Llewellyn Jewitt

From a bust by W. H. Goss.

THE
CERAMIC ART
OF
GREAT BRITAIN

FROM PRE-HISTORIC TIMES DOWN TO THE PRESENT DAY

BEING A HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND MODERN

POTTERY AND PORCELAIN WORKS

OF THE KINGDOM

AND OF THEIR PRODUCTIONS OF EVERY CLASS

BY

LLEWELLYNN JEWITT, F.S.A.

LOCAL SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON;
HON. AND ACTUAL MEMBER OF THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL COMMISSION, AND STATISTICAL
COMMITTEE, PSKOV;
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND;
ASSOCIATE OF THE BRITISH ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION;
HON. MEMBER OF THE ESSEX ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND OF THE MANX SOCIETY, ETC.;
COR. MEMBER OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
ETC. ETC. ETC.

ILLUSTRATED WITH NEARLY TWO THOUSAND ENGRAVINGS

IN TWO VOLUMES.—I.

LONDON
VIRTUE AND CO., Limited, 26, IVY LANE
PATERNOSTER ROW
1878

[All rights reserved.]

LONDON:
PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED,
CITY ROAD.

TO

COLIN MINTON CAMPBELL, Esq.

M.P. FOR NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE,

ETC. ETC.,

THIS WORK,

WHICH TREATS OF AN ART FOR WHOSE DEVELOPMENT AND EXTENSION

HE AND THE FIRM OF MINTON

(OF WHICH HE IS NOW THE HEAD) HAVE DONE SO MUCH,

IS APPROPRIATELY AND WITH PERMISSION

Dedicated,

AS A MARK OF HIGH PERSONAL ESTEEM, AND AS

A SLIGHT TOKEN OF APPRECIATION OF THE EMINENT SERVICES

HE HAS UNIFORMLY RENDERED

TO THAT IMPORTANT BRANCH OF ART-MANUFACTURE

WITH WHICH HIS NAME IS SO INTIMATELY

AND SO WORTHILY ASSOCIATED.

LLEWELLYNN JEWITT.

Winster Hall, Derbyshire,

November, 1877.

INTRODUCTION.

In issuing my present work I have two distinct personal duties to perform, and I hasten, in these few brief lines of introduction, to discharge them. First, I earnestly desire to ask indulgence from my readers for any shortcomings which may be apparent in its contents; and next, I desire emphatically to express my thanks to all who have in any way, or even to the smallest extent, assisted me in my labours. The preparation of the work has extended over a considerable period of time, and I have had many difficulties to contend with that are, and must necessarily be, wholly unknown to any but myself—hard literary digging to get at facts and to verify dates, that is not understood, and would scarce be believed in, by the reader who turns to my pages—and hence errors of omission and of commission may have, nay, doubtless have crept in, and may in some places, to a greater or less extent, have marred the accuracy of the page whereon they have occurred. I can honestly say I have left nothing undone, no source untried, and no trouble untaken to secure perfect accuracy in all I have written, and yet I am painfully aware that shortcomings may, and doubtless will, be laid to my charge; for these, wherever they occur, I ask, and indeed claim, indulgence. I believe in work, in hard unceasing labour, in patient and painstaking research, in untiring searchings, and in diligent collection and arrangement of facts—to make time and labour and money subservient to the end in view, rather than that the end in view, and the time and labour and money expended, should bend and bow and ultimately break before time. Thus it is that my “Ceramic Art” has been so long in progress, and thus it is that many changes have occurred during the time it has been passing through the press which it has been manifestly impossible to chronicle.

I have the proud satisfaction, however, of knowing that my work is the only one of its kind yet attempted, and I feel a confident hope that it will fill a gap that has long wanted filling, and will be found alike useful to the manufacturer, the china collector, and the general reader.

When, some twenty years ago, at the instance of my dear friend Mr. S. C. Hall, I began my series of papers in the Art Journal upon the various famous earthenware and porcelain works of the kingdom, but little had been done in that direction, and the information I got together from time to time had to be procured from original sources, by prolonged visits to the places themselves and by numberless applications to all sorts of people from whom even scraps of reliable matter could be obtained. Books on the subject were not many, and the information they contained on English Ceramics was meagre in the extreme. Since then numerous workers have sprung up, and their published volumes—many of them sumptuous and truly valuable works—attest strongly to the interest and pains they have taken in the subject. To all these, whoever they may be, the world owes a debt of gratitude for devoting their time and their talents to so important a branch of study. To each of them I tender my own thanks for having devoted themselves to the elucidation of one of my favourite pursuits, and for having given to the world the result of their labours. No work has, however, until now been entirely devoted to the one subject of British Ceramics, and I feel therefore that in presenting my present volumes to the public I am only carrying out the plan I at first laid down, and am not even in the slightest degree encroaching on the province of any other writer.

I think I may safely say there is scarcely a manufacturer—even if there be one at all—in the length and breadth of the kingdom with whom I have not frequently communicated in the progress of this work. Except in some few solitary instances I have received the information I have sought, and my inquiries have met with the most cordial and ready response.

To all those who have thus assisted me with information or otherwise, and especially to my friend Mr. Goss, who has greatly assisted me over the onerous task of some of the Staffordshire potteries, I offer my warmest thanks; and to those few others, who from inattention, shortsightedness, or other cause, have not responded to my inquiries, I would express my sorrow if, through that inattention on their part, I have been unable to give as full particulars regarding their potteries as I could have wished. To thank by name those who have assisted me with information would require a long list indeed; I therefore tender my acknowledgments to all in the one emphatic good old English expression—“Thank you!”

LLEWELLYNN JEWITT.

Winster Hall, Derbyshire.

November, 1877.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

CERAMIC ART IN GREAT BRITAIN.

CHAPTER I.

Practice of the Art in England—The Celtic Period—Classes of Vessels—Cinerary Urns—Food Vessels, Drinking Cups, &c.—Modes of Ornamentation—Food Vessels—Immolation Urns or Incense Cups—Handled Cups.

The history of the ceramic art in our own country is one of intense interest and of paramount importance. I open my present work, which I intend to devote to its consideration, with this assertion, and before it is done I hope I shall have proved its truth.

It is a subject which may be treated in more ways than one. It may be considered technically, i.e. with regard to manipulation, to the mixing of bodies and glazes, and the practical parts of the potter’s art; or historically, so as to treat of the introduction and progress of the art in this country, its gradual extension and improvement, the chief seats of its operations, and the characteristics of the productions of each age and place. To neither of these do I purpose confining myself; but to the latter I shall, here and there, mix up just sufficient of the former to render it more intelligible and useful. The main ingredients of the “body”—to use a potter’s term—of my work will be history, description, and biography, with just sufficient technicology to temper it and give it its proper tenacity and consistency. For the facts relating to the earliest examples of that art, from which I shall deduce my narrative, I rely upon actual researches into grave-mounds and otherwise, undertaken by myself or by others; and for the rest—those relating to the art in mediæval and later times—upon constant inquirings and searchings and readings carried on, with this special end in view, during the course of many years.

It is impossible to show when the potter’s art was first invented or when it was first brought into use in this island; but that it was practised here in the very earliest days of its being inhabited by its savage population can be abundantly proved. To this pre-historic period, then, I shall first direct attention; and then endeavour to trace the history of the art down from the Celtic to the Romano-British period; from the time of the Romans to the Anglo-Saxons and Normans; and so gradually come downwards through mediæval to modern times, giving, under each separate seat of the more modern manufacture, historical notices of the works and their founders, and descriptive particulars of the more characteristic of their productions.

Fig. 1.—Celtic Pottery in the Norwich Museum.

The practice of the fictile art in England dates back, as I have already said, to a very remote period—that of its Celtic or ancient British population, by whom there is abundant evidence it was much esteemed. It is pleasant to know, and to be able indisputably to prove, that from those early days down to the present time the art has, through a long succession of ages, continued with more or less skill, to be observed among us, and that thus in pottery, as in nothing else, an unbroken chain, connecting us in our present high state of civilisation with our remote barbarian forefathers of the stone age, exists. The weapons and other implements of imperishable stone and flint have, long ages ago, died out, and any possible connection between them and the weapons or tools of our own day has died with them; but the vessels of simple clay have an abiding-place with us which has lasted without a break until now, and will yet last for ever. Hitherto the course of the potter’s art has been one of constant and gradual improvement; but its capabilities for further development are almost unbounded, and another generation will witness advances of which we can now but dimly dream.

Among the ancient Britons, vessels of clay were formed for sepulchral and other uses, and it is entirely to their grave-mounds that we are indebted for the examples which have survived to our time. It is in the course of examination of these mounds that these fictile remains have been brought to light; and it is by a careful examination of these alone, and by constant comparison of the “finds” of one locality with the discoveries of another, that a proper estimate of their character has been, or can be, drawn.

Fig. 2.—Monsal Dale.

Fig. 3.—Cleatham.

The pottery of this period may be safely arranged in four classes[1], viz.—1. Sepulchral or Cinerary Urns, which have been made for and have contained, or been inverted over, calcined human bones; 2. Drinking Cups, which, in a similar manner, are supposed to have contained some liquid to be placed with the dead body; 3. Food Vessels (so called), which are supposed to have contained an offering of food, and which are more usually found with unburnt bodies than along with interments by cremation; 4. Immolation Urns, (erroneously called Incense Cups by Sir R. Colt Hoare for want of more knowledge of their use), which are very small vessels, found only with burnt bones (and usually also containing them), placed in the mouths of, or close by, the larger cinerary urns. These latter I believe to have been simply small urns intended to receive the ashes of the infant, perhaps sacrificed at the death of its mother, so as to admit of being placed within the larger urn containing the ashes of the parent: I venture, therefore, to name them “Immolation Urns.”

No notice of the pottery of this period is to be found in ancient writers, if we except the allusion of Strabo,[2] who says that one of the commodities with which the Phœnicians traded to the Cassiterides was earthenware. But in connection with this it is necessary to state that no example of pottery which can possibly be traced to Phœnician origin has as yet been found in any of the hundreds of barrows which have been opened.

Fig. 4.—Ballidon Moor.

Fig. 5.—Tresvenneck.

The pottery exhibits considerable difference, both in clay, in size, and in ornamentation. Those presumed to be the oldest are of coarse clay mixed with small pebbles and sand; the later ones of a somewhat less clumsy form, and perhaps a finer mixture of clays. They are entirely wrought by hand without the assistance of the wheel, and are mostly very thick and clumsy. They are very imperfectly fired, having probably been baked on the funeral pyre.

In the examination of barrows of this period it not unfrequently happens that the spot where the funeral pyre has been lit can very clearly be perceived. In these instances the ground beneath is generally found to be burned to some considerable depth; sometimes, indeed, it is burned to a fine red colour, and approaches in texture somewhat to that of brick. Where it was intended that the remains should be placed in an urn for interment, it appears, from careful examinations which have been made, that the urn being formed of clay—most probably, judging from the delicacy of touch, and from the impress of fingers which occasionally remains, by the females of the tribe—and ornamented according to the taste of the manipulator, was placed in the funeral fire and there baked, while the body of the deceased was being consumed. The remains of the calcined bones, the flints, &c., were then gathered up together, and placed in the urn; over which the mound was next raised.

Fig. 6.—Trentham.

From their imperfect firing, the vessels of this period are usually called “sun-baked” or “sun-dried;” but this is a grave error, as any one conversant with examples cannot fail, on careful examination, to see. If the vessels were “sun-baked” only, their burial in the earth—in the tumuli wherein, some two thousand years ago, they were deposited, and where they have all that time remained—would soon soften them, and they would, ages ago, have returned to their old clayey consistency. As it is, the urns have remained of their original form, and although, from imperfect baking, they are sometimes found partially softened, they still retain their form, and soon regain their original hardness. They bear abundant evidence of the action of fire, and are, indeed, sometimes sufficiently burned for the clay to have attained a red colour—a result which no “sunbaking” could produce. They are mostly of an earthy brown colour outside, and almost black in fracture, and many of the cinerary urns bear internal and unmistakable evidence of having been filled with the burnt bones and ashes of the deceased, while those ashes were of a glowing and intense heat. They were, most probably, fashioned by the females of the tribe, on the death of their relative, from the clay to be found nearest to the spot, and baked on or by the funeral pyre. The glowing ashes and bones were then, as I have already stated, collected together, and placed in the urn, and the flint implements, and occasionally other relics belonging to the deceased, deposited along with them. In some instances, however, it is probable that even the cinerary urns were burned in a separate fire, as were the “drinking cups,” which are usually fired to a much harder degree than they are. No kiln, or anything approaching to one, however, could of course have been used.

Fig. 7.—Darley Dale.

Fig. 8.—Darley Dale.

Fig. 9.—Darley Dale.

Fig. 10.—Darley Dale.

The Cinerary or Sepulchral Urns vary very considerably in size, in form, in ornamentation, and in material—the latter, naturally, depending on the locality where the urns were made; and, as a general rule, they differ also in the different tribes. Those which are supposed to be the most ancient, from the fact of their frequently containing flint instruments along with the calcined bones, are of large size, ranging from nine or ten, to sixteen or eighteen inches in height. Those which are considered to belong to a somewhat later period, when cremation had again become general, are of a smaller size, and of a somewhat finer texture. With them objects of flint are rarely found, but articles of bronze are occasionally discovered. Sometimes they are wide at the mouth, without any overlapping rim; at others they are characterised by a deeply overlapping lip or rim; others are more of “flower-pot” form, with encircling raised bands, while others again are contracted inwardly at the mouth by curved rims. Some also have loops at the sides. The ornamentation is produced chiefly by incised lines, or punctures, or by lines, &c., produced by indenting into the soft clay a twisted thong (Fig. [37]). Encircling and zig-zag lines of various forms, reticulated and lozenge-formed patterns, and rows of indentations, are the usual decorations; but occasionally, as at West Kennet and Launceston Heath, clearly defined patterns are produced by the finger or thumb nail.

Fig. 11.—Launceston Heath.

Fig. 12.—Cleatham.

Fig. 13.—Launceston Heath.

Fig. 14.—Stone.

Fig. 15.—Cleatham.

The more usual of the forms will be best understood by the engraved examples, selected from the proceeds of many barrow openings in different parts of the kingdom.

Fig. 16.—Broad Down.

Fig. 17.—Tredenny.

The four urns (Fig. [2], [3], [4], and [6]) are characteristic examples of the variety with the broad or deep overlapping border or rim. The first of these has the pattern incised in the soft clay, that on the rim being in diagonal lines, and the central portion reticulated. The second has the herring-bone or chevron ornament around its rim, and the third example is ornamented with horizontal and vertical lines alternately on its rim, and zig-zagged, filled in with horizontal and crossed, lines on the central part. The lines in this are all produced by indenting a twisted thong into the clay while in a soft state. Fig. [16] has its ornamentation indented with twisted thongs in “herring-bone” pattern both on the outside and inside the rim and around the central part. Fig. [8] has a central band as well as overhanging lip. Figs. [11] and [13], from Dorsetshire barrows,[3] are of different form, the ornamentation consisting of incised lines and impressed thumbmarks, &c. The remaining engravings also give excellent examples of other forms and varieties of these sepulchral vessels. Figs. [9] and [10] have the upper part curved, and almost approaching to cup shape, and Fig. [7] has raised bands; in Fig. [14] the upper parts are hollowed out; and in Fig. [15] the upper part is marked with lozenges. Figs. [19] and [23] are ornamented with indented dots produced by pressing the end of a stick or other substance into the soft clay. Fig. [23] has these dots in zig-zag lines.

Fig. 18. Fig. 19. Fig. 20. Fig. 21.

Cinerary and Immolation Urns from Darwen.

Fig. 22.—Darley Dale.

Fig. 23.—Calais Wold.

Fig. 24.—Glen-Dorgal.

Fig. 25.—Clahar Garden, Mullion.

Figs. 26, 27, 28.—Clahar Garden, Mullion.

Fig. 29.—Denzell.

Fig. 30.—Gerrans.

Fig. 31.—Place, near Fowey.

Fig. 32.—Lanlawren.

Figs. 33 and 34.—Bosporthennis.

Fig. 35.—Trevello.

Fig. 36.—Boscawen-Un.

Fig. 37.—Darwen.

Fig. 38.—Morvah Hill.

Fig. 39.—Fimber.

Fig. 40.—Roundway Hill.

Fig. 41.—Monsal Dale.

Fig. 42.—Green Low.

Fig. 43.—Broad Down.

Fig. 44.—Gospel Hillock.

Fig. [21] has the reticulated lines produced by indentations from twisted thongs. Fig. [22] is a remarkably fine example. Around its upper portion are encircling lines, between which is the usual zig-zag ornament. Around the central band, too, are encircling lines, between which are a series of vertical zig-zag lines. The whole of the ornamentation has been produced by twisted thongs; some, however, being of tighter twist than others. Inside, the rim is ornamented by encircling and diagonal lines. It has on its central band four projecting handles or loops, which are pierced. Nine other looped examples, from Cornwall, are shown on Figs. [5], [17], [24], [25], [26], [27], [29], [30], and [35];[4] along with other examples from the same county. Figs. [18] and [20] are two “Immolation Urns,” found along with, or in, Figs. [19] and [21]. Fig. [38] shows a kind of ear or handle on the side of another vessel.

