Stoke-on-Trent - Home of Beautiful Ceramics
April 27th 2008 03:07
If you love beautiful dishes and other fine pottery, a trip to Stoke-on-Trent is a must. This is where you will find factories and shops for the famous names - Wedgwood, Spode, Royal Doulton, Portmeirion, Moorcroft, and more.
Echoes of the Industrial Revolution
Founded in 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood, the Wedgwood pottery is best known for its very recognizable blue pottery with white cameo-style figures of Greek goddesses and the like. Most of the major tourist places in the U.K. seem to have at least one Wedgwood souvenir in their shop if they are at all up to snuff.
Visiting Stoke-on-Trent and the surrounding "potteries" towns is a bit like going back 250 years. Yes, the factories are modern now, and the little towns have grown up, but the basic art of making dishes from clay still uses clay and heat, that hasn't changed.
There are a few of the old brick kilns still standing, as in the photograph from the museum, and these certainly conjure up images of workers in shawls and clogs, men black from shovelling coal into the greedy ovens, going home tired every evening.
Why Visit The Potteries?
Perhaps a love of fine dishes and decorated ware is an acquired taste. I am no judge because I was raised in a family who ran a china decorating and importing business. We were never allowed to eat off plastic and if a dish was cracked or chipped, we threw it out. (But I hasten to add, we only used the bone china on special occasions).
There is something so elegant about a clean white cream pitcher curving elegantly to fit your hand, or a piece of near-gaudy golden Royal Crown Derby with its stained glass window colours - you either get it or you don't.
But if the beauty of the product doesn't grab you, the process might. There are a few factory tours offered in the Potteries area - judge for yourself whether putting decals on tea cups all day long is a fun job or not.
And, there's shopping. Factory shops abound, selling everything from the rare top of the line goods to the seconds with their slightly wobbly bottoms and not-so-perfect decorations - to the practiced eye, of course.
While in the Midlands
You can do Stoke-on-Trent as a day trip from London, with or without a car, though having a car does make it easier to get out to more potteries. There is a local bus service that helps as well, serving the main factories and stores.
I've stayed at a B&B called The White House - quite liked it and so did the friends I sent there. (I don't know if it's still under the same management, but I see it's got a website).
And if you decide to make it more than a day trip, have a look round the region. I've written about Kenilworth Castle here already - beautiful to see. The Midlands has a lot of history to offer, and a surprising amount of beauty for what looks like such a heavily urbanized place when you see it on a map.
Gladstone Pottery Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, by Val Vannet (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License) - THANK YOU VAL!
Echoes of the Industrial Revolution
Founded in 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood, the Wedgwood pottery is best known for its very recognizable blue pottery with white cameo-style figures of Greek goddesses and the like. Most of the major tourist places in the U.K. seem to have at least one Wedgwood souvenir in their shop if they are at all up to snuff.
Visiting Stoke-on-Trent and the surrounding "potteries" towns is a bit like going back 250 years. Yes, the factories are modern now, and the little towns have grown up, but the basic art of making dishes from clay still uses clay and heat, that hasn't changed.
There are a few of the old brick kilns still standing, as in the photograph from the museum, and these certainly conjure up images of workers in shawls and clogs, men black from shovelling coal into the greedy ovens, going home tired every evening.
Why Visit The Potteries?
Perhaps a love of fine dishes and decorated ware is an acquired taste. I am no judge because I was raised in a family who ran a china decorating and importing business. We were never allowed to eat off plastic and if a dish was cracked or chipped, we threw it out. (But I hasten to add, we only used the bone china on special occasions).
There is something so elegant about a clean white cream pitcher curving elegantly to fit your hand, or a piece of near-gaudy golden Royal Crown Derby with its stained glass window colours - you either get it or you don't.
But if the beauty of the product doesn't grab you, the process might. There are a few factory tours offered in the Potteries area - judge for yourself whether putting decals on tea cups all day long is a fun job or not.
And, there's shopping. Factory shops abound, selling everything from the rare top of the line goods to the seconds with their slightly wobbly bottoms and not-so-perfect decorations - to the practiced eye, of course.
While in the Midlands
You can do Stoke-on-Trent as a day trip from London, with or without a car, though having a car does make it easier to get out to more potteries. There is a local bus service that helps as well, serving the main factories and stores.
I've stayed at a B&B called The White House - quite liked it and so did the friends I sent there. (I don't know if it's still under the same management, but I see it's got a website).
And if you decide to make it more than a day trip, have a look round the region. I've written about Kenilworth Castle here already - beautiful to see. The Midlands has a lot of history to offer, and a surprising amount of beauty for what looks like such a heavily urbanized place when you see it on a map.
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