Description:Pottery factory interior depicting a man loading a kiln for an enamel firing.
In this case the basket of ware travelled through a circular tunnel kiln on rails.
Decorated pottery was often coal fired in an enamel (or muffle) kiln.
Enamel kilns are much smaller than bottle ovens, and because the whole inside of the kiln is made from refractory material do not need saggars.
The firing temperature is much lower and therefore the firing time is much shorter than the intial firing to harden the ware.
Taken from the Gladstone Pottery Museum Photographic Collection.
This photograph is part of the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.