In 1775, Yates' map records the townships of 'Handley Green and Shelton.' The pottery industry took off with the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1777, the associated development of Wedgwood's potteries at nearby Etruria, and then the opening of the Caldon Canal. In 1783, local businessmen formed a corporate charter for Hanley with Shelton it became a market town under an Act of 1813, and by 1830 it was considered one of the largest towns in the area.
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| Hanley before 1930 Photo: source unknown |
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| A postcard from Hanley |
Bottle ovens still standing? Page down or click here>
BOTTLE OVENS LONG SINCE GONE
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| J & G Meakin Ltd. Eastwood Works from Lichfield Street The Eastwood Works supported 7 bottle ovens, (3 biscuit, 4 glost) The Seven Sisters Source: from their Centenary Booklet Date: 1951 |
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| J & G Meakin Ltd. Eastwood Works, from the canal The Seven Sisters (but you can only see 6 in this view) |
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| J & G Meakin Ltd. Eagle Pottery from the air Source: from their Centenary Booklet Date: May 1950 |
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| Meakins. Gate No1 Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection Date: October 1970 |
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| George L. Ashworth Bros Ltd Photo: source unknown Date: c1950 |
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| Masons Ironstone, Clough Street Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection Date: c1970 |
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| Masons Ironstone, Clough Street Photo: Courtesy Evening Sentinel Date: Unknown |
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Trinity Street Behind the newly built Vale Telephone Exchange. Near Hanley loop line railway station. Possibly the original works of Charles Ford who was a specialist in making kiln furniture, stilts and spurs. Photo: courtesy BT Digital Archives Date: 7 June 1953 |
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| Trinity Street The new Vale Telephone Exchange being built |
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| Broad Street Photo: source unknown Date: unknown |
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| Swinnertons College Road, Shelton Photo: source unknown Date: 1950s |
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| Swinnertons Victoria Pottery, College Road, Shelton Photo: source unknown Date: unknown |
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| Brown Westhead and Moor, later Cauldon Potteries Hanley Park, Shelton Photo: postcard? Date: unknown |
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| Ridgway Factory, Shelton Photo: unknown source Date: unknown |
From Phil Rowley "Here's a photo of the largest [bottle ovens] I know about : they were at the Ridgway factory here on the Caldon canal at Shelton - there were two sets of four standing in a straight line. You can get a rough idea of their height by noticing the size of the doorway into the nearest oven.
To confirm this, some years ago I printed out the photo and then used a travelling microscope to count the number of courses. I then used the average course spacing from the bottle-ovens at Gladstone museum to calculate that they were approximately 80 feet tall. It might have been a case of 'our bottle-ovens are taller than yours' with the other local factories.
The inner firing chamber would be no taller than 20 feet and there's a local story that they were used as air-raid shelters during WWII, when the factory was not producing." April 2020
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Falcon Pottery, Old Town Road, ST1 2LB
[9a,b] Location* : what3words.com/feed.index.lush
Updraught bottle oven, hovel type. With muffle kiln.
To confirm this, some years ago I printed out the photo and then used a travelling microscope to count the number of courses. I then used the average course spacing from the bottle-ovens at Gladstone museum to calculate that they were approximately 80 feet tall. It might have been a case of 'our bottle-ovens are taller than yours' with the other local factories.
The inner firing chamber would be no taller than 20 feet and there's a local story that they were used as air-raid shelters during WWII, when the factory was not producing." April 2020
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| Wedgwood factory, Etruria Photo: source unknown Date: 1960? |
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| Wedgwood factory, Etruria Photo: Keele Warrilow Collection Date: 1946 |
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| Wedgwood factory, Etruria Photo: source unknown Date: unknown |
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| Wedgwood factory, Etruria Photo: source unknown Date: unknown |
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| Wedgwood factory, Etruria Photo: unknown source Date: unknown |
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| Wedgwood factory, Etruria Updraught stack type bottle ovens being demolished. Photo: Source unknown Date: Unknown |
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| Wedgwood factory, Etruria Bottle ovens prior being demolished Photo: source unknown Date: 1960s |
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| Twyfords Ltd. Etruria Works, Garner Street Earthenware sanitaryware, updraught ovens Photo: screenshot taken from the Twyford Film Date: 1929 |
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| Twyfords Ltd. Sanitaryware bottle ovens under construction Date: February 1921 |
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BOTTLE OVEN and KILN with COLLAPSED HOVEL & CHIMNEY
Falcon Pottery, Old Town Road, ST1 2LB
[9a,b] Location* : what3words.com/feed.index.lush
Updraught bottle oven, hovel type. With muffle kiln.
