W. H. CROCKER
BIDEFORD
North Devon Pottery.—This pottery was established in 1848 by a company formed for the purpose. The productions are confined to stoneware pipes, and sanitary appliances of various kinds. The goods are made from the strong clay deposits of the northern side of Dartmoor—a clay of peculiar hardness and tenacity—and the articles are therefore what may be called “real vitrified stone ware,” as distinguished from the pipes and sanitary goods made in other districts from fire-clay. The works are under the management of Mr. Henry Jones.
Fremington.
The manufacture of coarse brown ware has evidently been carried on for many generations at Fremington, near Barnstaple, for fragments of mediæval and later wares are constantly being turned up. About fifty years ago the remains of five old potteries, which could not have been worked for, at least, a century, existed near the present manufactory.
The Pottery, at Fremington, was established in the early part of the present century by Mr. George Fishley, who, in 1839, was succeeded by his son Edmund Fishley, who continued it until his death in 1861, when it passed into the hands of his son, Mr. Edwin B. Fishley, the present proprietor.
The goods produced are of the ordinary glazed red ware, and consist principally of pitchers and jars; scalding-pans for milk, for producing the world-famed “Devonshire cream”; flower-pots and pans; washing pots, cauldrons, and ewe pans; baking dishes and bread pans; salting vessels and chimney pots, and many other articles. Some of the water pitchers bear the peculiar names of “Long Toms,” “Thirty Tales,” “Gullymouths,” &c. Yellow-ware jugs and other domestic vessels are also made.
In ornamental wares some good designs in jars, beer jugs, and vases are produced. These are formed of a body of red clay, with figures and flowers in white clay. They are sometimes coloured, with good effect. The beer jugs, which are a speciality of the works, are generally white with drawings in red, of the same colour as the body.
The great speciality of the Fremington Pottery, like that of Bideford, is the manufacture of fire-clay ovens. These are made of various sizes for baking from one peck up to twelve. Their general form will be best understood from Fig. [734]. The material of which they are composed is remarkably firm, hard, and compact, and retains the heat for a considerable time. These ovens, which are a peculiarity of the West of England and of some of the Welsh districts, are simply enclosed in raised brickwork, leaving the mouth open to the front. They are heated in the inside with wood or gorse, and are remarkable for the small quantity of fuel that is required—two pennyworth of wood being said to be amply sufficient to bake seven or eight shillings’ worth of flour. The bread is stated to be of a peculiarly wholesome and sweet character. The mark used on the ovens, &c., is simply the proprietor’s name impressed in the clay while moist. On the ornamental ware the name is written on the bottom of the ware.