Editing Stoke-on-Trent (section)

==== Steel ====
The iron and steel industries occupied important roles in the development of the city, both before and after the federation. Especially notable were those mills located in the valley at Goldendale and [[Shelton, Staffordshire|Shelton]] below the hill towns of [[Tunstall, Staffordshire|Tunstall]], Burslem and Hanley. [[Shelton Bar|Shelton Steelworks]]' production of steel ended in 1978—instead of producing crude steel, they concentrated on rolling steel billet which was transported from [[Scunthorpe]] by rail. The rolling plant finally closed in 2002.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.search.exploringthepotteries.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?theme=451&originator=%2Fengine%2Ftheme%2Fdefault%2Easp&page=&records=&direction=&pointer=2191&text=1&resource=553 |title=Blast furnace demolition at Shelton Bar Steel Works |access-date=20 May 2007 |publisher=Stoke-on-Trent museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928043758/http://www.search.exploringthepotteries.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?theme=451&originator=%2Fengine%2Ftheme%2Fdefault.asp&page=&records=&direction=&pointer=2191&text=1&resource=553 |archive-date=28 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> From 1864 to 1927 Stoke housed the [[Stoke railway works|repair shops]] of the [[North Staffordshire Railway]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Edgar J |last2=Larkin |first2=John G |year=1988 |title=The Railway Workshops of Great Britain 1823–1986 |publisher=Macmillan Press |isbn=978-0-333-39431-1}}</ref> and was the home of independent railway locomotive manufacturers [[Kerr, Stuart and Company]] from 1881 to 1930.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Kerr Stuart Wren Class |last=Horsman |first=Geoffrey |journal=The Industrial Railway Record |issue=5 & 6 |pages=85–99 |date=December 1964 |url=http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/5+6/KS_Wren.htm |access-date=20 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629072457/http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/5+6/KS_Wren.htm |archive-date=29 June 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Shelton Steel Works and the mining operations were heavily involved in the [[World War II]] industrial effort. Central to the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]]'s success was the [[Supermarine Spitfire]] designed by [[R. J. Mitchell|Reginald Mitchell]] who, whilst born at 115 Congleton Road in the nearby village of [[Butt Lane]], had his [[apprenticeship]] at Kerr, Stuart and Company's railway works.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/local_heroes/g_m/mitchell.shtml |title=Hugh Bourne, the religious reformer who also promoted social change |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |work=BBC Stoke & Staffordshire |year=2002 |access-date=20 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821005731/http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/local_heroes/g_m/mitchell.shtml |archive-date=21 August 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>