Jackie - Many potbanks had their own crate making team - My mate left school and went to be an apprentice cratemaker at Twyfords - though by that time they were using 3" square steel mess to make the crates. Several old photo books of the potts have photos of cratemakers and show what the crates looked like. Made out of willow an soaked in water to make them pliable. I remember that a crate make down Union Street in Hanley had a nice side line in making hoola hoops - that would be around 1958 ish ...... sTEVE On 27 May 2003 11:19, Jackie Russell [SMTP:[email protected]] wrote: > Hello > > My greatgrandfather Uriah YATES was a cratemaker in 1809 when he married > Ann FINNEY in Burslem. He was still a cratemaker in the 1851 census. 7 > of his descendants were also cratemakers, until at least 1901. > Did the potteries employ their own cratemakers, or did they buy the > crates in? > If anyone has access to any trade directories, could they please see if > cratemaker is a trade and if there are any named YATES in the Burslem > area. > > Thank you > Jackie Russell > > > > ==== ENG-STS-THE-POTTERIES Mailing List ==== > The List for the Pottery Towns of the Ancient County of Staffordshire