TI{E BULLETIN OF THE ASSOCIATIOI{ FOR I]IIOUSTRIAL ARCI{AEOLOGY 95 pence FREE TO MEMBERS 0F AIA Josiah Wedgwood Bicentenary The great potter Jostah Wedgwood died on 3 wood perfected his last ceramic body known as January 1795, and tt is ight that the event Jasper in 1774 This is an unglazed vitreous fine should be celebrated But what is it that made stoneware which can be stained blue, green or him so famous? He cerlainly revolutionised the other colours as a base for aoolied white classical manufacture of pottery by introducing new fine reliels or portraits in the same material lt was wares along with mass productton whtch in orized above all his oroducts and is still a valued creased effrcrency and reduced costs lo proyide ornamental ware ol world ciass He considered inexpensive quailA poftery within the reach of his finest ever achievement was the replica of the more aeoole He was aiso successfui in markel Barberini or Portland Vase in 1789, Jasper ware ing and was influential rn the development of continues to be made today, with its finely de- tran spoft sy ste ms a rou n d Sto ke -o n - T re nt tailed bas-relief ornaments still applied by hand Cameos ,n Jasper and Black Basalt wares The 'Father of English Potters' was born at were produced as jewellery in metal mounts Burslem Staffordshire in 1730, the youngest of 12 manufactured by among others, Matthew Boulton children in a family with a pofting tradition, After at Birmingham Medallions were produced too, his apprenticeshp, he became a partner in 1754 among them the well-known Slave Medallion of of Thomas Wh eldon of Fenton, said by some to 178/ depicting a manacled kneeling slave with the be the greatest English potter of h,s time caption 'Am I Not A Man And A Brother?' lor Whielden gave him reign to experiment, but within Josiah was a campaigner for the abolition of 'ive years le set up on h,s own at tne lvy Ho.lse slavery He was also sympathetic to the American Josiah Wedgwood I by George Stubbs, enamel on and Potworks at Burslem War ol Independence and the French Revolution, bisque plaque Photo Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd it rs said that Wedgwood's greatest achieve- Wedgwood was in partnershrp with his close ment and contribution to the British pottery indus- friend Thomas Bentley, a Liverpool merchant, from The enquiring and scientific side of Wedg- try was the deveiopment and production in 1762 1769 until the latter's death in 1780 The interna- wood turned to matters other than the perfection of the cream coloured earthenware which later tional success of the firm was undoubtedly aided oJ new bodies and manulacturing processes For became known as Oueen's Ware after the unso- through Bentley's many contacts, and travellers example, he invented a pyrometer which could iicited patronage of Queen Charotte Commercial- throughout Europe and even North America, measure very high temperatures, valuable in the 'Potter ising on this, he was quick to print to Her soon became familar with Wedgwood earthen- ceramics industry, and for this he was elected a Malesty' on hrs birl headrngs He found rnat by wares Many of the great European potteries were Fellow of the Royal Society in 1783 first cultivating the custom ol royaity it was inevita- soon imitating Wedgwood's work, which can only His other key role in the developing Industrial 'middling ble that the people' would wsh to follow be seen as a compliment Revolution was his active promotion of transport their exampJe Catherine the Great s famous Frog Service' of 1774 was of this type This enormous dinner and dessed service for 50 peoole con- sisted of 952 preces hand-decorateo wrth paint- ings of 1,244 different English scenes with the addition of green enamer f,og crests The o I came to t2,290 12s 4d With great patience, Wedgwood experimented with many ceramic bodies, as his notebooks record His first ornamental ware was developed in 1768 This was Black Basalt an improvement on the cruder Egyptian brac(' arready being nanrfactrred by Staffordshire potters True to l"is prediction that 'the Black is sterling and wlll last forever' it has remained popular ever since for vases, teawares, busts and cameos After thou- sands of experiments over three years, Wedg- The Etruria lactory, Stoke-on-Trcnt, (1 759-1 950) Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Lnttetd Limekiln typology o AIA Awards o Jackfield Bridge o National Trust and lA Wedgwood bicentenary o Gonference News o AIA Forward Plan o 1994 AGM Report systems to open up the isolated Staffordshire industrlal names, the Wedg- potteries district, first turnpikes and then the Trent wood company, lounded in and Mersey Canal, of which he was treasurer, lt 1759. is still going strong. was Wedgwood who cut the first sod in 1766, but Indeed the Wedgwood the lull 93-mile route was not completed until Group includes several fa- 1777 Ne had hls own interest in this of course for mous names. including Coal- it reduced transport costs through to Liverpool