Thomas Shaw, foreman of the pottery reported that Copeland & Garrett employed 780 people; 454 men, 249 women, and 77 children under the age of 13. The premises extended over 14 acres of land and included 19 ovens, 272 workrooms, 19 slip kilns, 42 warehouses, and 33 other offices.
In his concluding note Samuel Scriven wrote, “These works are very extensive, the whole covering nearly 14 acres of ground; they appear to have been erected many years, as there is neither conformity, order, or system of arrangement … except in the dipping house, green house, and one or two others, which are comparatively modern structures. The printing rooms, throwing rooms, pressing rooms, and painting rooms, in which numbers are working together, are close, low, small, and inconvenient places for the purposes to which they are applied – even at this season ... they are hot and unhealthy… The premises are well drained, and great order and regularity is observed by the work-people. The boys and girls are in separate premises, and are under good discipline.” |