|
"In
Burslem, and its neighbourhood, are near one hundred and fifty separate
Potteries, for making various kinds of stone and earthenware; which,
together, find constant employment and support for near seven thousand
people.
The
ware in these Potteries is exported in vast quantities from London,
Bristol, Liverpool, Hull, and other seaports, to our several colonies in
America and the West Indies, as well as to almost every port in Europe.
Great
quantities of flint-stones are used in making some of the ware, which
are brought by sea, from different parts of the coast, to Liverpool and
Hull: and the clay for the making of white ware is brought from
Devonshire and Cornwall, chiefly to Liverpool; the materials from whence
are brought by water, up the rivers Mersey and Weaver, to Winsford, in
Cheshire; those from Hull, up the Trent, to Willington; and from
Winsford and Willington, the whole are brought by land-carriage to
Burslem.
The
ware, when made, is conveyed to Liverpool and Hull in the same manner as
the material brought from those places.
Many
thousands of tons of shipping, and seamen in proportion, which in summer
trade to the northern seas, are employed in winter in carrying materials
for the Burslem ware; and, as much salt is consumed in glazing one
species of it, as pays annually near £5,000 duty to Government.
Add
to these considerations the prodigious quantity of coals used in the
Potteries, and the loading and freight this manufacture constantly
supplies, as well for land-carriage as inland navigation, and it will
appear, that the manufacturers, sailors, bargemen, carriers, colliers,
men employed in the salt-works, and others who are supported by the pot
trade, amount to a great many thousand people; and every shilling
received for ware at foreign markets is so much clear gain to the
nation, as not one foreigner is employed in, or any material imported
from abroad for any branch of it; and the trade flourishes so much, as
to have increased by two-thirds within the last fourteen years.
The
Potters concerned in this very considerable manufacture, presuming from
the above and many other reasons that might be offered, the Pot trade
not unworthy the attention of Parliament, have presented a petition for
leave to bring in a Bill to repair and widen the road from Red Bull, at
Lawton, in Cheshire, to Cliff Bank, in Staffordshire; which runs quite
through the Potteries, and falls at each end into a Turnpike road. This
road, especially the northern road from Burslem to the Red Bull, is so
very narrow, deep, and foundrous, as to be almost impassable for
carriages; and in the winter, almost fro pack-horses; for which reason,
the carriages, with materials and ware, to and from Liverpool, and the
salt-works in Cheshire, are obliged to go to Newcastle, and from thence
to the Red Bull, which is nine miles and a half, (whereof three miles
and a half, viz. from Burslem to Newcastle, are not Turnpike road),
instead of five miles, which is the distance from Burslem to the Red
Bull, by the road prayed to be amended."
|
