Reconstruction of one of the Medieval ovens excavated at Sneyd Green

Up until the Roman invasion of Britain, pottery production still involved the bonfire firing of coarsewares. The Romans brought with them a variety of new techniques that established a system of standardization in pottery production. The first proper pottery industries began as a result. The most significant development was the introduction of the Up-Draft Kiln, which allowed some control over how pots were fired. Specific clays could be fired at different temperatures to achieve various colours. The regularity of ware types, forms and colour can be used by archaeologists to attribute Roman pots  to a specific kiln's production.
Trent Vale is the only known site of Roman pottery production in the Potteries and archaeological excavations have uncovered traces of a kiln, workshop, and sherds of cooking vessels. 
Following the Roman period we have no evidence for pottery production around Stoke until the High Medieval Period (13th – 14^th Century) which saw the early production methods change quite significantly. The late 14^th Century Medieval pottery making site at Sneyd Street indicates that pottery production has been prevalent in Stoke-on-Trent for the last 700 years. During an excavation of the Sneyd Street site two kiln bases and a quantity of 14^th century waste pottery were found.

Pre 17th Century Potworks continued...