120 THE WEDGWOODS. 



successful that he soon found himself obliged to extend his 

 operations, and he entered on a pot-work nearer to the 

 centre of the town, and within a stone's throw of the works 

 of his cousins, Thomas and John Wedgwood, to whom the 

 premises belonged. 



This, the second pot- work occupied by him, with the house 

 belonging to it, and which was called the " Ivy House," 

 from the fact of its being covered with ivy, was situated 

 where the butchers' shambles now stand, the old buildings 

 having been purchased 'by the market commissioners, and 

 taken down for the erection of the present market in J835. 

 The " Ivy House," with the pot- works belonging to it, are 

 shown in the engraving on the next page, from a sketch kindly 

 furnished to me by the oldest member of the Wedgwood 

 family.* These premises belonged to Thomas and John 

 Wedgwood, of the " Big House," to whom Josiah became 

 tenant, covenanting by written agreement to pay for the 

 house and the pot-work attached to it the yearly rent of ten 

 pounds a rent which, in those days, when Burslem was but 

 a village, and when its pot-works were scattered about the 

 almost waste lands, might be deemed good, but which, at the 

 present day, for similar premises, would have to be multi- 

 plied by at least ten, before a tenant could have possession. 



The " IVY HOUSE " and works were situated nearly in the 

 centre of the town, or rather village, of Burslem. The 

 premises stood at the corner of what was then, as long after- 

 wards, known as Shoe Lane, or Shore Lane, now called 

 Wedgwood Street, which at that time was a narrow way, only 

 wide enough for a single cart to pass along, and as rough 

 and uneven as well could be. The visitor to Burslem who 

 desires to know exactly the site of this historically interesting 

 house should stroll up to the fine modern-built shambles, or 



* Mr. Aaron Wedgwood, of Bur.4ein, an artist of very considerable 

 talent, and a most worthy man, who is lineally descended from Aaron 

 Wedgwood, who, with William Littler, was the first maker of china in 

 the district. Mr. Wedgwood's father, too, was a clever modeller and 

 painter. 



