Another class, heartfelt, beautifully crafted and articulated video. I was gutted when it finished tbh. Wanted it to go on. I could watch and listen to you all day. Thank you! All the best. Neil
Thank you for another interesting video. I'm fascinated by the juxtaposition between the beauty of the old buildings, furnishings, and the pottery versus the conditions that people worked under. I'm probably guilty of romaticizing anything that has old buildings, so thank you for providing the social history for context. Learn something each video!
Me too, I still think about it today when clothes can be so cheap - I always think someone, somewhere is "paying"for this. Some of the things the more luxury potteries sold for more money than a person would earn in their lifetime. We definately think in the same way!
Hi Lucy, you're totally right that more people shout visit the pottery-museum. We've been there 2 years ago during the summer and it wasn't as busy as it deserved. But.... that gave me the chance to have a good chat with one of the nice ladies there. I guess the reason I'm that interested in child-work and social history in global is that if I had lived 150 years earlier I had worked behind a weaver loom ( my dutch ancestors) or in the mine (my german ancestors). Thanks for your video, it's nice to get a reminder of a nice warm summer day in Stoke on Trent..... greeting these week from Kopenhagen (holidays)
It's certainly not well known enough, but like you say it was an absolute JOY to feel as if we had the whole place to ourselves and we spoke to the lady making the flowers for ages too! My family were gun polishers (there was actually a massive gun making industry in Birmingham) on my Dads side and general labourers on my Moms side. Both my grandparents and great grandparents worked in factories, I certainly would have been there too. My own Dad was made to leave school at 14 to go to work and he was so, so bright, he always said he hated the fact his "station in life" meant he never got to be academic. I thank them for their hard work to make sure I could x
That little end scene with all of you put such a grin on my face ❤ You’re so good at conveying the emotion and connection of everything you see and feel when you visit each of these places. This was no exception
Thanks Maz. Wasn't even planning to film here, felt sorry for my friends when I announced actually I'm going to get the camera out of my bag 😂 they were grand about it though!
So interesting, I've been to the Moorcroft Pottery years ago, but the Gladstone Pottery is a huge history lesson, you certainly find them Lucy, love it. Thank you 😊
In the 1990s my mum (she's 85 now) always used to ask my kids "have you pulled the chain" 😂 haha they didn't understand it. I was born in 1962 and we never had an overhead tank with "a chain" but my nan did. Her toilet wasn't down the yard but was just outside the back door (on the left) with the coal shed on the right. I can still remember the smell of my Nan's toilet, it was of Harpic. My mum will always refer to the flushing of a toilet with "have you pulled the chain" 😂
YES pulled the chain!! My Mom STILL says that too - I never even thought about it until I read your comment .. I might ask the kids in my life the same question - I bet I get a blank face! That's brilliant!
Another excellent clip, Lucy! I recall reading years ago, a couple of novels by Staffordshire's prolific writer, Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) - 'Clayhanger' and 'Anna of the 5 Towns' I think, set in The Potteries Towns. Cheers from Down Under :) RjB
We had an avocado one in my childhood home - my Nan had the ever swish turquoise blue version! I still kind of get excited when I see a mid century bathroom suite.
My gosh, this was fascinating! I had not had of this museum (it's not listed in any of the guidebooks I've read). I play around with pottery, and clay is heavy! I can't imagine asking a child to carry that much. It would be interesting to hear how the kiln works (I've done pit-firing, and I'm thinking that this is similar).
I didn't feel like I was expert enough to explain how the kiln worked, there is a diagram on the museums website. I would LOVE to learn how to work with clay. I did it at school but it was very basic coil stuff with air dry clay, and yes those poor kids must have had some serious muscles!
Thanks Lucy. I visited the Gladstone when it first opened about 50 years ago. It would be interesting to return and see the new additions. Did anyone explain about sagger- maker's bottom knockers to you? I'm not being rude, they were a vital part of the pottery trade but it does sound a bit like a Carry On joke.
Hahaha, I did see a mug for sale that said "bottom knockers" on it - and I presumed it was a potters term, but no I didn't see any info - I am going to have to go and look this up now. I think they should have made "carry on knockers" hahahah
You live in a lovely area of the world. We said on the drive up how lovely it was - always take the A roads rather than the motorway so we can have a look around x
The next time I plan a trip to England, I will use your videos to help plan some activities! Your interest in how ordinary people lived their day-to-day lives meshes with my own interest. It is very sad how often children have been and still are treated badly by adults who should have more compassion for them.
Absolutely and I always think about them in places like this. I just cannot imagine my niece and nephew who are both under 10 doing this .. they are so tiny and fragile! Childhood is so precious and I'm thankful most kids these days experience it, although across the world there is a lot of work to be done.
Thank you Lucy, I had never heard of this place, but I loved seeing it, though I was very glad that I couldn't smell it 😖 I loved that machinery too, I could stand and watch it all working for ages, the engineering that goes into those machines is amazing. I have an ancestry full of poverty too, had I been born 100 years earlier than I was I would probably have ended up working in a place like that too. Sometimes, when I see things like this, it makes me wonder how anyone managed to survive at all.
