Kiln, Drying Shed And Chimney At Soil Hill Pottery

The kiln, drying shed, and chimney at Soil Hill Pottery were built around 1900. This long brick building features a Welsh slate roof and runs east-west, with the chimney located at the eastern end on a hill slope. Inside the western section, there is a bottle kiln that has internal radial walls and six segment-arched fire holes around its perimeter. Four flues from beneath the kiln floor extend up the hill to the square chimney. Two of these flues heat the drying shed next to the kiln, while the other two serve a parallel pent-roofed shed where clay slurry was dried before being formed. This method of firing and ventilation, as well as the use of waste heat to dry slurry, represents a significant innovation in earthenware manufacturing. The pottery was established by Isaac Button Snr on the site of an earlier pottery operated by the Catherall family and was used by Isaac Button Jnr until 1964.