Barlaston

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 52.9457
longitude= -2.1583
official_name= Barlaston
shire_district= Stafford
shire_county=Staffordshire
region = West Midlands
constituency_westminster= Stone
post_town= Stoke-on-Trent
postcode_district=ST12
postcode_area=ST
dial_code= 01782
os_grid_reference= SJ894387
population= 2,659

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.

History

The old parish church of Saint John is sited on the edge of the Wedgwood estate. It was built to the design of C. 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 and has its own car-parks and a bus station. Wedgwood railway station was opened for the factory in 1940 but closed in 2004. Nearby is Barlaston Hall c1756 by Sir Robert Taylor (architect) and at one time a Wedgwood family home.

Education

* [http://www.barlastonschool.co.uk/ 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

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 April 17 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 replaced by the X1 Bakerbus bus service in 2004.

Nearest Places

*Downs Banks
*Blythe Bridge
*Meir
*Oulton Grange
*Tittensor
*Trentham

References

The Buildings of England - Staffordshire, "Nikolaus Pevsner", 1974 (Page 65).

External links

* [http://www.wedgwood.com Wedgwood Website]
* [http://www.barlaston.org.uk/ www.barlaston.org]