Wedgewood opens new £10.5m museum

There was one down side to the creation of the visitor centre at Wedgwood's manufacturing headquarters near Stoke-on-Trent, 10 years ago. It meant there was no longer any space for the museum which until then had borne testament to the life and work of Josiah Wedgwood and his descendants.

Wedgwood will make up for its lost decade later this month when a new £10.5m museum housing 6,000 artefacts opens at its Barlaston site.

Wedgwood immersed himself in pottery after a bout of smallpox prevented him undertaking more physical work, and he certainly wasn't in the habit of throwing things away as he experimented relentlessly.

The product of that is the 10,000 experimental pieces which also will go on display, providing an insight into the workings of a fertile mind.

Wedgwood embarked on an extraordinary volume of correspondence, too, on matters as diverse as international trade, the anti-slavery efforts championed by his friend William Wilberforce and the British canal system. The 75,000 original manuscripts displayed provide, in themselves, a running social history of the 19th century.

Some will visit Wedgwood to see the first vases which Wedgwood threw at the Etruria works which he eventually was forced to abandon in favour of Barlaston when the local coal-mining works caused the site to sink. The Portland Vase, which takes pride of place in the museum, was fiendishly difficult to throw because of the 17lb weight of clay required. It was a testament to Wedgwood's fervent desire to develop his industry as well as profit from it that he invented the pyrometer – also on display – which allowed him and generations of ceramicists to know the temperature of the coal-fired ovens in which the vases were placed.

Built by the Wedgwood Museum Trust with a £5.8m Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the museum also provides a commentary on the changing fashion in ceramics, from the oriental works of the early 1750s to the utilitarian use of his works which led Wedgwood to declare: "We shall certainly rule the world." He was right on that count, transforming the clumsy tableware of the 18th century into stylish "Queensware" and earning recognition from the Royal Family before moving on to develop the Blue and White Jasperware which remains the Wedgwood icon.

Few of the exhibits are more touching than those which reveal the story of Millicent Taplin, who started service at Wedgwood as a humble paintress but who progressed to the esteemed role running the factory's painting school department – "the missus"' as such an individual was always known. The wonderful, bright images are testament to the special gifts of a woman who died in 1980.

The Wedgwood Museum opens on 24 October (01782 371900; www.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk). Open 9am-5pm Mon-Fri and 10am-5pm Sat-Sun. Admission £6 adults, £4.50 child, concessions £5