Artist Jane Stewart shared her story of The Tortoise Portway Campaign Stove.
Portways of Halstead used to make a campaign stove, used in WW1 and on various tours around the globe. When I lived on Tidings Hill in Halstead my house (a small Victorian mid terrace) had a tortoise plaque on the wall. It was not until I researched my family tree and found out that my Great Great Grandfather was a designer for Portway at the turn of the century and potentially designed the ‘Tortoise Stove’.
The Tortoise on my house was put there by the people who built it for their workers. Portways, long closed, has plaque about the stove and the factory now stands on the site in Halstead.