I totally agree. I wonder if I would have survived ... my family worked in gun factories and metal working and my maternal grandmother only had one eye due to an accident when she was a teenager. I do genuinely think and thank them for helping us progress x
Thank you Lucy. It’s horrendous to think of 5yo’s going to work isn’t it? We owe a lot to the people before us that eventually showed how not to treat the working class. I have to say some of those decorated toilets at the end I’d like to see make a come back. Thank you again 😊
You know I said the same thing ... I really want a fancy loo now.. they are utterly gorgeous! My niece is 6 and she struggles to get dressed some days and I can't even imagine her getting herself to work let alone the work itself - blows my mind! They had no childhood.
Mindblowing video, Lucy, I really enjoyed it. What a hard life for the working class in such recent tines, specially for children. Sending you love from Buenos Aires.
Social history is absolutely fascinating to me. You do a wonderful job. I’m in the US so I am really glad to get to see these wonderfully preserved places that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to visit otherwise.
Thank you so much, I'm really happy you enjoy them. I absolutely love the whole process from the filming to the research. It's a dream come for me people are sharing it with me from all over the world xx
Thanks for sharing all these amazing places with us! Wish I could visit some of them, but it's not exactly a day trip from Germany to any of these places. I hope many people living nearby visit this lovely pottery museum and help to keep it alive.
Great video Lucy! I'm a Stokie and my family worked in the potteries for donkeys, mainly as Saggar makers. Great to see the industry getting a bit of love!
It should get more, all that beautiful work that went all over the world and was so labour intensive to create. I love Stoke! I used to work at the vintage fair there for years and the people were always so down to earth and friendly, I also love being called Duck! haha x
Ha ha I'm a teacher and the kids were in hysterics when somehow Thomas Crapper's name came up in a study of living in the past. The class was a combined group of 6 - 10 year olds. We did move the learning past toilets but it was a really good way of hooking the kids into wanting to learn more. Thanks for the tour it was both interesting and an eye opener to the working conditions. =-)
Hahahahaa when I was teaching poo & toilets was always an instant show stopper, but you are right they are listening and engaged ... they also liked hearing about heads being chopped off, kids are wild aren't they? But even through the stress we are so privileged to have the opportunity to educate them. Thanks for your lovely comment x
Some people hark back to those times, mainly because they've seen a christmas card, it would have been horrendous, apparently during cold spells streets became impassable due to layer upon layer of frozen horse dung, no antibiotics, no welfare state, no free medical care, 50% child mortality rate, thanks but no thanks
I totally agree. People often ask me what time I would like to go back to if I could, I say I'll stay right here. I would be living in poverty, with no health care for my illness - if I had even got this far. Totally agree with you.
Who would have thought that the ending would want me want more! Toilets! And how we should be grateful. Yes! It’s not only your tours/visits but your commentary.
Thank you so much!! I am working on the toilet video TODAY! People think I'm mad when I say I've been researching toilets for a couple of weeks .. but what an interesting few weeks it's been xx
Do you do a lot of research for these videos? As a Canadian with a lot of English roots, I find all of these places absolutely fascinating. Whenever I've travelled to the UK, I've been more interested in seeing dilapidated old buildings and things as opposed to family 😆 I hope you will continue on with this series of videos because I find it so fascinating and informative :)
Thank you, yes I do, each video takes weeks and I did a degree in social history so im in my happy place surrounded by news clippings and research! Sometimes my videos are late because im behind because of life,Really appreciate that and there are many more in the pipeline x
I went to school with Elizabeth Copeland whose dad allowed us to visit the pottery and gave us all a tiny memento of Spode . You are bringing back memories 😊
Thanks for another interesting video, Lucy. My planned 2 week trip to England is getting longer with all the great locations you're visiting! I want to see it all!!
That was fascinating, thank you, Lucy! Sad to learn about little kids being part of the work at the factory and to see what the living conditions were like is awful. To think they had no choice in what they had to do or were exposed to. I was feeling guilty about the dust in my house today but when I look around and see how comparatively bright, fresh and easily sanitised and clean my home is I feel very lucky.
Absolutely! I too feel stressed if the bed has gone a day over washing or a bit of muck on the carpet - and really this puts it all into perspective. It's so easy for us now, throwing things in a machine - even lovely microfibre cloths for dusting. I think we are very lucky!
Ah,I've been waiting for this one, it was such a great day, and I'm still fascinated by everything we learned (and still grossed out by the initial smell in toilet land 😅). Great video & I love the cameo appearance at the end 💜
I enjoy your channel so much. I would like to visit the UK but I don’t want to do the typical touristy stuff. Your channel allows me to do that from home. I am very interested in social history and am so happy to have found your channel.
Great video Lucy thank you for sharing. Emotional to see those young children in rags working with no education to speak of. I too feel like you that if it were my family all those years ago that would be the kind of life we would have lived. Toilets….. loved this bit and would be great for you to do a video on them. We should all be so grateful for the creature comforts we have today we live like kings and queens it’s good to look back to see what we have. It’s a good thing we have moved forward in many respects so embrace life as it is 🥰
Totally agree. I often think if I could go back in time I wouldn't want to go far: I've had so many opportunities my ancestors didn't get, I was the first person to go to university in our family - ever and that's all because of the sacrifices these people made. X
What a fascinating place. Thank you so much for being our guide. I remember when those avocado colored baths at the end of your video were seen as the height of fashion 😂
Child cruelty wasn’t even a thing in those days was it. I’m glad I know where The Potteries gets the name from now,, there’s signs on the M6 around Staffordshire. That clay machine was amazing, all those little gubbins and whirly gigs, I love the old engineering, the fact it still functions too 😍 I think we all know where the word “crap” comes from, I’ve always known the phrase and use it still “going for a tip” I wonder if it comes from the Tipper closet invention 🤔 Brilliant interesting video again Lucy, thank you.
