Some people travel to Asia or Africa to look for inspiration for their ceramic art, but there is a place much closer that holds a magnificent collection of pottery, and that is Stoke on Trent. Now at first glance Stoke doesn't look that prepossessing - here is a picture of their tourist office:
But it does have big plans and aspirations - it wants to be City of Culture in 2021, and it has an absolutely brilliant museum called the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery. This museum houses the Staffordshire Hoard, as well as over 50,000 ceramic pieces. Stoke is an amalgamation of six towns that were designated as one city in 1925, so it has a haphazard feel to it. Arnold Bennett immortalised the area in his novels about the 'Five Towns' and local people appear very proud of him. I don't know which town he left out of his books, although I had a look over his shoulder to see if I could find out.
As well as manufacturing pottery, Stoke was a coalmining area and the museum commemorates this with a memorial to two miners killed on picket duty in the 1980s. It is made of coal, and was commissioned by miners' wives.
Margaret Thatcher is not a very popular person in those parts.
Social history is very interesting, but we were there to look at ceramics, and there was plenty to look at. Some had more artistic merit than others, but all of it gave us ideas. The frog mugs were a lot of fun, designed to give people a surprise and some of them actually spat liquid.
Social history is very interesting, but we were there to look at ceramics, and there was plenty to look at. Some had more artistic merit than others, but all of it gave us ideas. The frog mugs were a lot of fun, designed to give people a surprise and some of them actually spat liquid.
There are a lot of pottery museums in this area, but the most special one as far as I am concerned is Middleport, home of the Throwdown. It's also a working Victorian factory making Burleigh ware. It is sited on the Trent and Mersey canal, and we walked there along the towpath, drinking in all the sights, holding our breath for our first view of the pottery.
Whenever we visit a new place we always ask ourselves this very important question - what is the tearoom like? - and then we go and find out. After our lovely breakfast in their converted packing house we were ready for the guided tour of the factory. It is advertised as a working Victorian pottery, but it isn't really - they don't employ thirteen year old children any more and the kiln operators don't have to live on site for three days shovelling coal in oppressive heat and near darkness. Still that's me just being a bit picky.
Middleport originally had seven bottle ovens that had to be kept hot so as not to waste coal. The workers used to unload the ovens wearing water soaked clothing, and they would come out steaming. While they were stoking the ovens they had an allowance of eight pints of beer a day to stop them dehydrating. Men working the ovens had a life expectancy of no more than forty. Lung disease was rife and there was a pall of smoke over Stoke. Oh, the good old days.
Middleport originally had seven bottle ovens that had to be kept hot so as not to waste coal. The workers used to unload the ovens wearing water soaked clothing, and they would come out steaming. While they were stoking the ovens they had an allowance of eight pints of beer a day to stop them dehydrating. Men working the ovens had a life expectancy of no more than forty. Lung disease was rife and there was a pall of smoke over Stoke. Oh, the good old days.
Another way in which the factory wasn't quite authentic was that all the workers were listening to Radio Stoke. They were very friendly and were happy to explain what they were doing.
After our factory tour we were very lucky to be allowed into the studio where Throwdown is filmed, and look what we saw straight away:
Yes, Ryan's toilet, that he is kindly loaning them. Then we looked at the one minute teapots, Clover's lovely stacking animals and the pots from the campfire. Here they are:
After seeing their beautiful creations I went and practised walking up and down outside just in case I ever become a contestant.
Middleport pottery was opened by William Leigh and Frederick Rathbone Burgess who amalgamated their names to produce Burleigh ware. One of the stories that our guide Ernie told us was that the site had a carthorse whose job it was to drag the waste to the dump on the other side of the canal. He did seven journeys a day, and if he was ever required to go eight times, he refused. I am sure the story is true, but all that is left today is this sign.
The canal was a very important part of the process, with clay and coal being brought in to the factory, and completed wares being taken away to be sold all over the world. Since Poole Pottery closed down in Poole, all Poole pottery is now manufactured in Middleport, but the glazing process is secret so we didn't see that.
After a couple of days in Stoke we moved on to see how the other half live in Shugborough Hall. But that's another story.
After a couple of days in Stoke we moved on to see how the other half live in Shugborough Hall. But that's another story.