Fenton, Staffordshire

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Fenton
  • The Forgotten Town
Federated Town and District
War memorial and Christ Church, Fenton - geograph.org.uk - 4730976.jpg
The Fenton Monument.jpg
Fenton - shops on Christchurch Street - geograph.org.uk - 3198415.jpg
Fenton Town Hall.jpg
King Street in Fenton - geograph.org.uk - 5546594.jpg
Fenton Park, formal gardens - geograph.org.uk - 5193762.jpg
Shops on City Road, Fenton - geograph.org.uk - 4520500.jpg
Staffordshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Fenton
Location within Staffordshire
OS grid reference SJ897446
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Districts of the town
List
Post town STOKE-ON-TRENT
Postcode district ST4
Dialling code 01782
Police Staffordshire
Fire Staffordshire
Ambulance West Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Staffordshire
52°59′52″N2°09′28″W / 52.9977°N 2.1578°W / 52.9977; -2.1578

Fenton is one of the six towns that amalgamated with Hanley, Tunstall, Burslem, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent to form the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910, later raised to city status in 1925. Fenton is often referred to as "the Forgotten Town", because it was omitted by local author, Arnold Bennett, from many of his works based in the area, including one of his most famous novels, Anna of the Five Towns .

Contents

History

Etymology

The name Fenton means 'fen farm'.

Administration

Fenton started to become populated as a group of farms and private small-holdings were built there, alongside a lane running from the southern reaches of Hanley (by 1933 this lane was very busy and given the title of the A50).

Around the 1750s, the land was commonly known as Fenton Vivian, after Vivian of Standon and his heirs, its lords in the thirteenth century. [1] By the 1850s, the area around Duke Street and China Street had become populated during the rapid development of the Potteries.

Potters settled in Fenton in large houses alongside their potbanks. Such houses include Great Fenton Hall, Fenton House (home of the Baker family), Heron Cottage and Grove House.

The two principal districts, Fenton Vivian and Fenton Culvert – each with their scattered communities, were brought together to make an urban district with its own board of guardians in 1894.

On 1 April 1910, the town was federated into the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. By 1925, the area was granted city status.

The Fenton skyline, mostly a residential area, with a prominent church (Christ Church) being a notable feature. As taken on a cloudy day in August, 2010, atop Glebedale Park Hill. This latter was immortalized in music in 2010, in a work for full symphony orchestra, written by local violinist, pianist, and composer, Vic Carnall, and entitled, "Glebedale Park Hill", which, with an orchestra of 100 players, received its premiere performance at The Victoria Hall, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, on 6 November 2010, as part of the centenary celebrations of Stoke-on-Trent's Federation in 1910. Fenton.JPG
The Fenton skyline, mostly a residential area, with a prominent church (Christ Church) being a notable feature. As taken on a cloudy day in August, 2010, atop Glebedale Park Hill. This latter was immortalized in music in 2010, in a work for full symphony orchestra, written by local violinist, pianist, and composer, Vic Carnall, and entitled, "Glebedale Park Hill", which, with an orchestra of 100 players, received its première performance at The Victoria Hall, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, on 6 November 2010, as part of the centenary celebrations of Stoke-on-Trent's Federation in 1910.

Industry

Fenton has been the home to a number of potteries such as Coalport and Baker & Co, and its architectural heritage includes listed bottle ovens. [2]

First World War

During the First World War Fenton was bombed by Zeppelin 'L 21'.

Geography

It is within easy reach of the A500, A34 and the A50, a short distance away from Longton, Hanley, Newcastle, and Stoke.

Suburbs

Although Fenton has large industrial plants, particularly from the pottery trade, it has always been considered more of a residential area.

Fenton includes Heron Cross, Mount Pleasant, Saxonfields, Pool Dole, Lane Delph and Fenpark.

Places of interest

Fenton Town Hall Fenton Town Hall.jpg
Fenton Town Hall

Fenton Town Hall, which latterly served as the local magistrates' court, was commissioned by local pottery owner, William Meath Baker, at his own expense, to a design by Robert Scrivener and completed in 1888. [3]

William Meath Baker was a very good friend of the great English composer, Sir Edward Elgar, who included him in his world-famous Enigma Variations (Variation IV).

Fenton Manor has a swimming pool, gym, and fitness centre, plus a 1,300-seater arena. Fenton Park has football pitches, pavilions, and a playground.

Economy

Fenton differs from the other Potteries towns in that it does not have a town centre. Instead, amenities and shops are spread over a sizeable area.

