VOLUNTEER RESOURCE INFORMATION

ISSUE 1: HERITAGE APRIL 2020

Middleport is the home of In Brief ‘Burleigh Ware’ ceramics, and is one of the last working Victorian Client: in the United Kingdom. The Prince's Regeneration Trust

The dilapidated Grade II* factory buildings in Location: were saved by His Royal Highness the Stoke-on-Trent Prince of Wales. Construction value: The site was purchased by The Prince’s £5,500,000 Regeneration Trust in 2010 and working Completion: alongside FCB Studios a brief was developed to April 2014 repair the factory, save the jeopardised jobs of existing employees, create additional jobs and kick start the regeneration of the surrounding town.

The quiet and restrained refurbishment of the site has been awarded a Europa Nostra Prize for European Cultural Heritage Conservation.

For over 130 years the building functions as it was planned to do in the original drawings – an achievement rarely seen in today’s ever–changing world

Improving visitor access and education facilities were fundamental to the regeneration objectives of the project.

"The project is highly commendable in its totality, has clearly regenerated the area (which was a key briefing objective) and trebled the size of the workforce" RIBA Awards Judges' comments 2015

Middleport Pottery is now one of a handful of sites across Europe where a traditional industrial factory and its original function have been conserved, repaired and regenerated for community benefit.

SEE MORE: https://fcbstudios.com/work/view/Middleport-Pottery

https://www.dexigner.com/news/28223

The first & last page of this 30 page pdf document is illustrated above. Ros Kerslake OBE joined The National Lottery Heritage Fund as Chief Executive in July 2016, from The Prince's Regeneration Trust where she was also CEO.

Please email me if you want the full pdf document

£9M REGENERATION VISION AT MIDDLEPORT POTTERY FIRES FIRM INTO RECKONING FOR TOP AWARD DAVE KNAPPER THE SENTINEL SEPTEMBER 3RD 2015

Work to breathe fresh life into an iconic pottery factory – while staying true to the historic site's past – has put its backers in the running for an architecture award.

The Prince's Regeneration Trust stepped in to save Middleport Pottery in 2011 and proceeded with a £9 million vision of how it would rejuvenate the site.

The regeneration charity has now restored ageing areas of the factory as well as protecting 50 jobs and creating an additional 66.

Now the work done by the Trust has seen the charity short-listed for a prestigious 2015 RIBA Client of the Year Award.

It is just one of three organisations from across the UK in the running for the accolade, which is issued by professional body the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

The pottery, based off Port Street, now boasts a dedicated visitor centre and a shop.

Pottery is still produced at the site and many of the workers will tread along passageways once used by the creative minds of yesteryear.

The Trust has leased approximately half the site back to Burgess & Leigh Ltd, so is still made there – just as it has been since 1888.

Ros Kerslake, chief executive of The Trust, said: "We are overjoyed that PRT has been short-listed for such a prestigious national award for our contribution to architectural excellence in restoring Middleport Pottery."

Ros has branded the work carried out at the factory as some of the most 'challenging and complex' the Trust has undertaken.

The charity was nominated for the award by architect firm Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCB Studios), who were hired to lead the restoration.

Peter Clegg, founding partner of FCB Studios, praised the Trust for stepping in to save the factory.

He said: "They have succeeded in saving a nationally significant Grade II* listed 'model' pottery and have created scores of jobs which has kick-started regeneration in what was a seriously depressed area."

A fund-raising campaign is ongoing at the site to raise £167,000 to bring a historic steam engine back into use at the site.

Potteries historian Fred Hughes said: "It is a working pottery that is also available for the community and I find that very impressive.

"There is so much going on there and I think that we should all applaud the Trust for the work it has done."

The Trust is up against Countryside Properties for the Abode housing scheme in Cambridge and The National Theatre for the transformation of its London building. The winner will be revealed at a ceremony on October 15.

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/9m-regeneration-vision-Middleport-Pottery-fires/story-27732397- detail/story.html#ixzz3klKAK41z

HERITAGE ORGANISATIONS IN ENGLAND

English Heritage separated into two organisations in April 2015; the English Heritage charity which cares for the National Heritage Collection of more than 400 historic places and their collections and Historic England, the public body that looks after England's historic environment and helps people understand, value and care for historic places.

Historic England has listed 400,000 of the Most Historically & Architecturally Significant Places in England

Historic England’s List includes buildings, battlefields, monuments, parks, gardens, shipwrecks and more.

Listing marks and celebrates a building's special architectural and historic interest, and also brings it under the consideration of the planning system, so that it can be protected for future generations.

The older a building is, and the fewer the surviving examples of its kind, the more likely it is to be listed.

The general principles are that all buildings built before 1700 which survive in anything like their original condition are likely to be listed, as are most buildings built between 1700 and 1850. Particularly careful selection is required for buildings from the period after 1945. Buildings less than 30 years old are not normally considered to be of special architectural or historic interest because they have yet to stand the test of time.

