The Cozy Pineapple is a Belleek Authorized Retailerin 1849 john caldwell bloomfield inherited the castlecaldwell estate, which encompassed the village of belleek, from his father. mindful of the plight of his tenants in the aftermath of the potato famine he sought to provide some form of worthwhile employment. an amateur mineralogist, he ordered a geological survey of his land. to his delight it revealed the necessary raw materials to make pottery - feldspar, kaolin, flint, clay and shale. the village of belleek, whose name in gaelic, beal leice, translates to 'flagstone ford' was a natural choice to locate the business especially the part of the village known as rose isle. this small isle provided the best opportunity to leash the yet untamed power of the river erne - power to drive a mill wheel strong enough to grind components into slip, the term applied to liquid potters clay. young apprentices and capable workmen were to be found locally but armstrong knowing that the pottery's success hinged on talented craftsmen and experienced potters went to england. offering high wages and a better lifestyle he brought back 14 craftsmen from stoke-on-trent. in 1990 the company sold again, this time to dr. george moore, originally from dundalk and now living in the usa. to this day it is still under the ownership of george moore and is run locally by a group of four directors. since the purchase in 1990 a real success story can be documented. the pottery itself grew from 30,000 sq.ft to over 120,000 sq.ft between 1990 and 1998. within this program all the old buildings were demolished behind the principle listed building and a new factory was built.
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