Antiques are everywhere in England, the place is going to sink if there’s any more antiques! Maybe though that’s just the perception you get after seeing the tv schedule inundated with antique auction programmes presented by dandy like characters. Anyway as this is Tamworth Timehikes, I started thinking about if there were any antiques manufactured in Tamworth?
I knew about Glascote based Canns and Gibbing the famous terracotta makers largely responsible for introducing terracotta into architecture in England and covering such famous landmarks as the natural History museum and Albert Hall London. Their story is well researched and presented on Alan and Angella´s page. What I didn´t know about though was George Skey´s Wilnecote ceramic works.
George Skey started in 1860 his enterprise and ended up making pretty much anything from clay from the site, from gas ovens to ginger beer bottles. It rapidly expanded and became one of the most important pottery works in the country. Anyway don´t let me tell you, take a look below at the extract from The ceramic art of Great Britain, 1878 by LLewellynn Jewit on Wilnecote works. All the details and praise are there and saves me the trouble of typing it.
It starts off with “The Wilnecote Works, near Tamworth which rank among the……. (continued below, click to view larger or in the original link on http://www.archive.org)
A quick search for George Skey on google images and it brings up what looks like a hastily made online museum on some of the fine products made. Click on the image to go direct to the search.
Most of what´s found on the internet apart from a few terracotta pieces in posh places like Christies are pottery flagons, beer bottles, jugs, packaging basically. A good example is this flagon below taken from ebay(click on image to go to the site) I like the flagon (not making a bid, maybe I should go for a cut for doing promotion!) and other vintage packing, storage found like medicine bottles, beer bottles, etc, etc
It turns out though I´m not the only person who likes them, theres people out there who are crazy for them and digging them up. Called dump diggers, the ideas to look for old Victorian refuse dumps and dig up vintage bottles, from poison to medicine, some of them still unopened! I can understand the attraction. It’s that same thrill of the chase, a main reason for people s reasons for doing activities like archaeology, metal detecting, mushroom collecting, the list goes on.
For a few examples of dump diggers there´s diggers diary in the Uk and the bottle digging forum in the UK, but what I really love is the dump diggers diary from Canada. I love the effort and unashamedness about what they do, check out the bottle diggers convention(not sure about name) on one of their posts. Theres nothing furtive about it, they´re dump diggers and you know what its cool!
George Skey´s Wilnecote Works
The manufacturing place itself would have been the mecca for bottle collectors and dump diggers around the world. Wilnecote works was a huge place and functioned from 1860 till 1936 when it was taken over by Doulton. The buildings were finally demolished in 1981. That´s the excavators going in below(click on image to go to home of photo, Staffordshire Past track)
I couldn´t write about Wilnecote works without an honourable mention of the people who actually worked there. Below a great photo of some of George Skeys workers 1909-1915, taken from Staffordshire Past track. Wilnecote works employed up to 600 people in its heyday. That´s huge by todays standards but remembering that the pre-war population of Tamworth was around 7,000 people that´s a hefty chunk of the town´s population.
Below another evocative photo from Staffspt titled Mr Kinson and his horse ´tut´ in George Skeys workyard, 1936 . He worked for George Skey as a general carter depositing the broken pots in the spoil heap behind.
Aerial views of the works
Below again from Staffs past tracks, the 1899- 1903 ordnance map showing the extent of Wilnecote works served with its own tramway. The place was surrounded and built on coal mines.
The same area back in 2007. The area is partially covered by Tame Valley Industrial estate. The rest of the area is wasteland. This was a bottle diggers paradise I imagine. In the centre are some dilapidated industrial buildings were any of them old wilnecote works buildings?
Too late, this post 2007 birds eye image from http://www.multimap.com shows the industrial buildings gone and another housing estate going up. To those bottle diggers from Canada and Australia who´ve just turned up a George Skey ceramic bottle this is what the place that made them looks like now. Maybe its just me but could have been a good idea to make a reference and tribute to what was there before, give it some sense of place and history. I feel the area really needs this, to be anchored to the area not just another estate floating in a sea of housing estates.
Really interesting, as ever, thanks :0)
Totally with you on the bit about places being given a sense of place & history.
When I went to Shugborough back in February they had lots of pottery flagons & jugs on display, all shapes & sizes. Just been looking back at my photos, they look pretty similar to this one. Wonder if any of them were made here?
