UK's last working Victorian pottery saved
Pottery craftsmanship and production in Stoke on Trent has been secured further with the announcement that the UK's last working Victorian Pottery has been saved by the Princes Regeneration Trust.
The UK-based Burleigh's Middleport Pottery site will now benefit from an estimated £7.5 million transformation as a direct result of the announcement which saw the site acquired by the United Kingdom Historic Building Preservation Trust, a subsidiary of The Princes Regeneration Trust.
The scheme will completely renovate the 150-year-old Grade II listed buildings and see half of the site leased to Burgess Dorling and Leigh (a subsidiary of Denby Holdings) for pottery production.
The move means the preservation of traditional skills, Victorian artefacts and machinery and the building restored back to its original intended use. Uniquely, it will continue to produce, using traditional techniques in the Burleigh pottery for which it was originally built in Victorian times.
The majority of the remaining buildings at Middleport will be developed, modernised and let to craft and associated businesses. A major visitor and education centre including a factory shop and cafe, will also be developed which will create jobs and through tours allow local people and visitors to learn about the history and inner workings of one of the last Victorian potteries in Britain.
This project has been made possible through funding from English Heritage, the Regional Growth Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the European Regional Development Fund and several substantial private donations with significant support from Pinsent Mason and others.
We'll have more on this announcement as we follow up this story for the forthcoming July / August issue.
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