Figs. 821 to 824.—Broxbourne Terra Cotta.
In 1871, besides other of his productions, Mr. Pulham exhibited a small fountain, which was at play during the whole time of the Exhibition; and also several new vases. The fountains (for which a prize medal was awarded) and principal exhibits were very favourably noticed. Some of these I give on Figs. [819 to 824]. At the Paris Exhibition in 1867 fountains, vases, and architectural embellishments, amongst which may be named the Preston vase (a number of which were made for the People’s Park, Preston), with medallions representing the staple commerce of the place; some rich columns, novel window jambs and dressings; and notably amongst the rest was the Mulready Monument, erected for the Science and Art Department, South Kensington, and at whose instigation it was sent to Paris. The design of this is a pedestal 15 ft. by 10 ft., round the sides of which are sketched in outline some of Mulready’s principal pictures. This pedestal supports a large-size effigy, 7 ft. long, on a raised bier, the whole of this bier and effigy being fired successfully, just as it left the sculptor’s and modeller’s hands, and which was highly commended and spoken of as quite a chef d’œuvre in the terra-cotta art, and obtained the silver medal. It is now in Kensal Green cemetery, where it was fixed on its return from Paris. Mr. Pulham also executed a portion of ornamental terra-cotta used in the New Science Schools at South Kensington. The quality of the terra-cotta produced at Broxbourne is very high; it is hard, firm, compact, and durable, and of a soft and pleasing colour. Besides the articles already named, Mr. Pulham produces a goodly variety of vases, tazzas, pedestals, flower-baskets, and architectural enrichments of every kind.
Stamford.
That pottery was in mediæval times made in Stamford was incontestably proved in the latter end of 1874 by the discovery of a kiln during the course of excavations in the rear of a house occupied by the Rev. E. F. Gretton, formerly Master of the Grammar School there. The kiln was thus described in “The Reliquary,”[104] by Mr. G. H. Burton:—
“On visiting the spot after a clearance had been effected, I found an opening sunk in the ground, 7 feet wide, and as far as excavated, 8 feet 6 inches long. The end that was bared (north) was semicircular; the form of the other could not be seen, though from certain indications I think it would correspond. The bottom was floored with clay, and the lining or ‘bratticing’ of the sides was composed of stones, of irregular shapes and sizes, set in and entirely faced with clay. The layer forming the floor was about three inches thick, and had been burnt to a rather deep red; the coating of the sides was not so highly burnt, indeed; the clay at one part, only a few inches from the face, became perfectly plastic by exposure during a few days’ rain. In this opening, in the direction of its length, was a row of four piers of an extreme height of 3 ft. 8 inches, and about 12 inches or 14 inches thick; their section was something like a square or oblong, slightly rounded at the angles—in some parts resembling a rough circle. These columns were at somewhat irregular distances. That at the north end supported a short, thick lintel, which was connected with the enclosure, and was in a line with the series of piers. The three other columns carried at their heads a slighter lintel. These piers supported four horizontal beams 1 foot wide and 9 inches thick, of an extreme length of 4 feet 6 inches, which spanned the space between the piers and the east side of the opening. Thus the internal arrangement, to use a homely illustration, was pretty much that of a gridiron bent in the middle to the shape of the letter L inverted.
The part enclosed by the piers and beams was of the clear width of 3 feet 6 inches; the space from the piers to the other side was 2 feet 6 inches. This latter is believed to represent the ‘stoke-hole,’ and the unbarred opening, between the two northernmost piers, was perhaps a ‘man-hole.’ I have been told that the four transverse beams had been continued right across the opening, and that on one side they had been accidentally destroyed; but one who was very early on the spot assures me that the piers did not then present the appearance of anything having been broken from them. The columns, the beams, and the lintels were all of clay, burnt in some portions to a light brick red. Their construction seems to have been a rude and simple affair. Sticks or branches of no great thickness were placed in position, and then soft clay was clapped round them until the required massiveness was obtained, when drying and baking would finish the operation, if indeed drying and baking were necessary. Of what the superstructure was composed, and what form it took, I could find nothing to indicate. The floor of the kiln was seven or eight feet from the present surface, and the sides at the highest remaining part rose to a level with the horizontal beams. I should state that in two parallel cuttings, made for the foundations of new buildings, I observed a very thin layer of burnt earth of a light colour, extending nearly to the south end of the excavated remains of the kiln, and at about the same level as the horizontal beams. This would seem to show that when the kiln was in operation the tops of the pillars were on a level with the then surrounding surface. One remarkable circumstance ought, perhaps, to be mentioned. It was found necessary to make a cutting through this kiln, and the excavation revealed the fact, that for at least ten feet beneath the kiln floor there was nothing but ‘made ground,’ as the workmen called it. Other cuttings near disclosed a similar substructure, the loose ground being 20 feet deep.”
The very large and important works of this place owed their origin to Mr. J. M. Blashfield, by whom they were established in 1858. Previous to that time, Mr. Blashfield had been, until 1851, engaged, in Southwark Bridge Road, Albion Place, Blackfriars, and Mill Wall, in the Italian marble trade, and the manufacture of cements and scagliola, and the making and laying down of tessellated pavements, &c. In that year he commenced the manufacture of terra-cotta at Mill Wall, London, having a few years previously purchased a number of the moulds, models, &c., from Coades when that manufactory was closed. In 1858 Mr. Blashfield removed his moulds, models, plant, &c., to Stamford, where a splendid clay for his purpose exists, and where he soon became as successful as such enterprise and ability as his deserved, and where he did more for the development and improvement of the beautiful in art than could otherwise have been accomplished. In 1874 the works merged into a limited liability company, under the style of the “Stamford Terra-Cotta Company,” which failed and was wound up in 1875, when the plant and stock were sold by auction.