Gladstone Pottery Museum A Window on the Past byPhil RowleY

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il:'Hi';ff'ffffH:T:h; to-fle , -..i*,flk lii'i..r,rr. his mother-in-law o.,iy,.oll..tionofceramics.This..*fu.*......,.,"...,.....ffi*-.?;*;;.",".^i-'..i"^iq'o, iscertain1ynotthecaseat'':-e'*.ffifr.;townSwerefederatedinto GladstonePotteryMuseumine3."i.1.".*.nt,arrdin|925,the Stoke-on-Tient, England. rcffi;g l,ongton, .onsto*stoKe-on-rre"Hiilr -*,,ffi* - - -* :::;*.^,," orrnrerl ciw starus *'Rather than being simP)

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working.lEl} 5tI:"-*.:: +*:"'*: porrcard iilustratins the peak coar_firins banks,, in the Six Towns and :::x111ilJilifl:ffilt:# iF_-. aroundf!00 "P:i[:f:t:;Y* proouctlon-[e,'td in Stok"-on-Trent Gladstone is a concernedwith the PeoP

ceramics.

of Iocal local ceralnlcs. Until the end of the 18th cenclays to tury the area now r.".*" * ,t . "por- This allowed white-burning

ach of these bottle-shaped kilns

be brllning 10-1 5 tons of coal a week' in addition to the use of coal for domestic Cott'*'ll' *i Devon iom teries" in north Staffordshire was one of i-pot*d heating,theareawaswellknownasone be distributed to *i fi.rirh.d ware many in Great Britain;; ;;;.J a at of the-blackest in Britain' The local abroad ard ,r,.."sh.", Britain functionarwareonrr-ff:j.;;; .orr. Th. Potteries quickly people had a perverse pride in this filth' local clays firea *i.r, ..rLlu",il .?*rri.i -.r.rr"to*.. area for ceramic and a number of postcards were Pro;;-,h.- b.o..r. ,he dominant were found in easily ;;J such as p..a*i." i., grirri.r, and one of the duced with facetious messages,Potteries" surface deposits. the 'hbreath of fresh air from in Errrope as well' By the late 18th cenrury pioneers ** i-po**t. towns (Tirnstall' or"Pofteries'airsootsmewell!" OGil4lI,$e suchasJosiahV.dg*oJ*.r..roto.,ly Fenton and The ceramics industry was badly afE;ley' {x .Stoke, producing new *a u.,,.1[liiffiI,o', P;;;, Potteries fected by the recession in the 1920s

..r.orr."gJlh;^i.".1.p- Long;rr) th*t tt'*kt uP fr: 'world 'w'ar II' After *re "lro B.#r. of the novels and, later, bv ment of the Grand riunk canal (now *.r. i;J;p;;.nt. who referred to only war was ot"'' -*y companies realized known as the Tient A. iti..*y CJrrfi. "far.t.iig.nnett

but had

:--i

Schematic overview of the Gladstone P^ltar\/ It/lrrqct tm

that the old bottle kilns

Everydaythere aredemonstrations of common

were extremely inefficient, and smoke control became an issue. The industry gradually changed over to gas and electric

pottery processes (cast-

firing, and hundreds of bottle ovens fell into neglect and were eventu-

from time to time. Of

ing, throwing decorating), but other processes are also demonstrated

coufse, the museums' demonstrators are not pottery workers under

ally demolished.

Although this pro-

pressure to meet piecework requirements; rhey are employed solely to

duced much cleaner air, many people in the com-

munity thought a vital

show visitors rhe pro-

piece ofthe areat history

was being lost. In the early 1970s, the City

demolished after the switch to gas and electric firing.

