The Federation of the Six Towns brought together the boroughs of Hanley, Burslem, Longton and Stoke, together with the districts of Tunstall and Fenton as the single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910. Stoke-on-Trent was officially granted city status in 1925.

The motto of Stoke-on-Trent is Vis Unita Fortior which can be translated as: United Strength is Stronger, or Strength United is the More Powerful.

Although the city is named after the original town of Stoke, and the City Council offices are located there, conventionally the City Centre is regarded as being in Hanley.

Since the 17th century the area has been almost exclusively known for its industrial-scale pottery manufacturing, with such world renowned names as Royal Doulton, Spode, Wedgwood and Minton being born and based there. Lesser known is the locally-loved Potteries Oatcake (very different from the Scottish version), whose fame has yet to travel outside of North Staffordshire. There is also a distinctive local spoken dialect, although its broadest use is now becoming confined only to older residents.

Although there are actually Six Towns, the city or 'the Potteries' is more well known as the Five Towns - from the books by Arnold Bennett. It has been incorrectly stated this can be seen from the Lord Mayor's car carrying the number plate VT1. The actual registration is 1 VT and has nothing to do with Arnold Bennett and the five towns. The simple explanation is that VT was the registration used for Stoke on Trent (along with EH) in the 1960's - it just so happens that the Lord Mayor has number 1 of the VT registration letters.

This page was last updated: 05 Januar 2006

Town history extracts are taken from Wikipedia and are licensed under GFDL