Saggar Maker | Pottery industry Jobs
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A SAGGAR is a fireclay box for holding ware during firing.

A SAGGAR is a fireclay container, usually oval or round, used to protect pottery from marking by flames and smoke during firing in a bottle oven.

The SAGGAR MAKER, is a skilled man, producing the finished saggar, using his thumb to make a near join between the side and the base.

The BOTTOM KNOCKER (a young boy) made the base of the saggar from a lump of fireclay which he knocked into a metal ring using a wooden mallet or mawl (pronounced mow). on Bottom Knockers

The FRAME FILLER (a male apprentice) flattened a mass of clay and produced a rectangle which was wrapped round a drum to make the side of the saggar.

The finished saggar was fired in the kiln and lasted for 30 to 40 firings - if they were not broken

A saggar-maker at work making 
the side of a saggar 
on a wooden former.

A saggar-maker 
assembling a base and side.

A saggar being loaded with ware for firing.
Placing wares in saggars required special knowledge. Plates were 'reared'
or 'dottled'; that is carefully separated from each other by thimbles to prevent
the glaze from making them fuse together in the glost firing.

Placing saggars in a kiln

Saggar Makers at John Locketts - Longton - 1932

Examples of "saggar makers" from the 1881 census for the Potteries area:-

1881 census:
Dwelling: 122 Normacot Rd
Census Place: Stone, Staffordshire, England

1881 census:
Dwelling: 19 Castle St
Census Place: Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire, England

1881 census:
Dwelling: 31 Sant St
Census Place: Burslem, Staffordshire, England

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