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.
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.
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:
; with the number of the pattern as “No.” added.
Fig. 659.
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.