port China (established and Hull, and ooened uo the continental markets, c1750) and Mason's lron- The waterway facilitated the carriage of delicate Srone (established 1795) pottery products and also allowed for the importa- The headquarters factory site tion ol bulky raw materials such as Cornish clays at Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, Meanwhile, Wedgwood's manufacturing base is the most extensive and had moved first to the Brick House Works (known modern of its type in the as the Bell Works because he installed a bell to world, combining traditional summon his workers), and then on 13 June 1769 eighteenth century craft skills to a purpose-built factory beside the line of the with the latest technical proc- proposed Trent and Mersey Canal The layout of esses in the manufacture of this Etruria Works is said to have been influenced high quality tableware and by Matthew Bolton's Soho Works at Birmingham ornamental wares in fine which was opened just three years before, Wedg- bone china, fine earthenware wood's famous factory took the name 'Etruria' (Queen's Ware), Jasper Ware because at the time there was a widespread belief and Black Basalt. that the Greek and ltalian pottery being excavated So 1995, this bicentenary at Pompeii was Etruscan Here, mechanisation year of Josiah's death, is was introduced in the 1770s, which increased being celebrated in great bas-retief olnament output and lowered costs, Mass production of styleiA major exhibition-entr- lrnamen.tineleach !:"!l1?d,.?!,111d y,J":p:',^y?: ,The a method unaftered stnce tte days of Josiah Wedgwood I - not for the ornamental wares was achieved with moulds tldd Genius of Wedg- by sake of tradition butbecauseltlsthebestwaytoNeseMetheclarityotthe which could be used by semi-skilled workers, wood, is to be held at the fine detail Photo: Josiah wedwood & Sons ud Around 160 years later, through foresight and Victoria and Albert MuSeUm at a time of difiiculties in the industry, the fifth in London from 8 June to 17 Josiah Wedgwood purchased a site with room for September The centrar atrraction f;lydy*:HTditl t[,.f3'll; il,il5J;i,'#*: expansion for a new factory at Barlaston, Produc- 250 pleces of the Frog s:ry'.:^It1d.y^r^:1-]1''ll^bf.^i,,.,f. ionlr otzaz zo4i41).Galery, Hantey, and atthe tion started in 1940 but it was not until 1950s that catherine ll of Russia in 1774' TTl9i'^9tl.lgT wecigwooo Visitor centre antj Museu'nr at Barlas- Etruria was closed. petersburs for rhis exhibitior:..pi?lg the old site St ton-lr orzaz 204j41). D It is satisfying that unlike so many famous on-Trenl. there will be soecial exhibttions :1.[.:at the The interpretation of the physical remains to ence in using the A|A-devised Index Record for determine whether a kiln has been intermittent or Industrial Sites (lRlS) forms to record the limekilns Limekilns and continuous required detailed conslderation of the in the vicinity. Trying to complete the forms with typologies features. Marilyn refened to the excavations by the such a large group was not very successlul but heights of Geoffrey Starmer Leicestershire Industrial History Society at Calke the walk to see the limekilns took in the Abbey where the shape of the hearths could be Lincoln Hill above lronbridge, with unusual views Typologies have long been an impoftant tool ol used as a basis for classification. Because burnt of the wharf warehouse, the lron Bridge and the mainstream archaeology, and last year's AIA lime had to be kept dry, there was a need for power station at Buildwas. The tour crossed the affiliated societles weekend at honbridge exam- storage space close to the kiln, and some kilns bridge to the less{requented and wooded side of ined their use in industrial archaeology Different incorporated large arches for this purpose, the gorge where the Bower Yard bank of limekilns indusfrles were discussed, eg malting (see a In conclusion, Marilyn proposed stages in the was exproreo, summary of Amber Patrick's paper in /A News methodology lor establishing a typology: Some general points about typologies 91), but a major paft of the weekend concen- tr Construction of a spatial map of sites emerged from the weekend: trated on limekilns. The following account sum- tr Interpret the physical evidence on each site, in rela- tr Typology is the study of types, which are classes ol marises the proceedings tion to landowners, topography, geology and com- things having some common characteristics Midland limekilns were taken by Marilyn Palmer as munications tr Typology is more than merely classification, but is a particular case for typology She re-emphasised tr Develop a working hypothesis as to which kilns are slructuring data in sequence by considering that typologies provide a theoretical basis lor intermittent and which are continuous changes through time tackling huge banks ol data but they had to take D Extend the regional hypothesis to a national typoF tr Typology is important because into account regional variations.