420 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



paintings of the richest China from the East upon their tea, coffee, 

 and dessert sets, as well as jars, cornucopias, figures, and other or- 

 namental and useful articles.* 



Various improvements in the hody, glaze, and workmanship of 

 the ware, gradually succeeded ; and the manufacture of the White 

 Stone Ware had at this time extended itself along the whole range 

 of the line on which the various strata of coal presented them- 

 selves, or were found at a depth of from three to six feet from the 

 surface of the earth, at or near Tunstall, Shelton, Cobridge, Han- 

 ley, Stoke, Lane End, and Mere Heath, being a distance from one 

 extreme to the other of eight or nine miles. 



Many have been the conjectures respecting the introduction of 

 this important acquisition to the Staffordshire Potteries. Some 

 attributed it to two Dutchmen (the Elers, before-mentioned) who 

 were supposed to have brought the art from Holland, and who built 

 a small manufactory at Bradwell, near JBurslem, about the year 

 1690. Their claim to this honour, however, is rendered extremely 

 questionable, from the very improved state of the manufacture 

 of Crouch Ware at Burslem in the time of William and Mary, and 

 Queen Anne, as well as on account of the unfitness of their oven at 

 Bradwell, from its small dimensions, for this manufacture. The 

 foundation of this oven remained undisturbed until within the last 

 twenty years ; and on minutely examining the ground about it, 

 fragments of broken red china only could be found. It is there- 

 fore very probable that the excellent red clay found near the an- 

 cient oven at Bradwell, and the contiguity of coal, and clays, 

 induced these foreigners to fix upon that spot, for the purpose of 

 imitating the fine unglazed red china ware of the East, and speci- 

 mens of these unglazed imitations are still in existence. These 

 pieces, it is well known, were manufactured at Bradwell about the 

 year 1690, and were then sold at a high price. 



During the time from the commencement of the manufacture of 

 White Stone W'are to the period when it had attained its highest 

 perfection, which was about fifty years, the lead ore glaze con- 

 tinued to be used, in the original way, in numerous small manufac- 

 tories in every part of the Staffordshire Potteries. The manufac- 

 turers, finding themselves in possession of a white body, fired and 

 glazed it in the usual manner ; and with the addition of manga- 



* Enamelling was at first practised by persons who were not manufacturers 

 of the body of the ware, though a few ultimately added this branch of the art to 

 their regular business. 



