IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Furnace Road, STOKE-ON-TRENT, ST3 4LY

This was the vicarage at Normacot from the 1940's until 1975. Very little has changed since this photo was taken in 1972. There is now more vegetation and there are new street lights and modern aerials. Access is also now blocked by bollards here at the bottom of Ludwall Road closest to the camera.

The A50 passes under the Uttoxeter Road; the walls of the underpass are lined with brick

This shows the Normacot junction of the new and almost finished A50 taken during the summer of 1997. In the centre of the photo is the four-storey Sutherland Institute which houses Longton Library on the ground floor.

Taken during the summer of 1997 this show the Normacot junction of the almost finished A50 trunk road. In the centre is the old A50 towards Longton with the Shires bathroom factory towering over the terraced shops. It is currently empty awaiting demolition or refurbishment. Almost totally hidden behind the shops but this side of the bathroom factory is Longton Fire station. Further in the distance is St James' Church tower located on the south side of Uttoxeter Road.

This third vicarage at Normacot was completed in April 1975. It was demolished about 2006 to make way for a retirement complex on the whole site named Alhambra Court.

Demolished soon after this photograph in about 1972, this was formerly the Furnace Inn before becoming the original vicarage when the church of the Holy Evangelists was built on adjacent land in 1847. Since the 1940's this building was used for various parish activities including cubs and scouts, also a youth club and whist drives. In 1972 a Scout and Guide hall was opened on this site to complement the existing church hall. A new vicarage (to replace the 2nd one across the road which was sold) was also built on this site in 1974-75. The S & G HQ, church hall and new vicarage have all since been demolished and the whole site has been sold and redeveloped. Flats and bungalows for the elderly now occupy this site.