Building record MDR7937 - Former T G Green's Pottery, Church Gresley
Type and Period (1)
- POTTERY WORKS (Victorian to Late 20th Century - 1871 AD to 2000 AD)
Protected Status/Designation
- None recorded
Full Description
In 1974 it was noted that 'A group of 4 bottle kilns of varying shape and size survive in the pottery works. The kilns are no longer used having last been fired in 1968, but remain undamaged with the kiln furniture intact. Photographic record DCC Planning Dept: film B1'. (1)
(SK 3055 1877) The Ordnance Survey map of 1887 marks 'Gresley Potteries' and 'Old Clay Shaft'. The works are shown linked to the Woodville Branch Railway. (1) Later OS maps mark the site as 'Church Gresley Potteries'. (2-4)
Cloverleaf Pottery (T.G. Green Ltd) is still [in 1994] operating from the complex of 19th century buildings. (6)
Green's factory was originally built in 1871-2 on the bed of the former Windmill Pool, drained in 1826. A contract for the building of one of the new kilns by William Waterfield still survives. Green was already active in the area. He had bought an old factory on an adjacent site just a few years before and, despite being new to the pottery industry, quickly made a success of it. At its height, the pottery had eight bottle kilns. In the mid 1920s it introduced what became its signature product, Cornish blue. The old and new works operated side by side until the 1960s; however, most of the old works was demolished in the 1970s. The factory continued working through the 1990s but went out of use in the early 2000s and in 2006 the buildings were 'empty and decaying'. (7)
The T G Green factory is the most extensive, complete and important relic of the built environment created by the important local pottery industry in the Swadlincote area. It is one of the few surviving structures that illustrate the former predominance of coal and clay in local culture and the economy. In 1978 the Association for Industrial Archaeology claimed that the T G Green factory was the finest potbank outside the Stoke on Trent conurbation, a status which it must still hold since it has scarcely altered since the 1970s. Its history, condition and the relative importance of its various components has recently been carried out in order to better understand the building and so assess any proposals for its future. (8)
Sources/Archives (8)
- <1> SDR19111 Index: Council for British Archaeology (CBA). CBA Industrial Archaeology Report Card.
- <2> SDR17386 Map: OS. 1887. OS County series 1:10560, sheet Derbys LX NE/Leics XV NE. Surveyed 1879-81, published 1887. 1:10560.
- <3> SDR17643 Map: OS. 1902. OS County Series: 1:10560 Sheet Derbys LX NE/Leics XV NE. Second edition 1902. 1:10560.
- <4> SDR18953 Map: OS. 1925. OS County Series 1:10560. Derbys LX NE/Leics XV NE Edition of 1925, revised 1920-1.
- <5> SDR17639 Map: OS. 1938. OS County Series: 1:10560. Derbys LX NE/Leics XV NE. Provisional edition, revision of 1920-1, with additions in 1938. 1:10560.
- <6> SDR18955 Index: Malone, S (RCHME). 1994. National Forest Project Index: UID 924111.
- <7> SDR20640 Bibliographic reference: Heath, P. 2007. 'Green's - a potted history', South Derbyshire Heritage News. Issue 25 (Summer), p 4.
- <8> SDR21144 Unpublished document: Heath, P. 2007. The T G Green Factory, John Street, Church Gresley. An Appraisal of the Factory Buildings.
Map
Location
| Grid reference | Centred SK 30566 18768 (283m by 189m) |
|---|---|
| Civil Parish | SWADLINCOTE, SOUTH DERBYSHIRE, DERBYSHIRE |
Related Monuments/Buildings (0)
Related Events/Activities (1)
- EDR2903
Please contact the HER for details.
External Links (0)
Record last edited
Jan 28 2024 5:06PM