122 THE WEDGWOODS. 



" butchery," as it is sometimes called, and while he stands 

 at the corner facing down Swan Square, he may rest assured 

 that he is standing on what was the little enclosed garden 

 in front of Wedgwood's house ; .that the outer wall of the 

 building at his back goes diagonally across the house from 

 corner to corner, one half being under the shambles and the 

 other where the street now is ; that the site of one of the 

 kilns is just beneath the centre of the shambles, and that 

 another kiln was about the middle of the present street at 

 his back ; the surrounding workshops being partly where 

 the street now is, and partly where the building at present 

 stands. 



The " Ivy House," so called, as I have said, because it was 

 covered with a profusion of ivy, might originally have been 

 roofed with thatch or mud, like the other buildings of the 

 district, but it was afterwards tiled, as shown in the engraving. 

 In front was a small garden enclosed with a low wall, and a 

 brick pathway led from the gate to the doorway. The front 

 faced the open space called the 6t Green Bank," where the 

 village children played to their heart's content among the clay 

 and shards which, even in those days, had no doubt usurped 

 the place of the " green" grass from which it took its name. 

 Adjoining the house was a low, half-timbered, thickly- 

 thatched building, afterwards known as the " Turk's Head," 

 and beyond this again was the maypole, on " Maypole Bank," 

 of which I have before spoken, and which stood on the site 

 now occupied by the Town Hall. At the opposite side of the 

 house from the " Turk's Head" was a gateway leading into 

 the yard of the works, which made up one side of Shoe Lane, 

 the pot-works of John and Thomas Wedgwood, with which 

 these were connected, being on the opposite side of the lane, 

 where some of the buildings are now occupied by Messrs. 

 Harley and Dean. These works and house have the reputa- 

 tion of being the first roofed with tiles in the district the 

 usual roofing being thatch, or, oftener still, mud. 



The Ivy House and Works Josiah Wedgwood rented, as I 

 have stated, from his relatives, John and Thomas Wedg- 



