Swansea--Cambrian Pottery--Dillwyn’s Etruscan Ware--Swansea
China--Glamorgan Pottery--Richard’s Pottery--Landore
Pottery--Llanelly--South Wales Pottery--Ynisymudw--Terra
Cotta Works--Nantgarw--Billingsley--Nantgarw
China--Brown and Stoneware Potteries--Cardigan--Cardigan
Potteries--Hereford--Lugwardine Tile Works--Torquay--Terra
Cotta Works--Alderholt--Smethwick--Reading--Coley Avenue
Works--Wakefield Moor--Houghton’s Table of Clays--Ditchling
Pottery, &c.--Amblecote--Leicester--Spinney Hill
Works--Wednesbury--Winchester--Aylsford--Exeter--Lincoln.
SWANSEA.
_Cambrian Pottery._--A small manufactory of earthenware appears to
have existed at Swansea in the middle of last century, at which time
the works had come into the hands of, and belonged to, a Mr. Coles, who
afterwards took into partnership a Mr. George Haynes. The buildings
were originally copper-works, and were converted into a pottery. In
February, 1783, the works were offered for sale, as will be seen by the
following highly interesting advertisement, which I now, for the first
time, reprint. It shows the importance and extent of the works at that
time.
“POTTERY AND MILLS.
“To be SOLD, A very capital SET of WORKS, well calculated for
the POTTERY, GLASS, or any other Business, wherein well
constructed Cones are necessary.
“These Works have been built within these few Years, and have
been employed in a very extensive Pottery and Earthenware
Manufacture. They are situated at Swansea, in Glamorganshire
(the most flourishing Port in that Part of this Island), and
have every Convenience for carrying on the present or any other
similar Business. Coals of a most excellent Quality are brought
into the Works for less than 5s. per Ton; Teignmouth Clay for
12s. per Ton; and Flints for 20s. per Ton; and may be landed at
the Door of the Works, from Vessels of 300 Tons.
“The Country being full of excellent Coals, and there being
several considerable Manufactures of Copper, Lead, Tin, &c. on
the River, the Port of Swansea is resorted to by great Numbers
of Ships from the West of England, Ireland, Holland, France,
Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Norway, by which Means advantageous
Connexions are already formed and may be easily extended. The
Country is very populous, Provisions in great plenty, and Labour
very cheap.
“There are two excellent Water Mills included in the Premises,
for grinding the Flints, one of which is more than sufficient
for the Works; the other may be very advantageously altered to
a Grist-Mill, not being above a Quarter of a Mile from Swansea;
and at present the Inhabitants of that populous Town are under
the Necessity of sending their Corn above three Miles to be
ground.
“The Purchaser may be accommodated with a very good
Dwelling-House, Gardens, Stable, and some Pasture Ground, close
to the Works.
“The present Proprietor accidentally became possessed of the
Works, and is settled in a very different Way of Business, at a
100 Miles distance; which is the Reason of the Premises being
disposed of.
“Further Particulars may be had by applying to Mr. John Miers,
Merchant, in London; Messrs. J. and W. Cave, Merchants, in
Bristol; Mr. Edward Coles, on the Premises; or Mr. John Coles,
at the Iron Warehouse, Glocester.”
Later on, probably after the sale, Mr. Haynes became sole proprietor,
and by him and his partners, under the firm of “Haynes & Co.,” the
works were much enlarged, and were by them styled the “Cambrian
Pottery.”
In the year 1800, when Donovan wrote his excursions in South Wales and
Monmouthshire, the works, then carried on by G. Haynes & Co., of which
he gives an extended account, were considered to be extensive, and to
be producing wares of a superior class; the buildings being said to
be arranged on the same plan as those of Josiah Wedgwood, at Etruria.
In 1802 Mr. Haynes sold his works, moulds, models, stock, &c., to
Mr. Lewis Weston Dillwyn, and by him the buildings were very greatly
enlarged, and the business considerably extended.
At first, only the ordinary descriptions of common earthenware were
made at these works; but the manufacture was gradually improved by Mr.
Haynes, who produced a fine white earthenware, a cream-coloured ware,
an “opaque china,” and other varieties, as well as a very passable
kind of biscuit ware. This “opaque china,” a fine, hard, compact, and
beautiful body, is doubtless the “porcelain” ware spoken of by Donovan,
on which so much unnecessary stress was laid by a recent writer in
attempting to prove that veritable porcelain was made at Swansea before
the time when Mr. Dillwyn commenced it; the same writer forgetting
to notice that in the same paragraph in which Donovan speaks of the
Swansea “_porcelain_” he speaks also of it and other wares bidding
fair some day to vie with “Sieve _pottery_.”
In 1790, one of the “throwers” was Charles Stevens, who had been an
apprentice (at the same time as William Taylor) at the Worcester China
Works. In that year he applied to be employed at the Derby China Works,
sending as his address “The Pot Work, Swansea,” and next “at Mr.
Bothwell’s, engraver, in the Strand, Swansea.”
In the body of the Swansea wares, “the North Devon or Bideford clays
seem to have been early employed; as also the Dorset or Poole clays,
the last still continuing to be used. Cornish Kaolin and China stone
likewise formed a portion of the porcelain body.”
Upon the works passing into the hands of Mr. Lewis Weston Dillwyn, in
1802, the opaque china was much improved, and the decorations assumed
a much more artistic character. Mr. Lewis Weston Dillwyn, who was a
Fellow of the Linnæan Society, was the author of “A Synopsis of British
Confervæ, Coloured from Nature, with Descriptions;” “A Description of
Recent Shells;” and “Catalogue of the more rare Plants found in the
neighbourhood of Dover;” and, in conjunction with Dawson Turner, of
“The Botanist’s Guide through England and Wales.”
