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Bottle oven Stoke
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Bottle oven Stoke
A man walks past a redundant pottery with its chimney and bottle oven in The Potteries, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England Date: 1987
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Media ID 19533677
© Philip Dunn / Mary Evans Picture Library
Abandoned Bottle Chimney Chimneys Derelict Dereliction Factories Kiln Kilns Oven Potteries Pottery Redundant Skyline Staffordshire Stoke Stoke On Trent Trent Wasteland
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EDITORS COMMENTS
In this evocative black-and-white photograph, a lone figure walks past a redundant pottery with its towering chimney and bottle oven in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, in 1987. The Potteries, as this area is known, was once the heart of the British ceramics industry, with hundreds of factories producing earthenware, bone china, and other types of pottery. However, by the late 1980s, many of these factories had closed due to competition from foreign manufacturers and changing consumer preferences. The chimney and bottle oven in the photograph stand as silent testaments to the area's industrial past. The bottle oven, a type of kiln used to fire clay, is particularly noteworthy. Its distinctive bulbous shape and tall chimney were once common features of the Stoke-on-Trent skyline. Now, however, they are increasingly rare, as the area's factories have been replaced by housing estates, retail parks, and other developments. The man in the photograph seems small and insignificant in the face of the towering chimney and the vast expanse of derelict land behind him. His silhouette is cast against the smoky sky, adding to the sense of melancholy and abandonment. The photograph captures the essence of a bygone era, a time when the Potteries were the hub of a thriving industry and the chimneys of its factories dominated the skyline. The photograph also speaks to the broader themes of working-class life and industrial decline in the 1980s. The Potteries were once a source of pride and employment for generations of working-class families. But as the factories closed and jobs were lost, the area's fortunes declined, leaving behind a landscape of dereliction and abandonment. The photograph is a poignant reminder of the human cost of industrial decline and the enduring power of the past to shape our present.
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