Urbex: Holdings Country Pottery, Lancashire – March 2013

First a little History

Holdings Country Pottery was founded circa 1898 on a large clay deposit in Lancashire. It used its own clay, which was dug, blended, washed and processed before being made into passes for the potters wheel. Since the start of the century until its closure little changed in the process and the factory opened its doors to visitors so that they could see the craftsmen creating ‘Waldian Ware’ in the traditional way.

The family tradition was started by James Holding in 1842 a mile or so from the present site which was opened just before the turn of the century by James’s sons and grandsons. The Pottery then proceeded to stay within the family as generations passed and took over management of the factory. I’m uncertain when the factory was abandoned and ultimately closed its doors but by the looks of the condition of the building and some of the artefacts left behind I’d guess its been shut for at least 20+ years.

Our Visit

I’ll be honest I had low expectation for this place. I’d heard about it and seen a few photos but not really paid too much attention to it so I was pleasantly surprised to find so much well preserved stuff. Probably owing to its relatively remote location the place has survived with minimal vandalism and was in some parts like walking back in time. Visited with Sam ‘The Mule’, Jamie and Dystopia after Sonyes Kindly showed us where the place was.

Highlight for me has to be all the photography equipment and photographs themselves, especially the ones of the factory still in use. On with the photographs from the trip:

If you’ve made it this far… thanks for reading / checking out the pictures. Leave me a comment below or hit the like button to let me know you’ve enjoyed the shots and to encourage me to keep posting more 

Canvas prints and regular prints are available for all of the images above just ask me about prices.

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