[Illustration: Fig. 653.]
The principal painter employed for the decoration of this ware appears
to have been a Mr. W. W. Young, an artist of great ability, who was
particularly skilful in painting flowers, but more especially natural
history subjects--birds, butterflies and other insects, and shells.
These he drew from nature, and was remarkably truthful and free in
his delineations. Pieces decorated with his painting are now of rare
occurrence, especially those with his name signed upon them. When
it does appear, it is, so far as my knowledge goes, either _Young
pinxit_, or _Young f_. In the Museum of Practical Geology
are some interesting examples of this “opaque china,” or “_opaque
porcelain_.” The decorations consisted--we are told by Donovan--in
1800, of “emblematical designs, landscapes, fruit, flowers, heraldic
figures, or any other species of ornamental devices,” so that several
artists must at that time have been employed. Mr. Young, of whom I
have just spoken, had been for some time previously employed by Mr.
Dillwyn in illustrating his works on Natural History; and having been
instructed in the use of enamel colours, he proved a great acquisition
to the manufactory. He afterwards became one of the proprietors of
the Nantgarw China Works, as I shall show in my account of that
manufactory.
In 1814 Mr. Dillwyn received a communication from Sir Joseph Banks,
that a specimen of china had been submitted to Government from
Nantgarw, and he was requested to examine and report on those works.
This matter is thus spoken of by Mr. Dillwyn himself: “My friend Sir
Joseph Banks informed me that two persons, named Walker and Beeley,[57]
had sent to Government, from a small manufactory at Nantgarw (ten or
twelve miles north of Cardiff), a specimen of beautiful china, with
a petition for their patronage; and that, as one of the Board of
Trade, he requested me to examine and report upon the manufactory.
Upon witnessing the firing of a kiln at Nantgarw, I found much reason
for considering that the body used was too nearly allied to glass
to bear the necessary heat, and observed that nine-tenths of the
articles were either shivered, or more or less injured in shape, by
the firing. The parties, however, succeeded in making me believe that
the defects in their porcelain arose entirely from imperfections in
their small trial-kiln; and I agreed with them for a removal to the
Cambrian Pottery, at which two new kilns, under their direction, were
prepared. While endeavouring to strengthen and improve this beautiful
body, I was surprised at receiving a notice from Messrs. Flight &
Barr, of Worcester, charging the parties calling themselves Walker and
Beeley with having clandestinely left an engagement at their works,
and forbidding me to employ them.” In 1814, then, William Billingsley
and George Walker commenced for Mr. Dillwyn, at the Cambrian Pottery,
Swansea, the manufacture of china, of the same body and glaze as that
they had produced at Nantgarw.
For this purpose some new buildings, kilns, &c., were erected, and the
utmost secrecy was observed. The new buildings for the manufacture
of china were erected on a place previously a bathing-place. Mr.
Dillwyn--or rather Billingsley and Walker for him--succeeded in
producing a beautiful china; but the loss of time in building and
altering the kilns, &c., and the losses and disappointments attending
numerous experiments and trials, prevented it being made to more than
a limited extent. Soon after the receipt of Messrs. Flight & Barr’s
letter, Mr. Dillwyn dismissed Billingsley and Walker (who returned to
Nantgarw), and continued the manufacture of china, but of a somewhat
different body. About 1817 the manufacture was laid aside by Mr.
Dillwyn, and for a time carried on by Mr. Bevington. In 1823, the
moulds, &c., were purchased by Mr. Rose, of the Coalport Works, and
removed to that place; and since that time no china has been made at
Swansea.
The Cambrian Pottery passed successively from Mr. Lewis Weston Dillwyn
(who afterwards became, from 1832 till 1835, Member of Parliament for
Glamorganshire) to Mr. Bevington, who, I am informed, was at one time
manager of the works, and who subsequently took a partner, and carried
them on under the style of “Bevington & Roby,” and “Bevington, Roby,
& Co.,” and so back again, ultimately to Mr. Dillwyn, and thence to
his son, Mr. Lewis Llewellyn Dillwyn, M.P. for Swansea. Under this
gentleman’s management the works were carried on with much spirit and
consequent success. In 1840 negotiations were entered upon between Mr.
Dillwyn and the Messrs. Brameld of the “Rockingham Works” (which see)
for the letting of the “Glamorgan Pottery” to the latter firm for the
purpose of manufacturing china ware. The following letter in my own
possession is too interesting to omit:--
“BURROWS LODGE, SWANSEA.
“June 1, 1840.
“GENTLEMEN,--I am altogether unacquainted with the China
manufacture and should therefore decline any partnership in
one. I have, however, no doubt that China may be manufactured
very profitably in Swansea, and should rejoice to see a
manufacture established here. I am also convinced that a China
and Earthenware factory might very materially assist each other
in many ways. On these accounts I have made an arrangement, at
some inconvenience to myself, by which I shall be enabled to let
you the Glamorgan Pottery, which I should think was in every way
well calculated for a China work. I am ready also to let the
premises to you on lower terms than I should have expected from
any other party.
“The terms I would let them upon to you would be £300 per annum,
with a stipulation on your part that nothing but China of the
best transparent body should be manufactured upon them.
“Should you think this offer worth your consideration, if one
of your Firm will come down, I shall be happy to shew him
everything in my power.
“I remain, Gentlemen,
“Yours very truly,
“L. L. DILLWYN.”