Fig. 45.—Monsal Dale.

Fig. 46.—Grindlow.

Fig. 47.—Elk Low.

The Drinking Cups are usually of tall form, globular in the lower half, contracted in the middle, and expanding at the mouth. In ornamentation they are more elaborate than the cinerary urns, many of them, in fact, being covered over their entire surface with impressed or incised patterns, frequently of considerable delicacy in manipulation, and always of a finer and higher quality than those of the other descriptions of pottery. Figs. [39 to 48] will show some of the varieties both of form and style of decoration. Instances have been known in which a kind of incrustation has been very perceptible on the inner surface, thus showing that their use as vessels for holding liquor is certain; the incrustation being produced by the gradual drying up of the liquid with which they had been filled when placed with the dead body.

Fig. 48.—Elk Low.

Fig. 49.—Hitter Hill.

Fig. 50.—Hitter Hill.

Fig. 51.—Trentham.

Fig. [47], which, however, may perhaps be a food vessel, has the unusual feature of being ornamented on the bottom quite as elaborately as around its sides. The bottom is shown on Fig. [48]. The whole of the ornamentation has been produced by the indentation of twisted thongs into the pliant clay.

Fig. [39], from Fimber, is richly and elaborately ornamented over its entire surface with the most delicate indentations, and is (with Fig. [42]) one of the best and most perfect of known examples. When found it stood close to the shoulders of the skeleton of a strong-boned, middle-aged, man, which lay on the right side. Fig. [42] is equally as elaborate in ornamentation, and as good in form. Like the former, it is ornamented by thong indentations. Fig. [41] is of the same general shape, but not so elaborate in design; the greater portion of the ornamentation consisting of reticulated and lozenge patterns. Fig. [45] is also a remarkably good example, and is about equal in point of ornament with Fig. [46]. Fig. [40] is of very different form, as are also Figs. [43] and [44]. The ornamentation on the first of these is produced in the usual way, and on the second, by simple indentations. Other forms of drinking cups are met with, but these are the most usual.

Fig. 52.—Penquite.

Fig. 53.—Fimber.

Fig. 54.—Hay Top, Monsal Dale.

Fig. 55.—Fimber.

Fig. 56.—Trentham.

Fig. 57.—Monsal Dale.

The Food Vessels—small urns, so called because they were probably intended to contain an offering of food—are of various forms and sizes, and are, in point of decoration, more or less elaborate. They are usually small at the bottom, and gradually swell out until they become, frequently, wider at the mouth than they are in height. They are formed of clay of much the same kind as the other vessels, and are fired to about the same degree of hardness. Figs. [49 to 57] will show their general form and style of decoration. Figs. [49] and [50] were found in the same barrow, and yet, as will be seen, exhibit very different styles of ornamentation. The first of these is four and three quarter inches in height, and five and a half inches in diameter at the top. It is richly ornamented with the usual diagonal and herring-bone lines, formed by twisted thongs impressed into the soft clay, in its upper part. Around the body of the urn itself, however, is a pattern of lozenge form, very unusual on vessels of this period. The second is five and a quarter inches in height, and six and a quarter inches in diameter at the top. It is very richly ornamented.

Fig. 58.

Fig. 59.

Fig. 60.

Fig. 61.

Fig. 62.

Fig. 63.

Fig. 64.

Fig. 65.

Fig. 66.

Fig. 67.

Fig. 68.

Fig. 69.

Fig. 70.

Fig. 71.

Fig. 72.—Broad Down.

Fig. [53] has the pattern rudely indented over its whole surface. Fig. [51] is coarse and rude, and the pattern very simple. Figs. [54], [55], and [57] are of different character, and have a kind of handle or projecting stud on four sides. They are among the most elaborate, in point of ornamentation, of any of these interesting vessels, of which other forms besides those engraved have occasionally been found. On Wykeham Moor, in Yorkshire the Rev. Canon Greenwell has brought to light some urns of a different character, and of greater width at the mouth.

Fig. 73.—Broad Down.

The diminutive vessels, usually called (though, as I have said, erroneously) “Incense Cups,” but which I propose to call “Immolation Urns,” are ornamented in the same manner as the other pottery. The form, as will be seen from Figs. [58 to 75], varies much, from a plain salt-cellar like cup to the more elaborately rimmed vase. Three examples (Figs. [68], [70], and [75]) have the very unusual appendage of a handle at one side; others have holes in their sides, as if for suspension, and I suspect this has been the case in the urn containing the ashes of the mother. Fig. [67] has four handles.

Holes for, as supposed, suspension, are shown in Figs. [58], [72], and [74]; these have each two of these small perforations in the side. Others, as in Figs. [64] and [67], have perforated loops at their sides. Fig. [65] is of unusual form, having a broad rim round its mouth; it is elaborately ornamented. Figs. [5], [18] and [20] are shown with the urns with which they were found.

Fig. 74.—Broad Down.

Other forms of these interesting little vessels, which generally range from an inch and a half to three inches in height, occur. They will be best understood from the engravings. One of these (Fig. [72]), for the purpose of showing its pattern more carefully, is engraved of its FULL SIZE. It is a remarkable example, and has its bottom ornamented as well as its sides and rim, which are shown on Figs. [73] and [74]. When found it was filled with burnt bones, probably of an infant. On one side were two perforations.

Fig. 75.—Denzell.

Among the unusual forms of Celtic pottery may be named the curious examples (Figs. [76] and [77]) one of which is a kind of drinking mug with a handle, and the other is supported on feet. Fig. [76], and another of somewhat similar kind in the Ely Museum, are the only two known examples of this form of vessel, and they will be seen to be very richly ornamented. Fig. [76] is in the Bateman collection, as is also Fig. [77]. It is one of the class of vessels hitherto called incense cups, and is, I believe, unique—no other example on feet having come under my notice.

Fig. 76.—Pickering.

Fig. 77.—Pickering.

CHAPTER II.

Romano-British Pottery—Upchurch Ware—Durobrivian Ware—Roman Potters’ Kilns—Pottery in London—Salopian Ware—New Forest Ware—Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, and other Wares—Varieties of Vessels: Amphoræ—Mortaria, &c.—Sepulchral Vessels—Tiles—Tile Tombs—Clay Coffins—Lamps—Penates—Coin Moulds, &c.

During the Romano-British period the fictile art was much practised in England, and not only was a large variety of wares produced, but an almost endless number of vessels were made. Potworks were established in many parts of the kingdom, some of which grew to very large dimensions, while others of a less important character and size still made wares of extremely good quality. The three principal potteries—at least so far as present researches have enabled us to judge—in England at this period were those on the Medway, in the Upchurch marshes, extending towards Sheerness, in Kent; the Durobrivian potteries on the river Nen, in Northamptonshire; and the Salopian potteries on the Severn, in Shropshire. Smaller pot works, however, being scattered over various parts of the kingdom.

With the well-known “Samian Ware,” the finest and most beautiful of the pottery of the Romans which is found in this country, I have, of course, nothing to do in my present work; for, although found so frequently and so abundantly in England, it was not manufactured here, and therefore does not come within its scope. I proceed, therefore, to speak of the various English seats of the manufacture.

Upchurch Ware.—The district wherein this pottery was made and is found so abundantly, is of five or six miles in length, and from one to two in breadth; and over the whole of this tract of country, at a distance of some few feet below the surface, a regular layer of remains of Roman fictile art occurs. To Mr. C. Roach Smith is due the greatest credit of bringing these under notice:—“There can be no doubt,” says Mr. Wright, “not only from the extent of ground covered by the potteries, but from the frequent occurrence of the sort of pottery made here, among Roman remains in Britain belonging to different periods, that these potteries were in full activity during the whole extent of the Roman period. The site of the kilns was moved as the clay was used up, and at the same time the refuse pottery was thrown on the ground behind them, so that, when at last abandoned, this extensive site presented a surface of ground covered almost entirely by a bed of refuse pottery.” Here, then, the Roman figuli exercised, more extensively than anywhere else in England their art, and continued its practice for a long series of years. In those days the ground would of course be firm and dry. Since then, as is usually the case in so long a number of years, the soil has accumulated to the thickness of about three feet—the inroads which the Medway is constantly making upon it forming the creeks, and continually disclosing the remains left by the potters.

Fig. 78.—Group of Upchurch Ware.

The ware made at Upchurch must have been in considerable repute, for it is found in Roman localities in most parts of the kingdom. On Roman sites in France and Germany and in Flanders, &c., wares of a precisely similar kind are found, and show that it is probable they were simultaneously made at different places. The prevailing colour of the ware is a bluish or greyish black, with a smooth and rather shining surface. A good deal, however, is of a dark drab colour. The black colour has been produced by the process of “firing” in “smother kilns”—a process well known to potters. The forms of the vessels, as well as the sizes, vary to a surprising extent, but they are all remarkable for the gracefulness and elegance of their outline, and, in many instances, for the simplicity and effective character of the patterns with which they are decorated. The decorations consist chiefly of circles or semi-circles; lines, vertical or otherwise; bands, and numbers of raised dots arranged in a variety of ways. The clay used is fine, and the vessels are light and thin, and remarkably well “potted.”

Figs. 79 to 83.—Upchurch Ware.

Figs. 84 to 88.—Upchurch Ware.

Figs. 89 to 93.—Upchurch Ware.

The instruments used in the ornamentation of this pottery appear to have been of a very rude description, and were, as it seems, chiefly mere sticks, some sharpened to a point, and others with a transverse section cut into notches. The former were used in tracing the lines already described; the latter had the section formed into a square or rhomboid, the surface of which was cut into parallel lines crossing each other so as to form a dotted figure, and this was stamped on the surface of the pottery in various combinations and arrangements. Sometimes these dots are arranged so as to form bands;[5] and in others simply “patch” ornaments. Other vessels were covered with reticulation, the lines being simply scratched into the surface of the clay; and others have bands of serrated lines.

The forms of some of the vessels from the Upchurch works will be seen on Fig. [78], and a series of other characteristic examples are given on Figs. [79 to 95].

Fig. 94.—Upchurch Ware.

One example (Fig. [80]) is ornamented with half-circles traced on the clay as with compasses, from which run downwards rows of incised lines. On Fig. [78] is an example of much the same character of ornamentation although different in form.

Figs. [81], [85], [86], 87, and [88] are of different form, and are ornamented with raised dots in bands and patches; while [83] and [84] are “engine turned.” They are of remarkably elegant form.

Fig. 95.—Upchurch Ware.

Figs. [91, 92, 93], and [95] are more bottle shaped—in fact, approaching somewhat to the form of the mediæval bellarmine. Many varieties of this general form have been found in the marshes and elsewhere. Fig. [89] is particularly simple and elegant in shape, as are also several shown in the groups on this and the preceding pages. Among these is an example of another variety of ornamentation common to the Upchurch ware. It is formed by diagonal intersecting lines, and in form is much the same as the ordinary kind of Roman cinerary urns. In the group, Fig. [94], are some examples of Upchurch and other wares.

No kilns have as yet been discovered in the Upchurch marshes, but doubtless further researches will yet bring them to light. Mr. Roach Smith, to whose incessant labours we owe the principal notices of these potteries, has discovered the remains of the extensive village of the potters, with traces of their habitations and of their graves, in the higher ground bordering on the marshes.

Castor Ware, or Durobrivian Ware, as it is variously called, is the production of the extensive Romano-British potteries on the river Nen, in Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire; near Castor and Chesterton, in those counties respectively. In this locality, as the names of Chesterton and Castor undeniably prove to have been the case, an important settlement of the Romans was made, and excavations have brought to light the remains of a considerable town, and in connection with it, of a settlement of potters with the remains of their works extending over a district many miles in extent.

The great interest attaching to this locality is in the fact that this was not the first, but the first well ascertained discovery of a Roman pot-manufactory in this kingdom, and that at this spot the first kilns of that period have been uncovered, and the processes adopted by the Roman figuli brought to light.

Fig. 96.—Castor Ware.

The situation of the potteries was well chosen for carrying on an extensive trade with distant parts of the kingdom, and from researches searches which were made, the late Mr. Artis, to whom the discovery is due, computed that probably two thousand people had been employed in the fabrication of fictile vessels. It is on the line of one of the most important of the Roman roads—the Ermyn street—and close to the navigable river Nen; and that the products of the manufactory were supplied to places throughout the kingdom is abundantly testified by the remains which are almost invariably found in course of excavations wherever Roman occupation is known. Mr. Artis unfortunately, although he published a fine folio volume of plates[6] of the more remarkable of the objects he discovered, never issued the descriptive and historical text which was intended to accompany it. The great bulk of the information he had gleaned he never committed to paper, and consequently it died with him. Mr. Artis, however, communicated some valuable particulars to Mr. C. Roach Smith, and these have been made public by him in the “Journal of the British Archæological Association”[7] and in the “Collectanea Antiqua.”[8] Mr. Artis in one of these says that during an examination of the pigments used by the Roman potters of Castor and its neighbourhood, he was “led to the conclusion that the blue and slate-coloured vessels met with here in such abundance were coloured by suffocating the fire of the kiln at the time when its contents had acquired a degree of heat sufficient to insure uniformity of colour. I had so firmly made up my mind on the process of manufacturing and firing this peculiar kind of earthenware, that I had denominated the kilns in which it had been fired “smother kilns.” The mode of manufacturing the bricks of which these kilns are made is worthy of notice. The clay was previously mixed with about one-third of rye in the chaff, which being consumed by the fire, left cavities in the room of the grains. This might have been intended to modify expansion and contraction, as well as to assist in the gradual distribution of the colouring vapour. The mouth of the furnace and the top of the kiln were no doubt stopped: thus we find every part of the kiln, from the inside wall to the mouth on the outside, and every part of the clay wrappers of the domes penetrated with the colouring exhalation.”

Figs. 97, 98, 99.—Castor Ware.

The researches further proved that the colour could not be attributed to any metallic oxide (although it must be confessed that in many instances the surface has a strongly developed metallic appearance) either in the clay itself or applied externally, and this conclusion is confirmed by the appearance of the clay wrappers of the dome of the kilns; and it may be added, the colour is so fugitive that it is expelled entirely, by submitting the pottery to an open fire. During the examination of the Upchurch pottery, Mr. Artis remarked that he thought a coarse kind of sedge had been used in the manufactory. His practical eye alone guided him to this conclusion, for he had never visited the site, and was quite unaware that below the strata of broken vessels, a layer of sedge peat is in several places visible. The same kind of arrangement probably obtained pretty generally with the Roman potters.

Fig. 100.—Potter’s Kiln, Normangate Field, Castor.

Fig. 101.—Potter’s Kiln, Normangate Field, Castor.

The kilns for firing the Castor ware, discovered by Mr. Artis, are among the most interesting of all the remains of Roman arts which have been brought to light. The kilns which were removed in the course of the investigations were “all constituted on the same principle: a circular hole was dug from three to four feet deep, and four in diameter, and walled round to the height of two feet. A furnace, one-third of the kiln in length, communicated with the side. In the centre of the circle so formed was an oval pedestal, the height of the sides, with the end pointing to the mouth of the furnace. Upon this pedestal and side walls the floor of the kiln rests. It was formed of perforated angular bricks, meeting at one point in the centre; the furnace was arched with bricks, moulded for the purpose; the side of the kiln was constructed with curved bricks set edgeways (see Fig. [100]) in a thick slip (the same material made into a thin mortar) to the height of two feet. The process of packing the vessels and securing uniform heat in firing the ware was the same in the two different kinds of kilns—namely, that before described, called ‘smother kiln,’ and that for various other kinds of pottery. They were first carefully loose-packed with the articles to be fired, up to the height of the side walls. The circumference of the bulk was then gradually diminished, and finished in the shape of a dome. As this arrangement progressed, an attendant seems to have followed the packer, and thinly covered a layer of pots with coarse hay or grass. He then took some thin clay, the size of his hand, and laid it flat over the grass upon the vessels: he then placed more grass on the edge of the clay just laid on—then more clay—and so on until he had completed the circle. By this time the packer would have raised another tier of pots, the plasterer following as before, hanging the grass over the top edge of the last layer of plasters, until he had reached the top, in which a small aperture was left, and the clay nipped round the edge; another coating would then be laid on as before described. Directly after, gravel or loam was thrown up against the side wall where the clay wrappers were commenced—probably to secure the bricks and the clay coating. The kiln was then fired with wood.[9] In consequence of the care taken to place grass between the edges of the wrappers, they could be unpacked in the same size pieces as when laid on in a plastic state; and thus the danger in breaking the coat to obtain the contents of the kiln could be obviated. In the course of my excavations I discovered a curiously constructed furnace, of which I have never before or since met an example. Over it had been placed two circular vessels; the next above the furnace was a third less than the other, which would hold about eight gallons; the fire passed partly under both of them, the smoke escaping by a smoothly-plastered flue, from seven to eight inches wide. The vessels were suspended by the rims fitting into a circular groove or rabbet, formed for the purpose. They contained pottery, both perfect and fragmentary. It is probable they had covers, and I am inclined to think were used for glazing peculiar kinds of the immense quantities of ornamented ware made in this district. Its contiguity to one of the workshops in which the glaze (oxide of iron) and other pigments were found confirms this opinion.”

