# John Tams Crown Works, Stoke sept '12



## prettyvacant71 (Oct 1, 2012)

Hiya folks

This place has been the subject of many previous explores but my first look around here. Sadly almost no traces of the pottery and moulds now exist, along with the wheeled carts used for putting them in the kilns (pics taken early this year showed them so i was too late again). It looks like the whole place has been vandalised to the point of which I can’t see anyone wanting to rent it out as it’s currently to let. The offices upstairs have been totally trashed, the windows smashed which is letting in the rain and holes have been kicked in the plasterboard, along with several attempts at burning the place down the factory looks in a sorry state. This sadly means that like a lot of other damaged buildings it becomes cheaper to simply flatten them than repair them, which is a great shame as I’ve grown to like this old brick building whilst I was there.

I visited on a very wet and windy morning. It’s not a very large factory, its small compared to TG Greens in Swadlincote, which is the only other pottery I’ve visited, (sadly we don’t have such factories down in Essex, I’ve got a thing for brick bottle kilns, I hadn’t seen them so close up before, just love the shape and workmanship to build them...save them all I say, live in them, work in them, join them up with little walkways and make a surreal village of bulbous brick chimneys...just don’t be knocking ‘em down!) 

So anyway, back to the visit, rain poured in through the broken windows, sheets were flapping about on the roofs, even the pigeons looked worried when a couple of glass skylights fell to the ground and shattered, which all added to the derelict atmosphere and scared the shit outa me. The constant water logging has caused a thick layer of green slime to carpet the slippery concrete floor which made putting up the tripod fun as its legs went in various uncontrollable directions and the broken drainpipes became random water jets keeping me on my toes as I tried to avoid getting blasted. There were a few bits of interest still left behind, but as an explore I wouldn’t recommend it unless you had another one nearby to explore and you just wanted to stop off or you have an uncontrollable urge to see a mug-rollercoaster-type-machine, so don’t be wasting ya petrol as the best bits were already gone. 

A little bit of history....

John Tams was born in Longton in 1837, the son of John Tams and Ann nee Procter. The family had been established in Shelton by about 1620. He was apprenticed to a working potter. In about 1865 he entered into partnership with Lowe, manufacturing in St. Gregory's Pottery, High Street, Longton. The partnership was dissolved about 1873 and in 1874 John Tams bought the Crown pottery, on the corner of Commerce Street and High Street, the one I visited here. At first he specialised in the manufacture of imperial measured ware, mugs, jugs, etc., for hotels and public houses. The increasing use of glass and further government regulations forced him to develop new lines of production, including ornamental and general earthenware. The kilns fired for their last in 2006 when the factory finally closed its doors.









The 2 bottle kilns at the back are a separate building and not on the Tams site








The front of John Tams Crown Works














the only long brick kiln





























Pots of red dye






























machinary dept














2 smaller kilns






























One of the only pieces of pottery i saw left behind










transfers















I wonder what this would fit?? thats why i luv snoopin bout









I went upstairs into the offices, but sadly these were badly trashed, the wiring had been stolen and there were virtually no windows intact









The corridors were open to the elements














Looking out of the windows above The Strand








Looking onto the roof tops















Reception at side of building




























Clocking in/out holders and company certificates








the chairs had been fighting amongst themselves for the solo spot







Id probably buy one 








mug painting machine, maybe?






































the bottle kilns just outside the main Tams site






Just in case anyone is unaware of the pure loveliness of brick bottle kilns just around the corner is this fabulous set from the former Roslyn Works which is now being redeveloped into an employment agency, pheeew...huge sigh of relief for these lucky ones

Well thats all folks, wish it was a bit more exciting for you all...well atleast you only wasted 1 min of ur lives scroolin thru 'em, i will never get that day back


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## UE-OMJ (Oct 1, 2012)

Really good & enjoyable report  Cheers


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## Judderman62 (Oct 1, 2012)

very nice , and defo looks worth a mooch


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## mookster (Oct 1, 2012)

Nice to see it almost a year after I went - when I went it was stuffed full of all sorts of things, has it been cleared now or something?!

Looked like similar weather also!

edit...it does look like it's been cleared a lot, a few snaps I took from a year ago for comparison.