“Messrs. Brameld & Co.
Near Rotherham.”
The letter is addressed to Messrs. Brameld, and a pencilled note by Mr.
Brameld says, “Too high, unless a good mill with it.” The negotiations
fell through, and thus Swansea was deprived of a good chance of
becoming an important centre of porcelain manufacture.
About 1848 or 1850 Mr. Dillwyn introduced a new branch of
manufacture--that of an imitation of Etruscan vases, &c. This ware,
which was called “Dillwyn’s Etruscan Ware,” was a fine rich red body.
On this was printed, in black outline, Etruscan figures, borders,
&c., and the general surface was then painted over and up to the
outlines with a fine black, leaving the figures of the original red
of the body. The effect was extremely good, and some remarkably fine
examples, although but few pieces were made, are still preserved.
The accompanying engraving exhibits an example formerly in my own
collection. It is of extremely elegant form, and the pattern, both
border and figures, is in remarkably good taste. The mark is the one
shown below. It is printed in black on the bottom of the vase. The
forms were all taken either from vases in the British Museum, or from
Sir William Hamilton’s “Antiquités Etrusques, Grecques, et Romaines.”
But very little was produced, as it was not a ware, unfortunately, to
command a ready sale. It was made from clay found in the neighbourhood,
which, when not too highly fired, burns to a good red colour.
[Illustration: Fig. 654.]
[Illustration: Fig. 655.]
In 1852 Mr. Lewis Llewellyn Dillwyn retired from the concern, and it
then passed into the hands of Mr. Evans, who carried it on, under the
firm of “Evans, Glasson, & Evans,” until 1859, when, for a time, the
style was altered to “Evans & Co.,” and, subsequently, to “D. J. Evans
& Co.” (son of the Mr. Evans just alluded to), by whom it is at the
present time carried on. The manufacture consisted of the ordinary
classes of white, blue and white, and agate earthenware; the markets
being principally Wales, Ireland, West of England, and Chili. No
trade-mark is used.
About the end of 1869 earthenware was rather suddenly discontinued
being made at the Cambrian Pottery, and the bulk of the workpeople
discharged, a portion only being retained till the ware made was
printed and finished by passing through the kilns. The site of the
Cambrian Pottery, adjacent to the Swansea Canal and the North Dock,
having become more valuable for other commercial purposes than for a
pottery, an arrangement was made by Mr. Dillwyn with Messrs. D. J.
Evans & Co. to surrender the short unexpired term of their lease, so
that as soon as the stock and plant could be cleared off, the buildings
might be taken down or converted to other uses. The whole site was let
to Messrs. Cory, Yeo, & Co., who held an adjoining wharf, and about
June, 1870, they commenced clearing space for erecting their new Patent
Fuel Works, and cutting a branch from the canal across the site to
near the North Dock. The “Patent Fuel Works” was quickly erected (in
part from the old pottery materials at hand), about the centre of the
site, the kilns, workshops, and warehouses taken down (except one or
two buildings and sheds on the west side, converted), so that scarcely
a vestige of what was properly called the working part of the Cambrian
pottery now remains. At the close of the works the copper-plates were
sold to the South Wales Pottery, Llanelly.
Among the artists at one time or other employed at Swansea, besides
Young, of whom I have already spoken, it may be interesting to note
the following: Pardoe, who was an excellent flower-painter (afterwards
of the Nantgarw Works); Baxter, a clever figure painter, who came to
these works from Worcester, to which place he afterwards returned;[58]
Bevington, a flower-painter, also from Worcester; Reed, a modeller
of considerable repute; Hood, also a clever modeller; Jenny, a tracer
in gold; Morris, a fruit-painter; Colclough, who was much admired as
a painter of birds; Evans, who was a talented flower-painter; and
Beddoes, who was the best heraldic painter; to these, of course, must
be added Billingsley, who was the best flower-painter of the day, or
since.
The principal marks used at these works appear to have been the
following:--
[Illustration: Fig. 656.]
This occurs on a beautiful dark mottled blue oviform earthenware vase
(formerly in the collection of Mr. S. C. Hall), having on one side
an exquisitely painted group of passion-flowers, roses, &c. The mark
is painted on the bottom, and is, I believe, unique. In Mr. Hall’s
collection, besides this splendid example of “Cambrian” ware, were an
oviform vase and cover, having a yellow ground, with blue borders and
handles, and brown scrolls at top; a flower vase on a tripod stand,
blue ground with a white border, painted with acanthus scroll, and on
the cover a bouquet of flowers in relief; a pair of cup-shaped vases,
with blue ground, black borders, and white classical figures at the
top; and a lamp, the handle in form of a female holding a pitcher, the
lamp resting on a pedestal and triangular foot.
Another mark occasionally met with has the words “Cambrian Pottery” in
writing letters, and another has the same words but in capital letters.
_Cambrian Pottery._ CAMBRIAN
POTTERY.
On the porcelain made by Billingsley and Walker for Mr. Dillwyn, the
mark appears to have simply been the name SWANSEA printed in red; or,
as on the subsequent make of china, the name sometimes occurs simply
impressed,
SWANSEA. SWANSEA, or SWANSEA, or Swansea.
Sometimes the name DILLWYN & Co. appears impressed in the body
of the ware, at other times with the addition of a trident, “which,”
Mr. Dillwyn says, “denotes a supposed improvement which was not
ultimately found to answer.” It is thus--
[Illustration]
or
[Illustration: SWANSEA]
Another mark, which I here engrave, has two tridents in saltire and the
name Swansea, thus--
[Illustration: SWANSEA]
Other marks which I have met with, or have notes of, are--
DILLWYN & COMPANY DILLWYN & CO.