Fig. 102.—Potter’s Kiln, Castor.

Fig. [102] is a kiln of a different construction. “In it, instead of modelling or moulding bricks for the kiln, the potters, after forming a tolerably round shaft, commenced plastering it three inches thick with clay, prepared for that purpose, leaving a flange twenty inches above the furnace floor to receive the floor of the kiln; a mode of construction unnoticed by me before in these kilns. In the centre was placed an oval pedestal, for the double purpose of dividing the fire and of giving support to the centre of the floor. To attach the pedestal to the back of the kiln, and to shut out the cold air which would lodge in the angle formed by the pedestal being so placed, the angle was filled with coarse materials, which were stopped up with clay, so as to draw the flame more towards the centre, and induce a union with the flame and heat entering the front part of the kiln.” The more usual plan with the potters of this district in packing their kilns was, when the contents had reached the surface of the earth, to form a dome by covering the urns and vases lightly with dry grass, sedge, or the like, and plastering it over with patches of prepared clay, divided by strewing a small quantity of hay between each portion to facilitate removal. In place of this usual process, in this kiln bricks were used of an oblong shape, four inches by two and a half inches, wedge-shaped at one end, with a sufficient curve to traverse the circumference when set edgeways, with the wedge ends lapped over each other. The sides would be thus raised for three or four courses or more, as circumstances might require, and probably be afterwards backed up with loose earth. These bricks were modelled and kneaded with chaff and grain.”[10] The numbers indicate as follows:—1, front of the pedestal supporting the floor of the kiln; 2 2, slopes, probably intended to produce a more uniform heat; 3 3, part of the kiln floor; 4, bricks, before used; 5, area of the furnace; 6, mouth of furnace; 7, wall of kiln; 8, top of the pedestal. The mouth of the furnace, No. 6, was arched over.

The ware of the Durobrivian potteries was superior both in style of art and in form and material to that of Upchurch, and has an especial interest over it in the fact that it bears figures and various ornaments in relief, in the same manner as on the Samian ware. The ornament, especially the scrolls, &c., were laid on “in slip.” The vessel, after having been thrown on the wheel, would be allowed to become somewhat firm, but only sufficiently so for the purpose of the lathe. In the indented ware, the indenting would have to be performed with the vessel in as pliable a state as it could be taken from the lathe. A thick slip of the same body would then be procured, and the ornamentation would proceed.

Fig. 103.

Fig. 104.

Fig. 105.

Figs. 106 and 107.

Fig. 108.

Fig. 109.

Fig. 110.

Representations of Field Sports on Castor Ware.

“The vessels—on which are displayed a variety of hunting subjects, representations of fishes, scrolls, and human figures—were all glazed after the figures were laid on; where, however, the decorations are white, the vessels were glazed before the ornaments were added. Ornamenting with figures of animals was effected by means of sharp and blunt skewer instruments and a slip of suitable consistency. These instruments seem to have been of two kinds—one thick enough to carry sufficient slip for the nose, neck, body, and front thigh; the other of a more delicate kind, for a thinner slip, for the tongue, lower jaws, eye, fore and hind legs, and tail. There seems to have been no retouching, after the slip trailed from the instrument. Field sports seem to have been favourite subjects with our Romano-British artists. The representations of deer and hare hunts are good and spirited; the courage and energy of the hounds, and the distress of the hunted animals are given with great skill and fidelity, especially when the simple and off-handed process by which they must have been executed is taken into consideration.”[11]

Fig. 111.—The Colchester Vase.

Fig. 112.—Castor Ware.

Figs. 113 to 115.—Castor Ware.

Figs. 116 and 117.

Fig. 118.

Fig. 119.

Fig. 120.

Figs. 121 and 122.

Fig. 123.

Fig. 124.

Foliated patterns on Castor Ware.

Two vessels with these hunting subjects are given in Figs. [108] and [110]; and other designs of this character, exhibiting stag and hare hunts, are shown on Figs. [103 to 109].

Gladiatorial combats are also frequent subjects for representation on the Castor vases. One of these is given on Fig. [111], which represents one side of the celebrated “Colchester vase;” Fig. [103] being the design of another of its sides. The next engraving (Fig. [112]) shows the chariot race in the Roman racecourse or stadium—the quadriga being well, although rudely, fashioned, and the position both of the horses and charioteer boldly conceived. Mythological subjects were also common. One of these, of the indented form, restored from fragments, is given in the accompanying engraving (Fig. [113]).

Fig. 125.

Fig. 126.

Fig. 127.

Castor Ware.

Another and equally pleasing variety of ornamentation, and one peculiar, it may be said, to the Durobrivian potteries, is that whereon the pattern consists of scrolls and flowers in white slip on the dark bluish black ground. The effect of these simple patterns, which are generally graceful and always elegantly formed, is remarkably pleasing. Examples of these are given on Figs. [114 to 124], which will serve to show the general style of this kind of decoration. Figs. [125 to 128] are admirable examples of the indented form of vessel. Many other shapes and varieties of Castor ware might be adduced, but the illustrations I have given will be sufficient to give a clear insight into their general characteristics.

Fig. 128.—Engine-turned Ware.

Fig. 129.—Leicester Museum.

Fig. 130.

Fig. 131.

Fig. 132.

Fig. 133.

Fig. 134.

Fig. 135.

Fig. 136.

Fig. 137.

Roman Pottery.

One of the most curious and interesting urns of this ware (Fig. [129]) was dug up in Leicester in 1869, and is preserved in the museum of that town. It is of a fine rich deep colour, with the pattern in white slip, and has borne an inscription, also in slip, the only letters of which now remaining are M E i I VI. In the same museum, among other varieties of Romano-British ware, are the beautiful vessels shown on Figs. [132], [133], [134]. There are also fragments of ware which seem to point at pottery which I believe, at one period of Roman occupation, existed in the neighbourhood of Leicester.

Fig. 138.—Potter’s Kiln, St. Paul’s Churchyard.

Potters’ kilns of the Romano-British period have been found in other places, but those at Castor are the most perfect, and in every way the best. Indeed, the others may be said, more appropriately perhaps, to be indications of kilns rather than the kilns themselves. A curious record of the discovery of a kiln in London, at the north-west of St. Paul’s Cathedral, in 1677, by John Conyers, a collector of antiquities, is preserved in the British Museum,[12] and has been published by Mr. Roach Smith,[13] the eminent archæologist, to whom the antiquarian world is indebted for so much valuable information concerning Roman antiquities. This very curious and valuable record is as follows, in the handwriting of Conyers, and the accompanying engraving is carefully reduced (see Fig. [138]) from Conyers’ own drawing:—

“This kill was full of the coarser[14] sorts of potts or cullings,[15] so that few were saved whole, viz., lamps, bottles, urnes, dishes.

“The forme of a kill in which the olde Romans’ lamps, urnes, and other earthen pottes and vessels was burnt, and some left in the kill; and that within a unstired, loamy ground about 26 foot deep near about the place where the Market House stood in Oliver’s tyme, the discovery made anno 1677 at the digging the foundacion of the north east part of St. Paull’s, London, among gravel pitts and loam pitts, where the ground had been at tymes raised over it 3 or 4 tymes, and so many 8 foote storyes or depths of coffins lay over the loamy kill, the lowest coffins made of chalk; and this supposed to be before or about Domitian the emperor’s tyme.

“Of these (kilns) 4 severall had been made in the sandy loam on the ground in the fashion of a cross foundacion and only this height standing, viz. 5 foot from topp to bottom and better; and as many feet in breadth; and had no other matter for its form and building but the outward loame as it naturally lays, crusted hardish by the heat burning the loame redd like brick. The floor in the middle supported by and cut out of loame, and helped with old-fashioned Roman tyles shards, but very few, and such as I have seen used for repositorys for urns in the fashion of like ovens, and they plastered within with a reddish mortar or tarris; but here was no mortar, but only the sandy loam for cement:

“observed and thus described

“by Joⁿ Conyers, Apothecary.”

In accordance with the above description, the sketch by Conyers shows also the four kilns placed crosswise, leaving ample space in the centre for the workmen. The vessels found in the kiln are thus described by Conyers, who also made sketches of them, which are preserved along with his MS., and have been engraved in the “Collectanea Antiqua:”—

“1. 1 quart earthen dish.—2. 2 gallons, whitish.—3. 4 quart bason, whitish.—4. 8 ounce censer or lamp, whitish earth.—5. 2 quart colinder, whitish.—6. 2 pint lipp waterpott.—7. Lamp, or censer, reddish.—8. 3 pint urne.—9. 3 quarts urne, whitish.—10. 2 ounce lamp, gilded with electrum.—11. 2 quart, white.—12. 1 pint bottle.—13. 2 pint black urne.—14. 1 pint urne, black.—15. 6 ounce urne.—16. 3 quart urne, blewish.—17. Half pint urne, electrum Britan.—18. 1 pint dish, blewish.—19. 1 ounce urne, whitish.—20. 3 ounce urne, cinamon collour.—All these a sort of earth almost like crucibles, except the black, will endure the fire like brass, as in this day in use about Poland.”

From the drawings which accompany these descriptions, the Romano-British origin of the examples found actually in the kiln is placed beyond doubt. Most of them are precisely the same types as hundreds of fragments which have been found all over London, and are the common table and culinary ware of the period. Some bear a very striking resemblance to the vessels from the Upchurch pottery. Amongst them is a mortarium. Most of the vessels are plain, but some are ornamented with rows of dots, &c., and others with a reticulated pattern. The forms are elegant and simple.

In another part of his MS. Conyers describes other kinds of pottery found during the excavations. “Now these pottsherds,” he writes, “are some glass and some potts like broken urns, which were curiously laid on the outside with like thorne pricks of rose trees and in the manner of raised work: this upon potts of murry collour, and here and there grey houndes and stags and hares all in raised work: other of these cinamon collour urne fashion and were as gilded with gold but vaded: some of strange fashioned juggs the sides bent in so as to be six squares, and these raised work upon them and curiously pinched as curious raisers of paist may imitate: some like black earth for pudding panns; one the outside indented and crossed quincunx fashion. Now many of these potts of the finer kind are lite and thinn and these workes raised or indented were instead of collours; yet I find they had some odd collours, not blew, in those tymes, and a way of glazing different to what now; and here takes notice that the redd earth before mencioned bore away the belle.”

The manuscript contains also the following note:—

“The labourers toulde me of some remains of other such kinds of small kills that was found up and down nere the place of the other pott kills, and these had a funnel to convey smoke which might serve for glass furnaces, for though not anny potts with glass in it whole in the furnaces was there found, yet broken crucibles or tests for melting of glass, together with boltered glass such as is to be seen remaining at glass houses amongst the broken glass, which was glass spoyled in the making, was there found; but not plenty, and especially coloured and prepared for jewel-like ornament, but mostly such as for cruetts or glasses with a lipp to drop withall, and that a greenish light blew collour; and of any sort of glass there was but little.”

Remains of potteries of this period have also been discovered in Norfolk (between Brixton and Brampton); at Botham in Lincolnshire; in Somersetshire; at Worcester; at Marlborough; at Sibson; at various places in Yorkshire; in Shropshire; in Oxfordshire; in the New Forest, Hampshire; at Colchester, in Essex; at Wilderspool, near Warrington; and in many other parts of the kingdom. Of some of these I shall now proceed briefly to speak.

Fig. 139.—Salopian Ware.

Fig. 140.—Pottery from Uriconium.

Figs. 141 to 151.—Pottery of the New Forest.

Figs. 152 to 157.—Pottery of the New Forest.

To the Shropshire potteries—those of the clays of the Severn Valley, probably at Brosely,—a vast number of varieties of vessels are to be traced; and it is, as I shall show in a later chapter, interesting to know that the same bed of clay which at the present day produces articles of daily use, produced fifteen hundred years ago the vessels for the table, &c., of the inhabitants of the then great neighbouring city of Uriconium. In the excavations which have been undertaken on the site of this ruined city immense quantities of fragments of pottery have been found, and, with the exception of the Samian ware and the Durobrivian ware, it is not too much, perhaps, to say that the whole, or nearly so, has been made in the Severn Valley. Of these wares, two sorts especially are found in considerable abundance; the one white, the other of a rather light red colour. The white, which is made of what is commonly called Brosely clay, and is rather coarse in texture, consists chiefly of rather handsomely shaped jugs or bellarmine-shaped vessels, of different sizes, the general shape of which somewhat resembles Fig. [96]; of Mortaria; and of bowls of different shapes and sizes, which are often painted with stripes of red and yellow. The other variety, the red Romano-Salopian ware, is also made from one of the clays of the Severn Valley, but is of finer texture, and consists principally of jugs not dissimilar to those in the white ware, except in a very different form of mouth; and of bowl-shaped colanders.[16]

Two examples of Romano-Salopian ware—the first of the white, and the second of the red variety—are given on Fig. [139], and on Fig. [140] is represented a group of vessels of this make, from the cemetery at Uriconium.

Fig. 158.—Derby Museum.

Fig. 159.—Jermyn Street Museum.

Fig. 160.—York Museum.

Fig. 161.

Fig. 162.

Fig. 163.

Fig. 164.

Fig. 165.

Sepulchral Deposits, Colchester.

The potteries of the New Forest in Hampshire, for a lucid account of which we are indebted to Mr. Wise,[17] were of great extent, and, as is proved by the researches which have been made on their sites, of considerable importance. The potteries were noticed in 1853 by the Rev. J. P. Bartlett,[18] who prepared an account of his researches for the Society of Antiquaries, and since that period both that gentleman and Mr. Wise have with great success continued their explorations. The names of the localities where these ancient potteries exist—Crockle (crock kiln or crock hill) and Panshard—are highly suggestive. During the excavations kilns were found in a perfect state. The kiln at Crockle was circular, and measured six yards in circumference, its shape being well defined by small hand-formed masses of red brick-earth. The floor, about two feet below the natural surface of the ground, was paved with a layer of sand-stones, some of them cut into a circular shape so as to fit the kiln, the upper surfaces being tooled, whilst the under remained in their original state. At the potteries at Audenwood no kilns were discovered; but at Sloden, where the works cover several acres, “two large mounds marking the sites of kilns” are remaining, along with the sites of potters’ huts, &c. At Island Thorn more kilns and innumerable fragments of vessels of various kinds were discovered. In Pitts Enclosure, besides mounds opened by Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Wise discovered in one mound five kilns, ranged in a semicircle, and paved with irregular masses of sand-stone. They were close together, separated only by mounds of the natural soil. Besides fragments of various vessels, “two distinct heaps of white and fawn-coloured clay and red earth, placed ready for mixing, and a third of the two worked together, fit for the immediate use of the potter,” were found with these kilns.

Some of the more usual and more striking forms of the vessels from New Forest potteries are grouped together on Figs. [141 to 151]. A selection of patterns from the wares are grouped on Figs. [152 to 157], some of which will be seen to bear a close resemblance to those of the Castor ware.

Figs. 166 and 167.—Potter’s Mould, Headington.

Of the potters’ kiln, &c., found near Colchester, where probably some ware in imitation of the fine red Samian was produced, a notice will be found in “Collectanea Antiqua.”[19] In the Yorkshire potteries—for there can be little doubt that at Potters Newton, at York, and at other places pot-works existed in these early times—the curious vessels ornamented with what are usually called “frill patterns” were made, as also other slip and scaled patterns, as on Figs. [158], [159], and [160].

Figs. 168 to 170.—Mortaria, from Headington.

Fig. 171.—From Headington.

Figs. 172 to 175.—From Headington.

At Headington, Oxfordshire, I had the good fortune myself to discover in 1849, along with the remains of a villa and other buildings, traces of a kiln and of many other interesting features, of which I published an account in the Journal of the British Archæological Association.[20] The fragments of pottery found on this site were extremely varied, and attended with some very unusual facts. One of the most curious and interesting matters was the discovery of a clay mould bearing a beautifully formed female head (a bacchante), with a wreath of vine leaves encircling her brow, for the forming of heads on Romano-British pottery. Fig. [166] shows this mould, and Fig. [167] gives the impression taken from it.[21] The face has a remarkably pleasing expression, and is beautifully formed. The mould is a rough lump of red clay, and has been broken on its sides.

Fig. 176.

Fig. 177.

Fig. 178.

Fig. 179.

Fig. 180.

Fig. 181.

Fig. 182.

Fig. 183.

Roman Pottery, Headington, Oxfordshire.

