Description:Burgess & Leigh built the Middleport Pottery alongside the Trent & Mersey Canal in 1888-89 and it is the only complete working Victorian pottery left in Stoke-on-Trent (2o18). Traditional pottery works tended to grow piecemeal with workshops and warehouses clustered haphazardly around bottle kilns. Middleport is an example of a model factory with a "linear organised production line" of raw materials through to finished product. The factory is a working pottery: handmade Burleigh tableware, teaware and homeware is produced for sale.
The photograph shows the canal side warehouse and clay wharf. In the centre are two workers loading the conveyor belt to carry the clay into the warehouse.
The brick and terracotta factory and updraught bottle oven are grade II* listed buildings. The United Kingdom Historic Building Preservation Trust, a subsidiary of the Prince's Trust acquired Middleport Pottery in July 2011. The Trust is investing in the regeneration of the site and works. Immediately next door is the Anderton Canal Company wharf.