Much of Etruria became derelict with the move of Wedgwood after the Second World War and the subsequent closure of the nearby Shelton Bar steelworks.

The press hall there was responsible for printing several newspaper titles, including The Sentinel, and many northern editions of The Daily Mail.

[1] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Etruria Railway Station was used as a base for Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show.

The museum buildings were originally a bone and flint mill built in 1857 to grind materials for the pottery industry.

On the first weekend of each month the museum's 1903 coal-fired boiler provides steam to operate Princess which then turns the grinding machinery.