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No industrial skyline was more memorable than the forest of bottle ovens that dominated Stoke-on-Trent for more than two centuries. The renowned wares of Spode, Wedgwood, and countless other factories emerged from this little-appreciated corner of North Staffordshire. This book shows how the individual villages ofTunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton grew from farming communities in the late Middle Ages into the Six Towns, with their specialised centres of pottery production. Wares from each of the areas are illustrated, and the traditional manufacturing techniques of the potters are depicted in sequence, climaxing with the coal-firing of bottle ovens, the cause of so much pollution. The developing form and function of typical 'potbanks' is described, as well as the living and working conditions of the potters.

David Sekers was the first Director of the Gladstone Pottery Museum, and later of Quarry Bank Mill at Styal. He is the author of Popular Staffordshire Pottery, and has edited the diary of Hannah Greg of Styal.