute, Longton. Completed in 1898 on land donated by the

Duke of Sutherland Duke of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford. A series of marriages to heiresses by members of the Leveson-Gower family made th ...

who lived at nearby

Trentham Hall The Trentham Estate, in the village of Trentham, is a visitor attraction located on the southern fringe of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. History The estate was first recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. At th ...

. File:Section of frieze above entrance to Sutherland Institute, Longton - geograph.org.uk - 345925.jpg, The work of potters is depicted in the

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

above the entrance to the Sutherland Institute. File:GladstonePotteryMuseum(ValVannet)Jul2004.jpg, Gladstone Pottery Museum File:Longton Park - geograph.org.uk - 121613.jpg, Longton Park File:Interior_view_of_the_church.jpg, St James' Church, Longton

References

External links

Make it Stoke-on-Trent – Longton Regeneration
(listings of local amenities and regeneration projects)
Gladstone Pottery MuseumUse interactive maps to find historic photographs and artefacts of old Longton
at The Sentinel (local newspaper)
Longton South Community Blog
(local blog)
www.hylands.tv
{{authority control Areas of Stoke-on-Trent Towns in Staffordshire