In 1851 Wolstanton was described as a large and well-built village, on a lofty eminence, one and a half miles N of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and the same distance SW of Burslem. It has a cotton mill, and is the head of a populous and very extensive parish, which abounds in coal, clay, and ironstone, and includes the large pottery town of Tunstall, and about twenty villages and hamlets, divided into twelve townships or liberties, and comprises about 11,000 acres of land, and more than 18,000 inhabitants.