You are so welcome and that's super interesting about "tip" I am going to look into that! And nope if you could work it didn't matter how old you were, I look at my niece and nephew and think my god, those little kids must have been so mature x
@@throughlucyslens Every phrase has a history doesn’t it. I once had a book called “red herrings and white elephants”. It was so interesting to read and learn about them.
Wow Lucy, I've only just found your FB post about your channel .. well done, I love history do I'll definitely follow your videos 😊 Hope you are well. Much love, Daxy 😊🫂💚
@throughlucyslens well you have got Gina watching you too now 😁 You are a natural at it 🥰 keep up the great work babe .. I've set notifications so I'll not miss you now 😘😁💚🫂
Great memories my Uncle worked for Gadstone as a pattern maker and my Nan was a gilder for Copeland. When she died we donated her tools to the museum so you may even have seen some :)
That's so lovely! I admire potters so much, its such a hard but admiral career. That's wonderful you donated the tools. We donated a pair of my great grandads hair clippers to the barbers at the Black Country museum, it's important things aren't just stuck in a drawer for someone less sentimental to eventually throw them out one day x
Another brilliant video and it makes you think how fortunate we are to have the housing and sanitation, we just take it for granted. This is on my to visit list.😊
You must go, you will love it, I can never cover everything comprehensively on these videos, mostly becuase I would love people to have their own experiences there - it's quite a big site with lots there I didn't include - have a wonderful time x
Great trip, Lucy! It's almost impossible to actually imagine ourselves working in those conditions, but they were people just like us, and like you said, that's all they do the just coped. I love those decorated ceramic toilets! I've never seen anything like those. I'd love to have one of those in my house. I especially like the blue onion pattern one or the spotted one with the matching sink.
They are GORGEOUS aren't they? I thought the same, you can still get them but they are, of course, very expensive! A wise investment though because that room is most certainly one of the most used in the house!
Honestly, that toilet exhibition is INCREDIBLE! There's another part about tiles which sounds quite boring on paper and I didn't film it as it was quite dark but again it was fascinating x
Yes! Please do a video about toilets! I think I can finally say here that I like plumbing and the history of toilets! I think it’s hilarious about Thomas Crapper being the first or at least one of the first inventors of the toilet ( I.e. crapper)
The way I got so excited over the toilet museum exhibit and then got even more excited at the prospect of a video about that. Love those bits of history people don't really think to think about like that. Great video as always!! When I still lived in Edinburgh I used to love going past the portobello bottle kilns..most people didn't even realise they were there!
They are great aren't they - and kindred spirit regarding toilets! 😂😂😂 I just find it so fascinating and it's one of those things folks totally wonder about but don't want to ask! I on the other hand am here to tell all 😹
@@throughlucyslens so brilliant! Honestly when I think about HUUUUGE commodities that people don't realise that they have, toilets and plumbing are like number one. Like for the majority of history they have been very different to their modern form.
Great video as usual Lucy. I've been to Gladstone Pottery a few times over the last 40 years and it has definitely improved. From memory, there's also a lot of ceramic toilets in Hanley museum too, unless they've been moved to Gladstone. And, I see to remember a similar display in an ornate Pumping Station adjacent to The Space Museum in Leicester - name escapes me. Looking forward to your history of toilets.
Ohhh I didn't know there was a Hanley Museum, I'll look it up! I absolutely loved Gladstone, what an incredible, atmospheric place it is! I bet 40 years ago it was very rustic and closer to original conditions?
@@throughlucyslens It's The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Bethesda Street, complete with a Spitfire fighter plane on display. Yes, I can remember a film of clay dust everywhere in Gladstone. I also seem to recall that darts champ Eric Bristow had a pub close by. And, in Leicester it's the Abbey Pumping Station Museum, better than the next door National Space Museum.
I did a craft degree and though I specialised in cast glass, ended up teaching a lot of ceramics at my old uni job 😅 I loooooove anything about kilns and the art and crafts produced in them. My dissertation was about nostalgia and heritage so you can see why I love your videos!
Peas in a pod! I would have loved to have done some art education, I am naturally creative but would have loved to have honed that skill properly. That's amazing x
In my village. Our school has a collection of school registers.. someone has scanned them onto a fb page for us to read.. its fascinacting to read the reasons why the school is empty for many reasons.. following the laws coming into play.. such as harvest and other practical reasons.. but also for widespread illness
@throughlucyslens I don't think they really know.. unless it's been fed back.. its just the village fb page.. its great for us tho.. my great grandmother attended the school whilst her mother worked there.. and that went down to my granny being the dinner lady.. I was the last to attend that school so 4/5 generations. My stepson actually went there too so almost 6
Another interesting video I love the Pottery Showdown too, one of my favourite books by Arnold Bennet who wrote about the Five Towns is the Clayhanger trilogy and in the first book there is an account of Darius Clayhanger having to work in a pottery at 7 years old which I have never forgotten in fact for anyone interested in Victorian and Edwardian history all his books are excellent thank you for showing this 😊❤
This speaks to my heart, I love pottery! One thing I've learned from watching shows like Time Team is that pottery connects humanity throughout the ages.
