HERON CROSS POTTERY LIMITED

ABOUT HERON CROSS POTTERY LIMITED

About Heron Cross Pottery

Heron Cross Pottery was built circa 1876 by the Hines brothers on the site of a former colliery in the street that would later bear their name. Good quality opaque porcelain and ivory ware were produced well into the twentieth century, and 1907 saw the company purchased by Grimwades.

Pottery continued to be produced until just before the war, when it was requisitioned by the government and used for the storage of bully beef and land mines. In 1961, the business was acquired by Frank William Ridge Snr, and it has stayed within the Ridge family ever since. The current owner is Christopher Ridge, who took control in 1995.

The Company Today

Today, Heron Cross Pottery Ltd continues to make fine English earthenware at the Hines Street site and also houses other innovative ceramic companies. As a grade II listed building it boasts one of the few remaining bottle kilns in the city of Stoke on Trent.

Today, we still manufacture our pottery in the traditional way. Raw material clay arrives in 25kg blocks which are then mixed in a blunger with water and chemicals to form liquid clay called slip. Thereafter, it is then poured into plaster moulds and left for approx 40 minutes to dry, during which time water is absorbed by the mould leaving the basic shape of the finished product.

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