Lime Kilns, Pottery Ovens, Bone and Flint Factories

Froghall Tunnel - about 100 feet long

At the end of the Caldon Canal is a national park called Froghall.  To get to the very end of the  canal, there is a low tunnel - many of the canal boats are too high to pass through, but we were able to get through and moor for the night at an actual dock.  There was a

Froghall Historic Park

rubbery thing on the front of the boat that poked up about 8” - it caught a lot of spiderwebs on the way through, and we had a nice ball of fuzz on top of it when we were through the tunnel.

The area was originally developed to provide lime for the pottery houses at Stoke on Trent.  The old lime kilns are still here and are fascinating.  Apparently limestone and coal were shovelled into the top of

Lime Kilns at Froghall

the kiln, the coal would be heated up and would cook the stone.   The lime dust would fall to the bottom where it was shovelled out and loaded onto canal boats

Entrances to the oven where the lime was
shovelled out

to take down the canal to the Stoke on Trent factories.

Description of how the Lime Kiln worked

 

At Etruria Junction (where the Caldon meets the Trent and Mersey canal), there is an old

Etruria Junction - Bone and Flint factories here.  This is
a hairpin turn from the Trent and Mersey Canal onto
the Caldon canal.  Glen managed this turn on our second
day on the boat - there was a huge festival happening and
literally hundreds of people were his audience.  Somewhat
unnerving to say the least.  It looks way more peaceful here!

Historic Etruria Wharf info

Bone & Flint factory at Etruria.  Now part of a museum

flint and bone mill.  I gather this had something to do with pottery making as well, although I haven’t got any info on that.  In Stoke on Trent area, there are a number of old pottery manufacturing plants, but most have closed down due to less expensive product coming from China.

The area is quite depressed, and boaters

Deserted factory on the canal

Pottery factory on the canal - still working

We saw a number of these  alongside the canal.  They are
huge!

warn you not to moor and leave your boat in the area due to a high crime rate (we learned that lesson a little late!).  Along the canal through Stoke, we saw a number of old factories with broken windows, and crumbling, decaying walls.  Sad really.  We were told recently though that some of the industry is returning so that’s nice to know.

The old Wedgwood plant does not seem to be operational, but they’ve taken a lemon and made lemonade.  There is now a large museum, restaurant and outlet store on the site.  You can even go in and paint your own piece of Wedgwood if you so desire.  

Most of the area is being made over as a new housing development though.  I don’t think the heyday of English bone

Ł30 each!  Pretty but not that pretty.

Wedgwood - now a museum and housing development.
And really expensive "outlet" store.

china will ever be back.  We went into the shop - a pair of Wedgwood candle holders was Ł60, so in the interests of keeping the weight down in our luggage, I decided not to buy them.  Also I thought Ł60 was a lot of money to hold two candles.  (A week or so later I found a nice Wedgwood candy dish in a second-hand store for Ł10.  Almost bought it out of spite.)  Not a sensible thing to be lugging around though.