The pottery, with but one or two exceptions, was in fragments; from these the engravings here given have been carefully restored. One very remarkable feature was the immense assemblage—a cartload at least—of fragments of mortaria. In form and material they differed considerably from those found in other localities. Some were of a fine buff-coloured clay, others of a lead colour, as produced by the smother kiln, and all well studded with broken quartz. In size they varied from seven and a half inches to nearly two feet in diameter. The larger one on Fig. [168] was one foot nine inches in diameter, while the smaller one is only seven and a half inches. The sections of the rims of the Headington mortaria are dissimilar to others, as I have carefully pointed out in the communication referred to. Fig. [171] exhibits a vessel of fine red ware, the rim of which is painted black, on which the white scroll-pattern is laid. The sections of rims which accompany it for comparison sake are, besides its own rim,—1, red with white pattern; 2, a fine red ware; 3, a fine ware, with a metallic surface; and 4 and 5, imported Samian. Fig. [175] is of chocolate colour, and is ornamented with an indented pattern of lines of squares, alternating with flat circles. Fig. [172] is of blue-gray colour, of fine and close and very hard texture; the sides are indented. Fig. [173] is of light buff colour. The curious assemblage of vessels grouped on Fig. [176] are formed of a fine black clay mixed with sand. They are beautifully formed, and many of them are ornamented with surface lines traced on the clay without incision or indentation. The two examples (Figs. [181] and [182]) are of tolerably fine red ware; the taller one (which has had a handle) has been surface-coated with a red pigment. Fig. [178] is of coarse red ware, and, as will be seen, is much the same in form as our modern soup-plates. Fragments of vessels of the form of Fig. [180] were very numerous. They were of coarse buff-coloured ware. Other examples found during the excavations which I carried on are shown grouped on Fig. [183]. Fig. [179], like the rest, restored from fragments, is a small and delicately formed cup, three and a quarter inches in diameter, of rough-cast ware[22]; of these, examples were found, some of red, and others of a chocolate colour.

Some good fragments of Castor ware were discovered, from which the group (Figs. [97 to 99]) has been restored. Fig. [174] is a small cup of buff-coloured ware. Some small fragments of a green glazed ware were also found.

Figs. 184 and 185.—From Wilderspool.

Among the most curious of the discoveries were fragments of vessels of fine clay, of a buff colour, with the patterns painted in red on their surface. One of these bears the rude representation of a cock; others have waved and scrolled patterns; and others again, lines, dots, circles, &c. Many other varieties of wares were also found, as were some few fragments of Samian.

An interesting discovery of the remains of what appears to have been a potter’s workshop was made in Dorsetshire, in 1841, by Mr. Warne, of which he gives some very interesting particulars.[23] The foundations were rectangular and clearly defined—in length forty-four feet, in breadth twenty-five feet—constructed of flints, which are plentiful in the neighbourhood. “In clearing out there was found a great quantity of fragments of the ordinary smooth black and firm-grained ware: the bottoms of some vessels were perforated like colanders. In the course of the excavations, remains of instruments used by the potter were also found; the most interesting being a considerable portion of a wheel, formed of that peculiar bituminous shale well known as ‘Kimmeridge coal.’ It is part of a circle, originally a wheel or plate, fifteen inches in diameter and one inch and a quarter thick. It has undergone the process of a careful and well-finished turning in the lathe. It may at once be seen that it formed part of a potter’s wheel, the rotatory table on which the workmen moulded, or rather when brought to the desired form, the ductile clay received the finishing touches. There are to be seen two or three counter-sinkings, in which were fixed the arms of the metal axis on which it revolved. Portions of other wheels in limestone were found, and one of great thickness, in conglomerate, the use of which would seem to have been for pulverising the crude material. Numerous pieces were scattered about of small and very thin stone, of a rude but markedly angular form, similar to such as are still, or lately were, used in the manufacture of coarse earthenware. Amidst the débris was a knife fixed in a rude bone haft; with the remains were a large brass coin of Marcus Aurelius, and three denarii of Severus Alexander, Gordianus III., and Philippus.”

Fig. 186.—Mask, Wilderspool.

At Wilderspool, the presumed site of Condate, an outskirt of Warrington, evidence exists which warrants the supposition that pottery of various kinds was there made by the Romans. A large quantity of fragments, including many interesting examples, have been collected by Dr. Kendrick and placed in the museum at Warrington; these include many well-known varieties of Roman wares, and some which are peculiar to the place; among these are excellent examples of “engine-turned” bowls, in which the engine-turning is surmounted by scoriated ornament; these are in red clay. Of Durobrivian ware were found portions of a bowl with overhanging rim, ornamented with the ivy-leaf pattern in slip; on one portion is a potter’s mark, PAT, which has been impressed on the side. Of imitation, or English, Samian, are several fragments, with relief ornaments, some of which are pretty close copies of the true Samian, while others are rather clumsy adaptations of the Samian borders, &c. Examples of Upchurch ware were also found. The wares which seem to be peculiar to Wilderspool, and which were, there is every reason to believe, made there, are the two varieties engraved on Figs. [184] and [185], and the “rough-cast” ware, of which a small vessel found by myself at Headington, and engraved on Fig. [179], will serve as an example. Fig. [184] is of a light red clay, which has been surface-coloured. It is ornamented with a mammal ornament—a series of raised circles, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, dying off in their lower half, and having a knob or nipple in the centre. This has evidently been the ornament of the upper part of a vessel, the lower being engine-turned in diagonal lines. Fig. [185] is of a dark-coloured clay, with a similar kind of ornament, but of much smaller size, the discs being only rather more than a quarter of an inch in diameter. The “rough-cast” ware, as this variety (Fig. [179]) has been appropriately named by Dr. Kendrick, is a fine kind of red-ware, the vessels in which, after having been “thrown,” have, while in their soft, moist state, been powdered all over with small bits of dry clay, and then dipped in thin slip before firing—the roughness having previously been carefully removed from the rims and other parts which were intended to be left plain. Dr. Kendrick claims this to be hitherto “unnoticed, and therefore undescribed;” but here he is in error, for in 1850[24] I described a similar ware—the only fragment then known—which I discovered at Headington (Fig. [179]), that example being, perhaps, a little finer and of better quality than the present Wilderspool specimens.

Figs. 187 and 188.—Tetinæ, Wilderspool.

Another variety of ornament, supposed by Dr. Kendrick to be unique, is on a hard bluish-grey ware; it is a series of patches of fine lines scratched into the surface, as though done by a fine comb or a hard brush.

Fig. 189.—Wilderspool.

Among the most special objects found at Wilderspool are two tetinæ, a tragic mask, and a triplet vase. Of the mask, engraved on Fig. [186], Dr. Kendrick says:—“Although it is sadly mutilated, an earthenware mask or visor for the human face is certainly the most rare and curious of the Roman antiquities discovered at Wilderspool. As such it has been described and figured in the seventeenth volume of the Journal of the Archæological Association. In the British Museum is a single specimen of the comic mask, such as we often see represented on Greek and Roman sculptures or intaglio seals; there is also another mask, with the mouth closed, for the silent actor. The Wilderspool mask appears to be an equally solitary example of the tragic mask, although Pollux, an ancient writer, enumerates twenty-five typical or standing masks of tragedy—six for old men, seven for young men, nine for females, and three for slaves.”

The tetinæ, or feeding-bottles, are engraved on Figs. [187 and 188]; they have tubular spouts at the side, and, when used, they were no doubt furnished with soft nipples or teats for the tender mouth of the infant. When found the mouth of each was covered by a fragment of pottery, and, from their upright position and contents, there can be no doubt that they contained the ashes of one or more children. It is also curious to remark that one handle was suited for the right hand of the nurse, and the other for the left, as if to compel a change of posture for the infant.

The triple, or triune vase, restored on Fig. [189], is an excellent specimen, the connecting bands being hollow tubes, so that when the liquor was placed in one, it rose to the same height in each. Many other objects of great interest were found at Wilderspool, and have been carefully described by Dr. Kendrick and illustrated by his daughter.

At Ashdon, in Essex, a potter’s kiln was discovered by the Hon. R. C. Neville in 1852. It was of square form, being, as nearly as could be measured, eighteen feet square, inclusive of the outer walls. The furnace appeared to have been at the south-west end, immediately communicating with the central and largest flue; in it was a considerable quantity of charcoal and black ashes. This flue was two feet six inches across at the entrance and two feet in width along the entire length, which divided the structure into two equal portions. From it eight lateral flues (each seven inches wide) diverged opposite each other on either side. It was closed by the north-eastern wall, which was carefully constructed of Roman tiles, which, as well as the flanged tiles in other parts, had evidently been used in some former building. Many fragments of tiles and pottery were strewed about, but no perfect vessel was found.

Fig. 190.

Fig. 191.

Fig. 192.

Fig. 193.

Fig. 194.

Fig. 195.

Fig. 196.

Fig. 197.

Amphoræ, &c.

Fig. 198.—Chesterfield.

Fig. 199.—Chesterfield.

Fig. 200.

Fig. 201.—Colchester.

A kiln was discovered in 1868 at Winterton, near Brigg, on a site about half a mile from the Roman road, and not far from where a tesselated pavement had been previously discovered. By the falling of a portion of the side of a pit where sand was being dug, there was exposed a rudely constructed kiln or oven, made by sinking a circular cavity about six feet deep and six feet in diameter at the top, becoming narrower towards the bottom, so as to be in fact an inverted cone. The lower half of it is in the sand, and the upper half in the surface soil, and in a thin bed of clay between this and the sand. A little more than a foot in depth of the bottom of the pit had been filled with soil from the surface, quite compact, as if it had been mixed with water and well rammed down. On the top of this rested the oven itself, formed by lining the pit with a mixture of coarse mud or clay with small stones and pebbles, to a thickness of about four inches at the bottom, increasing upward to ten inches at the brim, which is about one foot and a half below the present surface of the field. From the centre of the floor thus made rises a pillar of one foot nine inches in height, and widening from one foot diameter at the bottom to one foot ten inches at the top, which pillar widens suddenly so as to form a sort of mushroom head, continuous in structure with the clay or mud floor and walls just described. Two shallow grooves run all round the inside of the oven, a little above the top of the pillar, and broken pieces of blue Roman pottery are laid across from the pillar to the side of the basin so as to cover in a sort of circular flue. Over these has been spread a thin coat of clay similar to the rest of the lining, so that the upper storey, so to speak, is a shallow pit, about three and a half feet diameter and one foot and a half deep. A large quantity of black ashes, and of fragments of Roman pottery, was found in and around the kiln. An account of this discovery, with an engraving of the kiln appeared in vol. ix. of “The Reliquary.” Another, in the same county, was discovered near Ancaster; and in Somersetshire a kiln has been uncovered.

Fig. 202.—Little Chester.

Fig. 203.—Cirencester.

Many potteries besides those whose productions have been here spoken of might be described; but as their productions were the usual classes of domestic or sepulchral vessels, or flue and other tiles, it is not perhaps necessary to enumerate them. I will therefore proceed to speak of some of the vessels not already particularised in this chapter.

Fig. 204.—Cirencester.

Fig. 205.—Cirencester.

Amphoræ were undoubtedly made in the Roman pot-works of Britain; evidences of their manufacture having been observed in various localities. The most extensive of these indications was at Colchester, from which place the example (Fig. [194]) is taken. These vessels are of large dimensions, strongly formed, and usually of a buff, or reddish-yellow colour. The forms of these vessels are of two distinct kinds—the one being tall and slender, as in Fig. [194], and the other more globular, as in Figs. [196] and [197]. They were mostly pointed at the bottom, for the purpose of fixing them, it is believed, in the earth, or in stands made for their reception.

Fig. 206.—The Jewry Wall, Leicester.

Fig. 207.

Fig. 208.

Fig. 209.

Mortaria, of which three examples have been given (Figs. [168 to 170]), formed another extensive class of domestic vessels. Their use appears to have been the pounding and beating up, for culinary purposes, of vegetables and other articles. Some of the examples which have been found bear unmistakable signs of long and hard use. Their inner surface was studded, while the clay was soft, either with small fragments of quartz or with scoriæ of iron, so as to promote trituration. The example (Fig. [198]) is of somewhat different character, having more upright, and somewhat higher, sides than usual. It has been much used.

Another of the more usual of the domestic vessels, of Romano-British manufacture, is the very convenient kind of basin (Fig. [199]), which will be seen to be of the same general shape as Fig. [171]. The form of this basin is infinitely better, more elegant, and more convenient than those in use among us at the present day. The central flanged rim is a very secure and handy arrangement for holding. This example, and the mortarium (Fig. [198]) were found together—in fact, inverted one into the other—in the churchyard at Chesterfield, in Derbyshire. Many other varieties of domestic vessels were also extensively made, but to these it is not necessary farther to refer.

Fig. 210.—Walesby.

Fig. 211.—Walesby.

Fig. 212.—Headington.

Fig. 213.—London.

Figs. 214 and 215.—Headington.

The sepulchral urns of Romano-British manufacture are of extremely varied form and ornamentation. Figs. [78], [135], [137], [140], [161 to 165], and [183], will serve as examples of some of the varieties. The most usual forms, however, are perhaps Figs. [200 to 205]. They are of various kinds of clays, and were generally plain, or but slightly ornamented.

Other good examples of sepulchral urns of various kinds, and of different shapes, will be seen on the three groups of pottery, &c., found at Cirencester, shown on Figs. [203], [204], and [205].[25] On the same engravings will be seen many other characteristic examples of Roman Ceramic Art, as well as some metallic remains.

Fig. 216.—Tile Cist, Colchester.

Fig. 217.

Building-tiles, flue-tiles, roof-tiles, and drain-tiles were a branch of manufacture which was carried on to a considerable extent in various parts of the country, and, no doubt, generally in the immediate neighbourhood of the buildings where they were used. The building-tiles which are to be seen in the remains of the period, as in the Jewry Wall at Leicester, engraved on Fig. [206], where occasionally they form “herring-bone” masonry, are usually from about seven to ten inches square, and about an inch and a half in thickness. They are frequently marked with letters, and with feet of animals which have passed over them (Figs. [207] and [209]). The flue-tiles are of various dimensions. They are usually of an oblong square form, hollow throughout, with a lateral opening in one side for the heated air to pass through (see Fig. [214]). Others have two channels through their entire length, and are without side openings. They are much ornamented with incised patterns, and occasionally are stamped with letters. Some, too, have figures of dogs, stags, &c. They were used for various purposes. Another example is shown lying down in the centre of the group of tiles on Fig. [210]. In this group, the tall example, represented standing upright, will be sufficient to show the form and excellence of construction of the drain-tiles—the small end of each being made to fit with an elbow joint into the thick end of the next. In the same group are some open-flanged drain-tiles. An inscribed flange-tile is shown on Fig. [217].

The roofing-tiles were much more calculated to resist the wind and rain than those of later invention. They had flanged sides, which fitted close to each other and were covered at the joint by a small semicircular tile, like a draining or ridge-tile, imbedded in mortar and resting on the two roofing-tiles, as a draining-tile rests on its sole. This arrangement is shown on Fig. [211], which represents some roofing-tiles found at Walesby. Of the ridge-tiles, of semicircular form, to cover the joints, two good examples (Figs. [212] and [215]), from Headington, are here given.

Fig. 218.—Tile Tomb, York.

It may be added that, on tiles of one kind or other, the name of the legions and cohorts quartered in particular localities where they were made, are frequently found impressed. The soldiers were brick-makers and masons, and made the tiles and built the houses, &c., at the places where they were stationed. Tile-stamps thus become important aids to history.

It is curious to add that some of the tiles which have been found tell a silent tale, which they were never intended to carry, of the dress or hand or foot of the maker, which have become accidentally impressed upon their surface while in a soft state, and are afterwards rendered imperishable by firing in the kiln. One example of this kind of accidental ornamentation (Fig. [207]), which exhibits the impress of a man’s feet, or, rather, shoes thickly studded with nails,—like the “hob-nailed” boots of our own day,—will suffice as an illustration.

Fig. 219.—Clay Coffin, Aldborough.

One extraordinary and highly interesting use of tiles among the Roman inhabitants of Britain was that of forming them into tombs.[26] A large tile was laid flat on the ground; two others of the same length were placed upright, one at each side, to form the sides; two shorter ones were placed upright as ends; and another tile formed the cover (Fig. [216]). Thus a fictile cist, or chest, was formed, and in this was deposited the sepulchral urn containing the ashes of the departed, with its accompanying group of smaller vessels. Cists of this kind are found frequently in the Roman cemeteries at Colchester. “The practice of enclosing or covering the sepulchral deposits with tiles appears to have been so general, that the word tegula, a tile, was often used to signify a tomb. The reader will at once call to mind the lines of Ovid:—

“Est honor et tumulis; animas placate paternas,

Parvaque in extinctas munera ferte pyras.

Parva petunt manes; pietas pro divite grata est

Munere; non avidos Styx habet ima deos.

Tegula projectis satis est velata coronis,

Et sparsæ fruges, parcaque mica salis.”

It appears from these lines that it was the custom for the relatives to place garlands, fruit, and salt on the tile which covered the sepulchral deposit.[27]

At York, graves, or rather tombs, formed of a number of roof-tiles, have been found. Fig. [218] represents one of these curious tombs. It was formed of ten roof-tiles, four of which were placed on either side, and one at each end, and four ridge tiles arranged along the top. Each tile bore the impressed stamp of the VI. Legion (Leg. VI., Legio sexta victrix—the sixth legion victorious). In these tile-tombs urns had in one instance been placed; in another (the one engraved) were the remains of the funeral fire, with the ashes of the dead. Clay coffins have also occasionally been found. One of these, from Aldborough, is shown on Fig. [219].

