Burslem

BURSLEM AREA

Burslem, one of the six towns making up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. It includes the areas of Middleport, Longport, Westport, Dalehall, Trubshaw Cross and Brownhills. Burslem is often referred to as the ‘Mother Town’ owing to its important role in the rise of the pottery industry. 

Ivy House
published in The Art Journal, 1864

The town was recorded in the Domesday survey as 'wasteland' but it is located on natural deposits of ironstone, clay, and coal - the essential raw materials for making pottery. By the end of the 17th century, Burslem was the country's leading supplier of pottery.

Brick House Works (Bell Works)
The Brick House Works, known as the 'Bell Works'
after Josiah Wedgwood installed a bell to call his potters to work.

In 1710 there were 35 potbanks in Burslem, and it was very much a town, compared with Hanley and Stoke which were still villages. Leading potters began building houses and potbanks which reflected their prestige. Most notable was the Big House, built by the brothers Thomas and John Wedgwood in 1751 on the corner of Wedgwood Street and Chapel Bank. Most spectacular was the Fountain Place Works built for Enoch Wood in 1789, a gothic extravaganza between Hall Street and Packhorse Lane. During the 19th century, Burslem continued to grow as more potbanks were built.

Bottle ovens still standing? Page down or click here>

BOTTLE OVENS LONG SINCE GONE


A View of The Potteries at Burslem 
Postcard Source: unknown


Alcock Lindley and Bloore
Ascot Pottery, on the corner of Overhouse Street and Scotia Road.
Established in 1919. Acquired by Allied English Pottery Group in 1959
Mainly produced teapots
Photo: source unknown    Date: 1950

Crown Works in Steventon Place
in the centre of the photo
Photo by Sid Meir, courtesy Ian Mood Date: c1970


Crown Works on the right behind the New Inn
and on the left is Royal Pottery (Hill Pottery)
from Market Square
Photo: unknown source Date: 1900


Crown Works, Steventon Place
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection
Date: Operation Bottle, February 1976 more here>


Crown Works, Steventon Place. 
The plan didn't come to fruition and the oven disappeared
Article: courtesy The Evening Sentinel  Date: 1980


Steventon Place, J. Steventon and Sons Pottery
Bottle ovens and mineral stores.
Photo: Bert Bentley  Date: 1960s


Pack Horse Lane. 
The old road to Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Photo: unknown source  Date: Unknown


Maddocks Pottery
Photo: unknown source  Date: Unknown



Bottle ovens, 'stack' type, at the Dalehall Works, Nr. Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.
Dalehall Works
Photo: Courtesy Staffordshire Past Track 


Wade Heath
The Sytch, back view
Photo: source unknown  Date: unknown


Middleport
A J Wilkinson Ltd
Wilkinson’s Pottery (Clarice Cliff)
Shot taken from the window of the showroom showing the turret
over the lodge and some ovens
Photo: The Sphere Magazine, Daily Herald Archive  Date: 1930-35


Acme Marls, Bournes Bank
The oven on the left has now gone but the three ovens on the right remain
and were still in use in 1976 fired with oil
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: May 1975


Acme Marls, Bournes Bank with St John's Churchyard
Photo: source unknown Date: around 1960


Acme Marls, Bournes Bank
The 3 perfectly conical ovens remain standing (2019)
Photo: source unknown  Date: around 1960


Acme Marls, Bournes Bank
Photo: Evening Sentinel  Date: c1955



Cobridge 
Moorcroft, Sandbach Road 
The two glost ovens on the left were demolished in 1956
The biscuit oven on the right still stands and open to the public
https://www.moorcroft.com/museum


Cobridge
Moorcroft, Sandbach Road


A G Richardson & Co Ltd
Crown Ducal 
Britannia Works, North Road, Cobridge
 Photo: Bert Bentley  Date: 1960s


Globe Pottery
Cobridge 
'Little Sisters of the Poor' behind.
Far distance is Shelton Bar (now Festival Park)
Photo: source unknown. Date: unknown


Looking towards Cobridge from Hanley
Little Sisters of the Poor, on the hill
Photo: source unknown. Date: unknown


