Witches, Mines and Mausoleums: The Darker Side of Stoke-on-Trent

Autumn is a time of myths and legends, and a great time to explore the darker side of places. Stoke-on-Trent has locations ready to explore, from mining disasters and Victorian graves to haunted dolls, ghostly potters and moorland legends. 

This two-day route is ideal for a Saturday and Sunday exploration weekend. A car is the easiest way to get around, but the local bus service will also stop near attractions. 

Day 1 (Saturday): Mines, graves and haunted dolls 

A north-to-south run through the city, from a colliery memorial garden to Stoke-on-Trent's only Grade I-listed building, the Trentham Mausoleum. 

Chatterley Whitfield Colliery, North Stoke-on-Trent 

Start with the city's mining heritage. Explore the Heritage Centre, mining artefacts and Remembrance Garden, and learn about the difficult and dangerous lives of local miners. The colliery closed in 1977 and is considered the most complete surviving deep-mine site in England, a vast Victorian time capsule of headstocks and engine houses. 

Important: The wider colliery site has restricted access and there are no underground tours. The Heritage Centre has advertised opening on Thursday and Saturday mornings, approximately 9:30 am–1 pm; check with Chatterley Whitfield Friends before travelling. 

Hartshill Cemetery, Queen's Road 

Walk among historic gravestones and memorials while reflecting on the city's Victorian past and the lives of people who shaped the Potteries. 

To Discover: Opened in the 1880s, the cemetery was laid out in four classes of grave, so the people of Stoke stayed divided by class even in death. Pottery magnate Colin Minton Campbell paid towards the cemetery and was given first pick of a plot by the main gate. Further in, look for the grave of Hugo Boswell, known as the "King of the Gypsies", and more than 150 Commonwealth war graves, many of soldiers who died at the nearby Stoke War Hospital, including two New Zealand brothers who served in the RAF. Follow this tour to discover more: thepotteries.org walk 

The cemetery is listed as open 24 hours, although daytime is best for a visit. Be respectful of mourners and avoid photographing people attending funerals. (Stoke-on-Trent City Council) 

Stoke Minster (St Peter ad Vincula), Glebe Street 

A five-minute drive brings you to the mother church of the Potteries, where its greatest names are buried. 

To Discover: There has been a church here since at least 1086, and a Saxon cross fragment from around 800 AD still stands in the churchyard. Beside it are the rebuilt arches of the medieval church, whose stones were scattered across the town and later recovered from a mill pond. Look out for these notable graves: 

Josiah Wedgwood (1730–1795): buried at the entrance to the old church rather than inside, because he was not a member of the Church of England. His tomb is Grade II-listed, and inside the church a marble memorial with a bust by his friend John Flaxman remembers him. 

Josiah Spode I (1733–1797): the founder of the works you visit next lies with his wife Ellen in the Spode family chest tombs, south-west of the church. 

More potters: Josiah Spode II, William Taylor Copeland and William Adams also have graves or memorials here, alongside listed chest tombs of local families such as the Garners and Smiths. 

The churchyard is a short walk from Spode, so you can leave the car at the museum. Check service times before going inside the church. 

Spode Museum Trust and former factory site, Elenora Street 

Explore the history of one of the Potteries' historic manufacturers. The museum provides a fascinating look at the industrial workforce, the changing fortunes of British ceramics and the decline of traditional factory production. Spode made pottery on this site from the 1770s until it closed in 2008, and the silent works buildings around the museum are part of the atmosphere. Grab lunch at the on-site café. 

Opening: Wednesday–Sunday, 10 am–4 pm. Admission to the museum is free.  

Haunted Museum & Spirit Shop, City Road, Fenton 

Finish the afternoon's main attraction with a paranormal-themed visit featuring reportedly haunted objects and unusual artefacts. 

To Discover: Run by the Ghost Hunters of Stoke-on-Trent, the museum fills a 200-year-old former shop with six rooms of artefacts, including a Victorian-style séance room. Its star is Mary, a doll said to rock in her chair on CCTV. It also holds the front door of 30 East Drive in Pontefract, one of Britain's most notorious poltergeist houses.  

Booking essential: Contact the venue in advance to confirm available tours, admission prices and timings. Visits are pre-booked and restricted to adults aged 18 and over. 

Trentham Mausoleum, Stone Road, Trentham 

End with the atmospheric exterior of this Grade I-listed funerary monument. Its distinctive architecture and cemetery setting provide a striking final stop for historic photography and reflection. 

To Discover: Built in 1807–08 for the Marquess of Stafford, later Duke of Sutherland, this brooding Egyptian-style tomb was designed by Charles Heathcote Tatham to hold the family in its catacombs. In 1907 the bodies were taken out and reburied in lead coffins in the surrounding cemetery, with tablets marking each grave. It sits directly opposite the old gates of Trentham Gardens.  

The cemetery is open 24 hours with access to the mausoleum exterior. The interior is not open to the public.  

Day 2 (Sunday): Witches, boggarts and lost miners 

The north of the city and its edges, where folklore runs deepest: a witch's grave, a headless canal ghost, a hilltop folly and the city's oldest haunted house, ending at North Staffordshire's worst mining disaster. 

AM · Molly Leigh's grave, St John the Baptist's Church, Burslem 

Begin with the Potteries' most famous witch story, in the churchyard of the Mother Town. 