Lamps were undoubtedly made in various parts of this kingdom, and were more or less ornamented; some bear excellently executed figures and other devices. Many appear to have been made at Colchester, and are spoken of by Mr. Roach Smith in his “Collectanea Antiqua.” The pot works at this place appear to have been on the Lexden Road, where a kiln and many other remains have been brought to light.

Penates and other figures, or statuettes, were also made in this country; and these, again, it is pretty certain, were made in considerable numbers at Colchester, as were also lachrymatories, unguentaria, &c.

Fig. 220.—Colchester.

Fig. 221.—Coin Mould.

Coin moulds, for the manufacture of spurious Roman coins, were also made of clay, and the arrangement was very simple, but effective. The clay being properly tempered and prepared, was formed into small round tablets of uniform size and thickness. A coin was then pressed between two tablets while the clay was soft, so as to leave a perfect impression, and these impressions, which had thus become obverse and reverse moulds, were arranged together in little piles; the upper and lower being impressed on one side only. Down the sides of each of these little piles or heaps a nick or notch was then cut, so as to admit the molten metal. Two or three of these heaps were then, as shown in the engraving (Fig. [221]), placed side by side with the notches joined together, and these were then surrounded by a clay cone with a hole at the top, into which the metal was poured, and ran down through the notches, and so into the moulds. Impressions were thus taken the exact counterpart of the original coin from which the moulds had been taken.

CHAPTER III.

Anglo-Saxon Pottery—Forms of Vessels, from Illustrated MSS.—Culinary Vessels—Pitchers and other domestic Vessels—Cinerary Urns—Cemeteries at Kingston, King’s Newton, Bedford, &c.—Modes of ornamenting.

For examples of the ceramic art of the Anglo-Saxon period we are mainly indebted to the cemeteries and burial mounds of that people. The art during this period, so far as this country is concerned, was but little practised, except, as in the Celtic period, for the manufacture of sepulchral urns of one kind or other. Still, it is pretty certain that many of the vessels found in the barrows were made for the purposes of life, and used for those of death when urns were wanted. In the preceding era the population of this country—the Romano-Britons—were essentially a pot-producing people, and they established, as will have been seen, extensive manufactories in various parts of the kingdom, and made and supplied vessels for every conceivable use and purpose. When the Saxons took possession of the country, and gradually extended themselves over its length and breadth, they found the Roman towns, as well as the stations and detached dwellings—nay, they found every part of the island—well and, indeed, profusely stocked with crockery of every kind, from the finest Samian cup and bowl down to the coarsest mortarium and amphora, in such profusion, and in such variety, as well as of such elegance, use, and beauty, as they had not previously known. Fighting their way here, and settling there, they utilised the crockery which so abundantly lay ready to their hands, and, as there can be no doubt the Roman potters continued their works long after the advent of the Saxons, they used these Roman vessels for all purposes, and thus did not, except in the case of their burial urns and ordinary domestic vessels, resembling in a somewhat striking manner some modern utensils, leave the impress of what little taste or skill they had upon the productions of the fictile art. The cinerary urns are, therefore, almost, the only productions of the Saxon potter which are known. These, like those of the Celtic period, were, there can be no doubt, usually made in pretty close proximity to their place of burial, and, consequently, were formed of the clays of the district. They assumed a peculiar character, and are entirely dissimilar to those of either of the preceding periods.

Of the forms of other vessels of the Anglo-Saxons—for there is no doubt that coarse domestic utensils were to some extent made—a tolerable idea may be gained from the illuminated MSS. of the time. Some few, but very few, examples have also been brought to light, which may with tolerable certainty be assigned to this period.

Fig. 222.

Fig. 223.

Fig. 224.

Fig. 225.

Fig. 226.

Fig. 227.

Fig. 228.

Fig. 229.

Fig. 230.

Fig. 231.

The engravings (Figs. [222 to 227]) showing a few of the forms taken from the illuminated MSS. of this and the succeeding period, are interesting examples. Some of these will be seen to owe their origin—as, for instance, Fig. [226]—to Roman design, while others are equally as clearly Franco-Gaulish in character. The Anglo-Saxons were not, like their Roman forerunners, an artistic race. They could not draw the form of the human figure correctly, nor, indeed, that of animals; but their delineations of jugs and pitchers are proved by existing examples to be pretty accurate. Their mind, as a rule, was coarse and unpoetic as their own beer, while that of the Roman was bright and sparkling as his own champagne.

Fig. 232.—From Kingston, in the Derby Museum.

Fig. 233.—In the Norwich Museum.

Fig. 234.—Ashmolean Museum.

The scene depicted on Fig. [224] exhibits some well-formed vessels in the foreground, while the dinner scene on Fig. [222] shows other varieties.

For culinary purposes the Anglo-Saxons appear to have had a kind of aversion to clay, hence their bowls were principally of metal or wood—generally of ash, and their drinking-vessels were of horn or glass.[28] One form of vessel, made of coarse buff-coloured clay, is here shown (Fig. [229]); and another of simple form is shown on Fig. [230].

The pottery of the Anglo-Saxon grave-mounds and cemeteries consists, unlike that of the preceding periods, almost exclusively of cinerary urns, and these have, as has been already stated on a previous page, been made near the place of sepulture; and, as a natural consequence, of the clays found in the neighbourhood. This is proved, incontestably, in the case of the urns found at King’s Newton, where the bed of clay still exists, and has very recently been used for common pottery purposes.[29]

Figs. 235 and 236.—King’s Newton.

Figs. 237 to 244.—Anglo-Saxon Cinerary Urns, King’s Newton.

The shape of the cinerary urns is somewhat peculiar, and partakes of the Frankish form, which may be called degraded Roman. Instead of being wide at the mouth, like the Celtic urns, they are more or less contracted, and have a kind of neck instead of the overhanging lip or rim which is so eminently characteristic of the pottery of that period. Some, however, are tolerably wide at the mouth; but these are usually low and shallow. The cinerary urns were formed by hand, not on the wheel, although on some other vessels evidence of wheel-turning is apparent. This is another proof that these sepulchral urns were made on the spot where wanted. They are as a rule, perhaps, more firmly fired than those of the Celtic period. They are usually of a dark-coloured clay, sometimes nearly black, at other times of a dark brown, and occasionally of a slate, or greenish tint, produced by surface-colouring.

Figs. 245 to 247.—Mayer Museum.

Their general form will be best understood by reference to the engravings, Figs. [232 to 244]. One of these will be seen to have projecting knobs or bosses, which have been formed by simply pressing out the pliant clay from the inside with the hand. In other examples these raised bosses take the form of ribs gradually swelling out from the bottom, till, at the top, they expand into semi-eggshaped protuberances. The ornamentation on the urns from these cemeteries usually consists of encircling incised lines in bands or otherwise, and vertical or zig-zag lines arranged in a variety of ways, and, not unfrequently, the knobs or protuberances of which I have just spoken. Sometimes, also they present evident attempts at imitation of the Roman egg-and-tongue ornament. The marked features of the pottery of this period is the frequency of small punctured or impressed ornaments, which are introduced along with the lines or bands with very good effect. These ornaments were evidently produced by the end of a stick cut and notched across in different directions, so as to produce crosses and other patterns. In some districts, especially in the East Angles, these vessels are ornamented with simple patterns painted upon their surface in white; but, so far as my knowledge goes, no example of this kind of decoration has been found in the Mercian cemeteries.

Figs. 248 to 252.

Of the East-Anglian urns, Mr. Wright—to whom and to Mr. Roach Smith is mainly due the credit of having correctly appropriated them to the Anglo-Saxon period—thus speaks:—

“The pottery is usually made of a rather dark clay, coloured outside brown or dark slate-colour, which has sometimes a tint of green, and is sometimes black. These urns appear often to have been made with the hand, without the employment of the lathe; the texture of the clay is rather coarse, and they are rarely well baked. The favourite ornaments are bands of parallel lines encircling the vessel, or vertical and zigzags, sometimes arranged in small bands, and sometimes on a larger scale, covering half the elevation of the urn; and in this latter case the spaces are filled up with small circles and crosses, and other marks, stamped or painted in white. Other ornaments are met with, some of which are evidently unskilful attempts at imitating the well-known egg-and-tongue and other ornaments of the Roman Samian ware, which, from the specimens, and even fragments, found in their graves, appear to have been much admired and valued by the Anglo-Saxons. But a still more characteristic peculiarity of the pottery of the Anglo-Saxon burial urns consists in raised knobs or bosses, arranged symmetrically round them, and sometimes forming a sort of ribs, while in the ruder examples they become mere round lumps, or even present only a slight swelling of the surface of the vessel. That these vessels belong to the early Anglo-Saxon period is proved beyond any doubt by the various objects, such as arms, personal ornaments, &c., which are found with them, and they present evident imitations both of Roman forms and of Roman ornamentation. But one of these urns has been found accompanied with remarkable circumstances, which not only show its relative date, but illustrate a fact in the ethnological history of this early period. Among the Faussett collection of Anglo-Saxon antiquities is an urn which Bryan Faussett appears to have obtained from North Elmham, in Norfolk, and which contained the bones of a child. It is represented in the accompanying engraving (Fig. [245]), and will be seen at once to be perfectly identical in character with the East-Anglian sepulchral urns. But Mr. Roach Smith, in examining the various objects in the Faussett collection, preparatory to his edition of Bryan Faussett’s “Inventorum Sepulchrale,” discovered on one side of this urn a Roman sepulchral inscription, which is easily read as follows:—

To this Roman girl, with a purely Roman name, belonged, no doubt, the few bones which were found in the Anglo-Saxon burial urn when Bryan Faussett received it; and this circumstance illustrates several important as well as interesting questions relating to our early history. It proves, in the first place, what no judicious historian now doubts, that the Roman population remained in the island after the withdrawal of the Roman power, and mixed with the Anglo-Saxon conquerors; that they continued to retain, for some time at least, their old manners and language, and even their Paganism and their burial ceremonies; for this is the purely Roman form of sepulchral inscriptions; and that, with their own ceremonies, they buried in the common cemetery of the new Anglo-Saxon possessors of the land, for this urn was found in an Anglo-Saxon burial-ground. This last circumstance had already been suspected by antiquaries, for traces of Roman interment in the well-known Roman leaden coffins had been found in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Ozingell, in the Isle of Thanet; and other similar discoveries have, I believe, been made elsewhere. The fact of this Roman inscription on an Anglo-Saxon burial urn, found immediately in the district of the Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, which have produced so many of these East Anglian urns, proves further that these urns belong to a period following immediately upon the close of what we call the Roman period.”

The sepulchral vases found in the district of the Middle Angles vary but slightly in form from the East-Anglian burial urns. An example is given in Fig. [246], from Chestersovers, in Warwickshire, where it was found with an iron sword, a spear-head, and other articles of Anglo-Saxon character.

“If we had not abundant proofs of the Anglo-Saxon character of this pottery at home,” continues Mr. Wright, “we should find sufficient evidences of it among the remains of the kindred tribes on the Continent, the old Germans, or Alemanni, and the Franks. Some years ago, an early cemetery, belonging to the Germans, or Alemanni, who then occupied the banks of the Upper Rhine, was discovered near a hamlet called Selzen, on the northern bank of that river, not far above Mayence, and the rather numerous objects found in it are, I believe, preserved in the Mayence Museum. They were communicated to the public by the brothers Lindenschmit, in a well-illustrated volume published in 1848, under the title ‘Das Germanische Todtenlager bei Selzen in der Provinz Reinhessen.’ When this book appeared in England, our antiquaries were astonished to find in the objects discovered in the Alemannic cemeteries of the country bordering on the Rhine a character entirely identical with that of their own Anglo-Saxon antiquities, by which the close affinity of the two races was strikingly illustrated. More recently, the subject has been further illustrated in the description by Ludwig Lindenschmit of the collection of the national antiquities in the Ducal Museum of Hohenzollern, and in other publications. About the same time with the first labours of the Lindenschmits, a French antiquary, Dr. Rigollot, was calling attention in France to similar discoveries in the cemeteries which the Teutonic invaders of Picardy had left behind them, and in which he recognised the same character as that displayed by the similar remains of the Anglo-Saxons in our island. Similar discoveries have been made in Burgundy and in Switzerland, the ancient country of the Helvetii; and it is hardly necessary here to do more than mention the great and valuable researches carried on by the Abbé Cochet among the Frankish graves in Normandy. It has thus become an established fact that the varied remains of the tribes, all of Teutonic descent, who settled on the borders of the Roman empire along the whole extent of the country from Great Britain to Switzerland, present the same character and bear a close resemblance.”

Figs. 253 to 256.

A few figures here given will illustrate this resemblance. Figs. [248 and 251] are two Allemannic urns from the cemetery of Selzen. It will be seen that they resemble in form the East Anglian urns, and the same ornamentation is also found among our general Anglo-Saxon pottery. These urns are described as being usually made of the clay of the neighbourhood, in most cases turned on a lathe, but many of them imperfectly baked. They are found in graves where the body had not undergone cremation, and were used for containing articles of a miscellaneous description. Fig. [252] is a slate-coloured urn, procured at Cologne, and is ornamented with circular stamps. Figs. [249 and 251] are Frankish urns, obtained by the Abbé Cochet from Londinières in Normandy, and show at a glance the identity of the Frankish pottery with the Germanic as well as with the Anglo-Saxon. The second of these is surrounded with a row of the well-known bosses, which are equally characteristic of the three divisions of this Teutonic pottery—Anglo-Saxon, Frankish, and Allemannic. Above these bosses is an ornament identical with that of the East Anglian urn with the sepulchral inscription. Figs. [253 to 256] are urns from the Swiss Lacustrine habitations, for comparison of form.

Fig. 257.

Fig. 258.

Fig. 259.

The series of engravings (Figs. [232 to 244]) will show the general and more characteristic forms of purely Anglo-Saxon cinerary urns. Figs. [232] and [235] are of the low or flat variety, which is of not unfrequent occurrence. Figs. [234] and [236] are also of a not uncommon form, while [240] is more uncommon. Fig. [241] is of excellent form, and is very simple in ornamentation, having only encircling and diagonal lines, to decorate its surface. Figs. [243, 244, and 239] are of different shape, and so again are Figs. [237 and 240], which are almost unique in form and in ornamentation.

Fig. 260.

Fig. 261.

Most of these examples are from one locality, King’s Newton, in Derbyshire, within a few miles of the capital of the kingdom of Mercia. The others (Fig. [232]) are from Kingston, in the same neighbourhood. Other characteristic examples of form and decoration are given on Figs. [233] and [234]. These are from the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and from the Norwich Museum, and exhibit excellent specimens of forms and decoration from those districts.

The ornamentation on Anglo-Saxon cinerary urns consists usually of encircling lines in bands, or otherwise; in vertical or zig-zag lines, arranged in a variety of ways; of impressed or punctured ornaments; and of knobs or protuberances. Sometimes also, as in a Bedfordshire urn, they present evident attempts at imitation of the Roman egg-and-tongue ornament. In some districts small ornaments are painted on the surface with a white pigment. The marked feature of the pottery of this period is the frequency of the small punctured or impressed ornaments to which I have alluded, which are introduced along with the lines or bands, with very good effect. These ornaments were evidently usually produced by the end of a stick, cut and notched across in different directions, so as to produce crosses and other patterns. In other instances these impressed ornaments have been produced by twisted slips of metal, &c.

In the woodcut (Figs. [260] and [261]) I have endeavoured to show two of the notched-stick “punches,” such as I have reason to believe were used for pressing into the soft clay, and also the impressed patterns produced by them.

The quatrefoils (or as they may almost be called, crosses patée) on some of the urns I have engraved, particularly on Figs. [237, 238, and 239], are very unusual, as are also those in the lower bands of Figs. [237 and 240], and in the upper band of the latter example.

Other modes of ornamenting are shown on Fig. [234].

CHAPTER IV.

Pottery of the Norman and Mediæval Periods—Examples from illuminated MSS.—Norman Potworks at Burley Hill—The Ferrars Family—Mediæval Pottery—-Grotesque Vessels—Costrils—Mammiform Vessels—The Cruiskeen or Cruiska—Godets, &c.—Simpson’s Petition—Rous and Cullyn’s Patent—Bellarmines—Ale-pots—Salt glazing—Butter-pots—Dr. Plot—State of Staffordshire Potteries—Combed Ware—Ariens Van Hamme—John Dwight—The brothers Elers—The Tofts—William Sans—Tygs—Candlesticks—Cradles, &c.

Of the pottery of the Norman period but little has been said by any writers, and that simply because but little was known. I had the good fortune, however, a few years’ back, to discover the remains of a kiln[30] of that period, in and around the remains of which were many vessels—“wasters” as they would be technically called—of various kinds. This discovery was all the more interesting and valuable, as being the only instance of the finding of a kiln either of the Anglo-Saxon or Norman periods, and it has enabled me to identify and appropriate to this age vessels from other localities. To these I shall presently refer.