J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd., Town Road. The firm was founded in 1891 and the existing factory was built in 1906. Four ovens are known to have existed on the works but only two remain:
1) Updraught hovel oven - its hovel collapsed in late February 2012
2) Decorator's muffle kiln - its chimney collapsed earlier than the hovel oven, blown down in a gale, unknown date.
Short report here on BBC site but the report wrongly refer to this as the Falcon Works. It is in fact Falcon Pottery (the Falcon Works is a disuse potbank in Stoke) >
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-17209042
1) Updraught hovel oven - its hovel collapsed in late February 2012
2) Decorator's muffle kiln - its chimney collapsed earlier than the hovel oven, blown down in a gale, unknown date.
Short report here on BBC site but the report wrongly refer to this as the Falcon Works. It is in fact Falcon Pottery (the Falcon Works is a disuse potbank in Stoke) >
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-17209042
The large, squat, glost bottle oven was last fired around 1965 (Note that the Clean Air Act banned the use of coal-fired bottle ovens from July 1963) and subsequently used for the storage of empty biscuit saggars and wood wool. The hovel collapsed in February 2012, leaving the firing chamber standing. The firing chamber stood off-centre within the hovel and was probably rebuilt sometime in its history. This large firing chamber, with 10 firemouths and about 20ft (6m) in diameter, is one of the largest left in Stoke-on-Trent. At one time it was equipped with modern thermocouples to measure the temperature inside the firing chamber when being it was fired.
The small muffle kiln (one of the three remaining in the city) was used as a 'hardening-on kiln' and probably an enamel kiln. The muffle chamber is approached from the yard via a small workshop which would presumably have served as a placing room. Two 'stable' type cast iron doors backed with firebrick blocks were in position at the entrance to the chamber in 1975. Both are badly rusted and immovable.
Johnson Bros, Trent Sanitaryware Pottery, ST1 3LN
[12a,b] Location* : what3words.com/rental.drill.angel
Two calcining kilns.
The small muffle kiln (one of the three remaining in the city) was used as a 'hardening-on kiln' and probably an enamel kiln. The muffle chamber is approached from the yard via a small workshop which would presumably have served as a placing room. Two 'stable' type cast iron doors backed with firebrick blocks were in position at the entrance to the chamber in 1975. Both are badly rusted and immovable.
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| J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd. Falcon Pottery, Town Road Photo: Courtesy of Staffordshire Past Track 1976 more here> The hovel collapsed in February 2012 |
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| J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd. Falcon Pottery, Town Road Photo: source unknown Date 2010 |
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| J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd. Falcon Pottery, Town Road Photo: Courtesy of Steve Shaw Date: February 2012, two weeks before the collapse @shawsteve5 Artisan potter, painter, musician |
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| J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd. Falcon Pottery, Town Road Firemouths of the small muffle kiln Photo: Courtesy of Steve Shaw Date: February 2012 @shawsteve5 Artisan potter, painter, musician |
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| J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd. Falcon Pottery, Town Road Collapsed hovel Photo: unknown source Date: 2012 |
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| J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd. Falcon Pottery, Town Road Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society Date: Nov 2019 |
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| J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd. Falcon Pottery, Town Road Firemouths of the muffle kiln Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society Date: Nov 2019 |
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| J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd. Falcon Pottery, Town Road Entrance to the muffle kiln Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society Date: Nov 2019 |
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| J. K. Weatherby & Sons Ltd. Falcon Pottery, Town Road Muffle kiln, Firing chamber Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society |
BOTTLE OVENS and KILNS STILL STANDING, COMPLETE WITH THEIR BOTTLE-SHAPED CHIMNEYS
Johnson Bros, Trent Sanitaryware Pottery, ST1 3LN
[12a,b] Location* : what3words.com/rental.drill.angel
Two calcining kilns.
Two flint calcining kilns at the site of Johnson Bros., Trent Pottery sanitaryware factory, Hanley. Between Botteslow Street and Eastwood Road. Now surrounded by a housing estate. In 1975 there were 3 kilns. The factory closed in 2003.