Looking towards Burslem, from Middleport
Photo: source unknown Date: unknown


Bottle Ovens Burslem Top of Scotia Rd unknown date
At the top of Scotia Road
Photo: source unknown  Date: unknown


Burslem
Photo: source unknown Date: 1930s


Burgess and Leigh, Burleigh Ware Factory
Middleport 
Photo: source unknown  Date: early 1960s


Burgess and Leigh, Burleigh Ware Factory
Middleport
Photo: source unknown  Date: early 1960s



Burgess and Leigh, Burleigh Ware Factory
Middleport Pottery bottle ovens and smoke
Photo: source unknown  Date: early 1960s


Middleport Pottery from the air
Middleport
Photo: source unknown  Date: unknown, maybe 1940s


Prices National Teapots, Top Bridge Works
Longport, Trubshaw Cross  
Bottle oven on right of the two has been demolished.
Updraught ovens
Photo: source unknown but maybe Bert Bentley
Date: April 1964  


Prices National Teapots, Top Bridge Works
Longport, Trubshaw Cross
The bottle oven on left of the two was demolished
in the early 1970s
It was an updraught oven
Photo: source unknown  Date: mid 1960s


Wood's Trent New Works
Photo: source unknown  Date: unknown


Sneyd pipe works
Near the loop line railway bridge, just off Hot Lane.
Photo: Bert Bentley  Date: 1960s




BOTTLE OVENS and KILNS STILL STANDING, COMPLETE WITH THEIR CHIMNEYS


Moorland Pottery, Moorland Road, ST6 1DY    
[1a] Location* : what3words.com/items.beyond.corn

This Victorian factory, founded c1888 and called the Chelsea Works, boasts the only surviving four-chambered muffle kiln in the world. The kiln was built sometime between 1924 and 1930. It has been used to fire tiles and decorated pottery.

Moorland Pottery
Photo: By courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS  Date: May 2023 


MOORLAND POTTERY
The potbank is now renowned for producing regionally-themed mugs, coasters and tea pots. It specialises in 'Stokie Ware' for the local area.


The current owners, Jonathan Plant and Adrian Tinsley, purchased the factory as a going concern in 1986 from the estate of  Mr. Joseph Szeiler. In 1989 they changed the name to Moorland Pottery. https://www.moorlandpottery.co.uk/about-us.html


STUDIO SZEILER
In May 1973 Mr. Joseph Szeiler, a Hungarian, bought the works for £7000. His 'Studio Szeiler' produced tableware and giftware but specialised in animal figures which were modelled by himself. Mr. Szeiler died in 1980.


SUSIE COOPER
Susie Cooper, the renowned ceramic designer, moved to this Chelsea Works in March 1930, and decorated bought-in white ware from Doulton, Grimwades, WH Grindley, and Wood and Sons.



Her production reflected the tastes of the times with bright florals, and geometric and modernist designs in bold hand painted colours.  She would have used this muffle kiln to fire her decorated pottery. The fireman was Jack Shufflebotham. She moved to a bigger factory, not far away, in August 1931.


MORE ABOUT THE KILN
Chelsea Works boasts the only surviving 4-chambered, double-deck (2 up, 2 down) muffle kiln. 



In a deed dated 1st January 1930, "land and decorating works known as Chelsea Pottery in Moorland Road" was leased by Doulton & Co Ltd to Albert Edward Beeson, Susan Vera Cooper and Albert Goodwin Richardson, trading in co-partnership as "Susie Cooper Pottery".

The deed described the kiln as "a pair of four-mouth, double-deck kilns which had originally been designed for firing tiles, and the lessor (Doulton) agreed to "alter both bottom kilns to make them suitable for enamel firing, it being recognised by the lessees that there will inevitably be a small difference in temperature between the top and bottom heats, one of such kilns to be altered before the signing hereof and one kiln to be altered after the commencement of the term hereby granted, the decision as to whether such alteration has been satisfactorily carried out to be left to the arbitration of Mr Bernard Moore, whose decision shall be final conclusive and binding on all parties."

The kiln was therefore built sometime before 1930, probably 1924-1930. It is technically complex with a latticework of flues emanating from eight firemouths (only four currently visible) carrying the hot combustion gases from the blazing coal to the muffled firing chambers. The firemouths are of the 'hob mouthed' type.