To Discover: Margaret "Molly" Leigh lived alone outside Burslem in the early 1700s, selling milk and keeping a pet blackbird. The rector, Thomas Spencer, accused her of witchcraft, and after her death in 1748 rumours spread that she had been seen around the town. Legend says the clergy reopened her grave and reburied her north to south, so her tomb now sits at a right angle to every other grave in the churchyard. Local children still dare each other to circle the grave three times chanting her name to summon her ghost. 

AM · Harecastle Tunnel, Kidsgrove 

Follow the canal to the mouth of one of its darkest tunnels. 

To Discover: The Harecastle Tunnel is said to be haunted by the Kidsgrove Boggart, the headless ghost of a woman murdered by boatmen on her way through the tunnel. Her body was dumped in the black water beneath Harecastle Hill. Boaters claim to hear her shriek, and her appearance was once believed to warn of disaster in the local mines. In the 19th century superstitious boatmen took long detours to avoid her.  

Park in Kidsgrove and walk the towpath to the northern portal, where Brindley's original 1770s tunnel mouth sits beside Telford's later one. 

PM · Mow Cop Castle and the Old Man of Mow 

A short drive up to a sham ruin on the Staffordshire–Cheshire border, with views across the Cheshire Plain. 

To Discover: The "castle" is a Georgian folly built in 1754 as a summerhouse for Rode Hall. Nearby stands the Old Man of Mow, a lone 65-foot rock pinnacle left by quarrying. It is thought to sit on an ancient cairn, and locals once believed it was a pagan idol. Both are cared for by the National Trust. 

PM · Ford Green Hall, Smallthorne  

Explore the oldest house in Stoke-on-Trent. 

To Discover: Built in 1624 for yeoman farmer Hugh Ford, the timber-framed hall was home to the Ford family for around 200 years. A live-in custodian in the 1970s reported so many strange sightings that she once mistook a costumed re-enactor for a ghost. When a visitor described a figure with a silver-topped cane, she traced it to the last Ford to live there, William Ford, who had left just such a cane to his son. 

Opening: Sunday–Thursday, 1–4 pm, last admission 3:30 pm. Adults £5.50. The shop and tea room are open to non-museum visitors. (Ford Green Hall) 

PM · Minnie Pit Disaster memorial, Halmer End 

Finish the weekend where Day 1 began, with the cost of coal. 

The story: On Saturday 12 January 1918, an explosion of gas and coal dust tore through the Minnie Pit, killing 155 men and boys. It remains the worst mining disaster in the history of the North Staffordshire Coalfield, and it happened in the fourth year of the First World War. Wilfred Owen wrote his poem Miners in response. Memorials stand beside the capped pit shaft on the edge of Bateswood Country Park. More recently, a sapling from the Sycamore Gap Tree labelled ‘Tree of Hope’ has been planted at the memorial gardens.  

Extend your trip 

Discover more about Staffordshire’s hidden heritage. Here are five additional options for a third day or a swap-in, from 10 minutes to about an hour's drive from Stoke-on-Trent. Please note drive times are approximate and would require checking in advance. 

Cannock Chase war cemeteries and Katyn Memorial (about 40 min) 

Three memorials sit within a short walk of each other in the pine forest. The German Military Cemetery holds nearly 5,000 German and Austrian dead from both World Wars, gathered here in the 1960s partly because the Chase resembles the forests of Germany. Next door, the Cannock Chase War Cemetery began in 1916 and holds British and New Zealand soldiers and German prisoners who died in the training-camp hospitals. Nearby, the Katyn Memorial remembers the Polish officers murdered in the Katyn Forest in 1940; Polish visitors chose the site because the pine and birch reminded them of Katyn. Add the reconstructed Great War Hut to see where the soldiers lived. (Cannock Chase District Council; Staffordshire County Council; Cannock Chase AONB) 

Tip: The Cannock Chase War Trail links all three on foot from Brocton. Remembrance Sunday events make November especially poignant. 

Royal British Legion, National Remembrance Gardens, Alrewas (about 50 min) 

The UK's year-round centre of Remembrance: more than 330 memorials across 150 acres, including the Armed Forces Memorial and the Shot at Dawn memorial to soldiers executed in the First World War. Entry is free; parking is charged, and booking ahead is recommended. Open daily, 10 am–4 pm in winter. 

Pairs well with: Cannock Chase on the same day, for a full Remembrance trail. 

Gladstone Pottery Museum, Longton (about 10 min) 

The last complete Victorian pottery factory, where children once worked among the bottle ovens. It featured on Most Haunted in 2006, with tales of moving furniture, cold spots and phantom Victorian workers in the yard. Open Wednesday–Sunday; call 01782 237777 to check times. A good swap for Mow Cop if the weather turns.  

Lud's Church and the Roaches (about 40 min) 

A moss-covered chasm about 18m deep, hidden in Back Forest near Gradbach. Legend says persecuted Lollards worshipped here in secret in the 1400s, and it is a leading candidate for the Green Chapel in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where Gawain must face the knight who survived his own beheading. A figurehead called "Lady Lud" once stood in a niche in memory of a Lollard preacher's daughter. 

Tip: Allow 2–3 hours; the walk from Gradbach is muddy, so wear boots. 

Tutbury Castle (about 45 min) 

Mary, Queen of Scots was held prisoner here four times between 1569 and 1585 and hated the cold, damp castle. It is now said to be one of England's most haunted sites, with reported sightings of Mary herself, a white lady at a tower window and an armoured figure nicknamed "The Keeper". Seasonal opening with evening ghost hunts; check dates before travelling.