Saggar making at a pottery factory

Description:Pottery factory interior showing two men and a boy saggar making. Saggars are containers made from fireclay which protected pottery in the kiln from the intense heat and smoke during bottle oven firing. The boy on the left is a saggar maker's bottom knocker. The saggar maker's bottom knocker made the base of the saggar by hammering a piece of clay flat inside an iron ring with a mallet. The mallet had a long handle and a circular flat head. It was called a Mawl (pronounced mow). The work was very hard and was usually done by the younger members of the saggar making team.

The man in the centre of the picture is a frame filler. He is making the sides of the saggar. The man on the right is the saggar maker. He is joining the sides to the base of the saggar.

Taken from the Gladstone Pottery Museum Photographic Collection.

This photograph is part of the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.