LONGTON HALL POTTERY
Not many people know of Longton Hall Pottery
Not even in tale of English boring old history,
But we lived near the site where the ruins stood
And t he old hall itself at the edge of a small wood.
IN the seventeen hundreds one of the best china found
Strong, translucent, thin and made the sweetest sound
If tested with a finger flick and was wanted by all
No one knew the secret of the pottery from Longton Hall.
We are always told it was just left abandoned one day
As if all the workers had vanished or had been taken away,
Unfinished vases waiting in a neat and tidy long row,
And the bottle-oven left unloaded, where did they all go?
There the workers ill treated even worse than other pot banks
Hardly any wages and never given any word of praise or thanks?
Yet the tale my grandma told me which came from her mum
Made my blood turn cold and it made me feel quite numb.
The secret of bone china we know is animal bones ground fine,
In fact t here was a bone mill quite near the first home of mine,
There were different grades used by the factories all around
But the one used by Longton Hall Pottery could never be found.
My gran said they raided graves in the middle of the night
Took the human bones ground them to make the china so light,
But the spirits used to haunt the place nearly every day
Until at last every worker had to leave and run far, far away.
If someone has the true tale of Longton Hall’s fine pottery
Please be kind enough to tell a different story to me
Since my grandma gruesome tale is the only one I know
Maybe there is someone out there to me the truth will show.
(Millicent) Ann Margetson 5 June 2006