A bottle oven wicket, Henry Richards' Pinnox Tile Works, Tunstall

Move your pointing device over the image to zoom to detail. If using a mouse click on the image to toggle zoom.
When in zoom mode use + or - keys to adjust level of image zoom.

Date:February 1964

Description:The wicket was the entrance into a bottle oven through which the placers and drawers moved the ware in saggars. The placers loaded the oven with saggars containing the ware to be fired. The placer worked for his cod or foreman who was responsible for loading the kiln to get the best firing. Drawers were responsible for emptying the kiln after it had cooled.
For firing the wicket was sealed with brickwork called clammins, This was knocked down to empty the kiln.
The smaller whole around the base of the oven are fire holes or mouths. Usually about eight mouths were built into an oven. Here the coal was set alight (baited) to raise the oven temperature to between 1000 and 1250 degrees Centigrade. Five days of firing could use up to 20 tons of coal in a large bottle oven.
Around the oven are the bonts, iron hoops used to strengthen and stabilise the oven brickwork when it is fired.
This photograph was taken at Richard's Pinnox Tilew Works when it was being demolished.