The marks used at these works appear to have been very few, and are easily recognised. They are—
D D & Co*
CASTLEFORD
or
D·D & Co
CASTLEFORD
POTTERY
impressed in the ware. The mark of the later proprietors when trading as “T. Nicholson & Co.,” was a circular garter, surmounted by a crown, and on the ribbon the initials of the firm—“T. N. & Co.”; in the centre the name of the pattern. The mark of the present firm is their initials within a border.
At the present day the Castleford Pottery, as carried on by Clokie and Masterman, manufactures all the ordinary kinds of earthenware, including white, printed, sponged, and the very commonest kinds of painted varieties; the principal patterns of services being “Willow,” “Wild Rose,” “Albion,” “Gem,” “Eton College,” “Verona,” etc., which are produced in blue, green, brown, and other colours. The body is firm and good, and the glaze of the usual quality. The old glory of the works has, however, long departed, and nothing artistic or beautiful is now to be seen in the place where once so many choice articles might be found. There is in connection with the pottery a flint mill, where flint, stone, glaze and colour are ground, and the clay is prepared by hydraulic pressure.
The Eagle Pottery was established in 1854 by a company of workmen, under the style of “John Roberts & Co.,” and afterwards taken by Messrs. Pratt & Co., who sold the concern to Mr. H. McDowall, who continued to trade under the original style. Since the death of Mr. McDowall the buildings have been converted into a glass bottle manufactory. Only the most common classes of earthenware were produced.
Pontefract.
Thoresby records that Francis Place, of the Manor House at York, spent much money upon his manufacture of “fine muggs,” and that he attempted it solely from a turn for experiments; but one Clifton, of Pontefract, took the hint from him, and made a fortune by it. The works of Mr. Clifton would probably be the forerunners of those of Ferrybridge, near the “town of liquorice.”