Saggars in the Bottle Oven

Today we visited Gladstone Pottery Museum. The museum is a working museum of a medium size coal-fired pottery, typical of those once common in the North Staffordshire are from the time of the industrial revolution in the 18th century to the mid 20th century. Before firing, the pottery was placed in a "saggar" (also made of clay) and the saggars were then stacked inside the bottle ovens. There are about 2000 saggars in the oven for each firing. It was very hard and dangerous work. The museum is going to feature in the BBC1 programme "24 hours in the past".