Signed FortySeven The Last Bottle Kilns of The Potteries by Photographer Phil Crow

This is a signed book of a collection of photographs by Phil Crow to accompany and catalogue the exhibition FORTYSEVEN which happened over three venues in the Potteries including Keele University, The Gladstone Pottery Museum and Middleport Pottery during 2023.

The book includes a forward by local historian Terry Wolliscroft.

At the height of the Pottery Industry the skyline of Stoke-on-Trent was dominated by Thousands of bottle ovens.

Before the outbreak of the war in 1939, more than 2000 had been documented.

A 1964 report by the British Pottery Manufacturers Federation sited "The Clean Air Act of 1956 was the beginning of the end for these iconic buildings and by 1964, there were only 20 bottle ovens still operable".

Phil Crow states "At the time of putting this project together in 2022, 47 bottle shaped structures remain in 27 locations."

"The difference in condition is astounding, some are loved, most are not, but they are all beautiful in their own way."