Pottering Around

On my canal boat holiday I visited Burleigh Pottery. I was intrigued to look inside a bottle kiln.

Burleigh Pottery from the canal

 A diagram of a bottle kiln.

Look at all the different names for the parts of the kiln

The outer 'skin' of the bottle oven is called the hovel.

A superb shape and you can see how it got the name bottle

The working conditions in the potteries was very hard, long hours for little pay which was often paid by piecework.
The narrow doorway, the 'clammins' or 'wicket' was just wide enough for a man with a sagger on his head to pass through.

Such a small entrance both in width and height

A sagger was the box into which the pottery was stacked.

Great care had to be taken when packing the sagger

'You let the fire out on your ovens and you were suppose to wait 48 hours until it had cooled - ours used to be open after 24 and it would still be red hot inside. Then men would climb on inside and they used to have five overcoats on and about 3 jackets wrapped around their wrists, and they would have to lift the sagger down with their padded arms.' A consequence of this was life expectancy was 40 years. 

Saggers stacked inside the kiln

The firemouths were spaced around the outside of the kiln.

Ready for the fuel

A view looking up through the chimney.

Iron bands were known as 'Bonts' expanded and contracted with the heat

Burleigh Pottery from the 1930's.

Simple floral designs

Look at the shape of the cup and the handle

This mosaic 'throne' was on the towpath at Stone.

A great idea

A close up of the mosaic.

So inventive

We saw several timbered houses during our holiday.

Timbered and thatched

How many white panels can you see?

Along the canal were buildings for the workers who maintained the boats and the locks eg. blacksmiths.

They lived in the outer sections with a workshop in the middle

This building used to belong to Cadbury and there was space to load and unload the delivery boats. 

A working wharf

Lock keepers houses varied in size depending on their responsibilities.
I would love to live in the castellated Roundhouse at Gailey Wharf which is now a canal shop. 

A building without any corners

Speedwell Castle at Brewood was built in the 18th century on the winnings of a racehorse.

Lovely gothic windows and currently for sale

The canals pass through some industrial areas. This is a salt factory in Shirleywich. Towns with 'wich' in their name were involved in the salt industry. 

One pinch or two?

Roses and Castles are featured on traditional canal boats and canal ware. Each family have their own designs.

A Buckby can was used to store fresh water

Decoration on the cabin door

How many times have you seen this sign?

Hop along now

A beautiful sunset.

Stunning