• The Crown Pottery Works in Dalehall, Burslem date from 1832. 

• The Plant Brothers operated as china and earthenware manufacturers from the Crown Works from c.1888-1900. In c.1892 they also operated from works in Longton. 

• c.1920 the Crown works were taken by Wood & Sons. 

  • By the early years of the 20th century Wood & Sons had expanded to include a number of potteries, those included the Trent, New Wharf, Stanley and the Alexandra. 

  • In 1912 Frederick Rhead was appointed as art director of Wood and Sons. Frederick produced many designs for Woods, amongst them were the tube lined Elers and Trellis patterns and it was not long before the popularity of the tube lined designs persuaded Harry Wood to acquire the Crown Pottery which was adjacent to the Stanley for the production of art wares. 

  • This new venture was set up under the name of Bursley Ltd. in 1920. The Crown Pottery was well equipped being one of the first potteries in the Stoke on Trent area with a Dressier Tunnel Kiln, until then all firing at Woods had been done using Bottle Kilns.

• In 1931 Susie Cooper was looking for premises to house her fledgling company and once again Harry Wood showing his unerring eye for new talent, offered her space at the Crown Works. Wood and Sons became the main supplier of white ware for the Susie Cooper pottery, thus Harry combined the support of a new designer with good business. By 1933 the pottery had become an associate member of Wood and Sons, with Susie Cooper becoming a director and shareholder of Bursley Ltd. Throughout this period and up to 1959 when she purchased the factory from Woods, she retained full artistic control.

• The Second World War brought serious problems since non-essential work was stopped for the War Effort. A valiant attempt to keep going with simple patterns was defeated when fire gutted the Crown Works in 1942. Susie Cooper's reluctance to recommence production after the War was overcome when her husband, the architect Cecil Barker, joined her in business.

• In 1945 Wood & Sons redeveloped a large part of the works and a new factory was built - the Stanley Pottery on Newport Lane. Parts of the buildings of the former Crown Works remained and Suise Cooper contined to operate from there.

• A second fire brought many problems. In March 1957 the Crown Works was very badly damaged and production was disrupted for almost a year. 

• In 1966 Susie Cooper Pottery merged with Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. Her factory, Crown Works, Burslem, remained an autonomous unit until 31 December 1980.

• The Crown Works remained unused but contigious to the main Stanley Pottery - after a number of years from 1995 onwards struggling to survive, Wood and Sons finally called in the recievers in 2005. The buildings were demolished a few years later. 

Messrs. Plant Brothers, Crown Pottery, Dalehall, Burslem

from...
'A descriptive account of The Potteries (illustrated)'
1893 advertising and trade journal. Page 63

mark for Plant Bros c.1889-1900

mark for Plant Bros, Burslem c.1889-1900

To makr thir pottery Plant Bros used a Crown, with wings above a Stafford Knot. Some marks has PB for Plant Bros., the addition of a second B indicates Burslem and PBL indicates Plant Bros, Longton. 

1898 map of the area west of Burslem

 Newcastle Street is marked in pink, Newport Lane in yellow
Furlong Lane in light blue and Navigation Road in green

the wharf of the Burslem Branch Canal is shown in blue

Red is the Crown Works of Plant Brothers (entrance off Newcastle Street)
Blue is the Lincoln Pottery of Samuel Ford & Company (entrance off Newport Lane)
Green is the Victoria Works of Samuel Bennion

view from Newcastle Street c.2012 
 Bing Maps

 Newcastle Street is marked in pink, Newport Lane in yellow
Furlong Lane in light blue

Red is the location of the former Crown Works (entrance off Newcastle Street)
Blue is the location of the former Lincoln Pottery
Green is the location of the former Victoria Works

closer view of Newcastle Street 
the entrance to the Crown Works (shown in red) can be located by 
the Railway Inn (later the Dalehall Inn) (shown in green)
and the Dalehall Post Office (shown in purple) - the post office is marked on the 1898 map above 

from..... 1907 Staffordshire Sentinel 
'Business Reference Guide to The Potteries, Newcastle & District'

view just before the former pottery works in the area were demolished
the Crown Works is shown in Red 

Susie Cooper hand decorated tea cop and saucer  

Susie Cooper 
Crown Works 
Burslem  

Susie Cooper 
Crown Works 
Burslem