The firing chambers were built using specially shaped, refractory bricks manufactured in Scotland. These bricks, with their 'THISTLE' branding impressed into the clay, were manufactured by Stein, at their Castlecary Fireclay Works, Castlecary, North Lanarkshire.

Thistle brand bricks
Specially shaped bricks used in construction of the firing chambers
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: July 2019

These technically-advanced silicon carbide refractory muffle bricks gave much better heat transfer and longer life than the usual fireclay blocks. The bricks were produced with 'tongue and groove' moulding on their edges to assist in construction and to help maintain clean air conditions within the muffle chambers. Many thanks go to Mark Cranston of scottishbrickhistory.co.uk for information about these Thistle bricks.


Moorland Pottery, Chelsea Works
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: May 2019


Moorland Pottery, Chelsea Works
L: the kiln from the yard
R: inside one of the four firing chambers
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: July 2019

Cross section through 4-chambered muffle kiln
Drawing: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society, 2023
more details about the kiln here>


Birds eye view of the yard
Created for Ceramic Heritage Action Zone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMt5RcxI3XU&feature=emb_logo
Date: 2019

The muffle kiln was surveyed in 1975/6 as part 'OPERATION BOTTLE', the survey of the remaining bottle ovens of the Potteries. (More here)  



Middleport Pottery, Burgess and Leigh, Port Street, ST6 3PE  
[5a] Location* : what3words.com/highs.puppy.belt

Middleport Pottery was built in 1888 by Burgess & Leigh Ltd. - its founders were Frederick Rathbone Burgess and William Leigh. 

The bottle oven Middleport Pottery
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date:  Aug 2019

At the time of its construction the factory was described as a 'model pottery' of the Staffordshire pottery industry. It was designed to make all production processes more efficient and to improve conditions for the workforce. Finished pottery was loaded (using the crane next to the packing house) straight onto barges on the Trent and Mersey Canal to take the pots north, to the coast, for export. The pottery still manufactures Burleigh Ware. 
Now owned by UK Historic Buildings Preservation Trust which was renamed 'Re-form' in 2018.

Middleport Pottery, home of Burgess and Leigh
  https://www.burleigh.co.uk/pages/visit-middleport-pottery
Photos: Terry Woolliscroft Collection Date: December 2015


The large freestanding updraught hovel oven is believed to have been built in 1888-93, when the factory was built. It was originally one of 7 (3 biscuit, 4 glost) originally on the site. This is a biscuit oven with 11 firemouths in its firing chamber of 18 feet 6 inches internal diameter. According to Zoe Sutherland (Ceramic Heritage Action Zone Project Officer, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, 2021) the oven has more firemouths than any other bottle oven remaining in the Potteries.

More about Middleport Pottery
There is only one pottery factory in the world still using the tissue transfer technique to decorate its ware - and it's here in Stoke-on-Trent. And in that one factory - Middleport-based Burleigh - there are just 12 people with the skills to do it, although they would like to train up more young people to continue with the craft.


2024
February 2024 To combat excessive growth of weeds in the external structure of the bottle oven at Middleport Pottery, the specialist firm, Orb Rope Access, was engaged to remove the vegetation.

Middleport Pottery removal of vegetation
Photo:  By courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS 
Date: February 2024 

Middleport Pottery removal of vegetation
Photo:  By courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS 
Date: February 2024



Furlong Mills, Furlong Lane, ST6 3LE  
[3a,b] Location* : what3words.com/clip.magic.react

"Established in 1842, enlarged in 1913, Furlong Mills Ltd., has become one the UK’s leading mineral processing companies. Sustained through a continuous investment programme in people, plant and machinery the company is able to meet the current and future demands of the ceramic industry." Furlong Lane, Burslem, ST6 3LE. https://www.furlongmills.co.uk/

Flint calcining kilns built between 1900 and 1924
Furlong Mills, Furlong Lane 
Flint calcining kilns 
Photo by Sid Meir, courtesy Ian Mood   Date: c1970

Two flint calcining kilns complete with their chimneys still stand (in 2023). In 1975 the kilns were surveyed under "Operation Bottle". These are some of the findings written in the report of the time.

