tarboat's photos with the keyword: etruria

Gasholder at Cliff Vale on the site of the Etruria gasworks. Now demolished.

Tanker narrowboat Spey enters the top lock at Etruria in the Trent & Mersey Canal. Shirley's Etruscan Bone and Flint Mill forms the background. These days it forms the Etruria Industrial Museum although financial problems afflict the museum since the local council pulled out of any interest in order to save money.

George Woolliscroft first appears in the trade directories in 1865 as a beerseller and brick & tile manufacturer at the Eagle and Child Inn in Chesterton. By 1868 he was also listed as a builder and manufacturer of blue bricks, chimney tops, drain pipes, roofing ridge & pressed floor tiles. He had expanded his interest by 1878 to include grocer and draper! In 1879 there was the appearance of George Woolliscroft and Son at Etruria. The Chesterton side of the business had been added by 1884 and in 1889 the firm is listed as having premises at Canal Tileries, Etruria, Patent Tile Works Hanley and Joiners Square. In 1904 the business is listed as George Woolliscroft & Son Limited, Melville St, Hanley; Chesterton; & Canal Tileries Etruria. The Melville Street premises continued in use producing tiles until quite recently and was demolished in 2009. This wall capping brick was a popular design and can be found outside many houses around Hanley.

I should have photographed this years ago when it was much more accessible. Driving away from Hanley I suddenly spotted this wall at the back of the former Etruria station site. I remembered it from many train journeys which stopped here and I would admire the old adverts for a cornucopia of goods and services once available to the denizens of the Potteries. Now they lurk behind security fences and bushes and the platform that allowed a fine view has been demolished.

Pyenest Street Etruria