10 reasons why we started making pots in North Staffordshire

1. Nowhere else in the country could such a great variety of potters' clay be found in one place.
   
   
2. There was an abundance of excellent coal suitable for firing ovens lying just below ground.
   
   
3. There were fireclays ideal for 'refractories,' i.e. bricks and saggars to withstand the higher firing temperatures.
   
   
4. Other raw materials necessary for potting lay close by in neighbouring counties; lead in Derbyshire, salt in Cheshire, and fine sand at Mole Cop (now known as Mow Cop).
   
   
5. There were people who, in realising the poverty of the soil for farming, recognised the wealth of opportunities which lay in pottery making.
   
   
6. In the 17th century Midlands, yellow and blackware were made locally as in other areas, but there were also slipwares, tobacco pipes, and the special butterpots made for the farmers to transport their butter to market.
   
   
7. There was a fast-growing centre of pottery-making developing in Burslem (pictured above). At first, many farmers made pottery to help improve their standard of living which at best was poor because of the inhospitable moorland. But soon pottery became their primary business, with farming only a necessary support to provide food for their own needs.
   
   
8. By 1700 many of the potteries elsewhere in the Midlands had ceased production. Since North Staffordshire's supply of pots exceeded the demand of nearby markets, potters here developed a network of merchants who distributed and sold their wares over a very wide area .
   
   
9. Low wages and living costs meant that pots could be produced more cheaply than in other areas. Of the pottery-making centres in the country, Stoke-on-Trent alone continued its growth to become the only industrial area in Britain to become known by the name of its principle trade - The Potteries.
   
   
10. Staffordshire’s initial assets were raw materials, fuel, and people of vision. By the 1740s when non-local raw materials were being used, the fuel and the developed skills of the people became the most important factors. By 1800, the area now known around the world as 'The Potteries' was the national centre of the industry.