IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Epworth Street, STOKE-ON-TRENT, ST4 1NR

Talbot Hotel is at the bottom of Trade Street, Church Street runs along the frontage. "A popular working-class activity, especially during the Wakes, was the game of 'prison bars'. It was played between two adult teams of eleven by the music of a flute or tin whistle and drum. The game entailed venturing from a den, and capturing opponents who would be taken into a 'prison' and held there until rescued by one of their team mates. It was not for the faint-hearted, and injuries were commonplace. It was played on fete days on the field - known as Prison Bar Meadow - attached to Norton Hall Farm, whilst a field behind Wedgwood's Etruria Works had been given in perpetuity to locals and that was christened Prison Bars Field. The Staffordshire Advertiser of August 10th 1850 records that during Stoke Wakes, prison-bar matches took place throughout the week on the race-course at Boothen. The men of Stoke parish beat those from Burslem parish, and all convened afterwards at the Talbot Inn, where the winners received half a sovereign each, and the losers a silk handkerchief each. There were also contests between factory teams from Stoke, Burslem, Hanley and Longton."

This photograph shows a small part of the scene depicted in Image The gate visible in that picture was locked shut and this photo was taken through a gap in its railings.

Main entrance to the Spode Pottery Works on Church Street. Established in 1770, the pottery still occupies its original site. The factory chimney is visible behind

This single storey market building (built 1900) contains several small shops and also acts as a frontage to an open air market. Over the main entrance to the market is a relief panel referring the produce of the market, the central image is a bull's head, this is surrounded by game birds, fish, fruit and other produce. On either wing of the building is a relief panel of the same coat of arms, a quartered shield with several charges. The building frontage has several slim pilasters which act as divisions between shop fronts. These are topped with ceramic capitals depicting a Green Man-type face amongst foliage.

A curiosity of the City of Stoke on Trent is that the main shopping centre is located in Hanley, leaving the centre of Stoke on Trent itself as little more than a suburb. This is Church Street with the Wheatsheaf, a Wetherspoon's pub on the right proclaiming its inclusion in the 2012 Good Beer Guide.

The trees help to contrast the old and the new.

The top floor was where the artists and designers worked, hence more generous windows

No more to chime....