Port Dundas Pottery Company.—These works were established for the manufacture of stoneware articles about the year 1819. In the earlier years of its existence there were several changes in the proprietorship, but for the last thirty years it has remained in the hands of, and been carried on by, Mr. James Miller. The works, from a somewhat small beginning, have attained considerable proportions. In 1856 they contained three salt-glaze ovens, in which were manufactured chemical vessels and apparatus of various kinds, spirit bottles, jars, &c.; and about this time many of the towns in the North of Scotland, finding the desirability of having a good water supply introduced, had recourse to high-pressure stoneware water-pipes for that purpose, which were manufactured in large quantities at these works. Several towns and many country mansion houses at the present time have their water supply conducted through miles of the Port Dundas pipes. In the same year a new glaze was introduced, giving to the ware a cream-coloured appearance, much purer and cleaner for many purposes than the old brown salt glaze, and with this a great demand sprang up for stoneware beer bottles for warm climates, and the works consequently have been greatly enlarged to meet the increased demand.
By far the greatest portion of ware made in Port Dundas is thrown on the potter’s wheel, the motive power for which was supplied, until 1866, by girls, who turned a large driving wheel communicating with a pulley under the workman’s wheelhead by a rope. The proprietor in that year endeavoured to introduce steam power for this purpose, but so strong was the opposition of the throwers that the machines and accompanying shafting, &c., lay aside for three years unused. They were then erected in a distant part of the works, and apprentices all but forced to work on them. These, however, had not been long fitted up when the workmen, seeing the immense advantages to be derived from their use, gladly availed themselves of the offer of the proprietor to substitute steam machinery for hand-power throughout the whole factory, the immediate result of which was to raise the piece-work earnings of the workmen from 30 to 49 per cent.; they had one attendant less to pay, a part of whose wages the workman kept to himself, while a proportion of it was paid to the Company for the use of the steam-power and up-keep of the machinery. The speed of the wheel requiring to be varied according to the different operations performed upon it, is now under the complete control of the workman’s foot, and not as formerly at the will, or according to the strength of, the assistant wheel-turner. In this way a complete revolution was quietly effected in the stoneware potting of Scotland, and the incentive having been given, orders came from many potteries in England to the Scotch machine maker for similar steam machines.
With the introduction of the cream-coloured stoneware glaze the ovens had to undergo extensive alterations, the old salt-glaze cupboard kilns giving place to much larger sagger ovens, in which the ware is now burned. The improvement in the appearance of the ware having brought it into much greater demand, the works rapidly extended, until at the present time, in the Port Dundas Pottery with its branch work, the Crown Pottery, there are fifteen ovens in regular operation.
The wares produced are beer, ink, and spirit bottles; preserve, acid, butter, and druggist’s jars; chemical vessels and apparatus, and every kind of article made in stoneware, water filters, Rockingham and cane ware.
All the goods made are stamped with the name of the firm in an oval stamp.
The home markets are supplied with all descriptions of general ware, immense quantities of preserve jars, &c. Export bottlers in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Liverpool, are supplied with stone bottles. Water filters, Rockingham, and cane ware are regularly shipped to the colonies and the continent of Europe. Two years ago a process of printing on the unfired stoneware body was perfected and patented by this firm, eminently suitable for consumer’s labels, trade marks, &c., no extra firing in the shape of muffle or hardening-in kiln being required.
The Company exhibited their manufactures at the Chilian Exhibition held in Santiago in 1875, and there received the first prize gold medal for the general excellence of their wares. The clay from which this stoneware is made is obtained only from the Devonshire mines, is very free from iron, and burns a light buff colour. Somewhere about 10,000 tons are annually used in Glasgow, nearly the whole of which is brought by sea from the port of Teignmouth to the Clyde. Very little preparation and no mixing with other ingredients is required before passing into the hands of the workman; after being milled it is ready to be fashioned into all kinds of articles. It is also singular in this respect that the articles are glazed before being burned; and by one process of firing to a very high pitch of heat—higher than that to which any other kind of pottery ware is subjected—a hard, vitreous, and very sonorous ware is produced, glazed inside and out with a transparent glaze, which allows the buff colour of the clay to be seen, and which is quite proof against the action of both alkalies and acids, rendering vessels made by this ware highly suitable for storing and transporting acids and other chemicals. For many years London and Bristol were the chief seats of the stoneware trade, and workmen had to be obtained from the south to carry on business in Scotland; but apprentices were speedily trained in Glasgow to supply all wants, and in turn to feed largely the southern potteries. At present there is more pure stoneware manufactured in Glasgow than anywhere else, so that it has really become the seat of the stoneware pottery of the kingdom.
Hyde Park Potteries.—This manufactory was established about 1837 by Mr. John McAdam. His productions are ordinary stoneware bottles, jars, spirit casks, feet and carriage warmers, pans of various kinds, and all the ordinary classes of stoneware goods.