Smallthorne borders Bradeley and Chell in the north, Norton-in-the-Moors in the east, Sneyd Green in the south, and Burslem in the west.

The part of Smallthorne that falls within East Valley is sometimes referred to as New Ford and has an active Residents Association of the same name.

In 2011 Smallthorne was united and became a single ward and in 2015 one Councillor was elected who was Candi Chetwynd, the Labour Party candidate, she took over from Matt Wilcox.

A visitor in the 1850s observed that "the whole parish is a cold and hilly country, abounding in coal, which is got at various depths, in beds from four to seven feet thick".

One interesting side effect of the fact that the Potteries' six towns and Smallthorne were administratively separate was the duplication of many street names.

The district used to be criss-crossed by a canal and numerous mineral lines servicing five collieries – Cornhill, Holden Lane, Intake, Norton and Pinfold; the Ford Green Ironworks; a forge; and a chain, cable and anchor works.

The Biddulph Valley Line, later part of the North Staffordshire Railway, was opened in 1859 and a passenger station called 'Ford Green and Smallthorne' began service in 1864.

In the mid-1960s there were three large collieries, Norton (Ford Green), Sneyd (Burslem) and Hanley Deep Pit, within a mile or less of 'Smallthorne Bank' (the main shopping area today) and a number of others were within an easy commuting distance.

In 1850 fewer than 2000 people lived in Smallthorne and the area was part of the rural parish of Norton in the Moors.

He also donated land for a church school, endowed the Minister with £80 a year and, in 1851, gave a site valued at £400 for a vicarage.

'Primitive Street' is named after Primitive Methodism, which, in the mid nineteenth century, was an influential Protestant Christian movement.

Built in 1874, it was restored in 2010 after funds were raised and grants received to enable the building to meet the laws for disability access.

[6] Primitive Methodism was founded by two Stoke-on-Trent Christian converts: Bucknall-born Hugh Bourne (1772–1852) and Burslem-born William Clowes (1780–1851).

From a vantage point on Chetwynd Street, outside Smallthorne Primary School, you can see three important places in the early history of the movement: Mow Cop, the site of the first two Camp Meetings on Sunday 31 May 1807 and 19 July; Norton-in-the-Moors, the location of the third Camp Meeting on 23 August 1807; and Chatterley Whitfield Colliery winding gear and spoil heap behind which can be found the small former mining village of Bemersley, where Hugh Bourne lived and died.

In 1907 the Primitive Methodists celebrated their centenary with a new Camp Meeting at Mow Cop that attracted around 100,000 people.

The new St Mary's with a separate Church and School is situated on Ford Green Road at Norton opposite Spragg House Lane.

Originally, it stood in 36 acres (150,000 m2) of farmland, but this has been gradually encroached upon over the years so that now it is surrounded by comparatively small grounds.

Led by volunteers and members of the local community, the company's profits will be used to run and improve the museum.

The office and administrative centre of 'Esperanto-Asocio de Britio' (Esperanto Association of Britain) is just outside Stoke-on-Trent in the Wedgwood Memorial College, Barlaston.