[Illustration] CAMBRIAN POTTERY.
OPAQUE CHINA, HAYNES, DILLWYN & CO.
SWANSEA. CAMBRIAN POTTERY.
SWANSEA.
The _Glamorgan Pottery_, already alluded to, was situated to the west
of the “Cambrian Pottery,” on the opposite side of the road leading
to the North Dock Bridge. In extent it was about two-thirds of the
Cambrian, and produced similar wares. It was discontinued some years
ago, the kilns taken down, and part of the building converted into iron
warehouses. It was, I am informed by Mr. Holland, built about the
year 1816, by a Mr. Baker, who was soon after joined in partnership
by Mr. Bevan and Mr. Herwain, and the business carried on under the
style of “Baker, Bevan, & Herwain,” until 1839, when it seems to have
been purchased by Mr. Dillwyn, who, in the following year, as I have
shown, offered it to Messrs. Brameld, of the Rockingham China Works,
for the purpose of carrying on the porcelain manufacture there. Mr.
Baker also, at one time, held another small pottery for a finer kind of
earthenware, near the river Tawe, in another part of Swansea.
* * * * *
_Rickard._--In Swansea, too, is also a small potwork belonging to Mr.
Rickard or Ricketts, who produces only the commonest kinds of black and
Rockingham ware tea-pots, jugs, &c., and hardware jugs of mixed local
clay and Dorset clay (principally for the home markets), ornamental
flower-pots, garden vases, &c.
* * * * *
_Landore Pottery._--About 1848 Mr. John Forbes Calland, of Swansea
district, built a pottery, conveniently situated, on the Swansea Canal,
and near the river Tawe at Landore, about a mile from Swansea. This was
worked for a few years by Mr. Calland, who produced printed and common
earthenware from white clays, in dinner, tea, and toilet ware, for the
home trade under the style
and mark of J. K. CALLAND & CO., and CALLAND
LANDORE POTTERY. SWANSEA.
Not being commercially successful, Mr. Calland discontinued the
manufacture about 1856, when the whole of the copper-plates then in use
were transferred to the South Wales Pottery at Llanelly. The Landore
Pottery has since been converted into a smelting-works, and is now used
for smelting copper ores.
LLANELLY.
_South Wales Pottery._--These works, belonging to Messrs. Holland
& Guest, are now the only blue and white earthenware manufactory in
the principality. They were established in 1839 by William Chambers
Jun., Esq., of Llanelly House, Llanelly, who carried on the manufacture
of earthenware for home and foreign markets, with different managers,
up to the end of 1854. The general classes of goods manufactured were
for the home trade, and included white or cream colour, edged, dipt,
painted, and printed wares. Other descriptions of goods, viz., coloured
bodies, figured, enamelled, and parian, were tried and worked for a
time, but soon discontinued. It was also intended, a few years after
starting the pottery, to commence the making of china, and a kiln was
built specially for that purpose, but the idea was then abandoned, and
porcelain has never been made at these works. For some two or three
years, about 1850, a large quantity of white granite, printed, and
flown printed ware, was made for the United States market, the crates
being sent per vessel from Llanelly to Liverpool for transshipment.
During the first few years after the commencement of these works the
principal trade was by coasting vessels carrying coals to ports in
England and Ireland, and by carts and waggons inland. When the South
Wales Railway (now Great Western, South Wales section) was opened to
Swansea, crates of earthenware for forwarding were frequently sent
there by road, twelve miles, till the continuation of the railway past
Llanelly was opened.
At the end of 1854 the business of the South Wales Pottery was
transferred to Messrs. Coombs and Holland, who were then connected
in the management, and they carried on the works till May, 1858,
when there was a dissolution of partnership, and Mr. W. T. Holland
continued the business alone till November, 1869, when he was joined
in partnership by Mr. D. Guest, under the firm of Holland & Guest. The
trade after 1854 was chiefly local or South Wales, with the West of
England districts and South of Ireland for seven or eight years, when
there was a partial discontinuance of travelling, and introduction of
orders for foreign markets, as for South America, Brazil, Chili, East
Indies, France, and the Mediterranean, so that the working became about
half for foreign markets. The goods produced consist of a variety of
table, tea, and toilet services, and other ordinary articles in printed
and flown printed earthenware of average quality, and the usual classes
of white, cream-coloured, sponged and painted wares.
It is interesting to add that the copper-plates formerly in use at
the other earthenware potteries in South Wales--now discontinued
working, viz., the Landore, the Ynisymudw, and the Cambrian Pottery,
Swansea--were purchased for the South Wales Pottery, and selections
of patterns made from these (as well as more modern styles) have been
introduced in patterns and shapes. Mr. Holland was an exhibitor at the
International Exhibition of 1862.
YNISYMUDW.
