Ebbisham.
A large brick manufactory existed at Ebbisham, in Surrey, in the seventeenth century, and a long and most interesting account of it, and of the clays, as well as all the processes of manufacture, will be found in Houghton’s “Husbandry and Trade Improved,” 1693.
Wrotham.
Fig. 844.
A pottery was in existence here, in Kent, in the middle of the seventeenth century, but nothing is known as to its history. The ware was the usual coarse brown ware, of much the same character as the Toft dishes. An example, formerly belonging to Mr. C. W. Reynolds, decorated with an incised pattern and bearing the date 1668, and the initials H. I. and I. A., is traditionally said to be of this make. In the British Museum is a large brown dish with the words E. W. E., WROTHAM, 1669, and in the Museum of Practical Geology is a two-handled posset-pot with raised ornaments and inscription laid on, in yellow slip, before glazing, T. E., WROTHAM, 1703. Another good example, belonging to Mr. Baldwin, is a four-handled tyg ornamented with fleur-de-lis, &c., and bearing the words
An interesting example, considered by Marryat to belong to Wrotham, is given on Fig. [844].
Yarmouth.
Although the name “Absolon, Yarmouth,” may occur on various pieces of ware in different collections, it must not, for one moment, be taken for granted that the pottery was produced there. The Absolons were china and glass dealers in Yarmouth, and one of the family appears to have erected a kiln, called the Ovens, and there to have burnt in the flowers and other designs which he employed himself in painting upon ware produced from other places. His plan appears to have been to procure the ordinary cream-coloured ware in plates, &c., and paint upon them flowers in the manner of those of Swinton, Don, &c.; and in the same manner to write their names on the back; and then to burn them in in his own “oven.” Mr. Norman possessed some plates of Absolon’s painting, which bore on the back the usual mark of his name, pencilled on and burnt in, and the name “TURNER” impressed in the ware. These pieces, there can be no reasonable doubt, were made by John Turner, of Lane End. Mr. Chaffers says that having the name of “Turner” stamped upon them, “proves that they were actually made at Caughley, and decorated at Yarmouth;” but this carries its own condemnation on the face of it, for Turner of Caughley is not known to have stamped his name on his ware, and beyond this he did not produce cream ware at his works. There is reason to believe that Absolon bought his ware from Staffordshire and Leeds. He put his name in colour on the bottom of the pieces he decorated.