"These particular ones are certainly over 60 years old [in 1975] but we were unable to find anyone who knew the actual date of construction. Since they were built they have undergone two modifications. Firstly there has been an extension to the stack which we understand was originally some 12 feet lower. This may have been partly connected with a change of fuel from coal to coke but more likely was undertaken purely for social reasons. This work was carried out shortly after the First World War. Originally the upper loading doors were much smaller and these have been considerably widened to allow for more mechanical loading.

The [kilns] are in constant use and at the time we called we were able to see one which was being unloaded having completed its cycle whilst the other was firing. As previously mentioned these now work on coke which is mixed with the flints. It is believed that at present the coke originates from Shelton. When fully loaded each of these kilns takes 33 tons of flint and it takes 15 cwt of coke to fire this with a little bit of wood being used for the initial firing. Also during firing a steady draught through the firemouths is maintained by a blower regulated to give a slightly reduced draught during the initial lighting period.

Furlong Mills bottle kiln cross section
Photo: courtesy Furlong Mills  Date received:  Aug 2019

It takes 39 hours to fire a full charge and firing commences at 5.00 pm on Day 1 and firing ceases and unloading begins at 8.00am on Day 3. The temperature during firing is about 950c."

The kilns stand 42 feet high, well below the minimum 60 feet specified by the regulations of 1877.



Furlong Mills, Furlong Lane
Flint calcining kilns
Photo: courtesy Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society  Date: July 2019


Furlong Mills, Furlong Lane
Photo: Courtesy of Philip Shallcross Collection  Date: Aug 2019


Furlong Mills, Furlong Lane
Painting, acrylic on canvas
Terry Woolliscroft 2023




Acme Marls, Bournes Bank. ST6 3DW  
[2a,b,c] Location* : what3words.com/brief.descended.terms

Unique in the Potteries, and probably in the world, these are three Wilkinson-type downdraught, bottle ovens. Originally built in about 1900, though the present structures are 1937-47. Freestanding circular chimneys to downdraught ovens. Originally surrounded by buildings and workshops. 

Acme Marls bottle ovens before renovation
Photo: By courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS
Date: September 2023


According to Zoe Sutherland in 2021 (Ceramic Heritage Action Zone Project Officer, Stoke-on-Trent City Council) the remaining bottle ovens here could be candidates for some of the newest ovens in the Potteries. The southernmost oven at Bournes Bank was built at some point between 1950 and 1963

This type of downdraught bottle oven was patented in 1890:
'A J WILKINSON DOWNDRAUGHT OVEN  Ovens for Firing Pottery '
A J Wilkinson, Burslem 
English Patent 4356,  March 20th 1890 
Type of bottle oven. Downdraught. Integral chimney.


Downdraught bottle oven with integral chimney
Wilkinson Patent type as those at
Acme Marls, Bournes Bank, Burslem
Drawing: Terry Woolliscroft Collection


Wilkinson Downdraught Oven
Patent No.4356
March 20th 1890


In July 2000, J & J Dyson PLC of Sheffield, acquired the entire issued share capital of Acme Marls Limited, the then privately owned kiln furniture manufacturing company, for £1.5 million (or £1.89 million). Acme Marls became part of Dyson's Thermal Technologies division.

From the Dyson Website
Click on image to make it bigger and easier to read



Acme Marls, Bournes Bank
Source: unknown  Date: 2000


Bottle Ovens at Bournes Bank
Painting by Terry Woolliscroft  Date: Feb 2024
From a photo taken in 2018 showing how overgrown
the ovens had become during 40 years of neglect
www.artfromtw.com/
https://terrywoolliscroft.etsy.com


RENOVATION comes to Acme Marls

2018 
In 2018 the entire site was purchased by a housing developer and planning permission was sought to build housing and community facilities. 