Fenton is home to the northern headquarters of Lister Windows, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of uPVC and Aluminium windows and doors. [4]

Notable people

Sport

In the Jorge Luis Borges short story The Garden of Forking Paths , Dr. Yu Tsun goes to a suburb of Fenton to meet Stephen Albert.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staffordshire</span> County of England

Staffordshire is a landlocked 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 county and Worcestershire to the south, and Shropshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and the county town is Stafford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoke-upon-Trent</span> One of the Six Towns of Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England

Stoke-upon-Trent, also known as 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoke-on-Trent</span> City in Staffordshire, England

Stoke-on-Trent is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of 36 square miles (93 km2). In 2022, the city had an estimated population of 259,965. It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and is surrounded by the towns of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Alsager, Kidsgrove and Biddulph, which form a conurbation around the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kidsgrove</span> Human settlement in England

Kidsgrove is a town in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, on the Cheshire border. It is part of the Potteries Urban Area, along with Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme. It has a population of 26,276. Most of the town is in the Kidsgrove ward, whilst the western part is in Ravenscliffe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josiah Spode</span> Founder of the Spode pottery works (1733-1797)

Josiah Spode was an English potter and the founder of the English Spode pottery works which became famous for the high quality of its wares. He is often credited with the establishment of blue underglaze transfer printing in Staffordshire in 1781–84, and with the definition and introduction in c. 1789–91 of the improved formula for bone china which thereafter remained the standard for all English wares of this kind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanley</span> One of the Six Towns of Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England

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. The town is the main business, commercial and cultural hub of the wider Potteries area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staffordshire Potteries</span> Historic ceramic-producing region within the present Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England

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 ceramic production in the early 17th century, due to the local availability of clay, salt, lead and coal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burslem</span> One of the Six Towns of Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England

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. The population of the town was included under the Burslem Central ward and had a population of 6,490 in the 2021 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoke-on-Trent Central (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Stoke-on-Trent Central is a constituency in Staffordshire. It has been represented by Jo Gideon of the Conservative Party since the general election of 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunstall, Staffordshire</span> One of the Six Towns of Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England

Tunstall is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Hanley and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It was one of the original six towns that federated to form the city. Tunstall is the most northern, and fourth largest town of the Potteries. It is situated in the very northwest of the city borough, with its north and west boundaries being the city limit. It stands on a ridge of land between Fowlea Brook to the west and Scotia Brook to the east, surrounded by old tile-making and brick-making sites, some of which date back to the Middle Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longton, Staffordshire</span> One of the Six Towns of Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England

Longton is one of the six towns which amalgamated to form the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910, along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Burslem and Stoke-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barlaston</span> Human settlement in England

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.

The Sentinel is a daily regional newspaper circulating in the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire areas of England. It is owned by Reach plc and based at Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.

Stoke-upon-Trent was a parliamentary borough in Staffordshire, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1832 until 1885, and then one member from 1885 until 1918, when the borough was enlarged, renamed Stoke-on-Trent, and split into three single-member constituencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blurton</span> District of Stoke-on-Trent, England

Blurton is a district in the south of Stoke-on-Trent, in the English county of Staffordshire. Hollybush, Old Blurton, Blurton Farm and Newstead are the names of the areas in which make up the town known as Blurton.

George Shutt was an English international footballer who played at half-back. He won a cap for England in 1886 and played for Stoke in the 1880s. He also represented Hanley Town and Burslem Port Vale and became a qualified referee in 1891.

The federation of Stoke-on-Trent was the 1910 amalgamation of the six Staffordshire Potteries towns of Burslem, Tunstall, Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Fenton and Longton into the single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. The federation was one of the largest mergers of local authorities, involving the greatest number of previously separate urban authorities, to take place in England between the nineteenth century and the 1960s. The 1910 federation was the culmination of a process of urban growth and municipal change that started in the early 19th century.

Predominantly centred on Hanley and Burslem, in what became the federation of Stoke-on-Trent, the 1842 Pottery Riots took place in the midst of the 1842 General Strike, and both are credited with helping to forge trade unionism and direct action as a powerful tool in British industrial relations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grade II* listed buildings in Stoke-on-Trent</span>

Stoke-on-Trent is a city located in Staffordshire, England. The city is a linear conurbation of six constituent towns. Stoke-on-Trent is considered to be the home of the pottery industry in England and is commonly known as the Potteries. Formerly a primarily industrial conurbation, it is now a centre for service industries and distribution centres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Greatbatch</span>

William Greatbatch was a noted potter at Fenton, Staffordshire, from the mid-eighteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. Fenton was one of the six towns of the Staffordshire Potteries, which were joined in the early 20th century to become the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England.

References

  1. 'Fenton', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 8, ed. J G Jenkins (London, 1963), pp. 205-224 British History Online. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  2. "Listed Buildings in Stoke-on-Trent". Thepotteries.org. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  3. "Fenton Town Hall". The Victorian Society. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  4. "Listers will be Bigger and Better than before". stokesentinel.co.uk. 17 October 2017.