Swan Bank Pottery.—These works have passed successively through the hands of Thomas Edwards; Messrs. Pinder, Bourne, & Co.; Messrs. Beech and Hancock (now of Tunstall); and Messrs. Hancock, Whittingham, and Hancock (now of Stoke). In 1873 they came into the hands of the present proprietors, Messrs. Tundley, Rhodes, and Procter. The goods produced are, and have been, printed, enamelled, and gilt earthenware, of the useful classes in all the usual services, &c., for the home, Russian, and South American markets.
Figs. 408 and 409.
The Hill Top Pottery, or Hill Pottery.—These works, formerly belonging to Ralph Wood were for many years carried on by Messrs. Samuel Alcock & Co., by whom they were in 1839 rebuilt and enlarged; their rearranged manufactory comprising the works of Mr. Riley (formerly John Taylors), John Robinson and Sons, and William Taylors, which were all taken down for the purpose. The productions of Messrs. Samuel Alcock & Co. were, both in china and the finer descriptions of earthenware, of the highest quality, both in body and in decoration. One of their specialities was their semi-porcelain, which was of fine and durable quality. The marks,
ALCOCK AND CO.,
HILL POTTERY,
BURSLEM,
or S. ALCOCK & CO., either printed along with the name of the pattern or some device, or impressed in the ware. In 1860 the works and general estate were purchased by Sir James Duke and Nephews, and continued by them till 1865, when they sold the estate to Mr. Thomas Ford, who, in the ensuing year, 1866, sold it to the Earthenware and Porcelain Company, by whom (under the management of Mr. R. Daniel, once a noted china manufacturer at Stoke, Hanley, and Burslem) it was carried on under the style of the “Hill Pottery Company, Limited, late S. Alcock & Co.”
Figs. 410 to 414.
The productions of Sir James Duke and Nephews (Messrs. J. and C. Hill) were of a high order of excellence, in ordinary earthenware services, ranging from plain white and cream-coloured to the most superb styles of decoration; in china, which was of remarkably good quality; and in Etruscan wares. In the latter, some of the best forms of ancient Etruscan vases were cleverly reproduced, and the decoration, both in spirit and in style, artistically rendered. Some of the productions of this firm, who received well-merited distinctions at the Exhibition of 1862, are shown by Figs. [408 to 428].