2020
In July 2020 planning permission was given for the site to be developed for housing provided that the three bottle ovens were restored. Stoke-on-Trent City Council gave the green light to the proposals to build 43 properties. The development, includes the three rare bottle kilns, known as the Three Sisters, which will be repaired and restored as part of the proposals. "The scheme will help fund the conservation and preservation of the Grade II-listed ‘Three Sisters’ bottle kilns. The applicant has provided details of works proposed to the kilns and will also create a management company and provide it with an annual dowry to manage and maintain the kilns. A service charge will be raised, similar to an annual ground rent, to help supplement the dowry to help towards future costs of conservation of the kilns and common area. For a two-bedroom property, it’s likely to be £125 per annum, and for a three-bedroom property £150 per annum."

2021
November 2021 - work on clearing the site began. Accumulated rubbish, fly tipping and years of natural growth is removed.

2023
January 2023 - no progress. Site remains derelict.

Autumn 2023 - work begins on refurbishing the ovens. Specialist scaffolding is erected.

Acme Marls bottle ovens renovation begins
First scaffolding being erected
Photo: By courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS
Date: October 2023


Acme Marls bottle ovens renovation
Photo: By courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS
Date: November 2023


February 2024 - Rafferty Specialist Access Services Ltd make good progress in accessing and repairing the brickwork, cast iron and steel work on the three bottle ovens.  Renovation photos below by Pete Stonier, press photographer.

Acme Marls bottle ovens renovation
Specialist scaffolding around all three ovens
Photo: By courtesy of Pete Stonier  Date: February 2024 

Acme Marls bottle ovens renovation
Renovated cast iron and remade steel bonts at the wicket 
Photo: By courtesy of Pete Stonier  Date: February 2024

Acme Marls bottle ovens renovation
Relaid brickwork at the top of one of the stacks
Photo: By courtesy of Pete Stonier  Date: February 2024

Acme Marls bottle ovens renovation
Sack cloth protects recent pointing, as it sets, from bad weather
Photo: By courtesy of Pete Stonier  Date: February 2024


March 2024 - The start of scaffolding being taken down


Acme Marls bottle ovens renovation
The start of scaffolding being taken down
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: 17 March 2024


April 2024 - more scaffolding is removed.

Acme Marls bottle ovens renovation
More scaffolding comes down
Photo: By courtesy of Jonathan Goodwin  Date:  05 April 2024

Acme Marls bottle ovens renovation
Photo: By courtesy of Jonathan Goodwin 
Date: 05 April 2024

The lengths of curved metal shown on the ground on the above image are refurbished pipes which delivered oil, under pressure, to the firemouths during firing. (The three ovens were converted to oil burning after the Clean Air Act of 1956). The pipework is to be reattached in original position around the base of the oven adjacent to the firemouths.

May 2024 - ovens refurbishment complete. The enclosing structure around the ovens will be reinstated as the next step.

Acme Marls bottle ovens renovation complete
Photo: By courtesy of Jonathan Goodwin  Date: 02 May 2024


7th May 2024 - Stoke-on-Trent City Council Press Release
Iconic bottle kilns restored on land earmarked for redevelopment.  Read the full story here > bit.ly/4afV4Ot 

Acme Marls bottle ovens renovation complete
Ovens numbered by the works as 6, 7 & 8 (L to R)
Photo: By courtesy of Pete Stonier 
During 'golden hour'  Date: May 2024


Drone flight over the bottle ovens after the renovation work had been completed and before building starts . https://youtu.be/K2Ft7m4Dg6w?si=yz6ZywPnMeaBmRff


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IMAGES of the Bottle Ovens BEFORE RENOVATION


Acme Marls, Bournes Bank, with St.Johns Church
Photo by Sid Meir, courtesy Ian Mood  Date: c1970




Acme Marls, Bournes Bank
Photo: unknown source   Date: unknown
These stack type Wilkinson downdraught bottle ovens were numbered 6, 7 and 8.
L-R on the image are numbers 8, 7 and 6
Patented by A J Wilkinson. British Patent 4356, 20 March 1890.
They were oil fired, and last fired in July/August 1976 more here>


Operation Bottle, Bottle Oven Survey  Date:1975
Acme Marls, Bournes Bank
Photo: Operation Bottle, Bottle Oven Survey,
Terry Woolliscroft Collection   Date:1975


Acme Marls,  Bournes Bank
Photos: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: December 2015


