Price & Kensington
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Price & Kensington Pottery was built around 1830. The current bottle oven was once one of seven on the site. By 1851 the Davenport family aqcuired the site and expanded it to be the largest manufacturer of china and earthen wear in the country and was granted a royal appointment.
In the 1930`s Arthur Wood & Son took over the pottery after purchasing Price Brothers and renamed the site Price & Kensington.
The ovens where last used in the 1960`s. The bottle oven recieved a heritage lottery fund grant to preserve it back in 2004.
The bottle kiln here at Price & Kensington is the only one remaining from the original seven that once occupied the pottery.
As for the rest of the site, it is in various states of disrepair and decay. Some sections are being what looks like restored whilst other sections are being left to rot.
There are a few mixing tanks still left on the lower levels of the pottery but apart from that there is nothing else worth looking at.
Upstairs is pretty much the same with only a few of the rooms worth looking in.
At the rear of the pottery on the top floor there are two rooms that look pretty much untouched, still with the original casts and moulds in situ.
The adjacent room is filled from the floor to the ceiling with plates of various sizes and shapes in what looks like the original wooden storage racks where the unfinished products awaited to be painted or glazed.
With the bottle kiln at the entrance to the site recieving a lottery grant to restore it. It is also possible that the rest of the pottery may be restored at some point?
Compared to Royal Doulton. Price & Kensington is quite small in comparison, but still holds some unique features and still has pottery and earthen wear still in situ unlike Doultons.
Strangely there is actually a gift shop located at the front of the pottery which still sells its products. access to the pottery itself, which we explored is actually off limits.
During early 2009 there was a fire at the pottery which destroyed a substancial amount of the remaining buildings. If the the pottery itself is still standing I am not sure?
