Summary
KING James II was briefly on the throne when Robert Plot (1640- 1696) visited North Staffordshire. Fortunately for later historians, this collator of natural phenomena gives a glimpse into the world of the Potteries when it was little more than a crude cottage industry. His Natural History of Staffordshire, published in 1686, details the double sunset at Leek. But best of all is the account of his visit to the growing towns of clay that give an exceptional picture of early pottery production.
Plot tells us that Shelton is making Staffordshire blue bricks, and that tobacco clay pipes are being made "plentifully across the whole district". The clay for both of these was being dug from huge pits in Shelton and Hanley Green, and he describes three types of clay and the processes by which it was mixed.See the full content of this document
Extract
Of the Pottery Industry
From his lodgings at Newcastle, Plot journeys across the hazardous Fowlea Brook to the hamlet of Burslem to tell us there were no more than 7...
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