_Terra Cotta Works._--This manufactory, now devoted to terra cotta
goods, fire bricks, and sanitary pipes, was formerly an earthenware
pottery, where ordinary blue printed ware was manufactured. It is
situate in the Swansea Valley, about ten miles from Swansea on the
Brecon road, is on the Swansea Canal (which extends seven miles higher
up the valley), and about two miles from Pontardawe station, on the
Midland Railway Swansea Vale section. It was commenced as a fire brick
works (there having been a small common brick works there previously)
in 1840 by Mr. William Williams and his brother, Mr. Michael Martyn
Williams, of Swansea, who then took a long lease of the premises, and
soon afterwards introduced, in addition, the manufacture of the now
famed “South Wales Dinas Bricks” from the Cribbath stone, obtained near
the top of the Swansea Canal. These bricks are still made there, and
the “Ynisymudw dinas” are equal to the best “dinas” or silica bricks
made. Terra cotta work was also introduced, and made in buff of good
quality, with some success. About 1850 Mr. William Williams and his
brother decided to add the manufacture of earthenware, in table, tea,
toilet, and other services, &c., in common white, painted and printed
wares, for home or local trade, and foreign shipment (chiefly worked
for South America, crates sent to Liverpool per steamer from Swansea);
and this was continued till about 1859, when the blue-and-white
earthenware branch was discontinued (the copper-plates being purchased
for the South Wales Pottery, Llanelly), and the works transferred to
another brother, Mr. Charles Williams, and in course of a year or
so it was disposed of to Messrs. Griffith Lewis and John Morgan, of
Pontardawe, who carried it on under the style of the “Ynisymudw Brick
Company,” “Ynisymudw Pottery Company,” and “Lewis & Morgan,” at various
periods during eleven years, in the early part of which the manufacture
of Rockingham tea-pots, &c., glazed stoneware bottles and similar
goods, was for a time carried on. From the first, arrangements had
been made for the extension of the manufacture of salt glazed sanitary
pipes, using the three old pottery glost kilns for this purpose, and
the manufacture of these, together with fire bricks and terra cotta
goods, was continued till the end of 1870, when the works and business
were transferred to Mr. William Thomas Holland, of the South Wales
Pottery, Llanelly, by whom they have been continued. In 1871 Mr.
Holland exhibited specimens of his fire bricks, glazed pipes, and
terra cotta manufacture at South Kensington. The premises consist of
ten kilns, with ample space for extensions, and the works are situate
in a beautiful part of the Swansea Valley, on the river Tawe, with a
tributary stream, the Cwm Du, running through the premises, giving a
supply of good water. Probably the manufacture of white earthenware
will ere long be revived at Ynisymudw as an addition to the present
manufactures.
NANTGARW.
These short-lived works, whose history is so mixed up with those of
Swansea, Derby, Coalport, Pinxton, and other places, were commenced on
a very small scale, in 1813, by William Billingsley,[59] the famous
flower-painter of Derby, and his son-in-law, George Walker; the former
at that time passing under the assumed name of Beeley, which was
simply a contraction of his own name B’ley or B[illings]ley. Shortly
afterwards, having applied to the Board of Trade for patronage and,
of course, Government aid, Mr. Dillwyn, of the “Cambrian Pottery,”
at Swansea, went over to examine and report upon the ware; and
this examination resulted in his entering into an engagement with
Billingsley and Walker, by which they, with their recipe, their moulds
and other appliances, removed to Swansea. In about two years this
engagement was brought to a close, and Billingsley and Walker returned
to Nantgarw, where they again commenced the manufacture of china of the
same excellent and peculiar kind for which they had become so famous.
The proprietors appear to have met with liberal friends to assist them
in their undertaking. The Hon. William Booth Grey, of Duffryn, is said
to have subscribed £1,000 towards the undertaking, and other gentlemen
almost equally liberal sums. The whole of the money subscribed,
understood to have been about £8,000, is said to have been expended in
little more than two years. This in great measure appears to have been
caused by experiments and trials and alterations in buildings, &c.,
and by the immense waste in “seconds” goods, or “wasters,” which were
invariably broken up, instead of, as now at most works, being disposed
of at a cheaper rate.
That Billingsley and Walker, with Mr. Young, who appears to have come
from Swansea to join them, as also Mr. Pardoe, from the same works,
who was formerly of Staffordshire (with Mr. Turner), and afterwards
of Bristol, and who was a clever painter, were the proprietors of
the renewed works, seems evident, and they were carried on with
considerable success.
[Illustration: Fig. 657.--Nantgarw Works.]
The productions of Nantgarw were, as far as beauty of body and of
decoration, as well as form, are concerned, a complete success, and
the works gradually, but surely, made their way in public estimation.
The London houses--especially it is said Mr. Mortlock’s--found it to
their advantage to support the manufactory, and there was thus no
difficulty in finding a good and profitable market. A service was made
and presented to the Prince of Wales (afterwards King George IV.); “the
pattern was a green vase, with a single rose on every piece, and every
rose different.” This beautiful service was painted, I believe, partly
by Billingsley and partly by Pardoe. It helped very materially to make
the works fashionable, and it is said that they were visited by numbers
of the nobility and gentry, “as many as forty gentlemen’s carriages
having been known to be there in one day.” A considerable quantity of
the Nantgarw ware was sold in the white to Mortlock, who had it painted
in London, and fired at the enamel kiln of Messrs. Robins & Randall
of Spa Fields. Webster, one of the painters of the Derby China Works,
thus decorated a deal of this ware in London. The trade which was thus
beginning to prosper being felt to be likely to some considerable
extent to affect that of the Coalport Works, Mr. Rose (of those works)
entered into an arrangement with Billingsley and Walker by which he
bought up their concern, made a permanent engagement with them, and at
once removed them and their moulds, and everything else to Coalport.
The manufacture of china was, therefore, closed at Nantgarw. In 1823
Mr. Pardoe died. Mr. Young removed, I am informed, to Droitwich, where
he carried on a salt-work. Billingsley and Walker, as I have already
stated, removed to Coalport, where Billingsley died in 1827 or 1828.
Walker ultimately sailed for America, where he established a pottery,
still, I believe, in operation.
[Illustration: Fig. 658.]
