Visit to Middleport Pottery

We are staying put today and walking down to Middleport Pottery which has been restored and is now a working museum.

Centenary Showroom

Centenary Showroom

Saggar Maker

We set off along the canal and got off at Bridge 126 and walked up the road and down another road and an another and eventually came to Middleport Pottery, but as usual we had walked the long way around! If we had walked down the towpath to Bridge 124 that would have been a lot quicker.  Middleport Pottery is home of the world-famous Burleigh Pottery. 

Middleport Pottery

They now charge £3 to have a look around and so we started off in the General Office and the Directors Office where five generations of the Leigh family managed the company.  We also went in the Designers Room and saw the work of the designers and modellers who worked for Burgess and Leigh from the 1890s to the 1980s.  They also have a showroom that was fitted out in 1951 to celebrate the centenary of the company.  It displays a collection of pottery made between 1851 to 2000.  While we were looking around here, one of the volunteer guides came and chatted to us then offered to show us around the rest of the site so we had our own guide! 

Saggar Makers Bottom Knocker!

 

Cod Placers

Our guide took us into the Bottle Oven and Placing House, which was great as we have seen them from the outside and now we have been inside where we learnt about the Saggars.  Saggars used to hold and protect the pottery during kiln-firing.  Producing the Saggars was a skilled job but making the bases was less skilled and this was done by the Saggar Makers Bottom Knocker who makes the bottom of the saggar by putting clay in a metal hoop and literally knocking it into shape.

Inside the Kiln

Inside the Kiln

There was also placers who would seal the saggars and carry them on their heads to the kilns and each weighed about 56 lbs (25k) and stacked in bungs 12 or 13 high.  The Cod Placer supervised the work.    After the firing when the kilns had cooled down, usually 48 hours but sometimes after 24 hours  the kilns were still hot, but the Drawers were sent in to the kilns to bring out the Saggars. These men wore about 5 layers of clothing and wet cloths on their heads and had to bring them out using their arms.  The life expectancy of these men was low, most of them did not live after about 40 years old.  They also used children to go in the kilns when they were cold and pick up the bits of pottery to be recycled, they were called Thimble Pickers.

Mould Store

Coronation Chair

 We went them to the Mould Store where there was thousands of original moulds from many years ago.

We also saw the steam engine which used to power the whole factory, it has been restored and now runs on electric, but they are hoping to get it to run on steam again.

Steam Engine

Bottle Kiln we went in

We really enjoyed our tour and the chap who took us around was very informative and made our tour for us.

There is also a seconds shop and some other independent potters selling their wares, some of it was beautiful but not the sort of stuff you have on a boat unfortunately!

 

We had a drink in the café then had another walk around as it was raining really hard.  It stopped for a bit then started again so we had another drink in the café, then the sun came out so that was our window to leave and we headed back along the towpath to our boat and got back in the dry.

Me in kiln ready for firing!

Sign at Entance

It is a fascinating place and well worth a visit and we saw lots of cameras while we were there and apparently they were filming the next series of The Great Pottery Throw Down so you never know we may be in one of the shots!