Stoke Town Hall is a Grade II listed building and is a prominent landmark in the centre of Stoke.
The description by British Listed Buildings reads as follows;
Stoke Town Hall.
"Central block of 1834, by Henry Ward, the north wing added in 1842 and the south wing added some time after 1850.
Ashlar faced, flat roofed. 2-storeyed, 5 bays, the outer and central sections of 3 and 5 bays, advanced. Central section forms entrance portico with 3 archways to ground floor beneath Ionic columns carrying deep entablature and elevated pediment. Windows with shouldered architraves set behind these columns.
Outer bays also pedimented, with Ionic pilasters to first floor, segmentally arched windows below. These sections are linked by flanking blocks of 5 bays, with segmentally arched windows. Rusticated basement storey throughout, with ashlar above. Balustrade runs along front, over cellar area. Return elevation to Kingsway of 3 bays with heavy broken entablature to central doorway which has architrave with Ionic shafts banded with rusticated blocks.
One bay recessed beyond contains archway to rear yard, with heavy volute and swags over, and open peristyle with Ionic columns above.
Adjoining to the SW, Kings Hall and Jubilee Hall were added in 1911, by T.Wallis and J.A.Bowden. 2 storeys, 9 principal bays, the central 3 contained beneath a pediment, and advanced slightly. Central door is in heavy surround beneath Ionic columns flanked by full height archways. Outer doorways enriched with heavy moulded architrave and pediment. Detailing throughout is Mannerist in inspiration: exaggerated detailing to doorways with heavy volutes and swags, concave moulding around windows, broken pediments. Long range links this entrance block with the Town Hall, with oculi over doorways.
Stoke Town Hall is the largest of the Potteries' old municipal buildings. It was designed in the classical style by Henry Ward and construction began in 1834, though the south wing still remained unfinished in 1850.
The nineteen-bay frontage is faced entirely in ashlars (large square-cut thin slabs of stone used for facing walls [Latin axis board]); its central feature incorporates a giant upper portico of unfluted Ionic columns, with a heavy attic piled above. The middle portion, originally a market hall, was rebuilt in 1888 to house the Council Chamber, Mayor's Parlour and municipal offices of the Borough."
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"Stoke is known for the development of the famous Potteries loop line, the railway system which once linked the six towns with outlying communities, Stoke City Football Club and famous pottery manufacturer, Spode which stood in the centre of the town since 1770.
The town is currently the administrative centre of the city although moves are being made to return the civic centre to Hanley.
Charles Dickens once described Stoke as "a picturesque heap of houses, kilns, smoke, wharfs, canals and river lying as was most appropriate, in a basin."
The town of Stoke developed in the valley below Penkull, where the upper reaches of the River Trent meets the Fowlea Brook, and has the full name of 'Stoke-upon-Trent' as against the name of the City (comprising the Six Towns) which is 'Stoke-on-Trent'. The valley setting of Stoke gave it the early advantage of canal transport and later the main railway station to serve the area. (
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The Anglian name given to this ancient place of meeting and worship was the 'stoc' (meeting place) on the Trent. It was the site of the first church in the area, built of wood around the year 670 by missionaries from Lindisfarne, later rebuilt in stone, and now known as Stoke Minster. A significant small town grew up around this church.
In the 18th century, the "Grand Trunk" canal came along the Trent valley to carry china clay from Cornwall cheaply to the Potteries (and pottery safely away). Many of the promoters of the canal were pottery magnates.
In the 19th century, the railways, too, came along the valley. The mainline Stoke-on-Trent railway station was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) on 9 October 1848, replacing the temporary station sited at Whieldon Road which was constructed for the opening of the first NSR line on 17 April 1848. Travellers to the region would change trains at Stoke for local trains to their ticketed destination.
The town hall was built on Glebe Street in 1834 and faces the church Stoke Minster.
Stoke has held markets in various locations in the town since 1818.
Stoke is now one of the six towns along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Burslem that amalgamated to form the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910. This county borough was granted city status in 1925 becoming the City of Stoke-on-Trent.
Although Stoke is surpassed by its neighbouring town, Hanley in terms of size, population, and shops, the town of Stoke has dominated in name by virtue of its ecclesiastical supremacy as the controlling parish of the area.
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Old photographs of the town of Stoke can be seen at the following YouTube link: (
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