The Roundhouse is a Grade 11 listed building located in the corner of the bet365 car park and adjacent to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Etruria near Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.
It is a drum shaped structure, built of brick with a plain tiled roof. It is circular in plan, on 2 storeys, with ground floor entrance and a series of windows with flat arched gauged brick heads, some blocked, and not all on the same level. There are Oculi on the first floor. (
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The building represents the last remaining link with the famous Etruria pottery of the first Josiah Wedgwood.
In 1766 Josiah purchased the Ridge House Estate for £3,000 and began building a new home and factory in what were then rural surroundings. The factory was called Etruria, after the old Etruscan pottery in Italy, and opened on June 13th, 1769. A further development of this complex was the building of a village and school for his workers.
Probably Josiah's greatest contribution to the industry was the invention of Jasper in 1774, and his most successful work, the Portland Vase, in 1790. The adoption of a classical theme for his Jasper ware contributed to the fashion of that period, harmonising with the work of contemporary architects and designers. In 1790 he went into semi- retirement, but his health progressively worsened and he died on January 3rd, 1795, aged 64. His second son, Josiah II, a partner in the firm since 1790, inherited the works and estate of 380 acres.
The factory finally ceased production in 1940 when new premises were opened at Barlaston. Source: Neville Malkin 15th May 1974 (
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An information board is located at the side of the Canal near the Roundhouse and reads as follows:-
'The Roundhouse is the only remaining part of the original factory built on this site by Josiah Wedgwood in 1769.The factory flourished for years. The Evening Sentinel renovated the building in 1985. The principal purpose of the Roundhouse (there was one at each end of the factory frontage) is something of a mystery. But it is believed that these buildings at various times have been used for grinding ceramic raw materials and colours, as counting houses, as stables, and to house the factory's fire engine ( now in the Wedgwood Museum at Barlaston).'
'The Round House was level with the towpath when the canal system was developed for access to Liverpool- to export pottery. Today, this Roundhouse accommodates exhibitions which pay tribute to the past and present occupants of this historic site. The history of printing and the traditional newspaper printing techniques previously employed by Staffordshire Sentinel Newspapers for over years in Hanley are illustrated within this restored building together with the ceramic printing techniques used by Josiah Wedgwood.'
The site previously used by Staffordshire Sentinel Newspapers is now a bet365 complex. The Round House is in the corner of the car park nearest the canal.
The Round House stands as an architectural monument on the side of the canal and as the last vestige of Wedgwood's once state of the art ceramics manufactory; Etruria. (
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