Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with

Hanley Hanley is one of the Federation of Stoke-on-Trent, six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke- ...

, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and

Stoke-upon-Trent Stoke-upon-Trent, also known as Stoke, is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Burslem, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall form the city of Stoke-o ...

form part of the city 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. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

Staffordshire, England Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south-east, the West Midlands cou ...

. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent. The population of the town was included under the Burslem Central ward and had a population of 6,490 in the 2021 Census.

Topography

Burslem is on the eastern ridge of the Fowlea Valley, the Fowlea being one of the main early tributaries of the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

. Burslem embraces the areas of Middleport, Dalehall, Longport, Westport, Trubshaw Cross, and Brownhills. The

Trent & Mersey Canal The Trent and Mersey Canal is a canal in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire in north-central England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities to the east of Burton upon Trent and north of Middl ...

cuts through, to the west and south of the town centre. A little further west, the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

railway and the

A500 road The A500 is a major primary A road in Staffordshire and Cheshire, England. It is dual carriageway for most of its length and connects Nantwich, junctions 16 and 15 of the M6 motorway with the city of Stoke-on-Trent. It is long. The road wa ...

run in parallel, forming a distinct boundary between Burslem and the abutting town of

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is adjacent to the city of Stoke-on-Trent. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the population ...

. To the south is Grange Park and Festival Park, reclaimed by the

Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival The Stoke-on-Trent National Garden Festival was the second of Britain's national garden festivals. It was held in the city from 1 May to 26 October 1986, and was opened by the Queen. Preparation of the site involved the reclamation of land f ...

History

The

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

shows Burslem (listed as ''Bacardeslim'') as a small farming hamlet, strategically sited above a ford at Longport, part of the major

pack horse A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use o ...

track out of the

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...

and

Staffordshire Moorlands Staffordshire Moorlands is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. Its council is based in Leek, the district's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Biddulph and Cheadle, along with a large rural area containing ...

to the

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

/London road. The name refers to the Old English personal name ''Burgweard'' and the former

Forest of Lyme The Forest of Lyme (pronounced "Lime") is a former, mainly elm tree, forest in the present day counties of Cheshire, Staffordshire and parts of Derbyshire. Parts of the forest remain and its name is preserved in many local place-names. Location a ...

(reflected in the nearby town of

). As far back as the late 12th century, a thriving

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

industry existed, based on the fine and abundant local

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

s. After the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

, Burslem emerges in the records as a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

town – St John the Baptist's Church on Cross Hill, with a stone tower dating from 1536, was extended in the 18th century, and is still standing and in use. Until the mid-1760s Burslem was relatively cut off from the rest of England: it had no

navigable A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Navigability is also referred to in the broader context of a body of water having sufficient under ...

river nearby, and there were no good and reliable roads. By 1777 the

Trent and Mersey Canal The Trent and Mersey Canal is a canal in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire in north-central England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities to the east of Burton upon Trent and north of Middl ...

was nearing completion, and the roads had markedly improved. The town boomed on the back of fine pottery production and

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

s, and became known as The Mother Town of the six towns that make up the city. Hill Top Methodist Church and Sunday School opened on Westport Road in 1836. The

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

opened in 1848. The Burslem School of Art was founded in 1853. A new town hall was built in the market place in 1854, designed by G. T. Robinson of Leamington in elaborate baroque style. In 1906, the United Reformed Church was opened on Moorland Road, initially named the Woodall Memorial Congregational Church, in memory of William Woodall MP. In 1910, the town was federated into the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent, and the borough was granted

city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a monarch, national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, ci ...

in 1925. The new town hall was built in 1911 on Wedgwood Place, in neo-classical style, designed by Russell and Cooper. Many of the novels of

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

evoke

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

Burslem, with its many potteries, mines, and working canal barges. The Burslem of the 1930s to the 1980s is evoked by the paintings and plays of Arthur Berry. Burslem contains Britain's last real working

industrial district Industrial district (ID) is a place where workers and firms, specialised in a main industry and auxiliary industries, live and work. The concept was initially used by Alfred Marshall to describe some aspects of the industrial organisation of nat ...

(i.e. where people live within walking distance of the factories of a single heavy industry, in this case, the potteries) and thus much of the nineteenth-century industrial heritage, buildings and character have survived intact.

Trade journals

Population and housing

At the 1991 census count, the population of Burslem was 21,400. A study by consultants Atkins, working from the

United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th Census in the United Kingdom, UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organise ...

data, showed that the Burslem population is steady and has not declined despite a manufacturing decline during the 1980s and '90s. Traditional

Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the st ...

and

Edwardian period In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

terraced houses dominate the town. New housing developments are underway on the Sadlers Factory site and around Woodbank Street. Heavy industrial employment (mines, steel and pots) has left a legacy of ill-health among many older people, but there is the Haywood Hospital (High Lane, Burslem) and the new £300-million University Hospital of North Staffordshire is just three miles away by road. There were two electoral wards covering Burslem at the 2011 census, Burslem Central and Burslem Park. At the 2011 census the ethnic demographics of the Burslem Central ward were: At the 2011 census the ethnic demographics of the Burslem Park ward were:

Economy

Industrial scale pottery production has drastically declined since the 1970s; but specialist makers (

Steelite Steelite International is a British ceramics manufacturer headquartered in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. They specialise in alumina-strengthened vitreous tableware for the hospitality industry. The company had a turnover of £117 m ...

