In 1939 there were about 2100 bottle ovens and kilns, or, strictly speaking, bottle-shaped structures of various types used for firing pottery ware or its components. They dominated the landscape of the Potteries of Stoke-on-Trent. In 2025 there are fewer than 50 still standing complete with their chimneys. None will be ever be fired again. The Clean Air Act of 1956, and their delicate condition have put paid to that.
At the multi-award-winning Gladstone Pottery Museum, in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, there are 4 bottle ovens and one bottle kiln. There are also two bottle ovens, next door, at the Roslyn Works. This is the most important and precious group of buildings in the Potteries.
What are bottle ovens and kilns?
Here is a really good and succinct description of the bottle oven and bottle kiln. Courtesy of Gladstone Pottery Museum, Longton (and tweaked a bit)
Don't get confused!
Bottle ovens or bottle kilns are the terms applied to a variety of brick-built, coal-fired ovens and kilns used in the north Staffordshire pottery industry. They are often used interchangeably and confusingly. The names derive from the characteristic shape of the brick-built hovel or chimney stack utilised by such structures. But they cover a range of different types and uses.
Some were used to fire pottery to a biscuit or glost state - these were known locally as ovens. Others which were referred to as kilns were used specifically in the decorating process (muffle kilns), or the preparation of raw materials for ceramic bodies (calcining kilns) or glazes and colours (frit kilns).
There was also variation in the means of construction. For example, not all types had independent hovels, many were enclosed within buildings and had the chimney stack (the ‘neck’ of the bottle) constructed directly on top of the firing chamber or supported on an outer ‘skeleton’ structure.
In addition, by the late 1800s, both updraught and downdraught (in which heat was re-circulated around the firing chamber) types were in use within the industry.