Not many people

Council decided that

know much about the

something should be done and asked a

Stoke-on-Tlent Museums Service, which

group of local experts to look around the ciry to see what facrories were pos-

also runs the City Museum (where the worldt greatest collection of British ce-

sible candidates for preservation. A num-

ramics is housed). Longton has the largest number of botde ovens of the Potteries, with about 15 still in the town. \7hile these are all "listed" srrucrures, which offers protection against damage or demolition, the designation does not provide anymoney to help preserve and protect these kilns. Those at Gladstone are in quite good condition, but most of the rest are in various states ofdisrepair and the Pot-

ber of factories were located and, of these, the former Gladstone Pottery with its cobbled courryard and four botde kilns, was the best. The money then had to be raised to purchase the site; the Gladstone was finally saved only a few days before the bulldozers were due ro move in. N7ork then had to starr on removing the piles of rubbish that littered the site. The Gladstone Pottery Museurn was finally openedin 1974 by the Duke of Gloucester. For almost 20 years, it was run by a charitable trusr, and wenr through a number of ups and downs. It was eventually mansferred to the

City of

Preserved clay-mixing machinery,

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and to answer any questions. cesses

Some 2000 bottle kilns once punctuated the skyline, but most were

teries Heritage Society has suggested seeking money from the National Lottery to carry out stabilization work on all t}re remaining ovens.

\X4rat can the visitor expect

and do during a visit

to

to

see

Gladstone?

intricate processes that are used to produce ceramic ware. The blungea jolley, jigger, etc., are unknown mechanisms, and while some visitors will have heard of the famous "saggar maker's bottom knocker," very few will know what he actually did. (The saggar maker himself was the more

skilled-he

made the sides

ofthe saggars by beating out a rectangle of marl, then cuming it into strips to form walls. His bottom knocker simply made the bases by beating marl inside a

ring mold with a large wooden maul.) In the case of throwing, visitors have the chance ro "have a go" themselves, with guidance from the demonstrators.

At the moment, small children cannot safely use the throwing wheel, though, so they are encouraged to try decorating tiles by slip trailing. The Friends of

Former glaze-color laboratory

CERAMICS MONTHLY

ln the 1970s, City Council determined that the former Gladstone Pottery, with its cobbled courtyard and four bottle kilns, was the best candidate for preservation.

December 1997

))

the Museum have recently agreed to purchase a four-place wheel, which will enable the smaller children to take part. Children in particular are fascinated by Gladstone's steam engine and the

which the potters had to cope. Angela Graham and Cathy Schindler adopt the characters of Elizabeth Carter and Maud Butters, who worked at Gladstone Pottery in 1910. They are able to describe the range ofproducts manufactured by the company, as well

clay-preparation machinery. [n "British English," we have the phrase "Heath Robinson," which is used to describe a very complicated piece of machinery. Heath Robinson used to design and construct machinery to carry out impossible tasks). There is no other phrase than "Heath Robinson' to describe the

answer questions about the dailylives of the potteryworkers. One question often asked by visitors is "'Why was the pottery called Gladas

stone?" Evidendy, the great Uberal Prime Minister never visited the place, though

Gladstone clay machinery. Readers who are dedicated viewers of the very popuIar BBC series Dr Who may recognize the steam engine and clay machinery as those featured in the "Tiial of a Time Lord" episodes.

Above the engine house, the museum has awonderfi,rl collection of tiles

and sanitary ware. Tiles were widely used in the Victorian era in homes and

Ladders were used to stack loaded saggars nearly to the top of the kiln.

shops, and Gladstone has a display of tiles from the middle ages until early this century. The sanitary gallery traces

sori' Harrington, through a set of decorated Victorian loos (which you either love or hate) to the designs of today. An important objective of the mu-

the development of sanitation, from a reconstruction of the first "fush' toilet designed by Elizabeth It "saury god-

seum is

to inform visitors about

the

living and working conditions with

he did come to Burslem to open the \Tedgwood Memorial Institute. It is assumed that the factory was renamed in his honor at this time. Just recently (end of September 1997), the museum installed two wallsize projectors, which allow visitors to see two short films (about eight minutes each) on pottery-making processes and bottle-kiln firing; both of these include footage originally taken in the 1920s and '30s. There is also a new short video film (about five minutes

long) showing the skills involved in saggar making, and why the maker needs a

bottom knocker.

A

A "Heath Hobinson" (a "British English" phrase used to describe machinery designed to carry out lmpossible tasks) steam engine powered the Gladstone clay mixers.

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CERAMICS MONTHLY