Fig. 14.
Fig. 15.
Fig. 16.
The large round dishes made by Barnes were chiefly sent into Wales, where the simple habits of their forefathers remained unchanged among the people long after their alteration in England; and the master of the house and his guest dipped their spoons into the mess and helped themselves from the dish placed in the middle of the table. Quantities of this ware were sent to the great border fairs, held at Chester, whither the inhabitants of the more remote and inaccessible parts of the mountain districts of Wales assembled to buy their stores for the year. The quality of this ware was very coarse, without flint, with the usual Delft-like thick tin glaze. But Barnes’s principal forte lay in the manufacture of square tiles, then much in vogue. When these tiles were required to be printed, that part of the work was done by Messrs. Sadler and Green. So large was the sale of this article, that Mr. Barnes has been heard to say he made a profit of £300 per annum by his tiles alone, he having a monopoly of the trade. He also made large quantities of pots for potting char, which were sent to the lakes. The ovens were fired with turf brought from the bogs at Kirkley, and on the night of firing, the men were always allowed potatoes to roast at the kiln fires, and a certain quantity of ale to drink.
WORMWOOD
Fig. 17.
The labels for different kinds of liquors, to which I have just alluded as being largely made by Barnes, were of various sizes, but generally of one uniform shape; the one engraved (Fig. [17]) being five a and half inches long. Examples in the Mayer Museum are respectively lettered for Rum, Cyder, Tent, Brandy, Lisbon, Peppermint, Wormwood, Aniseed, Geneva, Claret, Spruce, Perry, Orange, Burgundy, Port, Raisin, and other liquors. They are of the usual common clay in body, faced with fine white slip and glazed.