The town of Stone lies three miles E. of the line, and is not seen from it; the name is traditionally derived from a monumental heap of stones, which, according to the custom of the Saxons had been placed over the bodies of the princes Wulford and Rufinus, who were here slain by their father king Wulphere, on account of their conversion to Christianity. [_See page_ 20.] The king himself becoming subsequently a convert, founded, in 670, a college of Secular Canons, dedicating it to his children, in expiation of his crime: and to this establishment the town is supposed to owe its origin. The prevailing manufacture is that of shoes. Population, 7,808. Although none of the towns in the great district called the Potteries, are upon or even seen from the line of route, yet they lie so near, that it would scarcely be well to omit all mention of this great manufacturing neighbourhood, which encloses about ten square miles of country, covered with scattered villages, and containing about 20,000 inhabitants. Although the making of articles of pottery has been carried on here from a remote period, yet the manufacture was of inferior importance, until the great improvements effected by Mr. Wedgewood in the latter part of the last century; since which time the excellence and beauty of the wares, have produced a most extensive traffic both in England and abroad. The exports of earthenware and china to the United States alone, amount to 60,000 packages annually. The several species of ware invented by Mr. Wedgewood, varied by the industry and ingenuity of the manufacturers into an infinity of forms, and differently painted and embellished, constitute nearly the whole of the fine earthenwares at present manufactured in England, which are the object of a very extensive trade. The chief towns and villages in the Pottery district are, Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Burslem, Lane End, Shelton, Etruria, Tunstall, Lane Delph, and others. * * * * *