This has been a week of contrasts. We were delighted to learn that Longton is going to get a £2 million facelift. It will ease traffic congestion and attract more customers to the town’s shops and heritage market. Although disappointed, we were not surprised that production at Wedgwood’s Barlaston factory will cease from the end of September until January 5th 2026. The company’s accounts are due to be published in October. We wonder how economists will view them.
The Brownhills Murder (1797), the first post in our new series about Tunstall called Historic Tunstall, was posted this week.
Monday, September 15th, was Battle of Britain Day. Our post, North Staffordshire and the Battle of Britain, paid tribute to those whose courage in the face of overwhelming odds saved the world from Nazi domination and gave Britain its finest hour.
Although he is taking a Sabbatical to study Anglo-Saxon legal history, David will continue to edit our website.
We hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend. Take care and stay safe.
Wedgwood is ‘pausing production’ at its North Staffordshire factory. Pottery will not be produced at Wedgwood’s Barlaston factory between September 29th 2025 and January 5th 2026.
Wedgwood Factory Tours have also been cancelled between these dates.
The decision has been made before Wedgwood releases its accounts for 2024, which in October.
Some jasper made at Adams’ Greengates Pottery in Tunstall was equal to, if not superior to, jasper made by Wedgwood at Etruria
William Adams’ Greengates Pottery in Tunstall.
During the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution changed the face of Britain, making it the ‘workshop of the world’.
Earthenware factories were built in Tunstall, a township that included Sandyford, Newfield and Furlong. At the end of the 18th century, there were seven factories making pottery. Small coal and ironstone mines were scattered throughout the district. Blue bricks and tiles were made in the Chatterley Valley.
As early as 1735, William Simpson was making earthenware in the township. By 1750, Enoch Booth had a factory near a field called Stony Croft. The factory made cream coloured ware glazed with a mixture of lead ore and ground flint.
In 1763, Admiral Smith Child built Newfield Pottery, where he produced earthenware. By the 1780s, two brothers, Samuel and Thomas Cartlich, were making pottery and mining coal at Sandyford. There were brick kilns, coal mines, a flint mill and a crate maker’s workshop at Furlong.
During the 1740s, George Booth and his son Thomas leased a pottery factory. on an estate called Will Flats, next to Furlong Lane. In 1779, Burslem pottery manufacturer William Adams rented the factory and part of the estate.
On 1 March 1784, William purchased the factory and the land he had been renting. He changed the estate’s name from Will Flats to Greengates and demolished the old factory.
William built Greengates Pottery (shown above), where he made high-quality stoneware and jasper ornaments for the luxury market. He employed Swiss modeller Joseph Mongolot. Joseph helped him create models for moulds to produce the bas-reliefs for jasper and stoneware.
Pottery produced by William was sold to wealthy customers. Some purchased ware from his showrooms in Fleet Street, London. Others visited the Greengates factory’s showrooms where they bought tea sets, dinner services, jasper, and stoneware ornaments.
In his book, Marks and Monograms on Pottery and Porcelain, William Chaffer mentioned the quality of Adams’ jasper. He said some of it was “equal to, if not superior to” jasper made at Etruria by Wedgwood.
North Staffordshire Heritage 