Joiner's Square Works, Lichfield Street, ST1 3EQ
[13a] Location* : what3words.com/drama.bared.vital
Before flint can be added to the pottery body recipe it had to be crushed to a very fine powder. In their raw state flint pebbles are impossible to crush as they are too hard. When they are calcined, or burnt, they become brittle and can be crushed and ground with ease.
Flint pebbles and coal slack were loaded in alternate layers into the bowl of the oven, below ground level. One ton of slack was used for 20 tons of flint. The materials were lit at the bottom of the kiln and allowed to burn naturally. After about 2 days a sufficiently high temperature of about 900°C to 1,000°C would have been reached to transform the flint, and the coal would have burned away. When cool enough to handle the brittle flints were drawn from the opening at the base of the bowl and sent to be crushed and ground.
Smithfield Pottery, Warner Street, ST1 3DH
[11a] Location* : what3words.com/closes.ozone.faded
Only the bottle shaped hovel chimney survives. No firing chamber.
Updraught potter's bottle oven. Former Smithfield Pottery, Warner Street, Hanley. Established as a decorating works in 1880 and first operated by Charles Barlow.
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| Johnson Bros. Trent Pottery Flint Calcining Kiln. Open doorway for charging the kiln. Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection Date: July 1975 |
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| Johnson Bros. Trent Pottery Three flint calcining kilns with one in the process of demolition Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection Date: 20 March 1976 |
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| Johnson Bros. Trent Pottery Between Botteslow Street and Eastwood Road From the air. On the left of the kilns is the Caldon Canal Date approx: 2015 |
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| Johnson Bros. Trent Pottery Flint calcining kilns Photo: Julian Read Collection Date: April 2017 |
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| Johnson Bros. Trent Pottery Flint calcining kilns Photo: Courtesy of Philip Shallcross Collection Date: March 2019 |
Hanley
Trent Bathrooms, Sanitary Ware Manufacturers
Eastwood Road, Hanley
Short sequence of photos taken in 2003
just before the company closed
Smithfield Pottery, Warner Street, ST1 3DH
[11a] Location* : what3words.com/closes.ozone.faded
Only the bottle shaped hovel chimney survives. No firing chamber.
Updraught potter's bottle oven. Former Smithfield Pottery, Warner Street, Hanley. Established as a decorating works in 1880 and first operated by Charles Barlow.
Clearly visible from the Potteries Way, Hanley ringroad. Late 19th Century brick, slate roofs, single ridge and two gable ends. When surveyed in 1975 it had a small separate enamel kiln inside the hovel. The works has been used as part of a brush making company. Later was converted to a restaurant and jazz club. In 2019 used as offices.
Dudson's, Hope Street, ST1 5BS
[10a] Location* : what3words.com/silly.wells.melt
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| Smithfield Pottery Warner Street/Potteries Way ringroad. Photo: Courtesy of 'Potteries Bottle Kilns' page on Facebook Date: 2015 |
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| Smithfield Pottery Warner Street/Potteries Way ringroad. Photo: Courtesy of Philip Shallcross Collection Date: April 2019 |
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| Robert Sherwin Ltd., brush manufacturer, Smithfield Pottery Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection Date: October 1975 |
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| Robert Sherwin Ltd., brush manufacturer, Smithfield Pottery Photo: source unknown Date: unknown |
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| Smithfield Pottery No firing chamber. Looking up, inside the empty hovel. Photo: Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society Date: June 2019 |
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| Clipping from the Evening Sentinel November 1977 Fortunately, a success! |
Dudson's, Hope Street, ST1 5BS
[10a] Location* : what3words.com/silly.wells.melt
Hovel only. Now housing a magnificent museum.
The Dudson Company was established by Richard Dudson in 1800, but went out of business in Summer 2019. One bottle oven remains standing but only the hovel only remains - the firing chamber has gone.
The Dudson Company was established by Richard Dudson in 1800, but went out of business in Summer 2019. One bottle oven remains standing but only the hovel only remains - the firing chamber has gone.
