250 Years of Wedgwood
When Josiah Wedgwood opened his first pottery factory in June 1769, he could not have imagined how successful the pieces would become. Fascinated by the whole process of producing ceramics, Josiah experimented with a range of metallic oxides to achieve the distinctive blue and black bases and, as a master craftsman, created many of the white relief mouldings used as decoration. Elected to the Royal Society in 1783 for revolutionising ceramics production, Josiah Wedgwood died in 1795 leaving his children with a hugely successful business that thrives to this day.
To celebrate 250 years of Wedgwood a ‘1759 Festival’ is being planned to take place over the 2009 May Bank Holiday weekend. Visitors will be able to walk around the new Museum and Visitors Centre, crammed with original Wedgwood pieces collected over the centuries.
If you would like to attend the ‘1759 Festival’, book a Stoke-on-Trent hotel now as the festival is certain to attraction a huge amount of visitors, many from overseas. Alternatively, why not book a combined hotel and entrance ticket package then you won’t miss a thing.
Now for one of those ‘not a lot of people know that moments’! Josiah Wedgwood’s grandson was Charles Darwin, famed for his ‘Theory of Evolution’. Born on the 12 February 1809 near Shrewsbury, it is the 200th Anniversary of Darwin’s birth next year too. All sorts of events are being planned in and around Shrewsbury in honour of their most famous son so why not set some time aside to visit this delightful town and find out more about the man who radically changed everyone’s understanding of the origins of man.