Also, do you know what would have happened to the broken pots on the spoilheap?
Thanks Kate for the comment. It’s a bit of a pub thing as well to display ye olde pottery jugs. Shugborough haven’t been there for years, still got that working museum farm? I did wonder about that spoil heap. It could have been Eldorado for bottle collectors, maybe the estate agents should put it in their brochure. Towards the north of the housing estate the overgrown area together with small lake appears untouched so it looks like the best chance for surviving spoil heaps would be in that area.
Great page, thanks. I’m the Vicar at Holy Trinity Wilnecote (on the top of the hill along Watling Street) and I’m interested in the history of the parish.
Hi Oliver
Have you found out much about the Beauchamp mine, I’d be interested in swapping information. I’m local and researching family history
regards
Steve
Drear lady/sir, could you please inform me about your trade mark. Recently when I was digging in a houseground, I did find a stoneware jar, it had a triangle with a diamont on the top, and under C.&B. I can send to you a picture if you send to me your E-mail adress. Thankyou in advance. Best regards Peter Gamba tel. 0046 70 4326203
Gill Wood (nee Wright)
My father used to work at the George Skey factory in Wilnecote.
I was born and bred as they used to say on Bluebrick Hill, Wilnecote.
My father Mr. Leslie Wright also played cricket for Doultons who later took over the George Skey site.
He would have been so proud to have read this article and seen all the photographs. Well done on such a well re-viewed and much appreciated article.
Hi Gillian,
Do you have any paperwork about the mine. I’d be very interested as a lot of my family worked in / on and under blue brick hill
Thanks
Regards
Steve
Nice blog, greetings from Barnebarton, Plymouth, United Kingdom!
An interesting article. My husbands family of Hoskisons were brick, tile & pipe makers in Wilnecote in mid 1800s & I would love to know more about their works.
Many thanks for this. Do you by any chance have a list of workers at the George Skey works? My great grandfather, John Owen, worked as a potter’s thrower at the factory from the 1890’s until the 1930’s.
Geoff Owen
Hi Geoff, If John’s parents were James and Sarah and they lived in watling street and Vallance row Two Gates, I think were related via John’s older sister Ann.
Steve
Hi Steve. Thank you for contacting me. Are you a descendant of the Godderidge family? I have the family on my Owen-marjoram family tree on Ancestry.com. If you wish to contact me direct at geoffandsheena@hotmail.co.uk then I will be pleased to hear from you.
Geoff Owen
My father’s sister, my auntie, married Bert Godderidge. Her maiden name was get Ramsell.They had two daughters , Muriel and Gillian. If you need anymore info, e,mail me.
I was walking in Leckwith Woods on the outskirts of Cardiff yesterday and found a small George Skey bottle just lying beside a footpath in the woods. Apart from a small chip on the rim, it’s like new! How it came to be lying in plain view after what must be the best part of a century is a mystery. Evidently the containers that this plant produced were distributed around the entire country.
David (Wales)
Thank you so much for the insight – recently unearthed a haul of these beautiful storage jars in the loft of a warehouse in Hull – now have a history to go with their beauty and useful qualities!
Hello I saw this page about George skey, and I think I may of found one of the factory pieces. I have no idea if it’s value or even date. I was wondering if someone could help me out. Thank you. (It’s a spike top square base chimney top)
My son found a Skey 2 Tamworth bottle in a building site, and has been interested in finding out the history of it.
hi i saw this page and just want to tel you we foud a jar i coud send you a picture so you can seeit
My great grandfsther mr j oakes was a director of george skey potteries and lived at fazley house, has anyone information on him
We are just having a well cleared out – following a fire in the mid-1920s – and apart from tonnes of clay and other muck, several Camp coffee bottles have emerged – and a George Skey stoneware bottle with a white glaze abt 125mm high – rather like an ink or blacking jar. Nice impressed mark. No other treasures tho’ (sigh).
Tom near Banbury
You are so awesome for helping me solve this myeytrs.
[…] Lorenzor, M., 2011. Tamworth Time Hikes: George Skey´s Wilnecote Works [online] available at: https://tamworthtimehikes.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/george-skey%C2%B4s-wilnecote-works/ […]
Have just found my first George Skey flagon made for Albert Braund.