A day photographing the superb Ragged Victorians re-enacting group at a brand new venue: Gladstone Pottery Museum!

We are delighted to be able to offer a full day of photography at a brand new venue for TimeLine featuring the superb Ragged Victorians living history group. The Museum, which is on the site of a factory dating back to 1787, is nearing the end of its seasonal winter closure but will not yet have re-opened to the public so we will have exclusive access for the day. New period backdrops abound amidst the original workshops, cobbles and bottle ovens of this great site as you glimpse an insight into the lives of the working classes when life was, sometimes literally, a fight for survival. 

The Ragged Victorians are amongst the finest and most authentic living history groups in the country, portraying life as it was for the working classes - the great unwashed - around the mid-nineteenth century. It was a far from glamorous existence and a very difficult, often dangerous life. The group portrays the ‘warts and all’ day to day living conditions and the fight to survive during the 1850s in Britain.

The Gladstone Pottery Museum first opened as such in 1974. It is the only complete surviving pottery factory from the days of coal-fired pottery ovens. After the Second World War, despite wartime closure, the factory was still vibrant but the introduction of the Clean Air Act in July 1956 meant it would no longer be possible to use coal powered bottle ovens in the future and in March 1960 the ovens were fired for the last time. The site continued to be used for the decoration of pottery and for its packing and despatch for a further decade, but in May 1970 full closure came and the works was put up for sale. The buildings were threatened with demolition but local businessman Derek Johnson purchased the site and placed it in the care of the Staffordshire Pottery Industry Preservation Trust. The City of Stoke-on-Trent took on ownership of the site in 1989 and the running of the Museum from 1994 onwards.

Our days with the Ragged Victorians are amongst our most popular events and are always great fun so please book early to avoid disappointment. We look forward to seeing you in Stoke for what promises to be another excellent day of authentic period photography.