Factories

Churchyard Works The small pottery site occupied and worked by the Wedgwood family from 1656, when Josiah Wedgwood I’s great-grandfather first took possession of it. Josiah served his apprenticeship there. The site derives its name from the nearby Church of St John’s, where Wedgwood himself was baptised on 12th July 1730.

Ivy House Works   The ‘House and Work Houses’ were rented by Josiah Wedgwood I from 1 May 1759, from his kinsman John Wedgwood of the Big House, Burslem. This was the first site occupied by Josiah, and he remained there until the end of 1762, or possibly the beginning of 1763, when he moved location to the larger Brick House Works, which were nearby. From this time Josiah’s cousin, Thomas Wedgwood (1734-1788), (known as ‘Useful’ Thomas) agreed to work as a journeyman.

Brick House Works   Also known as the ‘Bell’ Works from Wedgwood’s practice of summoning his workers by the use of a bell, instead of the traditional horn. Rented from the beginning of 1763 from the Adams’ family, it was at this site that Wedgwood produced the tea and coffee service which earned him, in 1766, permission from Queen Charlotte to style himself ‘Potter to Her Majesty’. In November 1769 Wedgwood received notice to quit the Brick House premises because his landlord, William Adams, required the buildings for himself. Wedgwood did not fully re-locate from this site to his new Etruria factory until the summer or autumn of 1772.

Etruria   Opened officially by Josiah Wedgwood I, and celebrated by the throwing of six ‘First Day’s’ Vases, on 13th June 1769, the land on which the factory was built, known as the Ridgehouse Estate, had been originally purchased by Josiah in 1767 for the sum of three thousand pounds. The estate comprised some three hundred and fifty acres, and Wedgwood was particularly anxious to purchase it because he knew that it lay directly in the path of the proposed Trent and Mersey Canal. The motto of the factory (one which appeared on the First Day’s Vases), was ‘Artes Etruriae Renascuntur’ - literally, ‘The Arts of Etruria are reborn’. The name ‘Etruria’ actually derives from an area of central Italy, originally inhabited by the Etrusci. The Etruscans were a highly civilised people who produced splendid works of art which were greatly admired in the 18th century.

Barlaston  A three hundred and eighty two acre estate located near the village of Barlaston, Staffordshire. The land was purchased by the Wedgwood family in 1936 for the site of the new factory. The foundation stone was laid on 10 September 1938, and the architects for the factory were Keith Murray and his partner Charles White. Earthenware production was transferred from the old Etruria site in 1940, with production officially ending at Etruria on 13 June 1950. The new Barlaston factory was the most advanced pottery in Britain, and firing was powered by electricity in the Brown Boveri tunnel ovens.