Photo of the Week

Bottle Kiln and Housing in one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent

Bottle Kiln and Housing in one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent
the pottery works and the houses were often in close proximity
sometimes side-by-side and right on the pavement, as shown in
this picture - this lead to poor living conditions with a lower
than average life expectancy

From the 18th century until the 1960s, bottle ovens were the dominating feature of the Staffordshire Potteries. There were over two thousand of them standing at any one time and they could be seen everywhere one looked.
Some small factories had only one bottle oven, other large potbanks had as many as twenty-five.

more on the Bottle Kilns
more on the Six Towns of Stoke-on-Trent