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Buckley – Potteries and Patter |
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© Buckley Heritage Society |
Buckley today is a town of around 15,000 people, and there has been a settlement on or near the present site since the Bronze Age. The town was first documented in 1294 as ‘the pasturage of the Manor of Ewloe’, and it was around this time that coal-mining and pottery making were recorded in this area.
Buckley is surrounded by and contains many coal deposits which are so near the surface that they are easily accessible without deep shaft mining, and could be collected from shallow pits by lifting the coal up in baskets. Hard fire clay was found alongside the coal deposits, which could be collected after weathering in the elements. Sticky pot clay was found on the surface and in nearby fields.
This combination of available clays was perfect for making earthenware cheaply. Lead was another important ingredient for glazing the pots, and had been mined since Roman times in nearby Halkyn and Rhosesmor.
Buckley was well positioned to export goods, as several streams started in and around the town, which flowed down to the River Dee Estuary. These streams formed channels in the sand, which at high tide boats could sail up, collect their cargoes of earthenware and coal, and return to sea.
Pottery was also exported by land to Chester market along the ‘Dirty Mile’ - the local name for the road from Chester to Buckley – and after 1866, by railway to the rest of Great Britain.
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