The peculiar words of the Staffordshire Potteries explained. Devised and compiled by Terence (Terry) Woolliscroft.
It was launched in January 1976 as a regular column in The Friends of Gladstone Broadsheet and the first word was ARK. What a great word to launch it! Gladstone Pottery Museum in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, had just been opened by the Duke of Gloucester. David Sekers was the Director and The Honorable Hugh Gibson was the Friends Chairman.
Terry started his career in the pottery industry as a Production Management Trainee at Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent and it was there, during his 6-year training course, that he started collecting and compiling the wonderful words of the potteries. Actually, he doesn't quite know why he did it. But it seemed the 'right thing to do' and it was a fun way of learning. Getting the words and their definitions into print was very satisfying!
And having the Stokie dialect printed on a mug was even better! The mug was made by KilnCraft in two colours. Here's a flyer from about 1978.
This blog was created 30 years later when Terry had a little more time on his hands and the digital technology was developing and becoming easier to use.
The site is revised regularly with new definitions, more words and images.
SEVEN WEBSITES
Launched in 1976 when Terry was a volunteer at Gladstone Pottery Museum, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent.
Beware! This is not an academic work - it was never intended to be! It's a collection of those strange words, phrases and dialect found in the Potteries. Hopefully, it's a great way of introducing you to the peculiar language of the potbanks and people.
CONTACT
You can contact me here >
terry.wool (at) proton (dot) me
More about me and my other websites here >
If you have any special words or phrases from the Potteries which don't appear in the Potbank Dictionary please do send them. You will be acknowledged in the text. And do let me know if you find any errors, typos, or inaccuracies. Many thanks.
ABOUT THE DICTIONARY
A little bit of its history
The Potbank Dictionary has grown from humble beginnings.It was launched in January 1976 as a regular column in The Friends of Gladstone Broadsheet and the first word was ARK. What a great word to launch it! Gladstone Pottery Museum in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, had just been opened by the Duke of Gloucester. David Sekers was the Director and The Honorable Hugh Gibson was the Friends Chairman.
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| The Gladstone Working Pottery Museum Story here> |
Terry started his career in the pottery industry as a Production Management Trainee at Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent and it was there, during his 6-year training course, that he started collecting and compiling the wonderful words of the potteries. Actually, he doesn't quite know why he did it. But it seemed the 'right thing to do' and it was a fun way of learning. Getting the words and their definitions into print was very satisfying!
And having the Stokie dialect printed on a mug was even better! The mug was made by KilnCraft in two colours. Here's a flyer from about 1978.
This blog was created 30 years later when Terry had a little more time on his hands and the digital technology was developing and becoming easier to use.
The site is revised regularly with new definitions, more words and images.
Terry is delighted that the site has been archived for preservation by the British Library and is part of the following subjects: Education & Research - Dictionaries, Encyclopaedias, and Reference Works.
Dialect pronunciation?
You can do it too! If you read each dialect phrase out loud it will sound like the Potteries dialect. So "CYST WREN LOW" is how Stokies would say 'sister in law' and 'JO JO TELL' is the way we would pronounce George Hotel.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A little bit about me - Terence (Terry) Woolliscroft
Terry was born in Stoke-on-Trent and has never left the area. He has 'slip' in his veins. If you don't know what slip is, look it up in this dictionary! He enjoyed his entire career in the ceramics industry. He also has a passion for art and music. More about me and my other websites here >
100 YEARS 100 FACES MURAL
In 2025 he was surprised and delighted to be selected for inclusion on the huge mural '100 Years 100 Faces'. The mural features 100 portraits to honour the people who have shaped the city's cultural identity.
SEVEN WEBSITES
Since the 1990s, in his spare time, he created specialist information websites about Potteries culture. These have been archived by The British Library.
* The Potbank Dictionary
* The Potteries Bottle Oven
* The Last Bottle Oven Firing 1978
* The Gladstone Pottery Museum Story
* The History of Twyford Bathrooms
* The History of the North Staffordshire Symphony Orchestra
* Ford Green Hall - its last residents
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The UK Web Archive
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| This site is archived for preservation by the British Library and is part of the following subjects: Education & Research > Dictionaries, Encyclopaedias, and Reference Works The UK Web Archive is a consortium of the six UK legal deposit libraries which aims to collect all UK websites at least once each year |
Why Blogspot Blogger?
Why has Blogger been used as a website? Why not a full-blown dot-com website? Well, Blogspot Blogger is free and works OK. Also, it will still be available after Terry has popped his clogs!
Copyright Information
This website/blog has been created entirely for fun. I've enjoyed researching and making the information available to everyone. It's all about sharing knowledge. The site has no commercial interests and is for reference and educational purposes. Users of the site may use the content themselves only for educational, or personal, non-commercial use. Please fee free to make use of the information on the site for your personal use. I'd love you to acknowledge where you found the information and if you could create a link to the site that would be great. Thank you
Some material on the site has been assumed to be in the public domain - if you think that this is not so then please contact me so that I can correct any errors.
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