It was the excellency of the Broseley and Benthall clays, above referred
to, which attracted the Messrs. Maw to the spot and led them to remove
from Worcester, to where they had been in the habit, first of all, of
having them conveyed by barges on the river, to the present site of their
works, fashioned out of the old Benthall Iron Works, carried on a century
ago by Mr. Harries, then owner of the Benthall estate. Notwithstanding
the additions made by them, the trade has so wonderfully developed itself
that after building upon or in some way occupying every inch of ground,
they are cramped for room, and are on the look out for more commodious
premises. In addition to those classical and other adjuncts of
architectural comfort and embellishment, embracing encaustic tiles—the
reproduction of an art limited in mediæval times to church decoration,
but now having a much more extended application, and the manufacture of
tesseræ, used in the construction of geometrical mosaic pavements,
similar in character to those found in the mediæval buildings of Italy,
also moresque mosaics, like those occurring in Roman remains in this
country and on the continent, they now manufacture a superior majolica,
and faience of great purity, in both of which departments they have
recently received first class medals at the Philadelphia exhibition. The
accompanying engraving will convey an idea of the adaptation of faience
to articles of domestic utility.