Pottery Yard

The majority of buildings in Pottery Yard, including a small row of houses known as The Terrace, were demolished in the 1960s. Currently only one detached building remains, an old woollen mill. 1874 – Edward Minto, a saddler of Pottery Yard, was declared bankrupt on September 22nd 1874.
1904 – Pottery Yard was included in the Houghton-le-Spring Electric Lighting Provisional Order 1904.
1912 – The Houghton-le-Spring Assembly (evangelical) hired a hall in Pottery Yard for use as a place of worship, having previously met at 63 Newbottle Street.
C1918 – William ‘Tushy’ Wheatley, son of the confectioner and Crimean War veteran George Wheatley, set up a sweet factory in Pottery Yard in a building formerly the Salvation Army Citadel.
1931 – Master printers year book - Clemmet & Grimes of Pottery Yard.
1938 – Clemmet & Grimes, general commercial printers,
1938 – William Wheatley & Son, manufacturing confectioners, Pottery Yard.
1947 – William Wheatley & Son vacated their Pottery Yard premises and moved to the larger Hawdonside Works on Sunderland Street.
1948 – Clemmet & Grimes, Printers, Pottery Yard.
???? – Harvian, owned by Harvey and Ian Wheatley, sold mis-shaped sweets from their premises in Pottery Yard.
???? - 1969 - Clemmet & Grimes, printers, was based in a building in Pottery Yard which originated as a woollen mill, making stockings. The business closed in December 1969.
1970 - The Gilpin Press, printers, opened on June 1st 1970 in the old mill building, and continues to operate from the premises (see also 46 Sunderland Street).
C2004 - Gilpin Press started to share the old mill building with Ideal taxis.
2010 – The garage attached to the old mill building, which featured a small plaque (No 1609) issued by Houghton Urban District Council’s Rating Department, was converted into an office for Ideal taxis.
2011 – Daglish Photography moved into the upstairs of the old woollen mill in Pottery Yard.