Figs. 677 to 680.—Coalbrookdale Terra Cotta.
Fig. 681.—Coalbrookdale Terra Cotta.
At Lightmoor, in the same neighbourhood, the Coalbrookdale Company have extensive works for the manufacture of moulded and other bricks in white, blue, and red clays; ornamental and plain roofing tiles, many of which are of very effective shapes; garden edgings and ridge tiles of every style of design, from a simple bead to an elaborate Tudor ornament; paving tiles, &c. Nothing could better show the variety, the importance, and the high quality of the clays of this locality than do these varieties. The colour of the red quarries is rich, and improves with washing and wear, while their hardness is beyond any others. The roof tiles of this company are very extensively used (for instance, the Charterhouse Schools, near Godalming, are covered with them), and they have the reputation of being among the hardest and best produced.
Fig. 682.—Coalbrookdale Terra Cotta.
Madeley.
A small manufactory of china was established and carried on for about a quarter of a century at Madeley, by Mr. Martin Randall, who served his apprenticeship at the Coalport works; his elder brothers, Edward and William Randall, having been apprenticed at Caughley. From Coalport Martin Randall went to the Derby China Works, where he remained for some time, and became the friend of two of their famed painters, Phillip Cleve and William Pegg. From Derby he removed to London, and entered into business with a Mr. Robins, at Islington. Upon a dissolution of partnership he came down to Madeley, and fixed himself in Park Place, where for a few years he confined himself to re-decorating Sèvres china, which was procured by agents; chiefly of Baldock and Garman, in Paris. White china was obtained where feasible; but when that could not be had, dessert, tea, and breakfast services, vases, wine coolers, jardinières, and other articles, ornamented simply with blue and gold lines, dots, or sprigs of flowers, were purchased; the latter of which were removed by fluoric acid, the glaze being so blended with the body that it gave back a new surface on being passed through the enamelling kiln. The gold was so thick on the pieces that it was usually peeled off with a knife, and was then sent to London to be again reduced by acid. At first Randall used a box kiln, with charcoal; but afterwards erected an enamelling kiln, which he heated with billets of wood.
Mr. Randall soon afterwards removed from Park Lane to a larger house at the bottom of Madeley, where he erected enamelling kilns, and also a kiln which served for biscuit and glaze. His potters were Thomas Wheeler, who was thrower and turner; Francis Brewer, modeller; William Roberts, presser; and David Morris, fire-man. Mr. John Randall, nephew of Mr. T. M. Randall, was an apprentice to the painting, and Mr. Francis Brewer, now of the Tamworth Potteries, was an apprentice to the modelling. Mr. Randall took the decorating department, but he also employed as figure painter Mr. Philip Ballard, a son of Mr. S. Ballard, solicitor, Worcester, and brother to Mr. T. Ballard, R.A. Mr. R. B. Gray, artist, now of Dorking, and father of Mr. George Gray, A.R.A., and his son Robert were flower painters; and the late Mr. Enos Raby was ground-layer, colour-maker, and gilder. Mr. Randall’s want of experience in the processes of making led to frequent errors and losses, the latter being the greater from his constant desire to produce a body which should equal Nantgarrw and Sèvres. “Too much beer” on the part of a fire-man sometimes brought down the entire kiln of ware, so that the saggers disappeared below the trial-hole, and the pieces bulged like wax, till they became fast to each other, and assumed the most fantastic forms. Too much flint in the clay, at another time, produced a chalky absorbent body, that drank up so much glaze that when fired it would fly off in the form of small daggers whilst cooling, and continue to do so for weeks. Mr. Randall, however, kept his temper like a philosopher; and at length succeeded in producing the nearest approach to the old Sèvres of any at that time made in this kingdom. It had all the mellow transparency and richness, and the same capability of receiving the colours into the glaze, of that famous ware, and had this to such an extent that the most experienced connoisseurs found it impossible to distinguish between them, excepting by the mark, which no bribe would induce him to imitate; being a strict quaker, he had a conscientious objection to doing so. From Madeley, Mr. Randall removed his business to Shelton; and here it was that the late Mr. Herbert Minton was so struck with the beauty of his productions that he made overtures to him to join his firm, which, however, he did not do; and he soon afterwards retired from business, and went to live at Barlaston, near Trentham, where he died, and was buried in a spot he had chosen for himself. Mr. Randall, who was uncle to Mr. John Randall, F.G.S., one of the celebrated painters of the Coalport works, used no mark.