Absolutely! Me too! I'm fascinated by the archaeologists who can see a tiny fragment and date it: you won't be surprised to hear I love time team too! Over lockdown I rewatched pretty much every single one 😅
@@throughlucyslens Right? Like how do they know that bit of terracotta wasn't a splinter off of an old brick or an old flowerpot, so fascinating to me!
Yet another really interesting video 👍👍 Honestly we don’t know how lucky we are these days, & people still moan & think they are hard done by. They are probably the ones accusing you of using AI🙄🙄😂
Haha, I did laugh when I kept seeing the comments ... like what is even the point of doing that? It's not at all interesting or a creative process .. plus I wouldn't have a clue how to use it anyway! And yep, my nephew was moaning at the weekend that the custard creams and had run out, and without being THAT aunty I wanted to tell him about kids his age down mines and in factories .. I refrained ;)
@@throughlucyslens as my old boss used to say “They walk amongst us”. I guess in our case they watch TH-cam too 😂😂 Yeah stay the “Nice Aunty” not worth the drama. You could always encourage him to watch your video 👍👍
You know, I started this channel FOR him. He is desperate for a You Tube channel (he is 9) and his parents said you can't have one unless Lucy makes one and gets 100k subscribers .. so I started it as a bet - and now I am OBSESSED and love it more than life .. and he is totally disinterested in it. Not sure his parents will thank me if we ever get that far because he won't forget the deal ...
I'm nearly seventy now, but I still remember the fear I felt as a three year old, having to use a toilet set over a stream when I lived in rural Ireland. I was terrified that I was going to fall through that hole.
Oh gosh! I have similar memories about using a wooden board over a cess pit in a shed in Wales. I was convinced some rat or something was going to jump out and bite my bum 😅
@@throughlucyslens Lol!! I was only a teeny thing and that hole was big! I think I would have been more frightened of the spiders than the rats. I am a dyed in the wool arachnophobe.
Awesome video! I’m so thankful to have been born when I was. I had Scarlet Fever twice in my life. Once as a baby, and again at 7…that time with chicken pox. If it wasn’t for modern medicine I might have ended up with serious complications or worse. Crazy to think of how it was back then. But remember, we came from the ones that survived. That says something.
I always think that - and how amazing we did! I've had shingles 3 times which is apparently quite rare for someone my age. I had TERRIBLE chicken pox when I was about 7, the worst case the GP had seen. So yes! Survivors! Scarlet fever is absolutely terrible. You don't hear much about it these days.
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Love your videos Lucy, keep them coming.
Thank you! Will do! So appreciated x
Another class, heartfelt, beautifully crafted and articulated video. I was gutted when it finished tbh. Wanted it to go on. I could watch and listen to you all day. Thank you! All the best. Neil
Thank you, I am sorry it was so short because I could have talked for hours too! haha. Felt guilty I didn't get enough in. Next week ... promise ;)
Thank you for another interesting video. I'm fascinated by the juxtaposition between the beauty of the old buildings, furnishings, and the pottery versus the conditions that people worked under. I'm probably guilty of romaticizing anything that has old buildings, so thank you for providing the social history for context. Learn something each video!
Me too, I still think about it today when clothes can be so cheap - I always think someone, somewhere is "paying"for this. Some of the things the more luxury potteries sold for more money than a person would earn in their lifetime. We definately think in the same way!
Hi Lucy, you're totally right that more people shout visit the pottery-museum. We've been there 2 years ago during the summer and it wasn't as busy as it deserved. But.... that gave me the chance to have a good chat with one of the nice ladies there. I guess the reason I'm that interested in child-work and social history in global is that if I had lived 150 years earlier I had worked behind a weaver loom ( my dutch ancestors) or in the mine (my german ancestors). Thanks for your video, it's nice to get a reminder of a nice warm summer day in Stoke on Trent..... greeting these week from Kopenhagen (holidays)
It's certainly not well known enough, but like you say it was an absolute JOY to feel as if we had the whole place to ourselves and we spoke to the lady making the flowers for ages too! My family were gun polishers (there was actually a massive gun making industry in Birmingham) on my Dads side and general labourers on my Moms side. Both my grandparents and great grandparents worked in factories, I certainly would have been there too. My own Dad was made to leave school at 14 to go to work and he was so, so bright, he always said he hated the fact his "station in life" meant he never got to be academic. I thank them for their hard work to make sure I could x
That little end scene with all of you put such a grin on my face ❤
You’re so good at conveying the emotion and connection of everything you see and feel when you visit each of these places. This was no exception
Thanks Maz. Wasn't even planning to film here, felt sorry for my friends when I announced actually I'm going to get the camera out of my bag 😂 they were grand about it though!
So interesting, I've been to the Moorcroft Pottery years ago, but the Gladstone Pottery is a huge history lesson, you certainly find them Lucy, love it. Thank you 😊
It really is and I wasn't expecting it at all! Thank you :)
Hi Lucy, thank you for sharing this, as big fans of the show we found this so interesting ❤
Glad you enjoyed it, totally worth a visit!
Love the show, love the museum! Thanks for taking us along to these fabulous places 💚
You are so welcome, thank YOU for watching x
In the 1990s my mum (she's 85 now) always used to ask my kids "have you pulled the chain" 😂 haha they didn't understand it. I was born in 1962 and we never had an overhead tank with "a chain" but my nan did. Her toilet wasn't down the yard but was just outside the back door (on the left) with the coal shed on the right. I can still remember the smell of my Nan's toilet, it was of Harpic. My mum will always refer to the flushing of a toilet with "have you pulled the chain" 😂
YES pulled the chain!! My Mom STILL says that too - I never even thought about it until I read your comment .. I might ask the kids in my life the same question - I bet I get a blank face! That's brilliant!
