Gladstone Pottery Museum & Roslyn China (Park Place) Works

            Three of the the seven bottle ovens of the Gladstone Pottery Museum, Longton where the latest series of Channel 4's Great Pottery Throwdon was recently filmed. The bottle oven on the left is from the original Gladstone potbank, the two on the right in the range were part of the Roslyn China (formerly Park Place) works. In 1970 when then-owners Thos. Poole Ltd decided to close the Gladstone pottery works, local businessman Derek Johnson bought the site and transferred ownership to the Staffordshire Pottery Industry Preservation Trust to be run as a museum. The City of Stoke-on-Trent took over ownership in 1989 and assumed management of the museum in 1994. The history of the site goes right back to the early days of pottery manufacture in North Staffordshire and is actually two potbanks, Gladstone and Park Place works, the latter changing the name to Roslyn China in 1946. The first recorded operators of the site were potters Thomas and Michael Shelley who bought the land from Lord Longton in the latter part of the C18th and built two factories but operated them jointly.  In 1815 the site was split and the Gladstone part continued in the ownership of the family until 1857 when it was tenanted to Thos.Cooper and his successors. Some time in the 1870's the name was changed to the Gladstone Pottery Works in honour of Wm. Gladstone, the longest serving British Prime Minister to date (12 years, so a bit longer than Liz Truss then!). The factory ceased production in 1939 for the duration of the Second World War and the business was amalgamated with Thomas Poole Ltd. who operated the Cobden pottery works. After the war the bottle ovens at Gladstone works were rebuilt and production resumed under the directorship of the Poole family but in May 1970 the site was put up for sale. The two bottle ovens in the range to the right of the photo are also Grade II listed and formed part of Park Place works known as Roslyn China works since 1946, owned by the Thomas Wild Group. In 1963 production was transferred to other works within the group following a program of rationalisation and Roslyn was reunited with the next-door Gladstone factory. Unfortunately owing to severe funding cuts suffered by Stoke Museums (a key part of this utterly incompetent Government's 'levelling down' plans no doubt) this wonderful museum is only open from April-October but its well worth a visit for anyone interested in the history of The Potteries and the ceramics industry. Incidentally, the shadow of the smoke cast on the nearest bottle oven is from a chimney of the adjacent Albion Works which is home to Allied Insulators Ltd. This company was formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of Bullers and Taylor,Tunnicliff one of the few ceramic manufacturers still operating. Taken with a 1976 Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera Alpha 1 on Polaroid (TIP) film
   

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Taken on: March 31, 2023

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Gladstone Pottery Museum

Gladstone works

Longton

Pottery

Ceramics

The Potteries

Stoke-on-Trent

Bottle oven

Bottle Kiln

Polaroid

Polaroid Land Camera

Polaroid SX-70

SX-70 Alpha 1

Polaroid Originals

TIP Film

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Sets appears in: • Instants • The Potteries

Groups appears in: • instant gratification • Polaroid SX 70 more » • analog • Stoke-on-Trent • Polanoiders (NO FAKE POLAROIDS) • Listed Buildings (England) • UK Film Club • Industrial Heritage At Risk • INSTANTAT - die neue instant//the new instant • in explore • Polaroid Land Forever (only REAL Polaroids please) • In the Frame • WONDERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN GENERAL.MARAVILLAS DE LA FOTOGRAFIA EN « less

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