New to me, the website Pictures of the Potteries by artist Anthony Forster, who offers a very attractive picture of a lamplighter. All the more attractive if you know the history of this spot at the foot of the Fowlea Bank, with the new Basford Bank unseen over the scrubby hedge, and Etruria and the Wedgwood factory seen across the Fowlea valley in the distance beyond. On the far left of the picture is the steelworks, then only recently moved over into steel from being an ironworks. He managed to squeeze in a steam-train as well, though it’s not immediately obvious. Obviously a well-researched picture in terms of use of mapping and the pre-A500 topography, and yet the result is still a master-class in composition.

Etruria had only obtained its first street lighting in 1860. A mere seventeen lamps were deemed sufficient.

Judging by an eBay image of the framed print, the colours of this official sample-image have been shifted into an unfortunate greeny-yellow cast. But the scene itself, seen above, is unimpaired.