My house was built in 1927, and the toilet in the bathroom is still an overhead one with a chain!
Another excellent clip, Lucy! I recall reading years ago, a couple of novels by Staffordshire's prolific writer, Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) - 'Clayhanger' and 'Anna of the 5 Towns' I think, set in The Potteries Towns. Cheers from Down Under :) RjB
This is amazing, I am going to check those out and give them a read, thanks Oswald :)
This video is just so very interesting to me as I love English history and Industrial Revolution machinery just like you. Super great and thank you!
Very welcome! I love a good steam or water powered engine .. always blows my mind!
That Avocado bathroom suite - just like the one our Nan's used to have!!
We had an avocado one in my childhood home - my Nan had the ever swish turquoise blue version! I still kind of get excited when I see a mid century bathroom suite.
My gosh, this was fascinating! I had not had of this museum (it's not listed in any of the guidebooks I've read).
I play around with pottery, and clay is heavy! I can't imagine asking a child to carry that much.
It would be interesting to hear how the kiln works (I've done pit-firing, and I'm thinking that this is similar).
I didn't feel like I was expert enough to explain how the kiln worked, there is a diagram on the museums website. I would LOVE to learn how to work with clay. I did it at school but it was very basic coil stuff with air dry clay, and yes those poor kids must have had some serious muscles!
Thanks Lucy. I visited the Gladstone when it first opened about 50 years ago. It would be interesting to return and see the new additions.
Did anyone explain about sagger- maker's bottom knockers to you? I'm not being rude, they were a vital part of the pottery trade but it does sound a bit like a Carry On joke.
Hahaha, I did see a mug for sale that said "bottom knockers" on it - and I presumed it was a potters term, but no I didn't see any info - I am going to have to go and look this up now. I think they should have made "carry on knockers" hahahah
Love that show, so this is fantastic, thank you!
I LOVE it too, I don't think I've ever got through an episode without crying along with Keith. I just love him 🥹
Thanks Lucy, another great post. I've actually been to this one a couple of times. It's only about 12 miles from me.
You live in a lovely area of the world. We said on the drive up how lovely it was - always take the A roads rather than the motorway so we can have a look around x
The next time I plan a trip to England, I will use your videos to help plan some activities! Your interest in how ordinary people lived their day-to-day lives meshes with my own interest. It is very sad how often children have been and still are treated badly by adults who should have more compassion for them.
Absolutely and I always think about them in places like this. I just cannot imagine my niece and nephew who are both under 10 doing this .. they are so tiny and fragile! Childhood is so precious and I'm thankful most kids these days experience it, although across the world there is a lot of work to be done.
Hi from New Hampshire, USA. Great job Lucy!
Hey, thanks so much! That's so kind & appreciated :)
Great vlogg you do so much research for every vlogg so amazing and humble and intelligent a big fan always 😊❤
So nice of you, thank you, I love doing it and glad you enjoy it :)
Thank you Lucy, I had never heard of this place, but I loved seeing it, though I was very glad that I couldn't smell it 😖 I loved that machinery too, I could stand and watch it all working for ages, the engineering that goes into those machines is amazing.
I have an ancestry full of poverty too, had I been born 100 years earlier than I was I would probably have ended up working in a place like that too. Sometimes, when I see things like this, it makes me wonder how anyone managed to survive at all.
I totally agree. I wonder if I would have survived ... my family worked in gun factories and metal working and my maternal grandmother only had one eye due to an accident when she was a teenager. I do genuinely think and thank them for helping us progress x
Absolutely, I’ve watched some of the videos about the slums in the UK & as you say how did we survive??
Thank you Lucy. It’s horrendous to think of 5yo’s going to work isn’t it? We owe a lot to the people before us that eventually showed how not to treat the working class. I have to say some of those decorated toilets at the end I’d like to see make a come back. Thank you again 😊
You know I said the same thing ... I really want a fancy loo now.. they are utterly gorgeous! My niece is 6 and she struggles to get dressed some days and I can't even imagine her getting herself to work let alone the work itself - blows my mind! They had no childhood.
@@throughlucyslens couldn’t agree more.
In Kirkcaldy art museum there is a decorated toilet downstairs that looks like a work of art.
It was barbaric!
Brilliant video. Thank you.
My absolute pleasure and thank YOU for watching x
Great video, very interesting thank you 😊
Glad you enjoyed it, and thank you so much x
Spot on Lucy thank you very much. ✨✨
You’re welcome 😊 thank you.
Really intersting thankyou
Glad you enjoyed it and thank you :)
Mindblowing video, Lucy, I really enjoyed it. What a hard life for the working class in such recent tines, specially for children. Sending you love from Buenos Aires.
Glad you enjoyed it Maria, it was such a terrible life from our 21st century eyes looking in. X
Social history is absolutely fascinating to me. You do a wonderful job. I’m in the US so I am really glad to get to see these wonderfully preserved places that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to visit otherwise.
Thank you so much, I'm really happy you enjoy them. I absolutely love the whole process from the filming to the research. It's a dream come for me people are sharing it with me from all over the world xx
Thanks for sharing all these amazing places with us! Wish I could visit some of them, but it's not exactly a day trip from Germany to any of these places. I hope many people living nearby visit this lovely pottery museum and help to keep it alive.
