The very excellent coal-measure clays found on both banks of the Severn,
and turned to such good account by the Coalbrookdale Co., by Mr. Legge at
the Woodlands, by neighbours too on the opposite bank of the Severn, as
well as the celebrity attained by the Coalport works, renders it
necessary that we should take a somewhat comprehensive view of the
subject. Bricks and tiles and pottery of various kinds appear to have
been made from a very early period, but the manufacture of Salopian
porcelain dates from the latter end of the last century. The sites of
the old pot works were at the outcrops of the coal-measure clays; and it
was the advantages the fire-clays and accompanying coals afforded which
led to the manufacture of porcelain. The former were situate at Benthall
and Jackfield, where advantage is still taken of them, flourishing works
being still carried on in places where these very excellent materials are
readily procurable; and before noticing the introduction and very
successful manufacture of the former at Caughley and Coalport, it may be
desirable to devote a few pages to a description of the old pot-works, at
Haybrook, the Pitchyard, and at Jackfield.
The art of moulding a plastic substance like clay is, of course, as old
as the world, and on the banks of the Severn, as shewn by specimens
ascribed to early British and Roman periods, it must not only have
existed but been carried to some perfection there. These clays are said
to have been used by the Romans, as evinced by the red and grey pottery
and tiles discovered at Uriconinum. Jacquemart, in his “History of
Ceramic Art,” says that Jackfield is the most ancient site of pottery in
Shropshire. And it is added that from a period so early as 1453, the
valley of the Severn was famous for ornamental tiles, many specimens
bearing that date having been found in Cathedrals and Churches. We have
no reliable authority however for fixing the date at which the art was
first practised in Shropshire, but it appears tolerably clear that the
articles made were of the simplest kind, being almost uniformly domestic:
those in daily use, such as milk-pans, dishes, tea-pots, jugs, and mugs.
The latter were substitutes for the drinking horns, which later
improvements in the plastic and ceramic arts have driven out of use. We
have an ancient specimen of one made at the Pitchyard, and a drawing of
another made at Haybrook, well _potted_, and elegant in shape. The
latter is the best manipulated, and probably it was from this
circumstance that the latter work was called “The Mug-House.”
In evidence adduced sometime since in an Election Scrutiny at Bewdley, a
public-house referred to was called the “Mughouse,” which house is
situated on the Severn, at a point where the bargemen, who formerly drew
the vessels up the river instead of horses, were in the habit of stopping
to get mugs of ale. “Tots” were made out of the same kind of clay, but
smaller, and were used when the men drank in company; hence a person who
had drank too much was supposed to have been with a convivial party, and
was said to have been “totty,” a word often found in old works. Tots had
no handles, and some of the old drinking cups, more particularly those of
glass of Anglo Saxon make, were rounded at the bottom that they should
not stand upright, and that a man may empty them at a draught,—the custom
continuing till later times gave rise to our modern name of tumbler. The
small tots had no handles; the mug had a “stouk,” as it is called,
consisting of a single piece of clay, flattened and bent over into a
loop. The ware was similar to the famous “Rockingham ware” made on the
estate of Earl Fitzwilliam, near Wentworth.
The discovery of a salt glaze took place in 1690, and the manufacture of
that kind of ware must have commenced here soon after, as traces of works
of the kind are abundant. This method consisted in throwing salt into
the kiln when the ware had attained a great heat, holes being left in the
clay boxes that contained it in order that the fumes may enter and
vitrify the surface. Evidences of the manufacture of these old mugs and
tots, together with milk-pans and washing-pans, having been made at an
early period, are numerous; and the old seggars in which they were burnt
often form walls of the oldest cottages in Benthall and Broseley Wood.
A considerable number of old jars, mugs, and other articles, have from
time to time been found in places and under circumstances sufficient to
indicate great antiquity; as in mounds overgrown with trees, and in old
pits which for time immemorial have not been worked. One large earthern
jar, with “George Weld,” in light clay, was found in an old drain at
Willey, and is now in the possession of Lord Forester. Mr. John
Thursfield, who lived at Benthall hall, was at one time proprietor of
these works.
Three quarters of a century ago these works were carried on by a Messrs.
Bell & Lloyd; afterwards by Mr. John Lloyd, one of the best and most
truly pious men we ever knew, who some time before his death transferred
them to a nephew, Mr. E. Bathurst. His son succeeded him, and after a
time sold them to the present proprietor, Mr. Allen, who to the ordinary
red and yellow ware, which finds a ready sale in North and South Wales,
has added articles of use and ornament in other ways, including forcing
pots, garden vases, and various terra cotta articles.
Of the Pitchyard works we know little, only that they stood where the
late Mr. E. Southorn carried on his Pipe Works, and where we remember
them in ruins more than fifty years ago; but the numerous seggars, now
found in cottage garden walls, shew that they must have been continued
for some considerable time.
But, besides the manufacture of bricks, tiles, and pottery, these clays
have been raised to a trade within the past few years in this district
which is every day increasing, and which is capable of much further
expansion: we refer now to the important department of encaustic or
inlaid tiles and mosaics. The art of producing tiles of this description
is only recently revived in this country, and is one which in point of
antiquity is not to be compared with its sister branches. The first
attempt, so far as we are aware, to revive the art in Shropshire, was at
Jackfield; but the first designs were crude, quaint, and spiritless, and
altogether wanting in those nicer distinctions and qualities which, not
being perceived by the mind of the producer, could not be wrought by the
hand. In this as in many other branches of fictile art _insight_ into
the principles as well as eyesight is required, and the mistake—as in
many other instances—was committed of attempting something which, with
the expenditure of thought and time, might catch the uneducated eye—the
object being to produce _quantity_ rather than _quality_. But the call
made upon the art by the enlightened demands of the age soon gave a
wonderful impetus to the improvement, and men of educated artistic
taste—like the Mintons and the Maws—soon called to their aid the
assistance of the greatest genius and the highest designing talent at
command; at the same time that they directed their efforts to definite
points in which utility might be made the instrument of beauty, and by
which originality and intelligible design might be made to rise out of
the most common-place wants. But although the modern manufacture of
geometric and encaustic tiles is recent, it already far surpasses the
ancients in variety and arrangement, in geometric patterns, and in beauty
of design in encaustics as well as in mechanical finish; although it may
be doubted whether the same breadth of general effect is studied as in
many ancient examples. Mintons, of Stoke, Maw and Co., of Benthall,
Hargraves and Craven, of Jackfield, and Mr. Bathurst, of Broseley, have
each produced beautiful encaustic tiles for pavements—both for
ecclesiastical and domestic use; and there is yet a large field for
development of the use of similar tiles to colour and enrich the details
of our street architecture, as well as in that of more elaborate and
important structures.
The Coalbrookdale Co., have recently manufactured some admirable
terra-cotta entablatures, with historical subjects for costly buildings
in the metropolis. The erection of the Literary and Scientific
Institution also, of different coloured clays shews their adaptation to
works of great architectural beauty.
[Picture: Decorated fireplace]