Fig. 262.

Pitcher, temp. Henry III.

Fig. 263.

Fig. 264.

The pottery of this period consisted chiefly of pitchers, dishes, bowls, or basins, and what we should now term porringers or pipkins; the bowls or basins and dishes being used for drinking purposes as well as for placing cooked meats in; the pitchers for holding and carrying ale, mead, water, and other liquors to the table, and the porringers both for eating and for cooking with. The uses of these vessels, as well as their general forms, are gathered from the illuminated MSS. of the time which have come down to us. The annexed engraving (Fig. [264]) from a twelfth-century MS., shows the pitchers, the water or wine vessels—both in their locker and being carried up to the feast by attendants, one of whom is drawing water from a draw-well in the yard. Fig. [263] shows, on a table set out for dinner, the bowls or basins for the food and for drinking from, one of which holds a fish. The plate-like articles, it should be mentioned, are bread which was made in cakes, and variously ornamented with the knife. The other engravings (Figs. [262] and [266]) are excellent representations of pitchers and wine vessels, drinking-cups and bowls, and other characteristic vessels. The next Fig. ([265]) gives the form of the drinking-cups excellently well, and enables one to determine that the small vessel engraved (Fig. [246]) was one used for that purpose. It should be stated, however, that, as in the former case, the objects between the drinking-cups on the table are not plates, but cakes of bread.

Fig. 265.

Fig. 266.

Figs. 267 to 270.—From Burley Hill.

The clay of which Norman pottery is formed is usually of a coarse kind, and the vessels bear evidence in many instances of the wheel having been used. In colour they are sometimes of a reddish brown, at others of a tolerably good red, while at others again they are nearly black; and many of the pitchers, &c., are either wholly or partially covered with a green or other glaze. Many are quite devoid of ornament, but others have the ends of the handles formed into foliage, &c., by the pressure of the finger. Some, however, are rather highly decorated. Figs. [267 to 270] show four small-sized jugs, ranging from four and a half to seven inches in height, two of which are devoid of ornament, and the other two have their handles foliated. Figs. [273 and 275] show pitchers of a larger growth, of the same clumsy coarse kind of clay, and ornamented in the same primitive manner. They are about nine inches in height, and are green glazed.

Figs. 271 and 272.—From Burley Hill.

Figs. 273 to 275.—From Burley Hill.

Figs. [271 and 272] represent the two sides of a remarkably fine pitcher, which (as well as those engraved on Figs. [267 to 279]) was discovered by myself in a kiln to which reference has been made. It is sixteen inches in height, and is, perhaps, the finest and most interesting fictile remain of the Norman period in existence. It bears, as will be seen, five horseshoes, and two buckles, all of which were badges of the Ferrars family (Norman Earls of Derby), who were lords of the soil where, and at the time when, these vessels were made. The decorations are all laid on in “slip” of a finer kind of clay than that of which the body is composed, and the pitcher is glazed. Herring-bone pattern is incised in the body of the pitcher itself.

While speaking of this pitcher it may not be out of place to allude to a ludicrous mistake made in Miss Meteyard’s “Life of Wedgwood.” On page 38, vol. i. of that work, Miss Meteyard has copied my own woodcut which appeared some little time before, both in the “Reliquary” and in my own “Life of Wedgwood;” but her artist having made his tracing from my woodcut has reversed it in his copy, and thus made it worse than useless.

Fig. 276.

Fig. 277.

Fig. [274] represents a “porringer” or pipkin from the same place. It is of red clay; but others were found of a dark clay, and partly glazed. A kind of clumsy dish and a bottle-shaped vessel with a side handle are shown on the next engravings (Figs. [276] and [277]).

Figs. 278 and 279.—From Burley Hill.

Fragments of a number of large pitchers, highly decorated with flowers, bosses, &c., in slip, and incised patterns, were also found. Among the more interesting of these were some bearing round the neck rude attempts at faces and arms. Two of these are shown on Figs. [278 and 279].

Fig. 280.

Fig. 281.

Fig. 282.

Fig. 283.

The domestic vessels of a somewhat later date appear, in many instances, to retain the same general form, but in others present new shapes. Fortunately, we can again fall back upon the illuminated MSS. for forms of these vessels, and can compare them with actual examples.

Fig. 284.

Fig. 285.

Fig. 286.

Fig. 287.

Fig. 288.

Fig. 289.

Thus on Fig. [284] we have a dish of the fourteenth, and in Fig. [283] those of the fifteenth century; while in the others we have drinking cups, bowls, three-legged vessels with spouts, &c. Fig. [282] gives us a wash-hand basin and jug—an attendant holding the basin in one hand and jug in the other while the guest washes his hands, a female standing by with the towel. In Fig. [281] we have a remarkably fine assemblage of pitchers of the fourteenth century, some of which appear to be ornamented with cross bands; while in Fig. [280] (the dancing of Herodias before Herod) we have dishes, jugs, and bowls. Some of the vessels in these illuminations, it must be borne in mind, may be of metal, but the form is still of the same value and importance. Some excellent figures of mediæval jugs are also given in the next engravings, one of which (Fig. [287]) likewise shows a drinking-mug.

Fig. 290.—London.

Figs. 291 to 294.—Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Fig. 295.—London.

One of the earliest written notices of crockery we have is the oft-quoted entry in the account of payments by the executors of Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward I. “Item Juliana la potere pro ccc picheriis die anniversarii Reginæ viijs. vjd.”—these three hundred pitchers being probably earthenware vessels “provided for the feast given to the poor on the anniversary of the queen’s death.”[31] Another item in the same accounts is also curious: “Item, Johanni le squeler pro M^le et D discis, tot platelles, tot salseriis, et cccc chiphis, xlijs.”—the “squeler,” or “sargeant-squylloure,” being “pourveyour of the squylery,” or scullery, who had charge of the pots, and kept them clean and in order. In the household books of Edward IV. and Sir John Howard, in the fifteenth century, and the Earl of Northumberland, shortly afterwards, mention is made of “earth and asshen cuppes” and “erthyn potts”—the latter directing that leather pots be bought in place of earthen ones, of course in consequence of the loss by breakage. The entry in the expenses of Sir John Howard, in 1466, referred to, shows somewhat curiously the cost of “potes” in those days:—“Watekin bocher of Stoke delyvered of my mony to on of the poteres of Horkesley iv^s. vi^d. to pay hemselfe and his felawes for xi dosen potes,” which would be about 4¾d. per dozen for them.

Fig. 296.

The vessels made in England in mediæval times principally consisted of pitchers and jugs, cups or bowls, bottles, and dishes; the term “pottes” being applied to the drinking cups then in general use. From them and their successors the “ale pots,” of which I shall yet speak, the still common term of a pot of ale has gradually come down to us. One shape of these drinking vessels is shown in the two smaller vessels, Figs. [293 and 294], the larger ones being excellent examples of the jugs in use along with them. These were dug up in Oxford, in 1838, and are preserved in the Ashmolean Museum. Other good examples of jugs, in the Jermyn Street Museum, are shown on Figs. [290] and [295]. These are all plain, but are glazed.

The larger jugs, or pitchers, are frequently ornamented with heads, foliage, or other devices, in somewhat high relief. Many of these are very curious. They were made in different parts of the country, of the common clays of the locality, and decorated according to the taste and skill of the maker.

Fig. 297.—Lewes.

Fig. 298.—Salisbury Museum.

Fig. 299.—Scarborough Museum.

Jugs, or vessels for liquor, were occasionally, from a very early period, made in form of mounted knights. Indeed, from the occurrence of grotesque heads and portions of figures on the Norman vessels which I had the good fortune to exhume a few years back,[32] it is probable these grotesque vessels may, in some instances, trace from that date. A very interesting example (Fig. [297]) was found at Lewes in 1846. It is in the form of a mounted knight. The workmanship is very rude, but there are certain details, such as the long pointed toes and pryck spurs, from which its probable date is assigned to the time of Henry II. Its length is ten and half inches, and its full height, when perfect, would be thirteen or fourteen inches. The material is coarse clay, the upper parts green glazed. There can be no doubt it was intended to contain liquor, and the handle, which passes from the back of the knight to the tail of the horse, was evidently intended for pouring out the contents; whilst a circular aperture at the lower end of the handle afforded the means of filling the vessel.[33] There is no evidence to show where this was made.

Another curious example (Fig. [298]) preserved in the Salisbury Museum, was found at Mere, in Wiltshire, and is believed to belong to the latter half of the twelfth century. The costume and accoutrements of this figure (which is a knight on horseback, armed with shield, &c.) correspond almost precisely to that of the effigy of King Richard I. on his great seal.[34] The impressed circles are probably intended to represent chain mail.

Fig. 300.

Fig. 301.

Fig. 302.

Another vessel, of analogous character, preserved in the Scarborough Museum, is engraved on Fig. [299]. It is in the form of an animal with a twisted horn, but its handle and other parts are imperfect. It is covered with a green glaze, and was, there cannot be the shadow of a doubt, made at Scarborough, where, as I shall show, the remains of a potter’s kiln was found in 1854, but has not, as yet, been named in any work on pottery.

A jug, which would almost appear to have been the origin of the bellarmine, to be hereafter described, was communicated by Mr. Kirwan to the Journal of the British Archæological Association,[35] where it is engraved. It is covered with green glaze, and bears a well and powerfully moulded head, with the flowing hair and beard so characteristic of the time of Edward I., II., and III. To this period some clay moulds for the forming of faces upon mediæval pottery, found at Lincoln by Mr. Arthur Trollope, may be assigned; they are engraved by Marryatt,[36] and will be referred to later on in this volume. It will be seen, too, on comparison of this jug with the fragments of Norman pottery on another page, that it is the same kind of general idea, somewhat amplified, but carried out in the taste of the day.

Fig. 303.

Fig. 304.

Fig. 305.

The costrils, or pilgrims’ bottles as they are commonly called, i.e., bottles for liquor to be carried and hung on the person, were much made in the Middle Ages, and although usually plain, were, nevertheless, sometimes rather highly decorated. Fig. [300] is the shape mostly known as a pilgrim’s bottle, and will be seen to vary but little from the flattened globular amphora of Roman times (Fig. [303]). Sometimes they had four loops instead of handles, so that the strap could pass through the four loops and make the carrying safer. To this class a remarkably fine example in the Roach Smith collection in the British Museum belongs. On one side are the royal arms of Henry VIII. within a rose and garter, and with supporters and crown, with the legend DNE SALVVM FAC REGEM REGINAM ET REGNVM (God keep safe the King, Queen, and kingdom): on the other side are four medallions: one contains the sacred monogram, I.H.S.; two others have radiating patterns, and the fourth a heart, with loveknot of flowers and the word LEAL. Fig. [303] shows another example, somewhat of the form of Figs. [300] and [302]; but in this case it is globular, or gourd-shaped, and not flattened on the sides, and the handles for the loops are simply flat pieces of clay pierced for suspension. This interesting example, which is of Tickenhall make, belongs to Sir J. H. Crewe, Bart., and is mottled with green all over its surface. Another excellent form of mediæval “pilgrim’s bottle” was found at Collingbourne Ducis by the Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A. It is of barrel shape, and has handles and mouth at the top, and, at the bottom, a stand. In front is a face surrounded by oak-leaves, within a circle of foliage, all in relief, and above this is an aperture. Other vessels partaking of the barrel-shape and mammiform character are also met with: some of their forms will be seen on Figs. [304 to 307]. When carried, they would be slung by the handles in the same manner as others; but when not in use, instead of having a base, as in Fig. [303], one end is seen to be flattened for it to stand upon; the other end is in form of a woman’s breast—this, of course, in allusion to the use of the vessel, from the mouth of which the person who used it would drink or “suck” the liquor it contained. A much more perfectly formed mammiform bottle I give, from a beautiful drawing furnished me, with others, by my friend the late Mr. F. C. Lukis, F.S.A., on Figs. [304] and [305]. It is gourd-shaped, with one side flattened to prevent its rolling when set down, and the other side is a beautifully formed female breast. It is four and a half inches in height, and holds about half a pint.

Fig. 306.

Fig. 307.

The cruskin, or cruse, or cruske, was much in use, and made of somewhat varied form. It was the precursor of the tyg, and was nothing more than a drinking-cup. References are frequently found to this vessel, as a “crusekyn de terre,” and as having, in some instances, been mounted with silver. Usually, however, they were plain cups of earthenware or of wood, generally ash, the latter partaking somewhat of the form of our present basin. I am inclined to think, too, that the pipkin, or porringer, was also called a cruske or cruskin. The term is still in use in Ireland, where a “cruisken of whiskey” is a common form of expression. Some of the forms of the “cruisken” as at present in use in Ireland—made of wood—are shown on Figs. [308 to 311].

Fig. 308.

Fig. 309.

Fig. 310.

Fig. 311.

The godet, or goddard, was another drinking-cup much in vogue, and was, evidently, a kind of large cup or bowl, in which spiced liquor was mixed and drunk by “gossips” and friends. Some of these bowls will be spoken of later on. Besides these, various other names for drinking-vessels were more or less in use.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the potter’s art was principally confined to the manufacture of common domestic vessels—large coarse dishes, cruiskens, tygs, pitchers, bowls, cups, candlesticks, pans, butter-pots, and other articles being among the number. Many articles, not made in England, were imported from Holland and other countries, and came into general use. They were, however, soon copied by our own workmen and made to a large extent. Among the principal of the imported vessels were bellarmines, or grey beards; and ale-pots. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, one William Simpson proposed to manufacture, “in some decayed town within this realm,” these ale-pots, which had till that time been solely imported from Cologne by Garnet Tynes, by which he promised that “manie a hundred poore men may be sett at worke.” As a preliminary to this, he petitioned the queen to grant him sole licence to bring them into the realm. The following is his petition:—[37]

“The sewte of William Simpson, merchaunte—Whereas one Garnet Tynes, a straunger livinge in Acon, in the parte beyond the seas, being none of her ma^ties subjecte, doth buy uppe alle the pottes made at Culloin, called Drinking stone pottes, and he onelie transporteth them into this realm of England, and selleth them: It may please your ma^tie to graunt unto the said Simpson full power and onelie license to provyde transport and bring into this realm the same or such like drinking pottes; and the said Simpson will putt in good suretie that it shall not be prejudiciall to anie of your ma^ties subjects, but that he will serve them as plentifullie, and sell them at as reasonable price as the other hath sold them from tyme to tyme.

“Item. He will be bound to double her ma^ties custome by the year, whenever it hath been at the most.

“Item. He will as in him lieth draur the making of such like pottes into some decayed town within this realm, wherebie manie a hundred poore men may be sett a work.

“Note. That no Englishman doth transport any potte into this realm but onlie the said Garnet Tynes, who also serveth all the Low Countries and other places with pottes.”

Whether the petition was granted or not does not appear.

In 1570, according to Stow, Jasper Andries and Jacob Janson, potters, who had settled in Norwich in 1567 (which see), “removed to London. They set forth in a petition to Queen Elizabeth that they were the first that brought in and exercised the said science in this realm, and were at great charges before they could find materials in this realm. They besseeched her, in recompense of their great cost and charges, that she would grant them house room in or without the liberties of London, by the water side.” In 1626 a patent was granted to Thomas Rous, alias Rius, and Abraham Cullen, for the manufacture of “Stone Potts, Stone Juggs, and Stone Bottells.” This patent I here give entire:—

“Whereas we are given to vnderstand by our loving subiecte, Thomas Rous als Rius and Abraham Cullyn, of London, Marchante, that heretofore and at this present, this our Kingdome of Englande and other our Dominions are and have beene served with stone potte, stone jugge, and stone bottles out of forreigne parte from beyond the seas, and they have likewise shewed vnto vs that by their industry and charge not onely the materialle, but also the arte and manufacture may be found out and pformed, never formerly vsed within this our Kingdome of England, by any which proffitable intencon they have already attempted and in some good measure have proceeded in, and hope to pfecte, whereby many poore and vnproffitable people may be sett on worke and put to labour and good ymployment for their maintenance, and reliefe, of which they will make further tryall at their owne charge for the good of our realmes, and in consideracon thereof they have humbly desired that we would be graciously pleased to grant vnto them our royall priviledge for ‘The Sole Making of the Stone Potte, Stone Jugge, and Stone Bottelle,’ within our Dominions for the tearme of fowerteene yeares, for a reward for their Invencon, and they have also voluntarily offered vnto vs for the same a yearely rente of five pounde towarde the increase of our revenue, soe long as they have benefitte by this our grant, neyther doe they desier by vertue of such priviledge to prohibite or hinder the importacon of these comodities by others from forreigne parte, but that they may still bring in the same from beyond the seas as they have formerly done.