Thank you,'and hello to Germany! I hope they do too. I'm very happy to have you here travelling with me ❤️
Great video Lucy! I'm a Stokie and my family worked in the potteries for donkeys, mainly as Saggar makers. Great to see the industry getting a bit of love!
It should get more, all that beautiful work that went all over the world and was so labour intensive to create. I love Stoke! I used to work at the vintage fair there for years and the people were always so down to earth and friendly, I also love being called Duck! haha x
Ha ha I'm a teacher and the kids were in hysterics when somehow Thomas Crapper's name came up in a study of living in the past. The class was a combined group of 6 - 10 year olds. We did move the learning past toilets but it was a really good way of hooking the kids into wanting to learn more. Thanks for the tour it was both interesting and an eye opener to the working conditions. =-)
Hahahahaa when I was teaching poo & toilets was always an instant show stopper, but you are right they are listening and engaged ... they also liked hearing about heads being chopped off, kids are wild aren't they? But even through the stress we are so privileged to have the opportunity to educate them. Thanks for your lovely comment x
Some people hark back to those times, mainly because they've seen a christmas card, it would have been horrendous, apparently during cold spells streets became impassable due to layer upon layer of frozen horse dung, no antibiotics, no welfare state, no free medical care, 50% child mortality rate, thanks but no thanks
I totally agree. People often ask me what time I would like to go back to if I could, I say I'll stay right here. I would be living in poverty, with no health care for my illness - if I had even got this far. Totally agree with you.
Who would have thought that the ending would want me want more! Toilets! And how we should be grateful. Yes! It’s not only your tours/visits but your commentary.
Thank you so much!! I am working on the toilet video TODAY! People think I'm mad when I say I've been researching toilets for a couple of weeks .. but what an interesting few weeks it's been xx
Do you do a lot of research for these videos? As a Canadian with a lot of English roots, I find all of these places absolutely fascinating. Whenever I've travelled to the UK, I've been more interested in seeing dilapidated old buildings and things as opposed to family 😆 I hope you will continue on with this series of videos because I find it so fascinating and informative :)
Thank you, yes I do, each video takes weeks and I did a degree in social history so im in my happy place surrounded by news clippings and research! Sometimes my videos are late because im behind because of life,Really appreciate that and there are many more in the pipeline x
I went to school with Elizabeth Copeland whose dad allowed us to visit the pottery and gave us all a tiny memento of Spode . You are bringing back memories 😊
Aww that's so lovely, thank you for sharing xx
Thanks for another interesting video, Lucy. My planned 2 week trip to England is getting longer with all the great locations you're visiting! I want to see it all!!
Haha, you will have to let me know how many you get to see! That's so brilliant!
That was fascinating, thank you, Lucy! Sad to learn about little kids being part of the work at the factory and to see what the living conditions were like is awful. To think they had no choice in what they had to do or were exposed to. I was feeling guilty about the dust in my house today but when I look around and see how comparatively bright, fresh and easily sanitised and clean my home is I feel very lucky.
Absolutely! I too feel stressed if the bed has gone a day over washing or a bit of muck on the carpet - and really this puts it all into perspective. It's so easy for us now, throwing things in a machine - even lovely microfibre cloths for dusting. I think we are very lucky!
Ah,I've been waiting for this one, it was such a great day, and I'm still fascinated by everything we learned (and still grossed out by the initial smell in toilet land 😅). Great video & I love the cameo appearance at the end 💜
Hahaha hope that was okay! That smell .. I still can't work out how they did it. Sort of want to go back and spend more time in the toilets 😂
I enjoy your channel so much. I would like to visit the UK but I don’t want to do the typical touristy stuff. Your channel allows me to do that from home. I am very interested in social history and am so happy to have found your channel.
That's amazing to hear. I love that about You Tube, it allows me to travel from my couch too, I'm so thankful for your support x o
Brilliant thank you Lucy. Fast becoming my favourite channel 😊
🥹🥹🥹 Thank you Mary. Means a lot x
Harsh conditions they sure worked under for pittance, there's one near where I live called Nantgarw(much smaller) - that turned out rare pottery!
I admire them so so much. Me sometimes annoyed in the past if the aircon was broke in the office - so soft compared to these champs!
Great video Lucy thank you for sharing. Emotional to see those young children in rags working with no education to speak of. I too feel like you that if it were my family all those years ago that would be the kind of life we would have lived.
Toilets….. loved this bit and would be great for you to do a video on them.
We should all be so grateful for the creature comforts we have today we live like kings and queens it’s good to look back to see what we have. It’s a good thing we have moved forward in many respects so embrace life as it is 🥰
Totally agree. I often think if I could go back in time I wouldn't want to go far: I've had so many opportunities my ancestors didn't get, I was the first person to go to university in our family - ever and that's all because of the sacrifices these people made. X
What a fascinating place. Thank you so much for being our guide. I remember when those avocado colored baths at the end of your video were seen as the height of fashion 😂
You know we had one when I was a kid .. even now when I think of bathrooms I think of those avocado suites .. with the fluffy carpet 😂
Children had to grow up fast in poor households. Plumbing did have a huge impact on health and those fancy toilets always amazed me.
I'm so thankful for my taps I tell you :) x
Keep going Lucy! I really enjoy your videos. Thanks!