How are listed buildings graded?

 Grade I buildings are of exceptional interest, only 2.5% of listed buildings are Grade I

 Grade II* buildings are particularly important buildings of more than special interest; 5.8% of listed buildings are Grade II*

 Grade II buildings are of special interest; 91.7% of all listed buildings are in this class and it is the most likely grade of listing for a home owner.

IRREPLACEABLE: A HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN 100 PLACES A LIST OF THE 100 PLACES, BUILDINGS AND HISTORICAL SITES THAT TELL THE REMARKABLE STORY OF ENGLAND AND ITS IMPACT ON THE WORLD.

Historic places across the country have shaped England and the world beyond. They are hotbeds of invention, industry and creativity and they bring our nation's story to life. In 2017 Historic England launched the Irreplaceable: A History of England in 100 Places campaign, designed to celebrate England's remarkable places.

Guided by public nominations and a panel of expert judges, including Robert Winston, Mary Beard, George Clarke, David Olusoga, Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson and Bettany Hughes, we compiled a list of 100 places where remarkable things have happened.

The book, like the campaign, is divided into ten categories and explains why each of these 100 places is so important. The result is a unique history of England chosen and told by the people who live here.

Categories 1. Science and Discovery 6. Loss and Destruction

2. Travel and Tourism 7. Faith and Belief

3. Homes and Gardens 8. Industry, Trade and Commerce

4. Sport and Leisure 9. Art, Architecture and Sculpture

5. Music and Literature 10. Power, Protest and Progress

INDUSTRY, TRADE & COMMERCE

Our Industry, Trade & Commerce category judge, historian and journalist Tristram Hunt, has chosen his top ten places from a long list of public nominations.

 The Old Furnace in Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire  Cromford Mills, Matlock, Derbyshire  The Rochdale Pioneers Shop, Toad Lane, Rochdale, Greater Manchester  The Piece Hall, Halifax, West Yorkshire  Castlefield Canal Basin, Manchester  Dunston Staiths, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear  The Lloyd's Building, Lime Street, City of London  The Blue Anchor, Helston, Cornwall  Middleport Pottery, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent  Former Morris Garage, Oxford

MIDDLEPORT POTTERY, BURSLEM, STOKE-ON-TRENT The town of Stoke-on-Trent itself is affectionately known as The Potteries and officially recognised as the World Capital of Ceramics. Burslem is called the "Mother Town" of The Potteries and Middleport Pottery, in the heart of Burslem, has made its famous Burleigh pottery since 1889. It was described as a "Model Pottery" of the industry because it was so cleverly designed to streamline the production process. Middleport was much more efficient than traditional potteries and improved conditions for the workforce with simple details like the passageways being designed for the easy movement of workers and pottery- they are the perfect width for a cart to get through. Finished pottery was placed straight onto barges on the waiting to take the ceramics out to the coast for international export. It is now the last working Victorian "model pottery" of its kind.

Middleport Pottery, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent © UKHBPT/Middleport Pottery

Historic England also publish the annual Heritage at Risk Register

If anyone is interested in any of the At Risk reports (there are 12 altogether 2008-2019) they come in pdf files – Email me which one(s) you want & I’ll forward them to you.

Of the four reports shown above Middleport Pottery appears in the first two, however, Price & Kensington’s Teapot Factory & Colliery appear in every one of the 12 reports.

In fact, Chatterley Whitfield is named in The Victorian Society's 2019 Top 10 Endangered Buildings

Griff Rhys Jones, President of the Victorian Society, said: Can we really want to lose a sturdy industrial site like Chatterley Whitfield Colliery near Stoke?

Unfortunately we all know what happened to Price & Kensington’s Teapot Factory in Longport last November.

THE HARPER STREET DEVELOPMENT

Sir Peter Luff, HLF's Chair, said: "They may look like a row of humble Victorian terraced houses but Harper Street represents an exceptionally important piece of our social history. At risk of being lost, this project will ensure their survival and enable the story of Middleport Pottery, Stoke-on-Trent and the UK's industrial heritage and global prominence to be told fully."

Email me if you’d like a copy of the Design & Access Statement (10 page pdf document)

SETTING THE SCENE HISTORICAL GUIDES

HISTORY OF THE – SIMEON SHAW 1829 PDF

THE BOROUGH OF STOKE-UPON-TRENT – JOHN WARD 1843 PDF

A DAY AT THE STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERIES - THE PENNY MAGAZINE 1843 PDF

JAMES BRINDLEY & THE EARLY ENGINEERS - SAMUEL SMILES 1864 PDF

STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERY AND ITS HISTORY - JOSIAH C 1913 PDF

The five Historical Guides listed above are among the best contemporary accounts of the growth & development of North Staffordshire area. If you would like a pdf of any of these books email me.

Contact: [email protected]

[email protected]