Finalist : The VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2015

Finalist : The VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2015

Many congratulations go to Gladstone Pottery Museum who have been announced as finalists in the shortlist for this year’s VisitEngland Awards for Excellence, Small Visitor Attraction of the Year

2015 Awards Ceremony – 11th May, Sage Gateshead
The Awards Ceremony is the climax of the whole VisitEngland Awards for Excellence competition. By making it to the Ceremony all finalists will have demonstrated that they are the very best of English Tourism.

The Ceremony celebrates success and excellence and is a showcase for England's fabulous tourism products. Above all it provides finalists with a moment of well-deserved glory which can be used to market, promote and improve their businesses still further.

The Finalists : Small Visitor Attraction of the Year

• Gladstone Pottery Museum Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire 
• Owl & Monkey Haven, Newport, Isle of Wight 
• Stott Park Bobbin Mill Ulverston, Cumbria
• Topsail Charters Ltd Maldon, Essex 
• World of James Herriot Thirsk, North Yorkshire 

Gladstone Pottery Museum picked up a gold award for ‘Small Visitor Attraction of the Year’ in 2013 and again a year later in 2014, in the Enjoy Staffordshire Tourism Awards.

So now its official:  Gladstone Pottery Museum Story is one of the top five small visitor attractions in England. Still winning accolades and awards after 40 years! 

The Origins of Gladstone Pottery Museum

1974
The idea of making a Living Industrial Museum in the Potteries was given a major impetus by the circumstances which had changed the face of Stoke-on-Trent within a decade - slum clearance, the reclamation of derelict land and major reconstruction.

Bottle ovens, once the most characteristic feature of Stoke’s landscape, still numbered more than a thousand after the war. But by 1964 only about two hundred were left. Today less than fifty remain.

Huge ovens dominate the cobbled yard of Gladstone Pottery Museum

It was during the 60s and early 70s that some City planners and Museum officials had the foresight to conduct surveys of some of the older remaining factory sites with a view to considering whether some of them could or should be conserved. The Gladstone Works in Longton was high up on the list but in March 1971 it became evident that the buildings were to be demolished and it was only at the eleventh hour, when the bulldozers were about to move in, that the site was saved.

H. & R. Johnson-Richards Tiles Ltd under their Managing Director Derek Johnson,  provided the money to buy the site; immediately thereafter the Trust was formed which was destined to plan and finance and administer the Living Museum on the site. In September 1972 the Title Deeds of the Gladstone Works were formally handed over to the Trust.

The plan was to restore the Gladstone Works so that future generations should come and see the old bottle ovens, and learn how this major industry developed here in Stoke-on-Trent. It would be a working museum, where methods of manufacturing pottery would be daily demonstrated to visitors.

Edited from the Gladstone Souvenir Brochure  more>

40th Anniversay of The Royal Opening

Not many can boast of  TWO  40th Anniversaries - but Gladstone Pottery Museum can! The museum first opened to the public in August 1974 for a 'trial period' . Over the winter of 1974/5 the museum was closed for more restoration work and for the development of galleries. Then on 24th April 1975 the museum was opened again, but this time by Royalty - The Duke of Gloucester.

So we have enjoyed not one but two celebrations for Gladstone's 40th Birthday. Beat that!

The Gladstone Pottery Museum Story

The Gladstone Pottery Museum Story - the fascinating heritage of the Working Pottery Museum, in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, which was opened by The Duke of Gloucester on 24 April 1975.

This was one of the first museums, in the world, to embrace the 'working museum' concept, and was a major pioneer in UK museums.

Forty years on, and as busy as ever, Gladstone Working Pottery Museum is a major visitor attraction in the UK.  It is the 'Jewel in the Crown' of  The Potteries.

A museum for all of the Potteries, not a just one Potbank.

Unique with its 5 bottle ovens and cobbled yard. Steam engine and sliphouse, saggar making shop, tile gallery, toilet gallery, potters shops, colour gallery, mould store, and Victorian offices.

More movies  here>

Gladstone celebrates its official 40th Anniversary with a never-seen-before-display of 40 skills in a major event curated by Paul Niblett and Fred Greasley, volunteers at Gladstone since 1971.

25 April 2015

See the saggar makers bottom knocker, the brick maker, the encaustic tile maker, the clog maker, the flower makers and throwers, the scraffito potter, the jiggerer and jolleyer and much much more  here>

Don't miss it!

Staffordshire Film Archive - special screening 15 April 2015

Special screenings of archive films of Gladstone Pottery Museum
15 April 2015 at Stoke Film Theatre  here>

The Staffordshire Film Archive was founded and developed by Ray Johnson and is housed at Staffordshire University – forming one of the Special Collections. In addition to the original archive films collected, there are many hours of complementary video material generated by Ray to inform and enhance the period films – location filming, interviews, relevant visual materials and complete documentary video productions.

All SFA screenings are free of charge and start at 7.45pm unless otherwise stated.

Please note that seats cannot be reserved - arrive early to avoid disappointment.

For more details please visit the SFA website   here>