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Barlaston
Barlaston Hall
Barlaston Location within Staffordshire
Population	2,858 (2011)[1]
OS grid reference	SJ894387
District	Stafford
Shire county	Staffordshire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Stoke-on-Trent
Postcode district	ST12
Dialling code	01782
Police	Staffordshire
Fire	Staffordshire
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Stone
List of places UK England Staffordshire 52°56′45″N 2°09′30″W / 52.9457°N 2.1583°W / 52.9457; -2.1583Coordinates: 52°56′45″N 2°09′30″W / 52.9457°N 2.1583°W / 52.9457; -2.1583

Barlaston is a village and civil parish in the borough of Stafford in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is roughly halfway between the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the small town of Stone. According to the 2001 census the population of the parish was 2,659, rising at the 2011 Census to 2,858.

History

The old parish church of Saint John ^[2] is sited on the edge of the Wedgwood estate. It was built to the design of Charles Lynam in 1886-8, retaining the west tower from the original medieval building, with the subsequent addition of a vestry in 1969. In 1981 the building had to be closed owing to mining subsidence and a temporary building next to the church took its place until the new church was built on Green Lane.

Wedgwood moved their pottery manufacturing business from Etruria, Staffordshire to a large modern factory in a new village in the north of the parish. The factory was planned in 1936 and built in 1938-40 to the designs of Keith Murray who was also a designer of Wedgwood pottery. The factory has a tourist visitor centre containing the Wedgwood Museum,^[3] with its own car-parks and a bus station.

Wedgwood railway station was opened for the factory in 1940 and is currently served by rail replacement bus (First Potteries No 23) on which all valid railway tickets and passes are accepted. Nearby is Barlaston Hall c. 1756 by Sir Robert Taylor (architect) and at one time a Wedgwood family home. The Upper House Hotel,^[4] another Wedgwood residence, is also in Barlaston.

Education

• Barlaston First School


• 140 years of Barlaston First school


• The Wedgwood Memorial College in Barlaston is a Worker's Educational Association residential college, and also serves as the headquarters of the Esperanto Association of Britain.

Transport & Local amenities

Trent and Mersey Canal at Barlaston

Close by the village are: the A34 road; the River Trent; the Trent and Mersey Canal; a route of National Cycle Network; and the railway - which all pass west of the village.

Barlaston railway station, opened by the North Staffordshire Railway on 17 April 1848, is now on the Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line - but inter-city trains do not stop and the local passenger service was taken over by rail replacement bus (First Potteries No 23) in 2014, on which all valid railway tickets and passes are accepted. The campaign for the local train service to be restored is continuing.^[5]

D&G Bus services ^[6] 12 & 14 from Hanley to Stafford via Trentham, Eccleshall and Stone run through Barlaston

Barlaston Golf Club ^[7] is situated to the south of the town.

Environment

Barlaston and Rough Close Common covers some 50 acres (20 ha) between Barlaston and Blythe Bridge and is a designated local nature reserve.^[8][9]

Downs Banks is located a little to the south-east of Barlaston. It is owned and managed by the National Trust and is also known as 'Barlaston Downs'

Notable people

• 
  Francis Wedgwood (1800 – 1888 in Barlaston) a grandson of the English potter Josiah Wedgwood
  


• 
  Edward Proctor (1870 in Barlaston – 1944) an English footballer who played for Stoke & Port Vale


• 
  Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood DSO, PC, DL (1872 in Barlaston – 1943) Josiah Wedgwood IV a British Liberal and Labour politician, the great-great-grandson of Josiah Wedgwood, MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme 1906-1942.


• 
  Felix Wedgwood (1877 in The Upper House, Barlaston – 1917) an English author, mountaineer and soldier who died on active service in WWI


• 
  Horace Barks OBE (1895-1983) Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent in 1951–2, cultural interests were Esperanto and the writer Arnold Bennett.


• 
  Harry Davies (1904–1975) an English footballer, played over 400 games for Stoke City & Port Vale, subsequently owner and landlord of the Plume of Feathers

Nearby places

References

Further reading

• Nikolaus Pevsner The Buildings of England - Staffordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1974; p. 65

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barlaston.

• Barlaston Parish Council


• Barlaston CE (VC) First School


• Barlaston Village Hall


• Wedgwood Website


• 
  Barlaston in the Domesday Book