Acme Marls, Bournes Bank
Photos: Terry Woolliscroft Collection   Date: July 1976


Acme Marls, Bournes Bank
Photos: Courtesy of Andy Shardlow  Date: June 2016


Acme Marls, Bournes Bank
Photos: Courtesy of Andy Shardlow  Date: June 2016


Downdraught bottle ovens at Bournes Bank
Formerly Acme Marls Ltd. 
Photo: Courtesy of Philip Shallcross Collection  Date: Feb 2019


Downdraught bottle ovens at Bournes Bank
Formerly Acme Marls Ltd
Photo: source unknown Date: unknown


Products from Acme Marls Ltd

Six bottle ovens were known to have existed on this site. The remaining three were fired using oil as their fuel (converted after the Clean Air Act of 1956). The last time one was fired was in 1977, when the factory was owned by Acme Marls Ltd. The final temperature reached was around 1400C - much higher than for domestic pottery.

The products being fired were refractory 'bats' or kiln furniture, used in the ceramics industry - refractory shelving for use in modern tunnel or intermittent kilns. 

Oven 'No.7' was fired in October 1977 before manufacture was transferred to its new site at Scotia Road, Tunstall. A ceremonial flaming torch was taken from the fire in oven No.7 to the new gas kiln at the new site.

Placing the No.7 Oven at Acme Marls
Photo: Courtesy The Evening Sentinel  Date: 1977


The YouTube movie below shows the penultimate commercial bottle oven firing in the Potteries.  It took place in the summer of 1976. This small selection of photos was taken at the event.

Acme Marls, Burslem, July/August 1976 
Final temperature of close-on 1400C has been reached
Thermocouple and block removed from the top of the clammins 
and the crown damper cracked open 
Photos: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  more info here>







Price & Kensington, Newcastle Street, Longport, ST6 4LR   
[4a] Location* : what3words.com/slide.groups.super

Price & Kensington - earthenware manufacturer at the Top Bridge Works, Longport. The company was founded in January 1962 from an amalgamation of Price Bros. (Burslem) Ltd and Kensington Pottery Ltd. Manufacturing ceased in 2002.  http://thepotteries.org/photos/price/index.htm  

Price & Kensington, along with the Spode factory in Stoke, are the earliest surviving examples of fire-proofed building construction in the pottery industry. 

This remaining bottle oven is a freestanding, updraught, hovel oven.

Price & Kensington Factory
Top Bridge Works - Newcastle Street, Longport
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: Sept 2018


According to Zoe Sutherland (Ceramic Heritage Action Zone Project Officer, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, 2021) the remaining bottle oven at Price & Kensington could be the oldest in the Potteries. "Certainly a bottle oven is shown in this location on Hargreaves' 1832 map although it may well have been rebuilt wholly or in part." 

The bottle oven (the one on the right in the image below) was restored in the early 2000s by the Potteries Preservation Trust which the Potteries Heritage Society established in the 1990s.  The bottle oven on left was demolished
in the early 1970s.

Price & Kensington Factory
Top Bridge Works - Newcastle Street, Longport
The bottle oven on left was demolished in the early 1970s
Photo by Sid Meir, courtesy Ian Mood   Date: c1970


Support was secured for the restoring this oven (together with nine others in the Potteries) from the UK's National Lottery Heritage Fund, Staffordshire Environmental Fund, Stoke-on-Trent Council, and British Ceramic Confederation. The conservation architect was Christopher Taylor Design Ltd. The work was completed around 2003/4.

Click on the image to make it
bigger and more readable.


Below is the text from the above sign which was fixed by the Potteries Preservation Trust to the side of the bottle oven:

Stoke-on-Trent Bottle Ovens Conservation Scheme
TOP BRIDGE WORKS SITE
Grade II* listed pottery bottle oven
This is of the basic updraught type, built about 1830 and last fired in the early 1960s. An Ordnance Survey map of 1878 shows it to have been one of seven bottle ovens here. 

The space between the outer hovel and the inner kiln provided room for coal, for the firemen to work protected from weather and ensured a good draught for the fire.

