Etruria Works

At least initially, the Etruria Works made the more expensive "ornamental" stonewares Wedgwood was developing, while Burslem continued to produce the cheaper "useful" wares, such as transfer-printed creamware.

In particular, he was interested in the painted vases which Sir William Hamilton began to collect in the 1760s while serving as British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples.

[a] More authentically Etruscan in inspiration was Wedgwood's black basalt stoneware, which was already in development as the Etruria works were being built and came on the market in 1768.

[6] The designers employed by Wedgwood, of whom John Flaxman is the most famous, were able to adapt this classical art for the eighteenth-century market.

[9] By this time the site was affected by mining subsidence, and plans were drawn for a new factory at Barlaston some miles south on the Trent and Mersey Canal.