Burmantofts Pottery

The business began in 1859 when fire clay was discovered in a coal mine owned by William Wilcock and John Lassey.

Companies such as Mintons, Royal Doulton and William De Morgan had established a market for middle-class home decorative objects.

[1] Early examples were individual works of art, notably in barbotine style where a plain base had a design worked in relief with slip and painted, but the company soon developed production lines for decoration of individual shapes, either in a single glaze or painted with flowers and so on (signed by the decorator), for sale at a lower price to a larger market, but still of high quality.

James Holroyd realised that a more decorative version of the company's salt-glazed bricks could be useful as an architectural facing material which could be washed from the grime of industrial cities and be more permanent than paint.

[1] He created a team of experts for the practical side and employed sculptor Edward Caldwell Spruce and architect Maurice Bingham Adams in designs.