After completion of the adjacent Trent & Mersey Canal in 1777 Edward Bourne's was the first recorded pottery here in 1783*. By 1851 the much enlarged site had been acquired by the Davenport family who were described as being 'the largest earthenware and china manufacturers and exporters in the kingdom' and were granted a Royal Appointment. In the mid 1930s the nearby firm of Arthur Wood & Son expanded to acquire Price Brothers on this site and transferred to it the Kensington Pottery from Hanley. The works then became well known as Price & Kensington."      *now thought to be 1774   

The firemouths on this bottle oven have no cast iron, hinged, firedoors. The vertical feed holes were simply closed off with sliding fireclay slabs. 
Each hole can be closed off, partly or fully, to regulate the flow of air to the fire, by means of 2 vertical slabs of fireclay resting on the brickwork of the firemouth.  Compared with a firemouth with opening cast iron doors, this type of firemouth would have been cheaper to construct but perhaps a little more difficult to operate


Price & Kensington Factory - Newcastle Street, Longport 1975
Price & Kensington Factory
Top Bridge Works - Newcastle Street, Longport
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: 1975


Price & Kensington Factory
Top Bridge Works - Newcastle Street, Longport
Images by courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS  
Top photo by Ernest J D Warrillow, c1950
Bottom photo by Phil Crow, February 2023 
Note the difference, in the shape of the bottle oven on the right,
between the two photos. The top half of the hovel is thought
to have been rebuilt in the early 1950s.



Price & Kensington Factory
Top Bridge Works - Newcastle Street, Longport
Photo: Courtesy of Philip Shallcross Collection  Date: March 2019


Bottle Oven at the Top Bridge Works in 2024
Painting by Terry Woolliscroft
From my photo taken in 2023 showing how overgrown
the works had become through neglect.
www.artfromtw.com/
https://terrywoolliscroft.etsy.com/


The Price and Kensington bottle oven
from the works yard after a massive tidy up.
Photo: Courtesy of Jason Adams  Date: May 2024


Price and Kensington factory
Photos: Courtesy of Jason Adams  Date: May 2024

Price and Kensington bottle oven
Firemouths - one intact, one badly damaged
Note the vertical feed-holes were closed, partly or fully,
by means of 2 vertical slabs of fireclay resting on
the brickwork of the firemouth.
Fireclay slabs missing.
Photos: Courtesy of Jason Adams  Date: May 2024


Price and Kensington bottle oven
looking up inside
the hovel (L) and inside the firing chamber (R)
Photos: Courtesy of Jason Adams  Date: May 2024


RENOVATION comes to Price & Kensington, Top Bridge Works

2024
April 2024
The entire Top Bridge Works site was purchased by local businessman, Wayne Walker, owner of the adjacent Wayne Walker Quality Meats factory shop. "Good evening everyone, Wayne here. Great to hear all the positive news about the Price Kensington site we have bought. I'm looking forward to putting the site back together. I think it going to be great for the City."

01 May 2024
First look at how Stoke-on-Trent's 'worst eyesore' will be transformed with pizzeria, ice cream parlour, soft play and much more. Eye-catching images have been released after businessman Wayne Walker unveiled plans to transform the Grade II*-listed Price and Kensington Teapot Works More>. https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/gallery/first-look-how-stoke-trents-9257111

03 May 2024
Wayne Walker, new owner of the Top Bridge Works, described his delight and enthusiasm for the plans he has developed for the future of the works on a live Facebook broadcast. View here on Facebook > https://fb.watch/rS-4W05Y9a/

Wayne Walker new owner
of Price and Kensington,
Top Bridge Works, Longport  03 May 2024





Oliver's Mill, Newport Lane, ST6 3NJ  
[7a,b] Location* : what3words.com/solve.tester.pencil

The site encompasses a range of buildings including the original mill, pair of calcining kilns, one with a rectangular stack and two chambers and the other with a bottle-shaped stack and one chamber, and stores. 

The flint mill was established by Oliver & Sons (Burslem) Ltd in 1909.



The kilns were adopted on a 99 year lease by The Staffordshire Pottery Industry Preservation Trust. The site is located at the end of Newport Lane in Middleport, approximately 1.5 miles west of Burslem town centre. The kilns were used for firing flint (prior to grinding and milling) which was added to the clay recipe to give better whiteness and strength.

