Belper.
About the middle or towards the latter part of last century, a small manufactory of common coarse brown ware existed here, and about 1800 Mr. William Bourne took to the works carried on by Messrs. Blood, Webster, and Simpson, at Belper Pottery. Mr. William Bourne, sen., was, it appears, very much engaged in the business of the then new canal. Letters of his, and of his son, William Bourne, jun., in which reference is made to his connection with the canal, and show business transactions between them and Mr. Duesbury of the Derby China Works, are in my own possession. Mr. Bourne carried on the manufacture of salt-glazed blacking, ink, ginger-beer, and spirit bottles. The ordinary brown ware, produced from a less vitreous clay, found on the spot, consisted of bowls, pans, pancheons, dishes, pitchers, and all the commoner varieties of domestic vessels, and these were of excellent and durable quality. The stoneware bottles, &c., were made from a finer and more tenacious bed of clay, at Denby, a few miles distant. The finer, or figured wares, were made from clay procured from Staffordshire. By Mr. Bourne all these descriptions of goods were made, but he principally confined himself to the manufacture of stoneware bottles of various kinds. A good antique-shaped hunting jug, and other similar articles, with figures in relief, was also extensively made. In 1812, Mr. Joseph Bourne (son of William Bourne) took to the Denby Pottery (which see) then carried on by Mr. Jäger, and the two works were carried on simultaneously until 1834, when the Belper Pottery was finally closed, the workpeople, plant, and business being removed to Denby, and incorporated with those works, and the premises converted into cottages. From that time no pottery has been made at Belper. The site of the works was at Belper-Gutter, and “Pot-House Lane,” the name of one of the streets, perpetuates the manufacture.
BELPHER & DENBY
BOURNES
POTTERIES
DERBYSHIRE
Fig. 104.
WILLIAM, IV,TH’S REFORM CORDIAL.
Figs. 105 and 106.
The mark used while these works were carried on in conjunction with those at Denby was this; and it may be well to remark that a series of political bottles, bearing representations of various Reform leaders, were made. On these the head of the individual—the King, Sir Francis Burdett, Earl Grey, or whomsoever was intended—formed the neck of the bottle, and the arms and bust the shoulder; political references, and the name of the political leader, were impressed on the clay. One of these, which represents the King (William IV.) is engraved on Fig. [105]. It bears in front the words “WILLIAM IV.’S REFORM CORDIAL,”—the “cordial” being the brandy or other spirit it was intended to contain. Another is a representation, in smaller form, of Lord John Russell (afterwards Earl Russell); it bears, in front, the name “LORD JOHN RUSSELL,” and on a scroll which he holds in his hand are inscribed the words, “THE TRUE SPIRIT OF REFORM.” At the back is the mark Fig. [104]. At these works too, I believe, quaintly designed inkstands, of which Fig. [106] is an example, were made. The projecting lower jaw formed the well for the ink, while holes on the shoulders served for places to put the pens in when not in use. They were made of the ordinary vitrified stoneware.
In 1827 a coarse-ware pottery was carried on here by Mr. Heapey.