In 1823 the greater portion of the china works were pulled down, the
dwelling-house and some other portions alone remaining. In 1832, Mr.
William Henry Pardoe, of Bristol (who was a china painter of great
skill), a good practical potter of great experience in the art which
had, through Richard Champion and his successors, made his city famous,
entered upon the premises, and commenced there a red-ware pottery,
in connection with an extensive tobacco-pipe manufactory. To this he
afterwards added Rockingham ware and stoneware departments, in each
of which he produced goods of excellent quality. Mr. Pardoe died in
1867, and the Nantgarw works--those works around which such a halo of
interest exists--are still carried on by his widow and her family. The
goods now produced are red or brown earthenware, made from clay found
in the neighbourhood--many of the pitchers being of purely mediæval
form--stoneware bottles of every kind, jugs, butter-pots, cheese
and bread pans, foot and carriage warmers, snuff-jars, hunting jugs
and mugs, tobacco-jars, jugs, &c., and other goods; tobacco-pipes,
which experienced smokers declare to be at least equal to those from
Broseley, garden-pots, pancheons, &c., are also made.
The only marks used at Nantgarw which can be considered to be marks of
the works are the following, impressed in the the body of the china:
NANT-GARW
G. W.
the G. W. being the initials of George Walker, the son-in-law and
partner of Billingsley; and the single word NANT-GARW in red
colour.[60] Another mark, supposed to belong to these works is this:
[symbol]; with the number of the pattern as “No.” added.
[Illustration: Fig. 659.]
[Illustration: Fig. 660.]
The goods produced were tea, dinner, and dessert services, vases,
match-pots, cabinet cups, pen and wafer trays, inkstands, and a large
variety of other articles. One of the most interesting relics of these
works which has come under my notice is the cup here engraved, which
was formerly in my own collection. It has been painted with what
is technically known as the “Chantilly pattern,” in blue, and then
has been used as a trial piece for colours and glazes. It bears in
different parts of its surface various washes of colour, with marks
and contractions to show the mixture, which have been submitted to the
action of the enamel kiln. In my own collection are also some other
highly interesting examples, including an oval tray, painted with
flowers, a plate, “Chantilly” pattern saucers, and some interesting
fragments and relics of the old works. In the Jermyn Street Museum the
collector will find some good examples for comparison, as he will also
in some private collections. Some remarkably fine examples of Nantgarw
china are in the possession of Sir Ivor Bertie Guest, Bart., and others
are in various collections.
The village of Nantgarw is situated in the parish of Eglw y Sillan,
in Glamorganshire; it is eight miles from Cardiff, and one mile from
the “Taffs Well” Station, on the Taff Valley Railway; and the Rhymney
Valley Railway is also equally near.
The works shown in the engraving are picturesquely situated by the side
of the Glamorganshire Canal, on the road to Caerphilly, from whose
glorious old ruined castle they are only a few miles distant.
* * * * *
_Brown and Stoneware Potteries._--The other works (besides Nantgarw)
in Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire are those of Messrs. Henry James,
Joseph Rogers, Evan Davies, George Sherrin, and Thomas Moore. At these
only common, coarse brownware pitchers and other domestic vessels are
made.
CARDIGAN.
_The Cardigan Potteries._--These pottery works were established in 1875
by Mr. J. H. Miles and Mr. William Woodward, and were at first intended
simply for the production of common coarse red earthenware goods for
domestic and horticultural purposes. The clay of this district having
been found to be of a superior character and capable of being turned
to good account for better classes of goods, the firm turned their
attention to its development, and have succeeded in producing not only
articles of an artistic character, but architectural decorations of
more than average excellence. The productions of Messrs. Woodward and
Co. are vases, jugs, flower stands, and other ornamental articles,
and these are decorated and glazed in a manner peculiarly their own,
and which gives to them a distinctive character over those of other
manufactories. In some, quaint and well-designed patterns are impressed
in the clay, and the whole being surface coloured and highly glazed
have a rich and peculiar appearance. The firm trade under the names
of “The Cardigan Potteries,” “Woodward and Co.,” and their works are
called the “Patent Brick, Tile, and Pottery Works” and “Cardigan
Potteries.” The goods are principally for the Welsh coast and for
England, but the trade is rapidly developing itself, and by the
addition of other branches, especially in blue clay goods, will become
an important feature in Welsh manufactures. Glazed and unglazed bricks
and tiles, coloured tiles for interior mural decoration, and paving
tiles of various kinds, form also a staple branch of trade of the
Cardigan Works.
The marks used by the firm are the words “CARDIGAN POTTERIES” and
“WOODWARD AND CO.,” impressed in the ware, and a design of a brick
bearing the words WOODWARD AND CO., CARDIGAN.
HEREFORD.
_Lugwardine Works._--These encaustic tile works, situated at
Withington, four miles from Hereford, were established in 1861 by Mr.
William Godwin, and are of considerable extent. In encaustic tiles Mr.
Godwin has paid particular attention to the reproduction of mediæval
patterns in all their entirety, both as to fac-simile of form and
ornament, and antique appearance of surface, and in these essentials to
artistic effect has succeeded admirably. Many of his tiles are exact
reproductions, not old designs modernised, and this it is that gives to
floors laid by him that peculiar charm which they undoubtedly possess.
In addition to actual copies of old tiles, Mr. Godwin has produced a
large variety of new designs, in which the patterns are characterized
by pure mediæval feeling and by excellent workmanship. The tiles are of
extremely hard and durable quality, and the colours clear, distinct,
and good. Mr. Godwin’s name impressed on the back of the tile is his
mark.
TORQUAY.
