High Pottery

Baker suggests that Newbottle Pottery was founded in the 17th century and was known as "High Newbottle", located in Pottery Yard behind Dial House. It closed in 1878. Broken kilns and works could still be seen in 1890, but the site has since been built over. Pottery waste was dug up there during road widening in 1968. There were two potteries at Newbottle, the other being Low Pottery (HER ref. 4642). Andrew Fletcher, a local historian, has observed a large amount of 18th-19th century pottery kiln wasters, including transfer-printed items, biscuit ware, unfired pottery, saggers, kiln tripods, etc., in a loose spoil tip to the north-west of the High Pottery site. Trial trenching at Emily Street/Front Street in 1992 recovered kiln debris, pottery, hand-made glass bottles, unglazed biscuit wares, kiln tripods and stands, nodules of burnt flint from nearby flint crushing mills, clay tobacco stems showing heat-warping, and used & unused pipe bowls [suggesting perhaps that the kiln was also used by a local clay tobacco pipe maker] – including 4 used bowls of popular mid-19th century identical design. These finds were assumed to be associated with Newbottle High Pottery. Andrew Fletcher has also recorded mounds of "rubble" containing ash, burnt material, pottery sherds, saggars and white clay during water mains renewal work along North Street, Lily and Emily Terraces, etc., in March and April 2002. He has also found hundreds of pieces of pottery in the field to the north of North Street.