European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 16, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Focus by King Cruger Bureau chief year in and year visitors by the millions journey to a not pretty that offers a unique Opportunity to explore England Industrial they not in search of pastoral but to see at first hand the the living museums and the products for which the City is famed the world for known to the world As the is a product of the Industrial revolution with an Economy based on pits and the City of a Quarter of a million people is comprised of six highly individual towns Longton and at the turn of the the English novelist Arnold Bennett noted that without it was impossible to drink Tea out of a Teacup or eat from a Bennett hardly exaggerated for Stoke was then and is now the pottery its streets Are crammed with showrooms and All devoted to one product and particularly to China in All its various forms glazed and no other City on Earth is so singularly devoted to one product As is the same question must occur to every visitor Why is Stoke the Center of the pottery Industry the answer lies with just below the surface of North Staffordshire lie deep Beds of red Clay and thick Black bands of the Energy source Coal and the major ingredient of pottery Clay Lay Side by Stoke Coal was of High Quality Ideal for firing kilns and pottery began to be fired there in the 18th the search for White pottery in imitation of chinese Ware led to the importing of Clay from Southwest England and Flint from the beaches of England South they were brought to North to the because that was where the pottery Industry was already the potteries so much so that Bennett decried the area As a singular scenery of Coal flame and Black smoke from hundreds of chimneys Hung Over the town and beneath the poisonous Clouds the townspeople coughed and hacked away surrounded by grime and Grimy up until the Middle of this the potteries were the these the skies Are Clear once More because the hundreds of vast bottle shaped ovens that once dominated the Man scape Are no the modern ovens Are fired by Oil or Gas the slag heaps and Clay pits have been transformed into Parks and which constitute some of the most dramatic City improvements in after some lean years during the business is brisk and All tied to the cites Industrial past and is big for anyone who is interested in the Industrial revolution or in pottery or Coal Stoke is the place to conducted Tours Are Given of world famous ceramics factories such As Royal Spode and the spacious City museum and Art Winner of the coveted museum of the year award in houses one of the finest collections of pottery and where pottery is rattled and rolled porcelain to be seen its Staffordshire Ware being the award winning Gladstone pottery museum is a Complete working copy of a typical 19thcentury Staffordshire for fascinating insights into Coal mining and its historical the Chatterley Whitfield mining museum offers Tours 700 feet below ground led by retired a visit to a China factory can be since Many sell Fine pieces at Knockdown most factories require you Book your visit in Advance although there Are also visitor centers where techniques can be seen by the Chance while most factories operate Only on seconds shops Are normally open during usual shopping including saturday at least a couple of Days Are needed for a visit to Stoke for it will take that Long merely to skim its varied it is possible to spend a whole Day or More bargain Hunting in some of the 20odd factory shops in the a Short drive away from the Industrial heartland of the potteries is some of the most dramatic scenery in the heart of England contained within the Peak District National Only a few Miles from Stoke is a sure kiddie Alton Britain leading pleasure with vast numbers of exotic including the Black Hole with its stomach churning 70foot drop in total darkness and one of the longest log flume rides it is the country answer to Disneyland and yet it combines All this with some Superb gardens and a magnificent some 2 million visitors came to the Park last tourist information giving phone numbers and opening times of attractions in the Are available from the Stoke Trent City town Glebe Stoke on England a Royal Doulton table setting at the factory in stripes Magazine May