Belleek Pottery’s Contribution to Sustainability

Preserving our Heritage

The essence of our visitor centre is to preserve, conserve, and share the story of Belleek Pottery as Ireland’s oldest working pottery.

The Factory and Visitor Centre

Belleek Pottery provides unparalleled insight into this world-famous china and how it is made by offering a visitor experience that blends insight into the everyday workings of the factory alongside the story of its history and heritage told through a guided tour, museum and audio-visual presentation.

Belleek Pottery first started manufacturing pottery in 1857. The building façade that visitors see today is almost as it was first built, with some minor modifications to the entrance. Today, the pottery is a Grade II listed building, and it sits proudly adjacent to Belleek Bridge; the first in-person encounter with Belleek pottery is always an impressive and memorable one.

The Interiors

The ground floor and front section of the pottery were once part of the working factory, now repurposed as the visitor centre with a tearoom, foyer and showroom. Many original features from the mid-1800s architecture have been retained, including high ceilings, deep window sills, multi-pane windows, and cast iron supports that would have been erected to support the structure.

Special Features

The Pottery Bell

The bell that rings at the beginning of every tour was the original bell used to signify to the village that work was about to start in the pottery.

The International Centrepiece

The International Centrepiece won a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exhibition (Exposition Universelle); a replica features prominently in the visitor centre foyer. Standing over 30 inches (approximately 76cm) high, this elaborate Parian china centrepiece is a three-footed urn adorned with hand-applied flowers and Irish harps, featuring three Irish wolfhounds guarding the base. It was created specifically to showcase the high quality of Belleek’s craft and design at the turn of the century, earning a gold medal for its artistic merit.

The Visitor Book

This archive is an important part of the storytelling of Belleek Pottery and its attraction to visitors from the mid-1800s to present day.

The first entry is dated 1 October 1868 and is signed by the Earl and Countess of Lanesborough of Lanesborough Lodge, Belturbet, Co Cavan.

Rose Isle Garden

“Rose Isle” is the historic name of the site on the banks of the River Erne in County Fermanagh, Ireland, where Belleek Pottery was established in 1857. “Rose Isle Garden”, which is located within the grounds of the visitor centre, features established flower beds, trees, and climbing roses, species found in the original grounds of Rose Isle House. In 1857, a 999-year lease for Rose Isle was signed by John Caldwell Bloomfield, David McBirney, and Robert Williams Armstrong to establish the pottery. The gardens inspired Belleek products, such as the “Rose Isle Garden Votive and Basket” and the 2023 “Rose Trellis Vase”.

Community Contribution

Making an economic contribution to a rural community has always been a core value for Belleek Pottery. In fact, since its very beginnings, the founders of the pottery aimed to create opportunity and improvement to the local economy.

Today, for every transaction that takes place in the visitor centre, this can be directly related back to our community, through the employment of our staff, the wages they are paid, and how this money is put directly back into the local economy. We employ more than 150 people, which sustains approximately 105 families, representing around 12% of the local population.

Increasingly, visitors want to hear about our community involvement and how we employ sustainable practices. Our international audience are particularly impressed that our visitor centre team and factory workers come from the locality, some of whom have had family members working here for several generations.

Waste and Energy

Waste

Our entire waste product generated directly from production, such as plaster of Paris moulds, clay-fired rings, and fired items that are rejected for quality reasons, are screened, crushed, and recycled as hard fill. The end product is used mostly in the construction industry.

Our waste cardboard and plastic are separated and baled on site. These bales are collected at regular intervals and sent to a mill for recycling.

Our mixed waste is sorted at Erne Skip Services & Recycling in Fermanagh.

Our third-party waste management partners are located within an hour’s drive of the pottery, enabling us to ensure the journey to process our waste is kept to a minimum.

Energy – Solar

For over 165 years, Belleek Pottery has evolved to meet its energy needs in the most efficient way possible. From the coal-fired kilns of the 19th century, with a mill wheel to grind the raw materials to produce slip, to a water turbine in the 1930s using the River Erne for power, and then progressing to electric-fired kilns in the 1950s, Belleek Pottery has now moved into the 21st century with investment in self-generation through solar PV.

An optimised 150kWp system has been installed on the factory roof, comprising 330 solar photovoltaic modules. Typically, this provides approximately 30% of the business’s total energy needs annually.

An additional and much-appreciated benefit of our new system has been a reduction in our carbon output by 18 tonnes per year. This has the same effect as planting almost 3,500 trees.

Accessibility

Belleek Pottery Visitor Centre is located on the ground floor of Ireland’s oldest working pottery. From the moment visitors enter our grounds, we make every effort to ensure each guest enjoys the most we have to offer.

Parking

We have ample parking within the grounds of our centre. We offer six bays of special assistance parking, which ensures guest comfort from the start.

Visitor Centre Entrance

The main entrance to our visitor centre is wheelchair accessible, and from here you enter the foyer where you can either enter the showroom or Lily Annes Tea Rooms.

Signage – We apply universal signage to help guests navigate their way around the visitor centre.Toilets

Our toilets are also situated on the ground floor, with one special assistance toilet facility. Our ladies’ and gents’ toilets are spacious and bright, with ample sink and hand dryer provision.

Foyer

The foyer offers all visitors the opportunity to browse our most famous piece. Coats can be placed on the coat stand, and umbrellas can also be stored safely for the duration of the guest tour.

Showroom Team

Our showroom team have been trained to ensure you receive the best customer service possible. They can provide you with additional product information, and for pieces that are on display in harder-to-reach spaces, they are on hand to bring the product closer to you so you can see, touch, and feel it. They share personal stories or testimonials and recommendations from other customers on products, so that visitors get a sense of satisfaction levels from others.

Families and Young Children

We aim to make our visitor centre welcoming to families. We offer a range of facilities that make life a little easier for our smaller visitors.

Baby Changing – our special assistance toilet facility also features a baby changing table, providing ease and comfort to little ones.

The Bloomfield Trail – this child-centred guided tour is exceptionally popular and has been designed with visitors under the age of 12 in mind. This interactive trail tells the story of Belleek Pottery, encouraging children to search for clues to complete the story in a more child-friendly way.

Culture and Language

We welcome visitors from across the globe to experience Belleek Pottery and tailor our experiences to accommodate their needs. Providing translations of our audio-visual presentations allows our visitors to enjoy our story in a range of languages. This means our international visitors can enjoy our pottery experience to the fullest. We recognise and accommodate the cultural nuances of our guests, e.g. restrooms v Ladies & Gents.