Industrial History Online

Industrial History Online

Burton in Lonsdale potteries

Description and History of Site:-
Most of the structures have been demolished or remain only as fragmentary lengths of wall but there were formerly at least 13 potteries in and around the village, with pot kilns.

There are still signs of the (now-overgrown) clay pits - for stone clays along the Greta valley, with embayments cut into the hillside on the south side of the valley and for earthenware lays to be seen in places exposed in the river banks. Evidence of adits driven to exploit clay seams cab no longer be seen though one collapsed a few years ago to leave a hole c. 5m deep.

Burton ware became widely used and well known with its distinctive dark brown glaze. The first known reference to pottery making here is thought to be from 1609 though parish registers record potters here from the 1730s. The earliest formal potteries were Town End and Baggerly but, as said, there are 13 known sites in and around the village.


Further Reading and References:-
Lawrence, H. 1974. Yorkshire pots and potteries. Newton Abbot: David and Charles.
Bateseon, H. 1999 The potteries of Burton-in-Lonsdale (sic) or Black Burton. Yorkshire history Quarterly 5 (2), pp. 58-65.


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Key Words :- industrial-scale pottery manufacture

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Address :- Burton-in-Lonsdale, Lancaster, North Yorkshire, LA6 3ND
Grid Ref :- SD 6524 7204
Co-ordinates :- Lat 54.143008 , Long -2.533594
Local Authority :- Craven District Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Earthworks only
Site Dates :- 1609? - 1946
Record Date :- 12 February 2018

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © David Johnson