Masonry oven these primitive-looking ovens were still being produced in Barnstaple potteries as late as 1890". A cloche or cooking bell is like an upside-down, fired ceramic bowl with a handle on top. It is heated in the fire along with a flat rock or open spot on the hearth. The prepared dough is placed on the hot rock or hearth floor, and then covered with the cloche, and perhaps hot coals or ashes for additional heat. The method goes back to ancient Egypt and Greece, and was probably the first form of masonry oven. It is possible to get some of
Ceramic glaze or painted. Most pottery produced in recent centuries has been glazed, other than pieces in unglazed terracotta, biscuit porcelain or some other types. Tiles are almost always glazed on the surface face, and modern architectural terracotta is very often glazed. Glazed brick is also common. Domestic sanitary ware is invariably glazed, as are many ceramics used in industry, for example ceramic insulators for overhead power lines. The most important groups of traditional glazes, named after their main ceramic fluxing agent, are: Modern materials technology has invented new vitreous glazes that do not fall into these traditional categories. Glazes need to