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Lesley Peterson is a Toronto-based writer specializing in travel, art, culture, history and legendary landscapes. She has a degree in Art History from the University of Manitoba and is a member of NATJA (North American Travel Journalists Association). Catch her on Twitter as @culturetripper or contact her at lesley@culturetripper.com. All content by Lesley Peterson copyright © 2009 - Until the Present. All photos by Lesley Peterson except where other credit noted.
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The Staffordshire Potteries, England
Monday, December 3rd, 2012. Filed under: Art ArtSmart Roundtable Destination Guides Europe Legendary Landscapes
This month’s ArtSmart Roundtable topic is a Favorite Art and Travel Experience. Be sure to scroll down for links to other Roundtable members’ posts and perspectives.
Bottle kilns at Gladstone Pottery Museum.
One of the trips I’ve enjoyed most was to the Staffordshire Potteries in the UK. The Staffordshire Potteries are centered around Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. Once the industrial heart of England, much of the area now has a rural feel with over 30 pottery-related sites snugged in a pretty landscape.
Though I was there in sleet-dashed February, my memories are warm: fun and friendly people dedicated to keeping the region’s legacy alive, cozy fireside meals in a medieval moathouse, a sense of wonder that such beauty and invention could take place where, for much of history, mere survival would have been miracle enough.
Rainsoaked, mud-filled hills. Cold ground, you’d think, for big dreams. Nevertheless the Potteries became a world centre of ceramic production in the 17th century due to local availability of coal, lead, salt and clay. With imagination and perseverance, these rough materials were transformed into objects both useful and beautiful.
One of the greatest innovators in British pottery was Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795). A fourth generation potter, fatherless at 9, Wedgwood experimented tirelessly to develop new types of pottery (the famous Queen’s Ware, Jasper Ware and more), industrialized the production of pottery, created new methods of marketing and worked to improve local roads, canals and working conditions. Eventually, the family’s money and interest in geology and natural history would fuel Josiah’s grandson Charles Darwin’s pursuit of the origin of species and theories of evolution.
The Stoke/Stafford area is a true adventure in art and history. I’d love to return and wouldn’t hesitate to go in winter. Staffordshire’s twin fires of hospitality and creativity are well ‘stoked’ and provide ample warmth any time of year.
There used to be over 2000 bottle kilns dotting – and polluting – the Staffordshire landscape.
Pigtails and flared coats are always in fashion at the Wedgwood Museum.
Demonstrating the throwing of Wedgwood’s distinctive Jasper Ware at the Wedgwood Museum.
Another pretty Wedgwood pattern.
February snowdrops and holly in Staffordshire, England.
Links:
The Potteries – Fascinating photo archive about the Potteries’ technology and history.
Staffordshire Tourism - Home to the Potteries, the National Forest, the Staffordshire Hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and more.
Visit Stoke-on-Trent – Less than 2 hours by train from London, Stoke-on-Trent is the world capital of the pottery industry, home to the Wedgwood Museum, Royal Doulton, Portmeirion, Moorcroft, Aynsley and dozens of pottery sites and attractions.
In Toronto, learn more about English pottery and china at the Gardiner Museum, home to 11,000 years of ceramic art.
The heart of England is also a great cheese destination. Here a traditional Ploughman’s Lunch, with meatpie and Branston pickle in the background.
The ArtSmart Roundtable is a group of bloggers with a double passion for travel and art. On the first Monday of the month, each member of the Roundtable publishes a post on that month’s chosen topic.
Christina, Daydream Tourist: The Keeper of the Castle http://daydreamtourist.com/2012/12/03/keeper-of-the-castle/
Jeff, Eurotravelogue: Unforgettable Moments at the Vatican http://www.eurotravelogue.com/2012/12/Visiting-the-Vatican-in-Rome.html
Erin, A Sense of Place: How Ireland Brought Me to the Basilica of San Clemente http://www.a-sense-of-place.com/?p=3160
Leslie, CG Travels: Fresco Feelings in Milan http://cgtravelsblog.com/2012/12/04/artsmart-roundtable-fresco-feelings/
Jenna, This is my Happiness: on Art and Travel http://thisismyhappiness.com/2012/12/05/art-and-travel/
Wedgwood version of the Portland Vase, 1790, Victoria & Albert Museum.
The ‘Portland Vase’, Roman cameo glass circa 5-25 AD, British Museum.
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I had no idea there was so much history behind a Wedgwood plate (or that it was so difficult to make a pot ). I wish I had one of those Ploughman’s lunches!
Fascinating history about Josiah Wedgwood….and wow…can’t believe his grandson was Darwin. The family truly has left many legacies that will be celebrated for all time! Would love to visit someday!
We don’t often talk about craft and historic production centers but they are really quite fascinating. Thanks for the tour! Wedgwood Jasper Ware is such a beautiful and highly collectable pattern. I hope you picked up a little souvenir for yourself.
Such a fascinating place to visit , all that lovely pottery and the history to go with it. The ploughman’s lunch looks great, too.
Oh my, that Jasper ware is gorgeous! I never even thought that Wedgewood was from the early Industrial Revolution; in my brain, it seemed to be an earlier craft.
I have so much respect for potters. It’s a craft that requires so much skill for something that seems so simple.
Also, that cheese looks divine.
I’m not surprised you associate Wedgwood with an earlier time, Erin, because one of Josiah’s great feats was to create a new material to reproduce the famous Portland Vase (a Roman cameo glass vase in the British Museum). Many of the most instantly-identifiable Wedgwood pieces actually are Roman inspired. I’ll post pics of the Portland vase and Josiah’s version when I get a minute.
I’m sure I would never have known about this…reading it at my dining room table made a lightbulb go on so I did some poking around online – might this be the Wedgwood, England 1759 who also makes crystal? If so, I’ve got 2 candlesticks right here from the line. This history is fascinating – love when you can see how art history finds its way into everyday life.
And if I’m way off-base on the crystal…well…I still loved this article. Marking this area to pop by on my next UK jaunt.
You’re not mistaken, Leslie! Wedgwood and Waterford companies have merged: http://waterfordwedgwood.ca/
Thanks for sharing the industrial background to this classic china. I really love the grapevine and bird pattern. Do you happen to know the year of that plate? Looks more recent than the Romanesque style.