Return to Barlaston with the 717

Barlaston village in Staffordshire has a long history of some centuries and is by origin a splendid example of a small quiet English village.
To this day it remains outwardly with little change, the village generally showing still very much of its origins and way of life. However a major change has been brought about over the last few decades as it became the base for the world famous Wedgwood Pottery factory , situated just outside the village and that now attracting thousands of visitors yearly , with its own Visitors Centre and active facilities to show the manufacturing and history of the Company. Fortunately this remains outside the village itself and apart from some amount of additional traffic through the village - other main accesses carry most - it has had little influence otherwise.
There has been an amount of modern development of properties , some no doubt by reason of the accommodation required by the Factory, together with the modern trend residentially, but this is barely seen , thanks to good local regulation, and so the charm of the locality mostly remains as a delightful location.
The original 'stately' Barlaston Hall seen here, was for many years in the mid 20th Century , in a state of total decline and was indeed almost on the point of demolition before being 'saved' by the intervention of a group who took over responsibilty for a complete lengthy renovation to a remarkable degree, so that now it is once again a commanding and worthy site, albeit unused to any degree, but a fine building of historical interest, as is readily seen here.

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All Photos (C) Eric Nicholson - June 2003