Most ancient cultures discovered that fired clay would make pots, bowls and storage jars. Archaeological sites use fragments of ceramic to date their finds, as each culture developed its own ways of forming and decorating its pottery.
In the UK, North Staffordshire became noted for its ceramicware towards the end of the seventeenth century and by 1800, the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent (Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stke, Fenton and Longton) had become the national centre for the pottery industry in Britain.
Stoke-on-Trent: The Growth of the Potteries
Key factors in the development of the area around Stoke-on-Trent were the clay, coal and water which were readily available. The land around Stoke was poor, but the rich farming land of neighbouring Cheshire provided a ready market for the early ceramics of the Potteries. Earthenware butter pots used by the farmers to store their locally produced butter were an early specialty of the industry.
By the end of the nineteenth century, the potteries of North Staffordshire accounted for 90% of Britain's pottery output. This included a vast range of ornamental and household goods, sanitaryware, building products and garden ware.
In order to service the growth and development of the core industry, many ancillary industries grew up too, making colours suitable for use in pottery glazes, crates for packing, kiln furniture to support the ware during firing and a variety of industrial machinery.
The cutting of the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1777 brought a transport revolution to the Potteries. The new canal meant that raw materials could be transported more easily into the Potteries and also, that fragile ceramics could be transported out of the Potteries more safely, with less chance of expensive breakages. Josiah Wedgwood was a major backer of the development of this canal.
Stoke-on-Trent: Josiah Wedgwood, Abolitionist and Visionary
Stoke-on-Trent was at the forefront of both industrial and social change during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, due to some of the energetic and innovative people who were involved in the development of the Potteries.
Josiah Wedgwood is perhaps the most famous historical figure associated with Stoke-on-Trent. This extraordinary man not only established the first "modern" pottery in his home town of Burslem and spent many years researching and developing ceramic glazes and techniques, but was also a prominent abolitionist, vigorously opposed to the slave trade.
Wedgwood produced cameos depicting the seal of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade and had them widely distributed. The image on this medallion became the most famous image of a black person in all of eighteenth century art.
From 1787 until his death in 1795, Wedgwood campaigned vigorously for abolition. He mass produced the cameo and donated hundreds to the Society for distribution amongst the fashionable members of society. Thomas Clarkson, the first historian of the British Abolition movement wrote: "ladies wore them in bracelets and others had them fitted up in an ornamental manner as pins for their hair. At length, the taste for wearing them became general, and thus fashion, which usually confines itself to worthless things was seen for once in the honourable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity and freedom."
Josiah Wedgwood and Erasmus Darwin
During the construction of the Trent and Mersey canal, Josiah Wedgwood became friends with Erasmus Darwin, a notable local physician who had turned down the invitation to become physician to George III. Darwin was also an abolitionist and one of the key figures of the Midlands Enlightenment.
Josiah Wedgwood had contracted smallpox as a teenager; the disease left him with a permanently weakened right leg, and indirectly contributed to his later success. Unable to use his leg to power the treadle of the potter's wheel, the young Josiah was forced to concentrate on development and design, with spectacular results.
However, complications following the smallpox troubled him throughout his life; in 1780, his right leg was amputated and Wedgwood turned to his friend Darwin to help him run his business, now based at the Etruria Works.
The friendship between the two families eventually resulted in marriages between their children and grandchildren. Josiah Wedgwood, as well as all his other notable attributes, was also the grandfather of Charles Darwin, writer of The Origin of Species.
Stoke-on-Trent Today
The Potteries today still contain many reminders of their glorious industrial heritage. At Ceramica in Burslem, there are a variety of exhibits which refer to Josiah Wedgwood. His house in Etruria still exists, but is now part of a four star hotel.
Potteries, mould makers, glaze suppliers and factory shops are still to be found in Stoke-on-Trent, a city which although not pre-possessing at first sight, richly repays exploration.
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