The new-look museum will open in spring

The Wedgwood museum in Barlaston, Staffs, will house tens of thousands of pieces when it reopens in the spring.

Most of the Wedgwood collection has been out of the public eye for more than 100 years.

However, the new-look museum will chart its history from the first trials of the pottery through to the present day.

Josiah Wedgwood was born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in 1730 and was later known for improving the clumsy ordinary crockery of the day with his ceramics business.

The museum extension is being mostly funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant of �5.85m.