Human settlement in England
Middleport
is a residential and industrial district in the city of
Stoke-on-Trent
,
England
. Middleport lies to the west of Burslem, between Burslem and the
Newcastle-under-Lyme
district of
Porthill
. To the north is
Tunstall
and to the south
Cobridge
and
Etruria
. Middleport conjoins
Longport
.
Middleport is primarily residential, with distinctive Victorian
terraced houses
. However, it also a working
industrial district
and contains several potteries: ranging from
Middleport Pottery
, owned by the
Prince's Regeneration Trust
and claimed to be the only working Victorian pottery remaining in the city,
[1]
and
Steelite
, a large manufacturer of
hotelware
.
The
Trent and Mersey Canal
and a key path of the
National Cycle Network
run through Middleport. The line of the canal through the City of Stoke-on-Trent is a linear
conservation area
. Middleport contains one of the nation's richest stretches of canalside industrial heritage. Since 1990 the canal area has benefited from around ￡1m of Groundwork funding, and ￡4m of Townscape Heritage funding.
Clarice Cliff
's Newport Pottery, where she produced some of her most famous work, was adjacent to the canal and an artist-designed 12-foot steel markerpost identifies the location.
Middleport is an area that is strategic to the regeneration of the city, as it sits in the centre of a ring of imminent projects totalling around ￡250m: the Chatterley Valley scheme, the Etruria Valley scheme, the regeneration of Burslem town centre, and a proposed major "
park and ride
" interchange and business-park on the site of the old Shelton Bar steel rolling-mill.
Middleport piloted a
community warden
service in 2002 & 2003; as a result, crime dropped by 80 per cent. The service was subsequently extended across Stoke-on-Trent and adopted in other cities.
Middleport features in several of the novels of
Arnold Bennett
, and the film version of his
The Card
was filmed in Middleport with
Alec Guinness
.
Middleport Park Bowling Club has a national reputation and has won several national trophies.
Middleport Matters (founded 2015) is a local community action group dedicated to improving the lives of those who live and work in Middleport and the surrounding areas.
References
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edit
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