) and smaller producers of high-value ceramics ( Burleigh,

Wade Wade, WADE, or Wades may refer to: Places in the United States * Wade, Maine, a town * Wade, Mississippi, a census-designated place * Wade, North Carolina, a town * Wade, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Wade Township, Clinton County, Ill ...

, Moorcroft) are thriving. Burslem is emerging as a centre for small, freelance creative businesses working in sectors such as fine art, animation and crafts as well as pottery. The number of shops in the town centre have markedly declined, hit by the impact of nearby out-of-town

retail park A retail park is a type of shopping centre found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in the United Kingdom and other European countries. Retail parks form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, ...

s that offer free parking. However, the evening economy is still active with a wide range of bars and restaurants mainly serving English and Indian food. The

Market Hall A market hall is a covered space or a building where food and other articles are sold from stalls by independent vendors. A market hall is a type of indoor market and can be found in many European countries. The most common variation of a mar ...

, a Grade II listed building dating from 1879, lying between the market place and Queen Street, was in use until 2003, closing after its condition was judged unsafe. At Spring 2002 unemployment was 4.1% or 1,526 people in the Stoke-on-Trent North constituency; almost the same rate as the West Midlands as a whole. In Burslem at 2001 unemployment was 3.2% and declining. In 2005, the building of

business park A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typically ...

units in the town. Further business parks are planned for 2006/7 just to the north in Chatterley Valley, and the south in Etruria Valley. In 2019 it was reported that the town's last bank had closed, leaving the town without any free to use

cash machines An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account ...

, making it the first large town in the UK without one.

Media

Local television services is provided by ''

BBC Midlands Today ''BBC Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasti ...

'' and ''

ITV News Central ''ITV News Central'' is a British television news service for The East and West Midlands, broadcast and produced by ITV Central. History Launched on Friday 1 January 1982, replacing ''ATV Today'', ''Central News'' was initially a pan-region ...

''. Local radio stations are

BBC Radio Stoke BBC Radio Stoke is the BBC's local radio station serving Staffordshire and South Cheshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, Freeview and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Hanley area of Stoke-on-Trent. According to RAJAR, the station has a week ...

Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire, formerly Signal 1, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to North Staffordshire and South Cheshire. As of Septemb ...

Greatest Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire Greatest Hits Radio Staffordshire and Cheshire is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England owned and operated by Bauer Radio as part of the Greatest Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands. The station forms ...

6 Towns Radio 6 Towns Radio is a community radio station covering Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle and Kidsgrove in the United Kingdom. The aim of the station is to appeal to a wide demographic, covering musical styles including House, Northern Soul and Rock. It has ...

and HitMix Radio, a community based radio station. In 2007 a

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ha ...

newspaper, ''Local Edition'', become one of the first newspapers to cover the area regularly. The newspaper covered Burslem, as well as surrounding areas including Tunstall, Middleport and Cobridge, giving a voice to the people in the community. The newspaper ceased publication in 2008 and its archive is online.

Leopard Inn

The Leopard public house, also known as the Leopard Inn, dates to the late 18th century. The building was refronted about 1830 and expanded in the 1870s with the addition of more than 50 bedrooms in the rear. In 1765 it was the location of the first meeting between

Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indu ...

Thomas Bentley Thomas Bentley may refer to: * Thomas Bentley (director) Thomas Bentley (23 February 1884 – 23 December 1966) was a British film director. He directed 68 films between 1912 and 1941. He directed three films in the early DeForest Phonofilm sou ...

Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosophy, natural philosopher, physiology, physiologist, Society for Effecting the ...

and

James Brindley James Brindley (1716 – 27 September 1772) was an English engineer. He was born in Tunstead, Derbyshire, and lived much of his life in Leek, Staffordshire, becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th Century. Born in the Peak ...

to discuss the building of what became the

; as The Tiger, it appears in several of

's "Five Towns" novels. It was a coaching inn and after the rear extension, a major commercial hotel, but reduced demand for rooms led to the extension being closed off in 1956. The rediscovery of this section of the building in 2007 led to tales of hauntings and ghost tours. Bass Breweries bought The Leopard in 1965 and renovated the restaurant, which they named the Arnold Bennett Suite. The building was

