Smashing pottery tour.

We are having a day of from travelling today as we are booked on a tour of Middleport Pottery where Burleigh Pottery is made. In the morning we got on with a few jobs inside. I made some pear jelly and even managed to pay for our C&RT Licence for the year. It was raining for most of the morning but before we left for the tour it dried up nicely. The walk along the tow path only took about 20 mins max and it is a nice walk actually.

This is the entrance to Middleport Pottery from the canal as we passed.

This shows the only surviving bottle kiln of seven and the chimney that was for the boiler for the steam engine that powered the entire sit until the mid 70's using the steam engine that was new when the factory was built driving belts and pulleys to drive machinery and run a dynamo to provide the lighting etc. In fact they placed the steam engine and then built the engine house round it. It is still there and there are plans to get it running again, but not on steam.

The building nextdoor was the Anderton Canal Company's warehouse built in 1890. It was bought by Middleport Pottery as the site for a new tunnel kiln after WWII but was just used as stores etc.

The canal frontage of the pottery.

 This sign was at the archway seen in the first photograph. The Lodge was just across the street and he was on call 24hrs. I love that they were called strangers and not trespassers or visitors. Under the arch was also a weigh bridge and everything was checked in and out.

The Burgess and Leigh Company started in 1851 in the centre of Burslem. By the 1880's they had realised that having a different company or site complete each stage of the pottery was not economical so planned a 'model' factory and this is Middleport Pottery that opened in 1889. The idea was that each process of the manufacture flowed into the next, like a production line. The factory was built on this site as it was close to the canal for the ease of transport of raw materials and finished product and was also close to the station.

The wharf was split into two parts at the far end of the photo the raw materials came in and were unloaded by wheel barrow, Ball clay, crushed flint and feldspar, along with coal for the boiler were the main items. At the end with the two cranes the finished products were loaded into the boats for onward passage all over the world.

The pottery originally had seven bottle kilns but these were knocked down after WWII as the Clean Air Act was about to come into force. All seven would have been lost but for the fact that the surviving kiln was actually an integral part of the surrounding buildings.

From the raw materials the ingredients were all mixed up to form a slip. Some of this is pumped up to the mold room and the remainder is processed to use in making flat ware etc. Above is the roadway between the building housing the different processes.

 After the moulds have been opened or the flat ware has been made they are dried and then fired in a kiln to make biscuit. These are two carts of items that are nearly ready to be wheeled into the kiln that can be seen at the end. They are now gas fired.

This is the only kiln left. The actual kiln is entered on the left. It would take four days to load the kiln with 2000 saggers that would hold the pottery. They were needed to keep the pots from getting damaged by smoke and soot. The kiln was fired from fire doors around the inside of the bottle kiln. As all the workers were originally paid piece work but from the number of finished items out of the kiln it meant that the kiln firer was a very important person. If he got it wrong nobody got paid.

Denby Pottery ended up owning the pottery but the buildings deteriorated and they abandoned the building. The Prices Regeneration Trust got involved and helped to save the whole site. When they started to explore the building they thought that there were a few thousand moulds. When they got to the attic rooms they found 90 tonnes of stuff horded there. This included over 19000 moulds and just about everything else from the building. They had thrown nothing away, old telephones, windows, ledgers etc etc. They are still cataloging it all. 

Just a few of the moulds that are stored at the building.

The tour took about 1hr and 20mins and was a great view into the processes to make Burleigh ware. It makes you realise why the pots cost so much. It is great that the operation is still going on as it did 200 years ago but more to the point in the same building. The saving of the factory has also meant there has been regeneration of the terraced streets in the area that are looking great too. It is so handy for the canal and Westport Lake that I would recommend it to all. The £6 for the tour is good value, but you can wander about part of the site, museum cafe and seconds shop for free. I would also recommend that if you want to go on the tour you try to book ahead as there are only two a day I think. At the weekends there is no work going on and there are no tours on Monday.

We wandered back to the boat and had a look at the lake. It was cold enough not to be smelling today but wasn't looking its best in the battleship grey day.

We got back to the boat and lit the fire. Helen had wanted a coffee and cake at the pottery but we took so long looking round that the cafe had closed. She was so desperate for cake that she set to to make something. I'm not complaining and I am looking forward to the results as I type.