“Knowe ye, that we graciously tendring and effecting the general good and benifitt of our kingdomes and our subiecte of the same, and to the end that as well the said Thomas Rous als Rius and Abraham Cullin may receave some convenient recompence and proffitte out of their owne labours and endeavours as reason requireth, as also that other our loving subiecte may be thereby encouraged, in the like laudable service and endeavours for the comon good of their country, and for other good consideracons vs herevnto moving of our especiall grace, certeyne knowledge, and meare mocon we have given and granted, and by these Presente for vs, our heires and successors, doe give and grant full and free lycence, priviledge, power, and authority, vnto the said Thomas Rous als Rius and Abraham Cullin, and eyther of them, their and eyther of their executors and administrators, and their and every or any of their deputies or assignes, having authority from them, or any of them in that behalfe, that they and every or any of them, and none others, shall and may from tyme to tyme, and at all tymes for and during the tearme of fowerteene yeares nexte ensueing the date hereof, within these our Realmes of England and Ireland, and the Dominions thereof, at their or any of their liberty and pleasuer, vse, exercise, practise, and put in vse the arte and feate of frameing, workeing, and makeing of all and all manner of potte, jugge, and bottelle, commonly called or knowne by the name or names of stone potte, stone jugge, and stone bottelle whatsoever, whereof the like hath not heretofore beene vsually made or wrought, within our said realmes and dominions, and also to make, erecte, and sett vpp in any ground, place, or places whatsoever within our said realmes and dominions, with the consent, agreement, and good likeing of the persons to whome the same shall belong, any fornace or fornaces whatsoever concerning the said feate or arte of frameing, workeing, and making of stone potte, stone jugge, and stone bottelle, and the same soe made to vtter and sell in grose, or by retayle, or otherwise to doe away or dispose of the same at their or any of their will and pleasuer, and to their or any of their beste comodity and proffitt, during the said tearme of fowerteene yeares; and therefore our will and pleasuer is, and we doe, by these Presente, for vs, our heires, and successors, straightly charge, prohibite, and forbidd all and every person and persons, as well our naturall borne subiecte as aliens, denizens, and strangers whatsoever (other then the said Thomous Rous als Rius and Abraham Cullin, and eyther of them, their and eyther of their executors, administrators, and assignes, and such as shall by them or any of them be sett on worke, licensed or authorised, that they or any of them doe not, during the tearme aforesaid, presume, attempte, or take in hande to make, frame, practise, vse, or exercise, within our said Realmes of England or Ireland, or the Dominions of the same, the said arte, feate, or way of makeing, frameing, or workeing of any manner of the said potte, jugge, or bottelle, comonly called or knowne by the name or names of stone potte, stone jugge, and stone bottelle whatsoever, not heretofore vsually made or wrought within our said realmes or dominions, and to be put in vse and practise by the said Thomas Rous als Rius and Abraham Cullin, or eyther of them, their or eyther of their executors, administrators, or assignes, or to counterfett the said arte or feate by them or any of them soe to be put in vse, & practise, nor to presume, attempt, or take in hand, to make, erecte, frame, or sett vpp any furnace or furnaces to that purpose, vpon payne of forfeyture of all and every such potte, jugge, and bottelle soe to be made, wrought or counterfetted, contrary to the true intente and meaneing of these psente, and also vpon payne of breakeing and defaceing of all and every the said furnace or furnaces to be made or erected contrary to the tenor hereof, and further vpon payne of our highe indignacon and displeasure, and such further penalties and imprisonmente as by any the statute or lawes of the said realmes or dominions, or any of them, can or may be inflicted vpon them, or any of them, for their contempt and disobedience in breakeing and contemning our comandement and prerogative royall.”

In 1635 a patent was granted to “David Ramsey, Esquier, one of the groomes of our pryvie chamber, Michael Arnold, and John Ayliffe, of the citty of Westminster, Brewers,” for a new method of heating boilers by means of sea coal, for brewers, soap-boilers, and others; which “invencion is alsoe very usefull for the Dryeinge of Bricke, all manner of Tyles, and all such sortes of Tyles as cannot be made in this kingdome but in the Heat of Sumer; and alsoe that they have found out the Arte and Skill of Makeinge and Dyeinge of all sortes of Panne Tyles, Stone Juggs, Bottles of all sizes, Earthen Wicker Bottles; Meltinge Pottes for Gouldsmythes, and other Earthen Comodityes within this our Realme, which nowe are made by Straungers in Forraigne Partes; and that in the makinge of the same Earthen Comodityes as aforesaid, the saide David Ramsey, Michaell Arnold, and John Ayliffe shall have employment for many of our poore Subjects, whoe thereby shalbee sett on worke, and bee competently mainteyned, and will alsoe sell them cheaper than they are now sould.” This patent was for fourteen years, the parties being bound to pay one-fourth part of their profit yearly into the exchequer.

The stoneware was usually called “Cologne ware,” from Cologne, from whence it was first imported; and by this name that made in our own country continued to be in great measure known. It will be well here, therefore, to speak of the ale-pots and bellarmines of that kind of ware.

Figs. 312 and 313.—Bellarmines.

Fig. 314.—Bellarmine.

The Bellarmine, or Grey Beard, or Long Beard, as it was commonly called, was a stoneware pot of bottle form, mostly with a handle at the back and ornament on the front. The neck is narrow, and the lower part, or “belly,” as it is technically called, very wide and protuberant. They were in very general use at the “ale-houses” to serve ale in to customers, and were of different sizes—the gallonier containing a gallon; the pottle pot, two quarts; the pot, a quart; and the little pot, a pint. These jugs were derisively named after Cardinal Bellarmine, who died in 1621. The cardinal having, by his determined and bigoted opposition to the reformed religion, made himself obnoxious in the Low Countries, became naturally an object of derision and contempt with the Protestants, who, among other modes of showing their detestation of the man, seized on the potter’s art to exhibit his short stature, his hard features, and his rotund figure, to become the jest of the ale-house and the byword of the people. Allusions to the bellarmines are very common in the productions of the English writers of the period.

Ben Jonson, in his Gipsies Metamorphosed, gives the following amusing version of the origin of these vessels:—

“Gaze upon this brave spark struck out of Flintshire upon Justice Jug’s daughter, then sheriff of the county, who, running away with a kinsman of our captain’s, and her father pursuing her to the Marches, he great with justice, she great with jugling, they were both for the time turned into stone upon sight of each other here in Chester; till at last (see the wonder!) a jug of the town ale reconciling them, the memorial of both their gravities—his in beard, and hers in belly—hath remained ever since preserved in picture upon the most stone jugs of the kingdom.”

In another place he says:—

“Whose, at the best, some round grown thing, a jug

Faced with a beard, that fills out to the guests.”

In another play, the Ordinary, is the following:—

“Thou thing,

Thy belly looks like to some strutting hill,

O’ershadowed by thy rough beard like a wood;

Or like a larger jug that some men call

A Bellarmine, but we a Conscience;

Whereon the lewder hand of pagan workman

Over the proud ambitious head hath carved

An idol large, with beard episcopal,

Making the vessel look like tyrant Eglon.”

In the curious play of Epsom Wells, one of the characters, while busy with ale, says, “Uds bud, my head begins to turn round; but let’s into the house. ’Tis dark. We’ll have one Bellarmine there, and then Bonus nocius.”

These are but a few of the allusions that might be brought forward from the old writers, but they are sufficient to show its common use. The ale pots thus being formed with the corpulent proportions and the “hard-mouthed visage” of the cardinal, became a popular and biting burlesque upon him. From them, too, from the face upon the ale mug or ale pot, the vulgar name of “mug” for the human face is probably derived. The engravings, Figs. [312 to 314], show three bellarmines; the first two are “foreign” make, but the latter is English; and a strong general resemblance will be seen to the pitchers before engraved. Another English bellarmine is engraved under the head of “Fulham.”

The ordinary “ale-pots,” or “little pots,”—the pint jugs,—were, like the bellarmines, at first imported into this country, but they were afterwards made to a considerable extent in various parts of the kingdom. They were made of a light-coloured clay, and took the name of “stoneware,” from their hardness and colour. They were turned on the wheel, the necks being usually covered, with deeply encircling lines; and the ornaments consisted of lines scratched, or incised, into the soft clay with a sharp point, in form of foliage, flowers, scrolls, circles, &c., and then washed in with blue colour. In some instances a pattern—usually a flower or initials—was impressed, from a mould, on the front, as in the manner of the bellarmines. They are generally very thick, and must have been extremely durable. One example is engraved (Fig. [315]).

Fig. 315.—Ale Pot.

Salt-glazing appears to have been introduced about 1680, and it gradually superseded the lead-glazing which till that time was in regular use. The account given of this discovery is, that “at Mr. Joseph Yates’, Stanley, near Bagnall, five miles east of Burslem, in Staffordshire, the servant was preparing, in an earthen vessel, a salt-ley for curing pork, and during her temporary absence the liquid boiled over, and the sides of the pot were quickly red hot from intense heat; yet, when cold, were covered with an excellent glaze. The fact was detailed to Mr. Palmer, potter, of Bagnall, who availed himself of the occurrence, and told other potters. At the small manufactories in Holden Lane (Adams’s), Green Head, and Brownhills (Wedgwood’s), salt-glazed ware was soon afterwards made.” “The ovens employed for the purpose being used only once weekly, and the ware being cheap, were large in diameter, and very high, to contain a sufficient quantity to be baked each time, to cover all contingent expenses. They were constructed with a scaffold round them, on which the firemen could stand, while casting in the salt through holes made in the upper part of the cylinder, above the bags or inner vertical flues; and the saggers were made of completely refractory materials, with holes in their sides, for the vapourised salt to circulate freely among all the vessels in the oven to affect their surfaces.” The ware thus glazed, and made from the common clay, with a mixture of fine sand from Mole Cop, was called “Crouch ware,” and in this all the ordinary articles of domestic use, including jugs, cups, dishes, &c., were made. At this time, it is stated, there were only twenty-two ovens in Burslem and its neighbourhood. “The employment of salt in glazing Crouch ware was a long time practised before the introduction of white clay and flint. The vast volumes of smoke and vapours from the ovens entering the atmosphere, produced that dense white cloud which, from about eight o’clock till twelve on the Saturday morning (the time of ‘firing up,’ as it is called), so completely enveloped the whole interior of the town, as to cause persons often to run against each other, travellers to mistake the road; and strangers have mentioned it as extremely disagreeable, and not unlike the smoke of Etna or Vesuvius.”

In 1685 a white stoneware was made at Shelton by Thomas Miles, and at the same time and place a brown stoneware was also made. These would be the same as the ale-pots and bellarmines were made of.

In 1686, Dr. Plot published his “Staffordshire,” and thus spoke of the butter trade, and butter-pots then made:—[38]

“From which Limestone Hills, and rich pastures and meddows, the great Dairys are maintained in this part of Staffordshire, that supply Uttoxeter Mercat with such vast quantites of good butter and cheese, that the Cheesemongers of London have thought it worth their while to set up a Factorage here for these commodities, which are brought in from this, and the neighbouring county of Derby, in so great plenty, that the Factors many Mercat days (in the season) lay out no less than five hundred pounds a day in these two commodities only. The Butter they buy by the Pot of a long cylendrical form, made at Burslem, in this county, of a certain size, so as not to weigh above six pounds at most, and yet to contain at least 14 pounds of Butter, according to an Act of Parliament made about 14 or 16 years agoe, for regulateing the abuses of this trade in the make of Pots, and false packing of the Butter; which before was sometimes layed good for a little depth at the top, and bad at the bottom; and sometimes set in rolls only touching at the top, and standing hollow below at a great distance from the sides of the pot. To prevent these little Moorlandish cheats (than whom no people whatever are esteemed most subtile) the Factors keep a Surveyor all the Summer here, who if he have ground to suspect any of the Pots, tryes them with an instrument of Iron, made like a Cheese-Taster, only much larger and longer, called an Auger or Butter-boare, with which he makes proof (thrusting it in obliquely) to the bottom of the Pot: so that they weigh none (which would be an endless business) or very seldom; nor do they bore it neither, where they know their customer to be a constant fair dealer. But their Cheese which comes but little, if anything short of that of Cheshire, they sell by weight as at other places.”

In reference to this, the Historian of Uttoxeter says:—

“Butter-pots are mentioned in the parochial records of the town forty years before Dr. Plot wrote; for five pots of butter were sent from Uttoxeter to the garrison of Tutbury Castle, and had been bought at the sum of 12s. As this was seventeen years before the Act of Parliament for the regulation of the sale of butter in pots, it is difficult from this to judge of the exact price of butter per pound at Uttoxeter at that remote period. And yet it may be reasonably inferred that the pots of 1644 were of the size of those manufactured after 1661; for it appears the Act was passed more for the prevention of any irregularity in the size of the pots, and the mode of packing butter in them, than for any actual alteration of the size the pots were understood to be. If so, butter then at Uttoxeter was worth but about twopence a pound, supposing the five pots of butter sent to Tutbury, costing 12s., contained fourteen pounds of butter each. About fifty years before butter was retailed throughout the kingdom at sevenpence per pound; but this was regarded as an enormous price, which, Stowe says, ‘was a judgment for their sins.’ It is highly probable, therefore, that the pots contained fourteen pounds of butter, which consequently was twopence per pound at Uttoxeter when the five pots were bought, especially as it corresponds with the price of cheese at that time in the town, as to which the old parochial accounts have preserved very distinct information, the sum of £7 15s. 10d. having been paid for 8 cwt. 2 qrs. 7 lbs., which was also for the besieged at Tutbury.”

The following extracts from the churchwardens’ accounts of Uttoxeter illustrate this subject:—

The butter pots were tall cylindrical vessels, of coarse clay, and very imperfectly baked. They are now of great rarity, but specimens may be seen in the Hanley Museum and in the Museum of Practical Geology. Their form will be seen in Fig. [316]. It is worthy of remark that even yet, as it was in Shaw’s days, Irish or Dutch butter, which is generally imported in casks, and is in most places known as “tub butter,” is, in the potteries, usually called “pot butter.”

Fig. 316.—Butter Pots.

Of the state of the Staffordshire potteries at this period, the latter half of the seventeenth century, Dr. Plot gives a most interesting and valuable account, in which he shows not only what clays were then used, but also speaks of the glazes, and describes the modes of manufacture of some of the vessels. The clays, it appears, were mostly procured from the coal measures, and fine sand to temper and mix with them was procured from Baddeley Edge, Mole Cop, and other places. The following is Dr. Plot’s account:—

“25. Other potter’s clays for the more common wares there are at many other places, particularly at Horsley Heath, in the parish of Tipton; in Monway field above mentioned, where there are two sorts gotten, one of a yellowish colour, mixt with white, the other blewish; the former stiff and heavy, the other more friable and light, which, mixt together, work better than apart. Of these they make divers sorts of vessels at Wednesbury, which they paint with slip, made of a reddish sort of earth gotten at Tipton. But the greatest pottery they have in this county is carried on at Burslem, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, where for making their different sorts of pots they have as many different sorts of clay, which they dig round about the towne, all within half a mile’s distance, the best being found nearest the coale, and are distinguish’t by their colours and uses as followeth:—

“1. Bottle clay, of a bright whitish streaked yellow colour.

“2. Hard fire-clay, of a duller whitish colour, and fully intersperst with a dark yellow, which they use for their black wares, being mixt with the

“3. Red blending clay, which is of a dirty red colour.

“4. White clay, so called it seems, though of a blewish colour, and used for making yellow-colour’d ware, because yellow is the lightest colour they make any ware of.

All which they call throwing clays, because they are of a closer texture, and will work on the wheel.

“26. Which none of the three other clays they call Slips will any of them doe, being of looser and more friable natures; these, mixt with water, they make into a consistence thinner than a Syrup, so that being put into a bucket it will run out through a Quill. This they call Slip, and is the substance wherewith they paint their wares, whereof the

“1. Sort is called the Orange Slip, which, before it is work’t, is of a greyish colour, mixt with orange balls, and gives the ware (when annealed) an orange colour.

“2. The White Slip: this, before it is work’t, is of a dark blewish colour, yet makes the ware yellow, which, being the lightest colour they make any of, they call it, as they did the clay above, the white slip.

“3. The Red Slip, made of a dirty reddish clay, which gives ware a black colour.

Neither of which clays or slips must have any sand or gravel in them. Upon this account, before it be brought to the wheel, they prepare the clay by steeping it in water in a square pit till it be of a due consistence; then they bring it to their beating board, where, with a long Spatula, they beat it till it be well mixt; then, being first made into great squarish rolls, it is brought to the wageing board, where it is slit into thin flat pieces with a wire, and the least stones or gravel pick’t out of it. This being done, they wage it, i.e. knead or mould it like bread, and make it into round balls proportionable to their work; and then ’tis brought to the wheel, and formed as the workman sees good.

