VOLUNTEER RESOURCE INFORMATION

ISSUE 2: HISTORY APRIL 2020

BURGESS & LEIGH HISTORY

Burgess and Leigh In 1851, Messrs Hulme and Booth started an earthenware business in the central in , Stoke-On-Trent. This pottery produced earthenware until 1862 when Mr William Leigh and Mr Frederick Rathbone Burgess formed a partnership and took over the running of Central Pottery.

Central Pottery outlined in red

William Leigh was in partnership for more than thirty years with Frederick Rathbone Burgess, a descendant of the Rathbone family, who were pottery manufacturers in Tunstall. The expansion of the business soon necessitated a move from its first home, the Central Pottery, Burslem [1862-1867] to the Hill Pottery built in 1839 on the site of a Ralph Wood pottery by Samuel Alcock to house his pottery: Samuel Alcock & Co, one of the few firms to make both china and earthenware.

The impressive works had been given a glowing report in The Scriven’s Report in 1842 on child labour in the . Scriven visited the area of Stoke-on-Trent from December 1840 onwards to collect evidence. He reported:

"This factory is one of the largest and best conducted in the Potteries.

The recent building, comprising the show and ware-rooms, painting, and burnishing rooms, with offices, &c. is of an elegant design; the rooms are very lofty, spacious, well ventilated, and healthy ; most of the workshops in other parts are of a similar kind with others."

Burgess & Leigh acquired the earthenware part of the works along with a number of Alcock's best known shapes and patterns. They manufactured the ordinary as well as the higher and more artistic classes of earthenware goods, both for the home and foreign markets.

Two views of the Hill Pottery named in Arnold Bennett’s Clayhangar novel as "Sytch Pottery"

Source: http://www.thepotteries.org/potworks_wk/08

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The Middleport Pottery The business moved to Middleport Pottery by the in 1889, where you will find us today. Following the deaths of William Leigh and Frederick Rathbone Burgess, the business continued with the support of their sons, Edmund Leigh and Richard Burgess. The Leigh family took sole control of the business in 1912 when Richard Burgess passed away.

Burleigh During the 20th Century, Burgess and Leigh became known as ‘Burleigh’. Following difficult conditions in the 90s, the Dorling family purchased the business and a new era of family ownership began. In 2010, Burleigh was acquired by Denby Holdings Limited, the parent company of Denby Pottery. A year later, The Prince of Wales stepped in to help with emergency repair works needed at Middleport Pottery – his charity, HRH The Prince’s Regeneration Trust, offered the £9 million support that we needed to keep production going.

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The Power Point Presentation seen here on the left is available on request.

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MIDDLEPORT POTTERY APRIL 14TH 2015

Middleport Pottery is located in Stoke on Trent, at the heart of the British ceramics industry. The Pottery was built in 1888 as a model factory for the production of what became the world- renowned “Burleigh” earthenware. In 2010 closure threatened, jeopardising 50 jobs, traditional skills, historic processes and unique collections of ceramics moulds and archives. So great was the cost of repairing the buildings that the site had no viable operational future.

But the business has been dramatically rescued by a UK heritage charity, The Prince’s Regeneration Trust. Its many buildings are still home to Burleigh pottery, using traditional techniques, and also host a growing visitor destination with interpretation facilities, a gallery exhibiting historic examples of its products, educational and teaching space and a café. Additionally, the historic machinery, artefacts and nationally important collections and archive have been saved for public viewing. The site also now houses three smaller specialist pottery businesses and has workshop space available for further creative businesses.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NszwETu9IN4&feature=emb_rel_end

The Jury were gratified to be able to recognise the rescue of this fine unit of production – both the industrial premises and its delightful product. Many such worthwhile ventures fall by the wayside through the absence of a new sponsor, and that is where the Prince’s Regeneration Trust deserve thanks for facilitating the continuation in production of this attractive range of earthenware pottery. The factory too now has a secure future as one of the last surviving traditional potteries in the West Midlands of England, known as “The Potteries” and once characterised by its factory chimneys and distinctive bottle kilns. The techniques and skills of production have been revitalised and buildings and machinery carefully conserved to retain their unique atmosphere and spirit of place.

http://www.europeanheritageawards.eu/winners/middleport-pottery/

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THE REVIVAL OF MIDDLEPORT POTTERY BBC presenter and antiques expert Steven Moore welcomes you to Middleport Pottery. This film shows how the Pottery's regeneration not only revived a building but also transformed people's lives.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NszwETu9IN4

The Middleport Pottery pen drawing by Neville Malkin - Oct 1975

http://www.thepotteries.org/listed/104a.html

THE MIDDLEPORT POTTERY SITE REDEVELOPMENT

On 31st July 2012 The City planners granted permission to The Prince’s Regeneration Trust for the Middleport Pottery site redevelopment The proposal was for a ‘Part change of use of building to museum / visitor attraction / activity workshops, gallery, shop and cafe, erection of substation on existing car park and change of use of parcels of vacant land to visitor car parks’

“The proposal intends to streamline the internal operations of the factory which would make it more efficient and improve the working conditions of the existing employees. The freed-up and under-utilised space which would allow for the new uses including the visitor attraction and leasable industrial and office space for small, creative businesses would complement the existing factory and create jobs. The visitor interpretation spaces and tours and the dedicated activity spaces would also encourage the potential for educational trips to the historic factory and the café, gallery and extended factory shop would complement and support these new uses. It is considered that in addition to creating much needed jobs, the proposal would ensure the long term survival of the factory and bring vitality to the area and the immediate locality. The proposed new uses within the factory are to be welcomed. Whilst the NPPF [National Planning Policy Framework] would require a sequential assessment for retail use, the shop extension is to the existing factory shop and would be intrinsically linked to the factory and the goods it produces. As such, there are no concerns with the extended retail space or the NPPF in this particular instance”.

The table below: Schedule of Significance dates from 2012 it is noticeable that certain popular & important features of the site are missing viz. The Steam Engine & The Bathhouse. Both have been ‘reopened’ for public viewing since 2017. They should both be included in the Exceptional category of Overall Significance?

Source: Middleport Pottery - Design & Access Statement 2012 (submitted to SoT City Council’s Planning Department)

pdf available on request

Contact: [email protected] [email protected]