Herculaneum Pottery

Herculaneum Pottery, Toxteth.

From Memorials of Liverpool....second edition, revised, with additions.

At the bottom of Wellington Road, turning west from Grafton Street, a row of ten old cottages may be seen, standing on a steep bank, apparently out of keeping with everything about them. These cottages have a history. They are the last remains of the once flourishing settlement of the Herculaneum Pottery, the extensive works of which stood immediately below, on a promontory projecting into the river. The site was originally taken by Mr. Charles Roe on a lease for eighty years from May 1772. A small copper work was the first structure erected, which was carried on by Messrs. Roe and Co. In 1794 the property was purchased by Messrs. Abbey and Graham, and converted into a pottery. In 1796, their interest was transferred to a joint stock company, forme by Messrs. Worthington, Humble, Holland, and others, under the style and title of the "Herculaneum Pottery Company." At this time the pottery business, which had risen so rapidly declined, was almost extinct in its original seat in the town, but the facilities of water carriagefor the materials, and the vicinity of a good market for their wares, seemed to promise success to thenew company. Extensive buildings were erected for the manufactory, and a hamlet consisting of several rows of cottages, of which these before us are the last remains, was built on a very picturesque eminence overlooking the water, far distant from any other habitations. The operatives were brought from Staffordshire, and came in a body, accompanie by their wives and families, by water down the river from Runcorn. They landed in the new colony on November 11, 1796, and were met by a large concourse of people< And escorted into the works with a band of music. The potters long continued A separate And isolated people, preserving their own manners and customs< and retaining their Mercian dialect. Being prinicipally of the Wesleyan Methodist persuasion, a small chapel was erected for their use by the proprietors, where Dr. Adam Clarke, Jabez Bunting, Robert Newton, And many other eminent men of the denomination, have occasionally officiated. Blue printed ware was the first manufacture, to which, in 1800, China ware was added. The stores and showrooms were first established at the Duke's Dock, and subsequently removed to the bottom of Duke Street. The concern was carried on until1833, when the company was dissolved, and the works sold to Messrs. Lace, Holme, and Tomkinson for the sum of ｣25,000. The pottery was afterwards let to Messrs. Case and Mort, and subsequently to Messrs. Mort and Simpson until 1841, when the premises were dismantled for the purpose of carrying out the proposed Herculaneum docks.

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