Angol
Fenton is the 'forgotten town' in the novels of Hanley-born author Arnold Bennett. He chose to write of the Five Towns, deliberately omitting Fenton, which at the time of his writing was only an urban district. He argued that 'five' - with its open vowel - suited the broad tongue of the Potteries people better than 'six'. Fenton has never really forgiven him - but in truth, its battle to forge an identity of its own has been ongoing. Historically, it consisted of a number of scattered settlements radiating from that section of the old turnpike road between Stoke and Longton. Most people passed through it. However, the enterprise of pottery manufacturers such as Thomas Whieldon, the Bournes, the Bakers and C. J. Mason and the prevalence of local collieries, including Glebe, Stafford and Kemball, established Fenton as a town of grit and graft. Though not always a pretty place, there is no better place than Fenton to study Potteries history.
