Staffordshire Potteries

Original reddish-brown Stafford Pottery coffee pot, now on display at the DAR Museum, Washington, D.C.
Saggars outside a bottle oven in a pot-bank in Longton

The Staffordshire Potteries is the industrial area encompassing the six towns, Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton[1] that now make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. North Staffordshire became a centre of ceramic production in the early 17th century,[2] due to the local availability of clay, salt, lead and coal. Hundreds of companies produced decorative or industrial items.

History

The boom came after the discovery in 1720 by potter John Astbury of Shelton, that by adding heated and ground flint powder to the local reddish clay he could create a more palatable white or cream ware. The flint was sourced from either the South Coast of England or France, then shipped to the Port of Liverpool or to Shardlow on the River Trent.[3] After shipping by pack horses to the watermills local to the potteries, or to commercial flint grinding mills in either the Churnet Valley or Moddershall Valley, it was sorted to remove flint that had reddish hues, then heated to 1,200 °C (2,190 °F) to create an easily ground product.[3] A group involving James Brindley later patented a water based process that reduced the generation of fine siliceous dust, thereby reducing the risk to workers of suffering silicosis. In the early 1900s the process was converted to grinding bone, which had a similar effect.[3][4]

With the coming of pottery products distribution by railway that began in the 1840s, mainly by the London and North Western Railway and Midland Railway, there was a considerable increase in business.

Potteries active in the 19th century include Aynsley, Burleigh, Doulton, Dudson, Minton, Moorcroft, Twyford, and Wedgwood.

The Chartist 1842 General Strike was ignited by striking collieries in the Potteries, and led to the 1842 Pottery Riots.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Six Towns thepotteries.org, January 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2013. Archived here.
  2. ↑ Fleming, John & Hugh Honour. (1977) The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. London: Allen Lane, p. 752. ISBN 0713909412
  3. 1 2 3 Staffordshire County Council: Moddershall Valley- Conservation Area, designation No.76, 1987
  4. ↑ Helsby, L.F.; Legge, D; Rushton, A.J. (1973). "Watermills of the Moddershall". Staffordshire Industrial Archaeology Society. Staffordshire Industrial Archaeology Society. No.4. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
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