Heritage Open Days Sponsors & Supporters

Heritage Open Days receives its core funding from English Heritage.

English Heritage is the government's lead body for the historic environment in England and responsible for protecting the best of the country's unique legacy of historic buildings, landscapes and archaeological sites for the benefit of this and future generations. It is English Heritage's responsibility to make sure that the country's heritage contributes directly to the social and economic health of the communities of today. The past belongs to everybody and English Heritage exists to ensure that people, where they live and whatever their background, enjoy, understand and appreciate England's rich diverse history.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is proud to host the National Launch of Heritage Open Days 2007, in conjunction with Burleigh Pottery.

The City Council welcomes the opportunity to reveal the hidden architectural gems of Stoke's great Industrial Heritage. Industry has made Stoke the place in which we live; some of our best buildings were created for the manufacture of our outstanding British pottery which has been exported all over the world for over 200 years. Whilst Stoke still produces beautiful hand crafted ceramics, new industries at the leading edge of technical innovation using ceramic material now sit beside our historic bottle ovens. The City Council recognises the value and importance of the sensitive re-use of the historic environment and is working with its partners to promote Heritage-led regeneration.

This Heritage Open Day event will strengthen our sense of civic pride and offer rare opportunities to see the inside of landmark buildings and to enjoy our local heritage facilities. We fully support this event which has been made possible by the kind efforts of hundreds of volunteers and building owner or managers within Stoke.

The national launch will be hosted at Burleigh Pottery. Other highlights in the city include the opening of Bethesda Chapel (as featured on the BBC Restoration program), Chatterley Whitfield colliery (the most comprehensive survival of a deep mine site in England), Moorcroft Pottery (which is still producing beautiful ceramic works of art) and the ever popular Gladstone Pottery Museum.