People and their collections

Robert Plot 1640-96 - scientist & antiquary

Plot and pottery (2): pottery manufacture in Burslem, Staffordshire

Robert Plot was interested in all aspects of the natural world, which in the 17th-century included human activity. In The Natural History of Stafford-shire (1686) he gives a remarkably clear and detailed description of pottery manufacture in Burslem, the mother town of the six towns of The Potteries, all now known as Stoke-on-Trent.

He describes the clays used for potting; the making of slip; levigation and preparation of the clay; throwing, slip-coating and decorating pottery; glazing the vessels; the placing of wares in the kiln and the form of the kiln and the length of time needed for firing the pots. Plot's text is worth quoting at length, see Plot and pottery (3)-(9).

In addition a glossary of terms is included - Plot and pottery (10).

        A group of Staffordshire slipwares curated by The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Potclays & pipeclays in Oxfordshire

Plot and Pottery

Clays used for potting