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

on 18 April 1972. In the 21st century it became a live music venue and was extensively renovated, but it did not reopen after the COVID lockdown. In January 2021 it was sold to a development company who proposed redeveloping the rear into luxury apartments while retaining the pub; in February 2021

Stoke-on-Trent City Council Stoke-on-Trent City Council is the local authority of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. Since 1997 it has been a unitary authority, a district council which also performs the functions of a county council, independent from Staffordshire C ...

declared it an Asset of Community Value. The following January, an illegal

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

grow was discovered inside the vacant building, and it was then badly damaged in a suspected

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

fire. The city council announced the formation of a Heritage Congress to protect historic properties in Stoke-on-Trent. In June 2024, the owners submitted a proposal to convert the building to a shop and 17 one-bedroom

assisted living An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States. Still, the setting i ...

flats. It was reported in March 2025 that this proposal had been withdrawn, and an amended application would be submitted in the summer. Re-Form Heritage, the owner of

Middleport Pottery Middleport Pottery was built in 1888 by Burgess & Leigh Ltd (founders William Leigh and Frederick Rathbone Burgess). It is located at Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent, England. The buildings, which still house an active pottery, are protected for t ...

, was reported in April 2025 to be carrying out a viability study into restoring the building and exploring options for its future use. The study is funded by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

and the Architectural Heritage Fund, and would be completed in the summer of 2025.

Tourism

Around 5 million tourists visit Stoke-on-Trent each year, supporting around 4,400 direct jobs. Stoke shows its popularity through the number of repeat visits; around 80 per cent of visitors have previously been here. Burslem has a variety of strong tourist attractions; Burleigh, Moorcroft, Festival Park, its many

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

s, and the Trent & Mersey Canal. The Old Town Hall is one of the largest buildings in Burslem. It also has the legacy of novelist

, who refers to the town and many of its streets with thinly disguised names: e.g. Burslem/"Bursley", Swan (Square and Pub)/"Duck". It is the setting for one of his most famous works, the Clayhanger trilogy. Burslem's centre benefits from having an almost-intact medieval street-plan and countless fine old buildings, and a townscape which almost-totally escaped re-development during the 1960s and 1970s. After being under-used for years, the Burslem School of Art has been refurbished at a cost of £2.1m and offers several large free art galleries. The free Public Library is currently based in the School of Art, after the Venetian Gothic

Wedgwood Institute The Wedgwood Institute is a large red-brick building that stands in Queen Street, in the town of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It is sometimes called the Wedgwood Memorial Institute, but it is not to be confused with the form ...

closed for safety reasons early in 2009. Ceramica was a new award-winning ceramics family attraction, based in the imposing old Town Hall and funded by Millennium Lottery money but due to the loss of council funding has been closed. The Queen's Theatre has regular concerts and an annual pantomime. There is a traditional Friday street market, and street

carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

s in May and December.

Sports

The major

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

is based in Burslem at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

. The team currently plays in League Two, England's fourth division. Near to the town is Burslem Golf Club, a 9-hole course which once had singer

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

as a Junior Captain. It was opened on 28 September 1907 by vaudeville entertainer and golfer Sir Harry Lauder. On 29 September 2007 his great-nephew Gregory Lauder-Frost as guest-of-honour rededicated it for another century in a formal ceremony. Professional darts player Phil Taylor is from Burslem.

Education

Burslem is the site of one of the two campuses of

Stoke-on-Trent College Stoke-on-Trent College is a provider of further and higher education based in Stoke-on-Trent. The college has two campuses: one, called Cauldon Campus, in Shelton and one in Burslem. Stoke-on-Trent college is part of UniQ, the University Quart ...

; the College states that it is the largest

Further Education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is additional education to that received at secondary school that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

college in Stoke and North Staffordshire. The campus specialises in media-production and drama. Stoke Studio College, a studio school for 13- to 19-year-olds opened at the college campus in September 2013. Within a six-mile radius from Burslem there are three universities;

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

at Shelton,

Keele University Keele University is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted uni ...

, and Manchester Metropolitan's large Art & Design campus at

Alsager Alsager ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located to the north-west of Stoke-on-Trent and east of Crewe. At the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 cen ...

The environment

The town is elevated and is not prone to flooding.

Parks

Burslem Park

The town's

municipal park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorpora ...

, designed by the landscape architect

Thomas Hayton Mawson Thomas Hayton Mawson (5 May 1861 – 14 November 1933), known as T. H. Mawson, was a British garden designer, landscape architect, and town planner. Personal life Mawson was born in Nether Wyresdale, Lancashire, and left school at age 12. ...

, was opened in 1894. It is protected by a Grade II* designation on the

Register of Parks and Gardens #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England {{R from move ...

{{R from move ...

Topography

History

Trade journals

Population and housing

Economy

Media

Leopard Inn

Tourism

Sports

Education

The environment

Parks

Burslem Park

Other parks

Burslem cemetery

Transport

Notable people

In popular culture

See also

References

External links