_Terra-Cotta Works._--The Terra-Cotta Works at Hele Cross, Torquay,
were established in October, 1875, by Dr. Gillow, who that year
discovered the bed of clay, and are worked by a Limited Liability
Company, with that clever and energetic gentleman as chairman and
general director. The clay is of remarkably fine, tenacious, and
durable quality, and is capable of working to the very highest degree
of perfection. Its colour is a rich full red, and its surface almost
metallic in its hardness and fine texture; it is almost identical in
quality and beauty of tone to that at Watcombe, to whose productions
those of Torquay bear a marked resemblance. Dr. Gillow has, very
wisely, directed his efforts entirely in an Art direction, with a
determination to produce only works of a high class of excellence,
whether the designs or objects be simple or elaborate, low priced
or costly, useful or strictly ornamental. Architectural terra-cotta
is not made or intended to be made, but only Art productions of an
ornamental character. To this end a staff of forty or more experienced
workmen has been got together, and skilled modellers, enamellers, and
decorators engaged from other seats of manufacture. The company started
with the aim of producing works of a high standard of excellence,
and thus expressed their intention: “They (the Company) believe that
they have at Hele Cross the best deposit of clay yet discovered,
and their one aim and object is to improve the artistic standard by
persevering energy; one year’s existence has given grounds for hope and
encouragement; much has been done, but much more remains to be done.
They trust to improve year by year until they place terra-cotta in
its old proud position as a favoured branch of Ceramic Art, and until
Devonshire productions stand unrivalled throughout Europe.” The success
which has so far attended Dr. Gillow’s efforts is very marked, and
shows that they have been directed in a right way and in a commendable
spirit.
[Illustration: TORQUAY TERRA COTTA C^o. LIMITED.
Figs. 661 and 662.]
The productions of the Torquay Terra-Cotta Company are statuettes,
single figures and groups, busts, groups of animals, birds, &c.;
vases, ewers, bottles, jugs, and tazzæ; butter-coolers, spill cases,
and other domestic appliances; plaques of various sizes; candlesticks,
toilet-trays, water-bottles, tobacco vases, &c. Many of the productions
are painted and enamelled in good taste, and the ornamentation,
whether in colour or gilding, is characterized by clever workmanship
and judicious arrangement. Many designs of vases, plaques, &c., are
original and in good taste. The company supply not only the home but
foreign markets, and have received high recognition, with medals from
the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society and from the Turners’ Company.
The marks used by the firm are an oval garter bearing the words TORQUAY
TERRA-COTTA CO., and in the centre LIMITED, printed on the ware; the
name TORQUAY impressed in the clay; the words within a single oval
line; and the monogram, Fig. 652, which is a combination of the letters
T T C, for “Torquay Terra Cotta.”
ALDERHOLT.
At this place, in Hampshire, potteries for common coarse ware for
domestic purposes exist. The bed of clay is the same as that in the New
Forest worked in early ages, as described in the first volume.
SMETHWICK.
_Tile Works._--Mr. T. W. Camm commenced the business of Art decoration
of tiles in 1866, in Brewery Street, and later on new buildings were
erected in High Street. Having been joined in partnership by Messrs.
J. M. and H. C. Camm, the business was carried on under the style of
“Camm Brothers”--the general management of the business being divided
into three departments, each under the special management of one of
the partners, the first-named taking the designing department, the
second the painting, and the third the glazing. By this excellent
arrangement the whole processes from beginning to end are carried
on under the eye of the entire firm, and thus excellence in each is
insured. Messrs. Camm Brothers do not manufacture the tiles themselves,
but purchase them in their unglazed state and then decorate and
glaze them. Their designs are extremely varied, and the whole being
hand-painted they are adapted to the tastes and requirements of their
customers and designed in strict accordance with the style of building
they are intended to adorn. The figure subjects, whether allegorical,
historical, or otherwise, the productions of this firm, are of the
highest order; the drawing bold, firm, masterly, and effective, and the
colouring rich, full, and harmonious. Some other larger works, notably
historical plaques of two or three feet in length and proportionate
depth, are grand in conception, and form historical pictures of
considerable value. The firm also produce appropriate tile-decorations
for furniture, cheeks of fire-places, hearths, linings of bath and
other rooms, friezes, memorial figures and other designs for churches
and for every purpose where they can be made available, and these are
characterized by the same good taste that is shown in their stained
glass. The mark is simply the name “CAMM BROTHERS, SMETHWICK.”
READING.
_Coley Avenue Works._--These works were established in 1861 by Messrs.
Collier & Son, and are continued under the style of “S. & E. Collier.”
Brown terra-cotta, glazed and unglazed brown ware, and roofing and
other tiles are the products of these works.
WAKEFIELD MOOR.
“Potters Pale Yellow Clay of Wakefield Moor,” is mentioned in a
list of clays, by Houghton, in 1693. As the list contains valuable
particulars I give it entire. In the same work is a vast deal of
curious information on tobacco-pipe clay and the making of pipes, brick
and tile-making, etc. The list is as follows:
“A TABLE OF CLAYS.
Pure, that is, such as is soft like butter to the teeth, and has
little or no greetiness in it.
Greasy, to be reckoned amongst the medicinal earth, or _terræ
sigillatæ_.
1. Fullers earth.
{At _Brickhill_ in _Northamptonshire_.
{yellowish {At ... under the _Yorkshire_ woolds.
{brown about _Halifax_.
{white in _Derbyshire_ lead mines.
2. Boli {In _Cleveland_.
{At _Linton_ upon _Wharfe_.
