Terry

More about Terry


After schooling at Penkhull Infants, The Close Junior School also in Penkhull, and Blurton Junior High School, Terry set off to work aged 16 at Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd. in Barlaston. They set him on as a Production Management Trainee.

At Wedgwood, the firm sponsored him for ONC Sciences at Newcastle College and a 'Sandwich Course' at the North Staffs Polytechnic studying for B.Sc. Ceramic Technology. He obtained his degree in 1974.  

It was about this time that he developed a deep interest in Potteries bottle ovens - those huge, complex buildings which were, at one time, essential in pottery manufacture. This curiosity has stayed with him all his life. 

Longton. Blue Bell Works 
Photo: Terry Woolliscroft Collection  Date: 1970 


As these structures started to disappear from the skyline of  Stoke he began photographing them before they were nearly all gone. He got on his bike, travelled from Tunstall to Longton and took photos with his trusty Kodak Instamatic 233. This interest stayed with him - forever!

In 1972, he joined Gladstone Pottery Museum as a volunteer. It was here that he met his future wife, Pam. 

In 1978 he played a key role in organising the historic Last Bottle Oven Firing. He also documented the entire event, oh, and shovelled coal. A lot!

TW 'lumping' the oven firemouth
with coal prior the firing
Photo: Brian Colclough Collection  Date: 29th August 1978


He has since created several websites dedicated to the history of bottle ovens,  pottery and local culture. These include: 
So he has a passion for history, art and music. He has played in local brass bands and orchestras, and as a youth began painting. He now paints, writes, and builds websites about Potteries culture. He knows more than a thing or two about bottle ovens and kilns. 


In 2019, during the first pandemic, he established the Bottle Oven Art Club - a bottle oven themed art initiative, aimed at keeping people busy during the lockdown and to celebrate, through art, the culture & heritage of Potteries bottle ovens & kilns. Just for fun. In May 2021 he was nominated (by Nerys Williams) and shortlisted in the Museums and Heritage Award Volunteers of the Year - "Terry Woolliscroft's Bottle Oven Art Club" 

In 2025 Terry was surprised and delighted to learn that he had been selected for inclusion on the huge mural '100 Years 100 Faces'. The mural features 100 portraits to honour the people who have shaped the city's cultural identity. 



 In 2026 'The Knot Daily' published 'Meet the volunteers' - a piece about Gladstone Pottery Museum and two of its volunteers, Paul Niblett and Terry Woolliscroft. "They first turned up as young volunteers in the early 1970s. Five decades later, they are still helping keep Gladstone Pottery Museum – and the Potteries' past – alive."  
Article by Helen Dalley (Editor) of The Knot Daily

Gladstone Paul Niblett and Terry Woolliscroft
'Meet the volunteers'
Article by Helen Dalley for The Knot Daily 29 July 2026
Photo (edited) : Credit Helen Dalley

Courtesy of Helen Dalley, Editor of The Knot