The tile panel above shows the Staffordshire Potteries in prosperous times around 1900. Working potters lived in modest streets of terrace houses among thousands of bottle kilns which dominated the skyline of the Potteries towns. The potter at the right of the tile panel is throwing a vase of clay, an early part of the production process which includes decorating, glazing and firing. The development of slip-casting, pouring liquid clay into plaster of Paris molds, led to an acceleration of factory production in the 18th century. By the 1950s, coal firing had been replaced with gas and electricity and the remaining bottle kilns are preserved today at museums and heritage centers. The tile mural was designed by Philip Gibson to mark the new Millennium and it is one of only two in the world.

Tableware for domestic use was produced in stoneware and lead-glazed earthenware by hundreds of little potteries in Staffordshire. Superior white-firing clays were shipped from Cornwall and experiments by enterprising potters fueled an explosion of new styles in tableware and ornaments, many of which were exported to Colonial America.

Tea and coffee pots were much in demand for the fashionable new beverages of the 18th century. Toby jugs, used for topping up tankards of ale, were modeled in the form of traditional drinking characters as well as popular personalities of the day. Figurative ornaments portraying contemporary celebrities were made in simple plaster of Paris molds and painted by women and children.