Time stopped still in Barlaston

People get very confused about the church of St John the Baptist on the edge of the Wedgwood estate in Barlaston.
It’s assumed the church must be something to do with the original Josiah – as Barlaston Hall, for which St John’s serves as an estate church, is also 18th Century. In fact, the Wedgwood firm only bought the Barlaston estate in the 1930s.
However, inside, if you could get inside, there are indeed memorials to the Wedgwood family. Very confusing.

It’s also assumed that St John’s was closed in 1980 because the hall next to it went into ruin then for a few years. Actually, the building was literally undermined by subsidence from the coal-working deep underneath it...
It’s all rather abandoned now, despite being near an estate of new luxury homes; and the vandalised clock tower is a sad symbol of that state of affairs

A view from the top

This toposcope (panoramic viewpoint) is atop a stone pillar (erected for the Millennium) which is atop a triangulation point which is atop the highest hill on Barlaston Downs which is itself atop the east bank of the valley.  So it’s quite high up.
Being high up makes it a magnet for runners, orienteering enthusiasts and serious ramblers, who see it as a bit of a challenge.
 

Wedgwood's curvy museum

The museum at the Wedgwood factory in Barlaston is not very pretty on the outside; it's rather functional really (I think).  Also, the interior design of it is rather staid in my opinion, though the actual route through the museum is nicely curvy.
The museum is more of an art-lover's and historian's place than a fun day-out - though is none the less valuable for that.

The wide & undulating of the roof-design reminds me of the roof at the Mitchell Memorial Theatre extension in Hanley.

Wedgwood Museum's fate

The fate of the Wedgwood Museum at Barlaston should be known soon. Apparently the government now has the full text of the legal ruling that says the museum's collection should be sold off to pay for a huge pension-fund shortfall that the Wedgwood pottery company is having to deal with. And so that means the government now has to make a decision about just what to do.

The collection is priceless of course – it includes some of the original Josiah Wedgwood artefacts as well as thousands of pieces of historic ceramics.

North Staffordshire thinks of itself as being the centre of the world for pottery, and the direct heir of the great craft industry inspired by Josiah (in photo) – so many local people are furious at the suggestion it could be broken up and sold off.

See: Wedgwood Museum fate in balance (Reuters)