Penkhull in the 1960s: A Decade of Change

£12.95

Penkhull is a picturesque hilltop village within the City of Stoke-on-Trent. Fifty years ago it underwent great changes when the majority of housing and buildings around the village green were brutally demolished – at a time just before conservation and reclamation became such important issues to the City. 

The old village centre was all caught on ciné film by David Dodd, who also filmed the demolitions and subsequent new building. Now these valuable films have been digitised to television quality by Staffordshire Film Archive. This new documentary transports us back and charts the changes step-by-step. 

Historian Dr Richard Talbot MBE gives insight into how this all came about - and comments on these newly digitised films as we have a guided tour showing the old Penkhull, with information on all the lost buildings. We see the three-year period of demolition from 1964 when nearly 500 residents lost their homes, and see some of the new buildings going up.

Travel back in time to see the old Penkhull, and hear Richard's impassioned views on the drastic changes and why this could all have been handled so much better. Within the following decade Stoke-on-Trent was to establish itself as the national leader in conservation and reclamation work. Unluckily, says Richard, "Penkhull just got too old too soon".

60 minutes