Over Sixty Years'
Experience of Tile
Manufacture

Although the documentary history of the Springfield Tileries only dates back to 1819, the workings clearly indicate its existance long before this date.

Our oldest employee, who has been with us for 62 years, knows of the crude plant once used for making agricultural pipes, but the old-fashioned method of treading the clay with horses, or men, until it acquired the requisite plasticity, had been despenced with before he entered the clay industry.

When Mr. Wheatly first became interested in the business, the Springfield Tileries was but a country brickyard making common bricks and agricultural drain pipes, because the proprietor failed to appreciate the high quality of his deposits.

Towards the latter end of 1870, the production of Roofing Tiles, Flooring Quarries, Ridges and Roof Fittings was commenced and fromthen on the business has never looked back.

Tear by year new plant has been installed and more workers employed, and the recent absorption of our neighbours, the Hawthorn Tileries, has given us the use of a larger bed of clay, which, together with our other deposits, definitely assures our supplies for at least a century, working full time.

In the following pages we deal briefly with the principal stages in the production of goods made from North Staffordshire clays, at the same time explaining how the finished article benefits by the particular method employed and the great care given to detail.

The story is simply and interestingly told, but despite its brevity you will, we think, appreciate the value of over sixty year's experience in the making of clay goods for building purposes.

Apart from the high quality of the goods produced, the success of the Springfield Tileries is due to the fact that it has been owned and operated by one family for several generations, with the result that personal contact with customers and employees has not been lost through amalgamations.

A Family Tradition