Abandoned Potbanks in Stoke-on-Trent

Industrial landscapes are shaped by what remains, but also by what continues. Across Stoke-on-Trent, once the centre of Britain’s pottery industry, abandoned potbanks, bottle kilns and working factories exist side by side. Some buildings have fallen silent, while others still produce ceramics, keeping alive skills and traditions that have shaped the city for generations. Together, they reveal an industrial landscape caught between decline, continuity and change.

Skip filled with broken pottery, including teapots, bowls and cups.

Side view of a traditional pottery factory.

Ceramic moulds arranged on shelves behind a factory window.

Discarded rubbish inside an abandoned potbank.

Photographing Stoke’s Abandoned Potbanks

I began photographing Stoke’s abandoned potbanks and pottery works in 2011. I was drawn to the industrial buildings and how they were changing as the city moved beyond its pottery-making past. Rather than simply photographing the familiar shapes of the bottle kilns, I wanted to look more closely at the details that hinted at what had once taken place inside. Behind factory windows, ceramic moulds remain on display, while old machinery stands idle and broken pottery lies among discarded materials. Among these remnants, teapots, bowls and cups, once made by skilled workers for everyday use, offer a glimpse of an industry that played an important part in shaping the city’s identity.

Close-up of an abandoned potbank and factory window.

Abandoned potbank photographed from below.

An abandoned pottery factory with a bottle-shaped potbank behind.

Twisted metal gates surrounding the site of a former pottery factory.

These photos bring together imposing factory buildings and smaller traces of industrial activity. Empty plots, twisted gates and piles of bricks suggest the gradual disappearance of former pottery works. Elsewhere, reflections in puddles, silhouetted trees and abandoned potbanks illuminated by evening light reveal unexpected visual relationships within the landscape. Former workers’ houses extend this perspective beyond the factory walls, connecting industrial production with the communities and everyday lives it once supported.

A pile of red bricks from a demolished pottery factory.

Old machinery once used in pottery production.

Side view of a derelict pottery factory and potbank.

Reflection of a pottery works in a puddle.

Abandoned pottery factory beside a river, with silhouetted trees.

A Living Pottery Tradition

But Stoke’s pottery industry does not end with these abandoned buildings. Pottery production continues in Stoke-on-Trent, with manufacturers such as Moorcroft, Emma Bridgewater, Burleigh and many others keeping traditional skills alive while adapting to contemporary markets. The contrast between abandoned potbanks and active factories makes the landscape particularly compelling. The city’s industrial past lives on not only in its old buildings and discarded machinery, but also in the factories that continue to make pottery today.