Over
the next 60 years the area between Newcastle Street and the canal was rapidly
developed with new terrace houses and factories. One new development was the
construction of the Middleport Pottery by Burgess & Leigh between the
canal and Port Street in 1888-9. Their new “Model Pottery” was described
as follows in 1893:
“What
may be styled the ‘Model Pottery’ of Staffordshire — that of Messrs
Burgess and Leigh, of Burslem, may claim special illustration here, and the
more so, that the scope of the operations carried on there is a very wide
one, including everything of domestic utility, almost from the plainest to
the most elaborate workmanship. In point of date of establishment, the firm
is very respectable, having begun operations in 1862, at the Central
Pottery, Burslem, whence they removed to Hill Pottery, where they remained
till the completion of the fine premises now occupied, in 1889.... The
Middleport Pottery was built by the firm and specially designed to meet the
requirements of their business. The plan is quadrangular, with a frontage of
288 feet, and a depth of 216 feet, the extent of the site being thus near an
acre and a half.
The
long, gabled frontage is of neat and handsome design, and of two stories;
similar ranges of buildings running back from its extremities and enclosing
a large space of ground crossed with several parallel lines of buildings,
enclosing specious courts or yards, in which the kilns are conveniently
built. The offices occupy a portion of the front line of buildings, almost
the whole of the remainder of the premises being devoted to manufacturing
operations. Steam power is supplied throughout.”
The
illustration of the factory above is from an advertisement in the Potteries,
Newcastle & District Directory, published in 1907. Virtually all the
buildings shown in the illustration, with the exception of most of the bottle
ovens, are still standing today (2000) and the factory is one of the
best-preserved examples of a Victorian pottery in Stoke-on-Trent.
The
Anderton Canal Company bought the adjacent site in the early 1890s where they
erected a large warehouse and boat repair yard most of which is intact. These
new developments can be found on the 1900 map which
should be compared with the 1832 map and 1851
map to get a good idea of the changing nature of the area.
(1760's - mid 19th C))Burgess Dorling & Leigh (the model Victorian Pottery)