The hovel is free standing in the central yard of what was the factory premises. It is the sole remaining oven of three which are believed to have existed. The hovel bears a plaque which would indicate that it was originally constructed in l872 at which time Dudsons were mainly involved in the production of ornamental ware, including figures. The hovel itself is 60' high and has an overall diameter of 33'3". The oven is assumed to have been an updraught with hovel and firing chamber - similar to the layout at Gladstone Pottery in Longton. The bottle oven has not been fired since the Second World War. The hovel now houses a magnificent museum of Dudson.
Etruscan Mill, Jesse Shirley's Bone and Flint Mill, Lower Bedford Street, Etruria, ST4 7AF
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| Dudson's, Hope Street Photo: courtesy Dudson Date: c2010 |
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| Dudson's, Hope Street Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection Date: Dec 2018 |
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| Dudson's, Hope Street Date: July 2022 |
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| Dudsons, Hope Street Looking up inside Dudson Hovel, now a museum Photo: Andy Perkin Potteries Heritage Society Date: Sept 2019 |
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| Dudson's Hope Street Photo by Sid Meir, courtesy Ian Mood Date: 1970 |
Etruscan Mill, Jesse Shirley's Bone and Flint Mill, Lower Bedford Street, Etruria, ST4 7AF
[14a] Location* : what3words.com/dates.puddles.saying
One rectangular chimney stack with two firing chambers.
Opened in 1857, Jesse Shirley's bone flint mill is the only remaining operational steam driven potters' mill in the world. It operated until 1972 producing ground bone, flint and Cornish Stone used by the pottery industry. It also produced bone meal used by the agricultural industry to improve soil. Fully restored between 1978 and 1990 the mill is driven by an 1820s Bolton and Watt rotative beam engine.
It is one of the oldest still working and may be the oldest still driving machinery for which it was installed. Steam is raised by a hand-stoked Cornish boiler built at nearby Cliffe Vale in 1903.
Opened in 1857, Jesse Shirley's bone flint mill is the only remaining operational steam driven potters' mill in the world. It operated until 1972 producing ground bone, flint and Cornish Stone used by the pottery industry. It also produced bone meal used by the agricultural industry to improve soil. Fully restored between 1978 and 1990 the mill is driven by an 1820s Bolton and Watt rotative beam engine.
It is one of the oldest still working and may be the oldest still driving machinery for which it was installed. Steam is raised by a hand-stoked Cornish boiler built at nearby Cliffe Vale in 1903.
The site’s historical significance was recognised in 1975 when it was designated a Scheduled Monument with the buildings being Grade 2* listed.
The site was officially opened to the public by Fred Dibnah on 6th April, 1991. Now home to Etruria Industrial Museum. It continues to be maintained and operated by volunteers.
For a self guided tour of the mill click on the link below the image.
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| https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=17LkFEdrnuz |
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| Jesse Shirley's bone and flint mill, Etruria Locks http://www.etruriamuseum.org.uk/ Photo: courtesy Glyn Baker, Geograph |
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| Shirley's Bone and Flint Mill, Etruria Gas works and Twyfords sanitaryware factory in distance Source: unknown Date: unknown |
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| Cross section through a flint kiln Photo: courtesy Shirley's Bone and Flint Mill |
Joiner's Square Works, Lichfield Street, ST1 3EQ
[13a] Location* : what3words.com/drama.bared.vital
Updraught bottle oven, skeleton type. 8 firemouths.
Kiln furniture factory, established by William Wentworth Buller in 1860. The factory was used to manufacture a wide range of ceramic materials, particularly electrical insulators.
The oven is now part of into the Imperial Court residential complex after refurbishment in 1999. Housing operated by Stoke-on-Trent Housing Society.
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| Imperial Court, Joiners Square Photo: Courtesy of Philip Shallcross Collection Date: August 2019 |
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| Imperial Court, Joiners Square Photo: Courtesy Andy Perkin, Potteries Heritage Society Date: July 2019 |
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| Imperial Court, Joiners Square Photo: Courtesy Aitch Tee @notavocation Date: June 2022 |
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| Imperial Court, Joiners Square Photo: By courtesy of Phil Crow ABIPP ARPS Date March 2023 |
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| Imperial Court, Joiners Square Photo: courtesy Ceramic Heritage Action Zone, City of Stoke on Trent Date: July 2022 |
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| Imperial Court, Joiners Square Photo: courtesy Ceramic Heritage Action Zone, City of Stoke on Trent Date: July 2022 |