Three huge Bottle Kilns dominate the Arklow skyline – a fourth is added in 1939 aimed at increasing production by 6,000 dozen pieces of ware weekly.
The Arklow Pottery factory has the largest Moore-Campbell electric kiln in the world, with capacity for 7,000 dozen pieces of ware per week.
A Dressler Tunnel Oven, the 2nd largest in the world, has capacity to turn out 20,000 to 25,000 pieces per week and once lit, the fires would remain burning until the chambers had been burned out completely, within about seven years.
Shipments of clay from the cliffs of Devon and stone from the plains of Normandy begin arriving weekly into Arklow Harbour.
This is because Ireland does not yet produce the necessary raw materials needed for potter’s clay. Irish hands and flair then set to work to begin the process of creating pieces of Arklow Pottery.
Pottery workers are left without their Stoke-on-Trent colleagues, as the British workers return home suddenly to help with the war effort.
