Everything about the bottle ovens and kilns of the Potteries of north Staffordshire, and including the National Bottle Oven and Kiln Index.
Site established 2015 by Terry Woolliscroft and regularly updated as new information comes to light. terry.wool@proton.me
 |
| This site was archived for preservation by the British Library The UK Web Archive is a consortium of the six UK legal deposit libraries which aims to collect all UK websites at least once each year |
The Author
Stoke-on-Trent born Terry Woolliscroft enjoyed an entire career in the ceramics industry. At the age of 16, he joined Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd., Barlaston. The company sponsored his attendance at the North Staffordshire Polytechnic where he gained an Honours Degree in Ceramic Technology.
In 1976 he joined the team of volunteers which surveyed the remaining bottle ovens in the Potteries.
In 1976 he joined the team of volunteers which surveyed the remaining bottle ovens in the Potteries.
In 1978 he was a founder member of the organising committee of The Last Bottle Oven Firing in the Potteries. It was at this event that he met Alfred Clough, the 'fireman' responsible for the final firing. Alfred was an excellent teacher and passed on a lot of his knowledge about bottle ovens and kilns. He wanted to share.
Latterly, Terry has been employed in the sanitaryware industry and has travelled to many parts of the world passing on his knowledge of the industry in special training seminars.
In his spare time he has created specialist information websites - The Potbank Dictionary, The Potteries Bottle Oven, The Last Bottle Oven Firing 1978, The Gladstone Pottery Museum Story, and the History of Twyford Bathrooms, amongst others. These have been archived by The British Library.
Latterly, Terry has been employed in the sanitaryware industry and has travelled to many parts of the world passing on his knowledge of the industry in special training seminars.
In his spare time he has created specialist information websites - The Potbank Dictionary, The Potteries Bottle Oven, The Last Bottle Oven Firing 1978, The Gladstone Pottery Museum Story, and the History of Twyford Bathrooms, amongst others. These have been archived by The British Library.
He knows a thing or two about bottle ovens and likes painting them in acrylics and oils.
Other websites: https://linktr.ee/TerryWoolliscroft
Why Blogger?
Why have I used Blogspot Blogger and not created a full-blown dot-com website? Well, first off, Blogger is free and works OK. Also, it will still be there after I've popped my clogs! ;)
Finding the site useful?
Perhaps buy me a coffee? Click the link below. Much appreciated! :)
Contact
If you would like to get in touch please email > terry.wool@proton.me
I will reply to your enquiry as quickly as I can.
Do let me know if you find any errors, typos, or inaccuracies. I'd also love to know if you have any information which would add to the site - you will, of course, be acknowledged for it in the text.
Copyright Information
I have set up this website/blog entirely for fun. I've enjoyed researching and making the information available to everyone. It's all about sharing. The site has no commercial interests and is for reference and educational purposes. Users of the site may use the content themselves only for educational, or personal, non-commercial use. Please fee free to make use of the information on the site for your personal use. I would love you to acknowledge where you found the information and if you could create a link to the site that would be great.Some material on the site has been assumed to be in the public domain - if you think that this is not so then please contact me so that I can correct any errors.
WIKIPEDIA - The author of this site does not add information, comments, or edits to Wikipedia
Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank Pam (my wife) for her inspiration and ideas which led me to creating this blog, and to Kathy Niblett for her encouragement and permission to use her essays.Thanks also go to Phil Rowley, long serving volunteer at Gladstone Pottery Museum, who forwarded much useful information and many images for inclusion in the texts.