An Introduction to the Bottle Oven
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An Introduction to the Bottle Oven Terry Woolliscroft October 2019 Huge brick-built bottle ovens, integrAl to A pottery fActory And essentiAl in pottery mAnufActure, were once the dominAnt feAture of the Potteries lAndscApe. At their peAk, Around 2,000 existed in the City of Stoke-on-Trent, StAffordshire. Most of them were fired once A week, some twice. At eAch firing At leAst 10 tons of coAl wAs burnt in each oven. Some very large ovens used over 30 tons per firing. Thick, blAck, choking smoke filled the air. However the Clean Air Act of 1956 put a stop to their use and sealed the fate of the traditional coal-fired oven. Pottery manufacturers were allowed seven years to find alternative fuels. The race to demolish the redundAnt ovens, And rid the AreA of its grim pAst, begAn. In 2019 only 47 remAin standing complete with their bottle shAped chimney. Of those only 29 are potters’ ovens, used for biscuit, or glost pottery firings. 18 of these examples are within a short walk of Gladstone Pottery Museum in Longton. The rest of the bottle-shaped structures are scattered throughout the city and were used as calcining or decorating kilns. Many of those that remain are in a very fragile condition. All are Listed Buildings And All, from MAy 2018, Are pArt of the Stoke-on-Trent's Heritage Action Zone. A bottle oven is a brick-built, bottle-shAped structure in which pottery, or its component mAteriAls were fired. The simplest type, the updrAught hovel oven, consists of two main parts. The outer part, is known as the hovel. This could be up to 70 feet (21m) high. All hovels had one distinctive And common feAture, the bottle shApe. This shApe, with its wide bAse And nArrow neck, evolved to accommodate the firing chamber. The tapering chimney was better for creating draught which aided the firing process and helped to take away smoke. It also aided protection from bad weather. The inner part is the firing chamber. It is a cylindrical structure with a domed roof called the crown. Its wAlls are about 12” (30cm) thick. Iron bAnds, known As bonts, run right round the firing chamber, about 12” (30cm) apart, to strengthen it As it expAnds And contrActs during firing. A doorwAy, the wicket, just lArge enough for A mAn with A sAggAr on his heAd to pAss through, is built into the chamber. A sufficient gap between the firing chamber and the hovel gave enough space for the fireman and his ovenmen to work, firing the oven. Bottle ovens have a peculiar fascination. No two of them are alike. They seem as full of character and offer As mAny surprises As humAn beings, And in temperAment they were As volAtile And unpredictAble. A firemen hAd to leArn how best to work with them, to control And cAjole the wAy they performed and fired. .