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## Priority 7 (Oct 1, 2012)

Love those chimneys and a great set cheers for sharing


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## chapmand (Oct 1, 2012)

nice report thanks for sharing. Looks like an interesting place, i like finding old bits of paper work etc left lying around.


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## MD (Oct 1, 2012)

cool report nice to see it again but its gone really really downhill 

Yours 
http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p504/prettyvacant71/john tams/JTams4034_zpsff1d2f55.jpg

Mine 



tams-and-bowstring-013 by M D Allen, on Flickr

such a shame


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## steve2109 (Oct 1, 2012)

Damn impressive report and pictures, thanks for sharing


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## UrbanX (Oct 1, 2012)

Wow some awesome stuff still left in there. Lovely light too. 
Fave has to be that key! Never seen anything like it! You should be proud of that set mate


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## LairdOfLochaber (Oct 1, 2012)

From the photo out the window of the street scene, this factory seems to be right in town on a main street. There's no police protection? No one notices that windows & skylights are being broken out? No one hears the wreckage going on inside? Simply bewildering that all this vandalism occurs with no intervention?


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## prettyvacant71 (Oct 2, 2012)

mookster said:


> Nice to see it almost a year after I went - when I went it was stuffed full of all sorts of things, has it been cleared now or something?!
> 
> Looked like similar weather also!
> 
> edit...it does look like it's been cleared a lot, a few snaps I took from a year ago for comparison.



thanks mookster for making me feel like i wasted my time even more
i did mention at the beginning of my report (don't blame u for skipping to the pics i can ramble sumtimes) that all traces of pottery have since been removed as i had seen sum pics taken early this yr and they were like urs....full of the stuff. There is an article in their local paper complaining about UE gaining enterance to all the derelict potteries wiv an interview defending it from a dude on 28dl, so i reckon Tams or another firm has shifted the lot.

Thanks for adding ur shots though mate its good to see wot the place use to look like...much appreciated


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## prettyvacant71 (Oct 2, 2012)

MD said:


> cool report nice to see it again but its gone really really downhill
> 
> Yours
> http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p504/prettyvacant71/john tams/JTams4034_zpsff1d2f55.jpg
> ...



oh i see where that bit goes now!...the machine had bits nicked and moved about wen i took my shot.

yes i agree its such a shame....i really hope all this trashing doesn't mean the building gets demo as the water damage is gettin worse, that would really be a big waste as it has an appealing industrial look about the brickwork.

thanks for adding ur touch


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## flyboys90 (Oct 2, 2012)

Superb reports from all of you,Thanks for sharing.


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## mookster (Oct 2, 2012)

LairdOfLochaber said:


> From the photo out the window of the street scene, this factory seems to be right in town on a main street. There's no police protection? No one notices that windows & skylights are being broken out? No one hears the wreckage going on inside? Simply bewildering that all this vandalism occurs with no intervention?



Yep it's pretty much in the middle of Stoke city centre, right by a retail park, which results in some very funny looks from people when climbing in/out over the fence....

Police have better things to be doing, it's up to the owners to secure the buildings properly over here.

Also I totally forgot to add, I love bottle kilns. More than I probably should.


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## mookster (Oct 2, 2012)

prettyvacant71 said:


> thanks mookster for making me feel like i wasted my time even more
> i did mention at the beginning of my report (don't blame u for skipping to the pics i can ramble sumtimes) that all traces of pottery have since been removed as i had seen sum pics taken early this yr and they were like urs....full of the stuff. There is an article in their local paper complaining about UE gaining enterance to all the derelict potteries wiv an interview defending it from a dude on 28dl, so i reckon Tams or another firm has shifted the lot.
> 
> Thanks for adding ur shots though mate its good to see wot the place use to look like...much appreciated



Was the upstairs room full of paperwork still there? Or was it the one that got arsoned?


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## prettyvacant71 (Oct 4, 2012)

mookster said:


> Was the upstairs room full of paperwork still there? Or was it the one that got arsoned?



hmmmm....i can't say that i saw that huge heap of paperwork but then i didn't check all of the upstairs so its poss it cud still be like that...but with the amount of arson attempts i saw i reckon if they saw that room of fuel it wud be to much to just leave it!


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