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I was born in 1936 in Mount Pleasant,
Shelton, a few doors away from the entrance to
the air raid shelter (know as The Tunnel) which
was under the ruck. Various people have told me
that the ruck was also known as Scotchman's
Hill, although I never heard this name. My
mother was the warden there until we moved to
Carmountside, Abbey Hulton, in 1943. I remember
that there were three tier bunks for people to
sleep on, my two older brothers slept on the top
,me on the middle shelf and my mother and baby
brother on the bottom and one of my earliest
memories of that time is wearing a 'siren suit'
to keep me warm. I also remember the Mickey
Mouse Gas Masks, and that my brother who was
only six weeks old at the beginning of the
war, being put in a kind of cradle. I still have
my own identity card from those years.
All of my
father's family lived in Mount Pleasant and
the surrounding area of Tinkersclough. Two of
my cousins worked on Lancaster and Sandlands
pottery which was at the top of Mount Pleasant,
and I remember when I was very young, being
taken with them to the top of the building when
they were on a fire watching rota. There was
also a ware house across the road, (think the
saggars were kept in there) and a small incline
adjacent to the main road, where all the older
children used to play 'doffers'.
I was christened
at St. Mark's Church and attended St. Marks
Mission, which was sited on the corner of the
Mount Pleasant alleyway and Clough Street, I
think the Church Army were also involved,
because I was a Church Army Sunbeam and I seem
to recall that Captain Haynes ran the Sunday
School. I attended Shelton Infants School and
both of my older brother's transferred from
Shelton School to Cannon Street Senior School.
Alma mentions Dudley's house, which also struck
a cord, as I think that Mr. Dudley was the
caretaker for the Mission and had a daughter
named Maureen
After I left
school, I returned to the area to work
in the offices at Ridgways Pottery in
Bedford Road, and every day I would walk
along Rectory Road, down Milton Street, over
Sun Street and up to my Aunt's in Mount
Pleasant to have my dinner, and then walk
all the way back. Mentioning Ridgways, the
Managing Director at that time was Mr.
Philip Bailey whose son (I think) is Sir
Richard Bailey, formerly the Chairman of
Royal Doulton. As I was a very junior
member of the office, I used to be sent on
errands to collect shopping etc for Mr. &
Mrs. Bailey. If I had to go further than
Hanley, Mr. Bailey's chauffeur, who was
always called just 'Hilton' would take me in
the car which was either a Daimler or a
Humber Super Snipe.
Best Wishes
Lilian Fowler
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Ridgways, at Bedford Works, Shelton,
was founded by Edward J. Ridgway, son of the
famous Master Potter William Ridgway of
Hanley. Well-known in the ceramic industry
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
Job and George Ridgway, of Shelton, are
mentioned on Allbuts' map of 1802, and in
1820 they were making extensively for the
American market, being among the leading
potters supplying the New World with
decorated wares-showing American buildings,
scenery, arms of the United States,
portraits of Washington and other Americana.
John Ridgway was honoured by being appointed
Potter to Her Majesty Queen Victoria and
earned high commendation at the 1851
Exhibition. The catalogue informs the
Victorian public that 'The Establishment of
Mr. Ridgway is one of the largest and among
the best conducted of the many factories of
Staffordshire'.
From a 1956
book 'British Potters and Pottery Today' |
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four of the
huge bottle kilns of the
Ridgways Bedford Works |
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the Bedford
Works from a 1898 OS map
the blue line to the left is the Trent &
Mersey Canal |
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