Thank you Michelle x
We had clock in cards at my first job. Everyone would ask each to clock them in if they were running late.
haha, my first job in a bakery was clocked in too - we did the same .. ;)
Another fascinating video. Thank you.x
Thank you Sally, always appreciate you x
Child cruelty wasn’t even a thing in those days was it. I’m glad I know where The Potteries gets the name from now,, there’s signs on the M6 around Staffordshire. That clay machine was amazing, all those little gubbins and whirly gigs, I love the old engineering, the fact it still functions too 😍 I think we all know where the word “crap” comes from, I’ve always known the phrase and use it still “going for a tip”
I wonder if it comes from the Tipper closet invention 🤔
Brilliant interesting video again Lucy, thank you.
You are so welcome and that's super interesting about "tip" I am going to look into that! And nope if you could work it didn't matter how old you were, I look at my niece and nephew and think my god, those little kids must have been so mature x
@@throughlucyslens Every phrase has a history doesn’t it. I once had a book called “red herrings and white elephants”. It was so interesting to read and learn about them.
Hi Lucy, what was the name of that Musium? And where exactly is it. Thanks
It's the Gladstone Pottery Museum and it's in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent x
Wow Lucy, I've only just found your FB post about your channel .. well done, I love history do I'll definitely follow your videos 😊 Hope you are well. Much love, Daxy 😊🫂💚
Hey sweetie! Thank you! Lovely to hear from you, it's nice for me to be doing something I really love again, and so unexpectedly too x
@throughlucyslens well you have got Gina watching you too now 😁
You are a natural at it 🥰 keep up the great work babe .. I've set notifications so I'll not miss you now 😘😁💚🫂
Great memories my Uncle worked for Gadstone as a pattern maker and my Nan was a gilder for Copeland. When she died we donated her tools to the museum so you may even have seen some :)
That's so lovely! I admire potters so much, its such a hard but admiral career. That's wonderful you donated the tools. We donated a pair of my great grandads hair clippers to the barbers at the Black Country museum, it's important things aren't just stuck in a drawer for someone less sentimental to eventually throw them out one day x
Another brilliant video and it makes you think how fortunate we are to have the housing and sanitation, we just take it for granted. This is on my to visit list.😊
You must go, you will love it, I can never cover everything comprehensively on these videos, mostly becuase I would love people to have their own experiences there - it's quite a big site with lots there I didn't include - have a wonderful time x
What a great informative video and well presented with images and explanations 👍👍
Thanks so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it ❤️
this is my new favorite channel!! thank you so much for your videos xx
Yay! Thank you! That's so kind of you - I really do appreciate that x
Used to live in Stoke as a student, loved going round and exploring the history of the potteries.
It's great isn't it? I very nearly went to uni in stoke too!
Great trip, Lucy! It's almost impossible to actually imagine ourselves working in those conditions, but they were people just like us, and like you said, that's all they do the just coped.
I love those decorated ceramic toilets! I've never seen anything like those. I'd love to have one of those in my house. I especially like the blue onion pattern one or the spotted one with the matching sink.
They are GORGEOUS aren't they? I thought the same, you can still get them but they are, of course, very expensive! A wise investment though because that room is most certainly one of the most used in the house!
@@throughlucyslens 😂
Oh wow! I am going to visit this just for the toilets - with the rest as a bonus! Another brilliant choice.
Honestly, that toilet exhibition is INCREDIBLE! There's another part about tiles which sounds quite boring on paper and I didn't film it as it was quite dark but again it was fascinating x
Yes! Please do a video about toilets! I think I can finally say here that I like plumbing and the history of toilets! I think it’s hilarious about Thomas Crapper being the first or at least one of the first inventors of the toilet ( I.e. crapper)
Ohhh I've got a whole list of facts and myths about mr crapper 🤣 I'm so looking forward to doing it! Xx
@@throughlucyslens I’m so looking forward to your toilet video! Yay! and thank you!
The way I got so excited over the toilet museum exhibit and then got even more excited at the prospect of a video about that. Love those bits of history people don't really think to think about like that. Great video as always!! When I still lived in Edinburgh I used to love going past the portobello bottle kilns..most people didn't even realise they were there!
They are great aren't they - and kindred spirit regarding toilets! 😂😂😂 I just find it so fascinating and it's one of those things folks totally wonder about but don't want to ask! I on the other hand am here to tell all 😹
@@throughlucyslens so brilliant! Honestly when I think about HUUUUGE commodities that people don't realise that they have, toilets and plumbing are like number one. Like for the majority of history they have been very different to their modern form.
Great video as usual Lucy. I've been to Gladstone Pottery a few times over the last 40 years and it has definitely improved. From memory, there's also a lot of ceramic toilets in Hanley museum too, unless they've been moved to Gladstone. And, I see to remember a similar display in an ornate Pumping Station adjacent to The Space Museum in Leicester - name escapes me. Looking forward to your history of toilets.
Ohhh I didn't know there was a Hanley Museum, I'll look it up! I absolutely loved Gladstone, what an incredible, atmospheric place it is! I bet 40 years ago it was very rustic and closer to original conditions?
@@throughlucyslens It's The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Bethesda Street, complete with a Spitfire fighter plane on display. Yes, I can remember a film of clay dust everywhere in Gladstone. I also seem to recall that darts champ Eric Bristow had a pub close by. And, in Leicester it's the Abbey Pumping Station Museum, better than the next door National Space Museum.
