Beneath the surface of the Potteries lies a little-known world that encompasses the history of the six towns that historically make up this area – Stoke, Burslem, Hanley, Fenton, Tunstall and Longton and the conurbation in North Staffordshire that has grown from these towns. The towns are closely linked geographically and also through their association with the ceramic industry, when the area became the biggest producer of pottery in the country during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Caves and underground tunnels can be found throughout the area and man-made excavations lie beneath the towns that were forged in the Industrial Revolution. In this book local historian Anthony Poulton-Smith takes readers on a tour of the Potteries towns and immediate surrounding area underground, exploring natural and man-made caves, canal and railway tunnels, hidden routes and cellars with a story to tell, passageways from houses, churches, hotels and pubs, and secret military installations. The stories include the bizarre and tragic, and this fascinating portrait of the Potteries underground will interest all those who know the area.

Anthony Poulton-Smith is a prolific writer, who has written many local history books for Amberley and has a particular interest in the origin of place names. He lives in Tamworth, Staffordshire.