Wheatly's Springfields Tileries, Stoke-on-Trent

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Date:August 1964

Description:The stockyard, ovens and chimneys at Wheatly's Springfield tilery. In the foreground are a variety of ridge and roof tiles. The painted sign on the gable end on the right hand side advertises "bricks, floor, quarries & single lap tiles". In the background are rows of downdraught beehive ovens with their chimneys. All were demolished when the site was cleared in the 1980s. Today, the tilery is the site of a retail park.

Wheatly's used clay from the marl pits just to the north of the works. A wide range of coloured bricks and tiles was produced by mixing different clays from the twenty seams on site. The clay was ground, mixed with water and "soured" in "rucks" before being "pugged" and then moulded into tiles and bricks. Wheatly's advertised 14 different type of tiles.