How claymaking took over a whole corner of England

It was once an industry so vast and important that it lent a whole corner of England its name. But as these pictures from the archive bear witness, the art of claymaking was not confined to the area of the Midlands known as The Potteries.
23rd April 1935:  Throwing a pot in the centuries old pottery at Ewenny, near Bridgend in south Wales owned by David J Jenkins.  (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)23rd April 1935:  Throwing a pot in the centuries old pottery at Ewenny, near Bridgend in south Wales owned by David J Jenkins.  (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)
23rd April 1935: Throwing a pot in the centuries old pottery at Ewenny, near Bridgend in south Wales owned by David J Jenkins. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Across the country, small factories and cottage industries were given over to the production of decorative and functional pottery using traditional methods. It is a tradition that continues today.

Fashioning implements from clay is a process almost as old as humanity, but it was in the 17th century that English pottery began to evolve a style of its own, having been influenced by artisans from other parts of Europe who had fled persecution at home.

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The Dutch town of Delft was a particular influence, and English “delftware” – blue-and-white tin-glazed earthenware – became a familiar sight in homes across the country.

June 1936:  Workers glazing stoneware at the Wedgwood pottery.  (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)June 1936:  Workers glazing stoneware at the Wedgwood pottery.  (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)
June 1936: Workers glazing stoneware at the Wedgwood pottery. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

But it was the potter Josiah Spode who revolutionised domestic production with his invention of bone china – a mix of china clay, stone and ground bone – that took fine china, or something like it, from the drawing rooms of the wealthy into the ordinary home.

The Industrial Revolution brought mass production to the kilns, and Josiah Wedgwood, a native of Stoke on Trent, was arguably the founding father of The Potteries. He helped pioneer a process of “transfer printing” which looked almost as good as hand-designed items but cost far less to produce, and invented money back guarantees, special offers and other techniques we now take for granted.

Production continues at a handful of potteries around Stoke but, like many other industries, it has fallen victim to cheaper foreign imports – and the production of clay objects, meanwhile, has returned to its roots as a craft open to anyone with a wheel and a kiln.

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