worldoftheshadows
Well-known member
I dont know much about the history of this place - It used to be part of Royal Doulton's Gainsborugh Pottery and became Shires Bathrooms who were bought out in 2000 by the irish based Qualcream group,
Producing Toilets and Sinks it employed around 600 people untill Qualcream outsourced production to the far east in 2006. Surprisingly all the machinery remains, The lights and fans are on and machinery is still running 3 years after the last toilet was produced.
Built on four levels the pottery uses a highly automated production line, the top two production floors were where the liquid clay was poured into plaster moulds and dryed in giant ovens before the leather hard toilet or sink is hung on a monorail which takes it to the lower floor to be biscuit fired. After which it continues on the monorail through a series of booths where robot arms spray the coloured glazes onto the item then it's fired again and any imperfections are polished out by workers before it goes back up the monorail to be packed and dispatched on the upper ground floor.
Exterior
Monorail
Typical Production Floor
Sink Moulds
Toilet Moulds
Automated Glaze Sprayer
Producing Toilets and Sinks it employed around 600 people untill Qualcream outsourced production to the far east in 2006. Surprisingly all the machinery remains, The lights and fans are on and machinery is still running 3 years after the last toilet was produced.
Built on four levels the pottery uses a highly automated production line, the top two production floors were where the liquid clay was poured into plaster moulds and dryed in giant ovens before the leather hard toilet or sink is hung on a monorail which takes it to the lower floor to be biscuit fired. After which it continues on the monorail through a series of booths where robot arms spray the coloured glazes onto the item then it's fired again and any imperfections are polished out by workers before it goes back up the monorail to be packed and dispatched on the upper ground floor.
Exterior
Monorail
Typical Production Floor
Sink Moulds
Toilet Moulds
Automated Glaze Sprayer