Oliver's Mill, Newport Lane, Middleport
Photo: source unknown  Date: unknown


Oliver's Mill, Newport Lane, Middleport
Photo: unknown source  Date: 1960s


Oliver's Mill, Newport Lane, Middleport
Photo: Julian Read Collection  Date: April 2017


Oliver's Mill, Newport Lane, Middleport
Photo: Courtesy Google


Olivers Mill, Newport Lane, Middleport
Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society  Date June 2019


Olivers Mill, Newport Lane, Middleport 
Looking up inside the rectangular kiln chimney
Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society  Date June 2019

Three kilns exist on site. One bottle shaped called 'Jumbo' with a capacity of 30 tons of flint. The other two share one rectangular chimney and they are called 'Middle and Office'. The capacity is 24 tons of flint, each. Metal doors close each firing chamber. They worked on a 3 day firing cycle. The ovens were built by Oliver & Sons in 1909 and last used around 1964 when the Clean Air Act came into force.


Calcining Works, Middleport Mills, Milvale Street, ST6 3NT  
[6a] Location* : what3words.com/noted.ruler.gravy

Former calcining works. Mainly late 19th Century. The kiln is rectangular, with two flues separated only at the apex. Two firing chambers.

Calcining Works, Milvale Street, Middleport
Calcining kiln, two chambers
Photo: Courtesy Google 

In 1907 this mill was Goodwin's Mill Co. (Middleport Mill) used for preparing flint, and other potters materials. Flint calcining kiln with two firing chambers. Alongside the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Calcining Works, Milvale Street, Middleport
Calcining kiln, double chambered, within
large rectangular structure.
Photo: Pam Woolliscroft Collection  Date: February 2022



Moorcroft, Sandbach Road, Cobridge, ST6 2DQ  
[8a] Location* : what3words.com/congratulations.crew.thinks

The first pieces of fine art pottery from Moorcroft were created in 1897.  Designed by William Moorcroft, a graduate of what is now the Royal College of Art in London, his new art pottery was very popular from the outset and stocked by such prestigious stores as Liberty of London, Harrods and Tiffany & Co. in New York.
https://www.moorcroft.com/

Moorcroft
Sandbach Road, Cobridge
Photo by Sid Meir, courtesy Ian Mood  Date: c1970


Moorcroft
Sandbach Road, Cobridge

Photo: courtesy Julian Read Collection Date: April 2017


According to Zoe Sutherland in 2021 (Ceramic Heritage Action Zone Project Officer, Stoke-on-Trent City Council) the bottle oven here has the smallest firing chamber of all those in the Potteries at only 3.35m or 11 feet in diameter.

This small bottle oven  is open to the public. It is in remarkably good condition and has obviously been well cared for. It is now a visitor attraction alongside the Moorcroft museum and shop.

This updraught, 'skeleton type', oven was built in 1919 as a biscuit oven - glost firing taking place in two similar ovens which were on site prior to their demolition in 1956. This oven was last fired in 1959. It stands 60ft high, with firing chamber diameter of approx 11ft and internal height to the shoulder of the crown approx 13ft.

The gap between the outer chimney and the inner firing chamber, found on all skeleton type ovens, is around 9" wide. The ironwork surrounding the tall wicket entrance is remarkably well constructed with 1" thick cast iron.

Moorcroft
Sandbach Road, Cobridge
Wicket, bonts and 1" thick ironwork
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: June 2019

The oven has just six firemouths complete with their bags. Under the domed floor, flues connect the firemouths to the central well hole. Original bonts and firedoors remain in place. The regulator holes, spy holes and trial holes have no metal work attached to them.


Moorcroft
One of the six firemouths
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: June 2019




The domed crown has a central crown damper and three quarter dampers, together with shoulder holes.

Moorcroft
Looking up at the crown of the oven
from, inside the firing chamber
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: June 2019


Inside the dimly and atmospheric firing chamber are examples of saggars and 'osses. Well worth a visit.

Moorcroft
Bag, saggars and 'osses
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: June 2019