@@andrewwest7934 Thank you so much, I have put those on my list - they seem right up my street :)
I did a craft degree and though I specialised in cast glass, ended up teaching a lot of ceramics at my old uni job 😅 I loooooove anything about kilns and the art and crafts produced in them.
My dissertation was about nostalgia and heritage so you can see why I love your videos!
Peas in a pod! I would have loved to have done some art education, I am naturally creative but would have loved to have honed that skill properly. That's amazing x
We're local enough (sort of) we could potentially arrange a meet up for an art/craft/living history session 😂
In my village. Our school has a collection of school registers.. someone has scanned them onto a fb page for us to read.. its fascinacting to read the reasons why the school is empty for many reasons.. following the laws coming into play.. such as harvest and other practical reasons.. but also for widespread illness
That's fantastic. You can't get better than a piece of primary evidence like that, I bet local historians love it! X
@throughlucyslens I don't think they really know.. unless it's been fed back.. its just the village fb page.. its great for us tho.. my great grandmother attended the school whilst her mother worked there.. and that went down to my granny being the dinner lady.. I was the last to attend that school so 4/5 generations. My stepson actually went there too so almost 6
Another interesting video I love the Pottery Showdown too, one of my favourite books by Arnold Bennet who wrote about the Five Towns is the Clayhanger trilogy and in the first book there is an account of Darius Clayhanger having to work in a pottery at 7 years old which I have never forgotten in fact for anyone interested in Victorian and Edwardian history all his books are excellent thank you for showing this 😊❤
Ohh thank you, I will hunt these books out! Sounds right up my street!
There was also a TV series made in about 1976 which I used to have on dvd which was really true to the books 😊
Even better! I adore finding old tv series!
Love your videos they are so interesting, thank you.
Thanks Andrew. Very much appreciated ❤️
This speaks to my heart, I love pottery! One thing I've learned from watching shows like Time Team is that pottery connects humanity throughout the ages.
Absolutely! Me too! I'm fascinated by the archaeologists who can see a tiny fragment and date it: you won't be surprised to hear I love time team too! Over lockdown I rewatched pretty much every single one 😅
@@throughlucyslens Right? Like how do they know that bit of terracotta wasn't a splinter off of an old brick or an old flowerpot, so fascinating to me!
@@Rye_Toast Same!! I look at a piece of pottery and think .. pottery .. haha
another great video lucy 😃 thank you as always 😀 and keep them coming please 😀
Thanks Yvonne, I will do, promise! I love making them x
@@throughlucyslens yay 😄😘
I just adore your work. Thank you so much 😊
No, thank you for watching and enjoying, I really appreciate it!
Yet another really interesting video 👍👍 Honestly we don’t know how lucky we are these days, & people still moan & think they are hard done by. They are probably the ones accusing you of using AI🙄🙄😂
Haha, I did laugh when I kept seeing the comments ... like what is even the point of doing that? It's not at all interesting or a creative process .. plus I wouldn't have a clue how to use it anyway! And yep, my nephew was moaning at the weekend that the custard creams and had run out, and without being THAT aunty I wanted to tell him about kids his age down mines and in factories .. I refrained ;)
@@throughlucyslens as my old boss used to say “They walk amongst us”. I guess in our case they watch TH-cam too 😂😂 Yeah stay the “Nice Aunty” not worth the drama. You could always encourage him to watch your video 👍👍
You know, I started this channel FOR him. He is desperate for a You Tube channel (he is 9) and his parents said you can't have one unless Lucy makes one and gets 100k subscribers .. so I started it as a bet - and now I am OBSESSED and love it more than life .. and he is totally disinterested in it. Not sure his parents will thank me if we ever get that far because he won't forget the deal ...
@@throughlucyslens 😂😂 I’m pretty sure he’s going to have a TH-cam channel 👍👍
This place is a great find!
Brilliant isn't it :)
I'm nearly seventy now, but I still remember the fear I felt as a three year old, having to use a toilet set over a stream when I lived in rural Ireland. I was terrified that I was going to fall through that hole.
Oh gosh! I have similar memories about using a wooden board over a cess pit in a shed in Wales. I was convinced some rat or something was going to jump out and bite my bum 😅
@@throughlucyslens Lol!! I was only a teeny thing and that hole was big! I think I would have been more frightened of the spiders than the rats. I am a dyed in the wool arachnophobe.
@@fianorian Gosh me too .. S for September S for Spiders- those big fellas that run across the room ... really do not like them at all!
Fabulous video 👍🏻
Thanks 🤗
Awesome video! I’m so thankful to have been born when I was. I had Scarlet Fever twice in my life. Once as a baby, and again at 7…that time with chicken pox. If it wasn’t for modern medicine I might have ended up with serious complications or worse. Crazy to think of how it was back then. But remember, we came from the ones that survived. That says something.
I always think that - and how amazing we did! I've had shingles 3 times which is apparently quite rare for someone my age. I had TERRIBLE chicken pox when I was about 7, the worst case the GP had seen. So yes! Survivors! Scarlet fever is absolutely terrible. You don't hear much about it these days.
Thank you for sharing, could we imagine kids today working at that age, 😢
Mind blowing to think of children as young as five working nowadays. Thank you for another interesting video 😊
My absolute pleasure. I love making them - honestly I can't imagine it at all - their poor bones and minds .. it beggars belief!