3. Pale yellow, in the marlepit at _Ripley_.
4. Cow shot clay, or the soap scale lying in coal mines.
5. A dark blue clay or marl at _Tolthrop_. Harsh and dusty when
dry.
6. Creta properly so called, or the milk-white clay of the isle
of _Wight_.
7. The potter’s pale yellow clay of _Wakefield_ moor.
8. The blue clay of _Bullinbrooke_ pottery in _Lincolnshire_.
9. A blue clay in _Bugthorp_ beck, in which the _astroites_ are
found.
10. Yellow clay in the seams of the red sand rock at _Bilbro_.
11. Fine red clay in sand rock, {at _Bilbro_.
{at _Rippon_.
12. A soft chalky blue clay} at _Buttercrain_.
}
13. A soft chalky red clay }
Stony when dry.
14. A red stone clay } In the banks of _Whitcar_ beck, near
_Leppington_: and at
15. A blue stone clay} _Housam_ in the _Milscar_.
16. Clunch, a white stone clay in _Cambridgeshire_.
Mixt with round sand or pebble.
17. The yellow loam of _Skipwith_ moor, _Yorkshire_.
18. A red sandy clay in the right hand bank of the road beyond
_Collingham_, near the lime kilns going to ----
19. A red sandy clay in the red sand rock near _Rippon_.
With flat or thin sand, guttering with _Mica_.
20. _Crouch_ white clay _Derbyshire_, of which the glass pots
are made at _Nottingham_.
21. Grey or bluish tobacco-pipe clay at _Halifax_.
22. A red clay in the red sand rock at _Rotherham_.”
DITCHLING.
At Ditchling, in Sussex, pot-works are said to have existed for
“several hundred years.” Be this as it may, some old pot-works for
the coarsest brown ware, and bricks and tiles, were bought in 1870 by
Messrs. H. Johnson & Co., in the belief that from the superior quality
of the native red clay they would be able to produce architectural
terra-cotta of a more than ordinarily durable quality. By them the
Ditchling Works were much extended, and they have succeeded in making
terra-cotta, both useful and ornamental, of an excellent bright red
colour, and a fine hard, durable, and almost metallic surface. In this,
with careful workmanship, they manufacture well-designed terminals,
ridge crestings, crosses, panels, mouldings and all the usual varieties
of architectural pottery, as well as moulded bricks, tiles, &c. Among
public buildings where the Ditchling terra-cotta has been successfully
used is the St. James’s Hall, Piccadilly, and the firm have received
medals from the London International Exhibition and the Philadelphia
Exhibition. In 1875 Messrs. H. Johnson & Co. opened extensive works on
the same vein of clay at Keymer Junction. They are the largest works in
Sussex.
AMBLECOTE.
A pottery at this place is mentioned by Plot in 1686.
LEICESTER.
_Spinney Hill Works._--At these works, belonging to Mr. Fielding Moore,
garden vases, flower baskets, rustic ornaments, fountains, pedestals,
flower-pots, and all the usual variety of terra-cotta goods are made;
as are also similar articles in ordinary red and other clays.
WEDNESBURY.
A potwork existed here in the seventeenth century. Plot, who wrote in
1686, says “of these (_i.e._ clays from Horsley Heath, &c.) they make
divers sorts of vessels at Wednesbury, which they paint with slip, made
of a reddish sort of earth gotten at Tipton.”
WINCHESTER.
A famous manufactory of tobacco-pipes existed here in the seventeenth
century. Ben Jonson notes that they were the best made in his day.
AYLESFORD.
_Terra-cotta Works_ were established here about 1850, by Mr. Edward
Betts, who discovered a valuable bed of plastic clay on his estate in
the neighbourhood. At the Exhibition of 1851 Mr. Betts exhibited a
terra-cotta vase (Fig. 663) made at Aylesford from this native clay,
from a design furnished by Mr. John Thomas, the architect.
EXETER.
[Illustration: Fig. 663.]
That tobacco-pipes were made in Exeter in 1654 is curiously proved by
the following case of supposed witchcraft:--“12 August, 1654. One Diana
Crosse, a widow, suspected of being a witch, was ordered by the judge
of Assize to be committed for trial at the city sessions. Mr. Edward
Trible, a tobacco-pipe maker, one of the victims of the witch’s arts,
deposed that Mrs. Crosse on one occasion came to his house for fire,
which was delivered to her, but for the space of one month afterwards
he could not make or work his tobacco-pipes to his satisfaction--they
were altogether either over or under burnt. The witch, too, cast her
evil eye upon a boy in his employ, and ‘affirmed’ that he should never
be well, and thereupon the boy ‘grew into a distracted condition, and
was much consumed and pyned away in body.’”
LINCOLN.
A very interesting discovery of potter’s moulds, for heads for
impressing on earthenware, was made a few years back in the parish of
St. Mary-le-Wigford, Lincoln. The discovery consisted, according to
the last edition of Marryat (edited by my friend Mrs. Pallisser) where
the relics are described and carefully engraved, of the remains of a
potter’s kiln with numerous fragments of glazed pottery, among which
was one piece bearing the head impressed from one of these moulds. One
of them, engraved in Marryat’s highly interesting volume, represents
a male head, probably that of Edward III., both beard and hair curled
at side as on the coins of that monarch and the first and second
Edwards, and the other the head of a lady, probably Queen Philippa,
with the characteristic square-topped reticulated head-dress. These
moulds are in the Trollope collection. A potter’s mould of a head, of
the Romano-British period, found by myself at Headington, is in my
possession, and is engraved in Vol. I., Figs. 166, 167.