Fenton, Staffordshire

Fenton is a constituent town that amalgamated with Hanley, Tunstall, Burslem, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent to form the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910, later raised to city status in 1925. Fenton is often referred to as "the Forgotten Town", because it was omitted by local author, Arnold Bennett, from many of his works based in the area, including one of his most famous novels, Anna of the Five Towns.

For other places with the same name, see Fenton.

Fenton

Christ Church, Fenton
Fenton
Location within Staffordshire
Population12,070 (2011.Wards)[1][2]
OS grid referenceSJ897446
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townSTOKE-ON-TRENT
Postcode districtST4
Dialling code01782
PoliceStaffordshire
FireStaffordshire
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament

History

Etymology

The name Fenton means 'fen farm'.

Administration

Fenton started to become populated as a group of farms and private small-holdings were built there, alongside a lane running from the southern reaches of Hanley (by 1933 this lane was very busy and given the title of the A50).

Around the 1750s, the land was commonly known as Fenton Vivian, after Vivian of Standon and his heirs, its lords in the thirteenth century.[3] By the 1850s, the area around Duke Street and China Street had become populated during the rapid development of the Potteries.

Potters settled in Fenton in large houses alongside their potbanks. Such houses include Great Fenton Hall, Fenton House (home of the Baker family), Heron Cottage and Grove House.

The two principal districts, Fenton Vivian and Fenton Culvert – each with their scattered communities, were brought together to make an urban district with its own board of guardians in 1894.

On 1 April 1910, the town was federated into the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. By 1925, the area was granted city status.

The Fenton skyline, mostly a residential area, with a prominent church (Christ Church) being a notable feature. As taken on a cloudy day in August, 2010, atop Glebedale Park Hill. This latter was immortalized in music in 2010, in a work for full symphony orchestra, written by local violinist, pianist, and composer, Vic Carnall, and entitled, "Glebedale Park Hill", which, with an orchestra of 100 players, received its première performance at The Victoria Hall, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, on 6 November 2010, as part of the centenary celebrations of Stoke-on-Trent's Federation in 1910.

Industry

Fenton has been the home to a number of potteries such as Coalport and Baker & Co, and its architectural heritage includes listed bottle ovens.[4]

WW I

During the First World War Fenton was bombed by Zeppelin 'L 21'.

Geography

It is within easy reach of the A500, A34 and the A50, a short distance away from Longton, Hanley, Newcastle, and Stoke itself.

Suburbs

Although Fenton has large industrial plants, particularly from the pottery trade, it has always been considered more of a residential area.

Fenton includes Heron Cross, Mount Pleasant, Saxonfields, Pool Dole, Lane Delph and Fenpark.

Places of interest
Old Town Hall, Fenton

Fenton Manor has a swimming pool, gym, and fitness centre, plus a 1,300-seater arena. Fenton Park has football pitches, pavilions, and a playground. The town’s library on Baker Street, a Carnegie library, is now closed. Fenton also had a magistrates' court, which served the city from within Fenton’s old town hall, built, in 1888, by local pottery owner, William Meath Baker, at his own expense, to a design by Robert Scrivener. Officially, it closed its doors in 2013, but, in part, has, since then, been reopened, with the following services on offer (on the building's ground floor): (1) coffee bar, open to the public on Monday to Saturday, inclusive, between the hours of 09.00 and 16.00; (2) art/pottery classes, especially for the young during school holidays.

William Meath Baker was a very good friend of the great English composer, Sir Edward Elgar, who included him in his world-famous Enigma Variations (Variation IV).

Economy

Fenton differs from the other Potteries towns in that it does not have a town centre. Instead, amenities and shops are spread over a sizeable area.

Notable people

In the Jorge Luis Borges short story The Garden of Forking Paths, Dr. Yu Tsun goes to a suburb of Fenton to meet Stephen Albert.

References
  1. "Fenton East Ward, Stoke MBC population 2011". Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  2. "Fenton West and Mount Pleasant ward.Stoke MBC population 2011". Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  3. 'Fenton', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 8, ed. J G Jenkins (London, 1963), pp. 205-224 British History Online. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  4. "Listed Buildings in Stoke-on-Trent". Thepotteries.org. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
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