Gladstone Pottery Museum
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The Gladstone Pottery Museum is a working museum of a medium sized pottery, typical of those once common in the North Staffordshire area of England from the time of the industrial revolution in the 18th century (a pottery factory first opened on the site in 1787) to the mid 20th century. It is an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage.
The Industrial Heritage first opened in 1974 having been saved from demolition in 1970 when it closed some ten years after its bottle ovens were last fired. It is located in Longton, Staffordshire.
Each year, the museum holds seasonal events - the most popular being the annual Christmas Carol Festival/Concert and the Halloween night. Visitors are lead around the bottle kilns and factory rooms by a guide who relays tales of yesteryear.
Gladstone has seen its share of celebrity interest, from Tony Robinson filimg for a BBC documentary 'The Worst Jobs in Britain' and from Alan Titchmarsh. It also has regular visits from the Blue Peter crew, and numerous children's TV programmes. In the early 1990s it was featured on Noel's Houseparty with a live 'gunging' outside of the bottle kilns.
Gladstone pottery museum was recently featured on Living TV's popular series, "Most Haunted". Renowed to be a site full of paranormal activity, Gladstone has seen a recent surge in amateur and professional paranormal groups/mediums visiting the museum.