“27. When the potter has wrought the clay either into hollow or flat ware, they set it abroad to dry in faire weather, but by the fire in foule; turning them as they see occasion, which they call whaving. When they are dry they stouk them, i.e. put ears and handles to such vessels as require them. These also being dry, they slip or paint them, with their severall sorts of slip, according as they designe their work; when the first slip is dry, laying on the others at their leisure, the orange slip makeing the ground, and the white and red the paint; which two colours they break with a wire brush, much after the manner they doe when they marble paper, and then cloud them with a pencil when they are pretty dry. After the vessels are painted they lead them with that sort of Lead Ore they call Smithum, which is the smallest ore of all, beaten into dust, finely sifted, and strewed upon them; which gives them the gloss, but not the colour; all the colours being chiefly given by the variety of slips, except the motley colour, which is procured by blending the Lead with Manganese, by the workmen call’d Magnus. But when they have a mind to shew the utmost of their skill in giving their wares a fairer gloss than ordinary, they lead them then with lead calcined into powder, which they also sift fine and strew upon them as before, which not only gives them a higher gloss, but goes much further too in their work than the lead ore would have done.

“28. After this is done they are carried to the oven, which is ordinarily above 8 foot high, and about 6 foot wide, of a round copped forme, where they are placed one upon another from the bottom to the top; if they be ordinary wares, such as cylindricall butter-pots, &c., that are not leaded, they are exposed to the naked fire, and so is all their flat ware, though it be leaded, having only parting shards, i.e. thin bits of old pots, put between them to keep them from sticking together; but if they be leaded hollow wares, they doe not expose them to the naked fire, but put them in shragers, that is, in coarse metall’d pots made of marle (not clay) of divers formes, according as their wares require, in which they put commonly three pieces of clay, called Bobbs, for the ware to stand on, to keep it from sticking to the shragers; as they put them in the shragers, to keep them from sticking to one another (which they would certainly otherwise doe by reason of the leading), and to preserve them from the vehemence of the fire, which else would melt them downe, or at least warp them. In twenty-four hours an oven of pots will be burnt; then they let the fire goe out by degrees, which in ten hours more will be perfectly done, and then they draw them for sale, which is chiefly to the poor Crate-men, who carry them at their backs all over the countrey, to whome they reckon them by the piece, i.e. Quart, in hollow ware, so that six pottle, or three gallon bottles, make a dozen, and so more or less to a dozen as they are of greater or lesser content. The flat wares are also reckoned by pieces and dozens, but not (as the hollow) according to their content, but their different bredths.”

A round dish of the “combed ware,” or marbled or mottled ware, described by Plot, is shown on Fig. [317]. Some of the examples I have seen are exceedingly delicate and minute in their patterns; others, as the engraving, have been “combed” with a coarse comb or wire brush. The lead for glazing, named by Plot, was procured from the Derbyshire lead mines—the ore being powdered, or “punned,” and dusted on to the soft clay vessel before firing.

Fig. 317.

Previous to this, in 1671, John Dwight took out a patent in the petition for which he stated that “he had discovered the Mistery of Transparent Earthen Ware, comonly knowne by the Names of Porcelaine or China and Persian Ware, as alsoe the Misterie of the Stone Ware vulgarly called Cologne Ware; and that he designed to introduce a Manufacture of the said Wares into our Kingdome of Englande, where they have not hitherto been wrought or made.” This was the origin of the famous Fulham works, a full account of which will be given in another part of this volume.

In 1676 John Ariens Van Hamme, “in pursuance of the incouragement he hath received from our Ambassadour at the Hague, is come over to settle in this our kingdome with his family, to exercise his ‘Art of makeing Tiles and Porcelaine and other Earthen Wares, after the way practised in Holland,’ which hath not beene practised in this our kingdome,” took out a patent for fourteen years for the sole practice of his art. The “tiles” named in his patent would, of course, be the “Dutch Tiles” as they were always called, and which were used for the lining of rooms, the decoration of fire-places, and for various other purposes. They were about four inches square, made of a common kind of clay, and faced, as all delf ware was, with a fine white slip. On this was painted a pattern—a group of figures, the illustration of some sacred or profane story, foliage, birds, or other devices, in blue colour, and then glazed and fired. On one of these tiles is represented a lady letting her lover down from her chamber into the street below, by a rope which she holds in her hand, and others have various devices. The manufacture of these tiles was carried on largely in England, and further notices will be given under the head of Liverpool, &c.

In 1684 John Dwight, having represented “that by his owne industry and at his owne proper costes and charges hee hath invented and sett vp at Fulham, in our County of Middlx, “Severall New Manufactures of Earthenwares, called by the names of White Gorges, Marbled Porcellane Vessels, Statues, and Figures, and Fine Stone Gorges and Vessells never before made in England or elsewhere; and alsoe discovered the Mistery of Transparent Porcellane, and Opacous, Redd, and Dark coloured Porcellane or China and Persian Wares, and the Mistery of the Cologne or Stone Wares, and is endeavouring to settle manufactures of all the said wares within this our kingdome of England,” had another patent for fourteen years granted to him. To Dwight, therefore, it will be seen by these patents, the credit of being the first inventor and maker of porcelain in England belongs. His name is thus one entitled to lasting honour as the pioneer of one of the best, most beautiful, most successful, and most flourishing arts ever practised in our kingdom.

Figs. 318 and 319.—Elers Ware.

In 1688 the brothers Eler or Elers, traditionally believed to have been potters from Holland, are said to have come over with William, Prince of Orange (William III.), to England at the time of the “Glorious Revolution,” and, two years later, to have settled at Bradwell and Dimsdale, not far from Burslem, in Staffordshire, where they erected kilns and commenced the making of a fine red ware (probably the kind spoken of by Dwight), in imitation of foreign red porcelain, from a vein of clay which, by some means, they had discovered existed at this spot. Here they produced remarkably fine and good red ware, of compact and hard texture, good colour, and of very characteristic and excellent designs. They were men of much skill and taste, and their productions so closely resemble those of Japan as to be occasionally mistaken for them. An example, from the Museum of Practical Geology, is here shown. The Elers, besides the red ware, also produced an exceedingly good Egyptian black, by a mixture of manganese with the clay; and this was the precursor and origin of the fine black bodies of Josiah Wedgwood and others. “Their extreme precaution,” says Shaw, “to keep secret their processes, and jealousy lest they might be accidentally witnessed by any purchaser of their wares—making them at Bradwell, and conveying them over the fields to Dimsdale, there to be sold, being only two fields distant from the turnpike road, and having some means of communication (believed to be earthenware pipes, like those for water) laid in the ground between the two contiguous farmhouses, to intimate the approach of persons supposed to be intruders—caused them to experience considerable and constant annoyance. In vain did they adopt measures for self-protection in regard to their manipulations, by employing an idiot to turn the thrower’s wheel, and the most ignorant and stupid workmen to perform the laborious operations, and by locking up these persons while at work, and strictly examining each prior to quitting the manufactory at night—all their most important processes were however developed, and publicly stated for general benefit. Mortified at the failure of all their precaution, disgusted at the prying inquisitiveness of their Burslem neighbours, and fully aware that they were too far distant from the principal market for their productions—even had not other kinds of porcelain been announced, which probably would diminish their sales—about 1710 they discontinued their Staffordshire manufactory, and removed to Lambeth or Chelsea (where is at this day a branch of the family), and connected the interests of their new manufactory with those of a glass manufacture, established in 1676 by Venetians, under the auspices of the Duke of Buckingham. Others, however, have stated that their removal was consequent on misunderstanding and persecution because their oven cast forth such tremendous volumes of smoke and flame, during the time of glazing, as were terrific to the inhabitants of Burslem, and caused all its (astonishing number of eight) master potters to hurry in dismay to Bradwell.”

The two potters who had wormed out the secret of the Elers were named Astbury and Twyford, and they are said each to have commenced business on his own account at Shelton, and to have made “Red,” “Crouch,” and “White stone” wares from native clays, using salt glaze for some of the vessels, and lead ore for others. It is interesting to add that the oven erected and used by the Elers was in existence as late as the beginning of the present century, and that the place, in an old account-book in my possession, is called “the Eller field.”

Fig. 320.

About the period when Dwight was taking out his patent, Thomas Toft and Ralph Toft were making, in Staffordshire, some large domestic dishes, which, from some of them bearing their names, put on in large letters, are universally known to collectors as “Toft Dishes.” Under this name, however, it is well to state many dishes and other vessels pass which never were, or could have been, made by them, and I warn collectors against too easily pinning their faith to a belief that their examples are genuine “Tofts” unless they bear the name. The style was common to all makers of that date. Besides dishes, tygs of various forms, with one, two, three, or four handles; pitchers of various sizes, candlesticks, posset-pots, gossips’ bowls, pans or pancheons, utensils for the chamber, and many other articles, were made of precisely the same coarse materials, and of exactly the same kind of decoration as the dishes.

Fig. 321.

Fig. 322.

The material of these pots is a coarse reddish or buff-coloured clay, and the ornaments are laid on in different coloured clays, and the whole is then glazed thickly over. One of these large dishes, now in the Museum of Practical Geology, is shown on Fig. [321]. The body is of buff-coloured clay, with the ornaments laid on in relief in light and dark brown. The border is trellised, and in the centre is a lion rampant, crowned. On the rim beneath the lion is the name of the maker, THOMAS TOFT. In the same museum is a fragment of another similar dish, with a lion and unicorn. A very fine dish of a similar kind, and by the same maker, in the Bateman Museum is engraved on Fig. [320]. It is twenty-two inches in diameter, and bears a half-length crowned portrait of King Charles, with sceptre in each hand, and the initials C.R. Below the figure, on the rim, which, as usual, is trellised in red and black, is the name THOMAS TOFT. In the same museum is another remarkably fine dish, bearing two full-length figures in the costume of the Stuarts, the gentleman holding in his hand his hat and feather, and having “petticoat breeches,” tied stockings, and high-heeled boots with ties, and the lady holding a bunch of flowers. Between the figures are the initials W. T., and on the rim at the bottom, in precisely the same manner as the Toft dishes, is the name WILLIAM: TALOR. Another Toft dish (Fig. [322]) now in the possession of Mr. Bagshawe, is nineteen inches in diameter, and bears a female figure, and two heads in ovals, with foliage, &c., and the name RALPHOFT, or Ralph Toft, the H and T being apparently conjoined. The ground is buff, and the ornaments are laid on in dark and light brown clay. Another with the name RALPH TOFT, 1677, was in the Reynolds’ collection. Another maker of this period, whose name occurs in the same manner as those just described, was WILLIAM SANS. Of the makers of these dishes, it is interesting to observe that Toft is an old name connected with the pottery district, and that members of the family are still potters in the neighbourhood. It is also an old Derbyshire name, being connected with Youlgreave and other places in that neighbouring county.

Fig. 323.     Fig. 324.

Fig. 325.

Fig. 326.

Fig. 327.

Fig. 328.

The “Tygs” appear to have been made in considerable numbers, and, indeed, to have constituted one of the staple manufactures of the potters of that day. They were the ordinary drinking-cups of the period, and were made with one, two, three, four, or more handles. The two-handled ones are said to have been “parting cups,” and those with three or four handles “loving cups,” being so arranged that three or four persons drinking out of one, and each using a different handle, brought their lips to different parts of the rim. Examples of some of the forms of these tygs are shown on Figs. [323 to 328]. Two of these, with three handles each (Figs. [326] and [328]), were found in a long-disused lead mine at Great Hucklow; another (Fig. [327]) has three handles and a spout, and is ornamented with bosses of a lighter colour, bearing a swan, a flower, and a spread eagle. The fourth (Figs. [323] and [324]) are two-handled cups, of the same general form as those with one handle. These two latter specimens are in the Museum of Practical Geology. Other examples of various forms are shown on the remaining engravings.

Fig. 329.—Candlestick, Jermyn Street.

Fig. 330.—Candlestick.

Fig. 331.—Mug.

Fig. 332.—Earthenware Cradle.

A curious candlestick, shown on Fig. [329], in the Museum of Practical Geology, is of much the same kind of ware as the tygs, and has its ornaments in white clay slip; it bears the date 1649, and the initials E. M. Another, in my own collection (Fig. [330]), is made of precisely the same coarse kind of ware as the tygs; dark reddish brown, with ornaments in white slip—the slip at the base having been laid on in a broad band, and then scratched through to the dark clay. The mug, Fig. [331], is exactly the same kind of ware.

Another curious article of this same kind of ware, in the Bateman collection, is engraved on Fig. [332]. It is a small earthenware cradle of excellent form, and elaborately ornamented; the ground is a rich reddish brown, the ornaments of buff and black. It bears the date on its top of 1693, and is 7¾ inches long, and 4¾ inches in height. To this period belongs the interesting puzzle-jug in the Museum of Practical Geology, shown on Fig. [333]. It is of brown ware, and bears the name, incised in writing letters, of “John Wedgwood, 1691,” and is the first and earliest example of the name of Wedgwood occurring on pottery. It will again be referred to later on.

Fig. 333.—Puzzle Jug.

It is very clear that brown ware of the same general character as the tygs and the Toft dishes, was made in very many parts of the country besides Staffordshire, and that much now by collectors appropriated to that county has no connection with it.

Figs. 334 and 335.—Hand Grenades.

A peculiar use for ceramics should here be noticed; it has not before been spoken of in any work upon pottery. I allude to hand-grenades, two of which, preserved in the Leicester Museum, are here engraved (Figs. [334 and 335]). These were found in the Old Magazine, or Newarke, Gateway at Leicester. They are formed of red clay, and fired in the kiln in the usual manner, and they have fuse-plugs of wood fitted into the opening at the top.

CHAPTER V.

Pottery in England in the eighteenth century—Delft ware—Posset pots—Billin’s patent—Redrich and Jones’s patent—Benson’s patents—Ralph Shawe’s patents—Trial of right—The Bow works—Heylyn and Frye’s patents—The Fulham works—White’s patent—The Count de Lauraguais’ patent—Staffordshire wares—The Plymouth works—William Cookworthy’s patent—Josiah Wedgwood—Crease’s, and other patents—Ralph Wedgwood’s patents—Progress of the art during the century.

Fig. 336.—Posset Pot.

Fig. 337.

At the commencement of the eighteenth century, the ceramic art in this country was beginning to expand in a remarkable degree, and many important strides for its improvement were taken. The brown-ware dishes, tygs, and other vessels for domestic use, were still made as before, and stoneware bottles, ale pots, and other articles continued to be produced; but, beyond these, some much finer kinds of earthenware were introduced, which gradually took their place. Among these were Delft ware and Crouch ware, to which I have referred, and the white ware, which has frequently, but erroneously, been called “Elizabethan ware,” which was probably introduced about this time. A good specimen of the brown ware of this period, which will be seen to be identical in character with the dishes and tygs and cradle before spoken of, is the posset pot shown on Fig. [336]. It bears the loyal motto, “GOD : SAVE : THE : QVEEN : 1711,” and is ornamented in the usual way with slip. It is of much the same character as a wassail or gossips’ bowl, bearing the name “RICHARD MEIR,” in the Liverpool Museum. It is shown on Fig. [337]. The form of Fig. [336] is somewhat different from the usual later shape of posset pots, as will be shown on engravings which will follow. As posset and posset pots are local matters, a few words concerning them will here be interesting. Posset pots have been made and regularly used in Derbyshire and the neighbouring counties from an early period until the present time. “Posset” is an excellent mixture of hot ale, milk, sugar, spices, and sippets, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, dice, of bread or oat-cake. In these counties this beverage was formerly almost, if not quite, universal for supper on Christmas-eve; and the “posset pot” was thus used but once a year, and often became an heirloom in the family. A small silver coin and the wedding-ring of the mistress of the family were generally dropped into the posset when the guests were assembled, and those who partook of it took each a spoonful in turn as the “pot” was handed round. Whichever of the party fished up the coin was considered certain of good luck in the coming year, while an early and happy marriage was believed to be the enviable fate of the lucky individual who fished up the ring. Other posset pots will be found engraved in other parts of this volume, under the heads of Nottingham and Brampton.

It is clear that about this time the art of pot-making began to make rapid strides; for in the space of twenty-seven years—from 1722 to 1749—no less than nine separate patents were taken out, and were followed in rapid succession by others. In 1722, Richard Holt and Samuel London, gentlemen, took out a patent for “a certain new composicon or mixture (without any sort of clay) for making of white ware, which is formed and moulded in a method hitherto not known or practised, and far surpasses the finest of delf ware, or any other sort made in any part of Europe, and also by their new method of impression make the fabrick of earthenware of a more exquisite shape than the present method of turning could ever perform or arrive to, by which meanes our subjects will be able to excell all Europe, and not only employ a great many of our own poor, to the great benefit of trade and the manufactures of our kingdom, but also prevent the clandestine running of delf ware, &c., from foreign parts into Great Brittain;” granted “for the term of fourteen years.” It does not say of what materials the composition is made, except that it is without any sort of clay, nor does it describe any method of impression.

In the same year, Thomas Billin, having “by many long, laborious, and chargeable experiments found out and invented a method for making the most refined earthenware, with help of clay and other materials found within this kingdom, which ever yet appeared in this part of Europe, of a nature and composicon, not only transparent, but so perfect in its kind, and of principles so firmly vnited, as (contrary to the nature of all other earthenwares) to resist almost any degree of heat, by which qualities it is more valuable, and of greater vse and ornament than all other kinds ever yet invented or practised in this kingdom, and capable of being wrought into vessels and ornaments for any vse; and for the working of the same invention he hath invented particular and proper engines and tools.” No description is given of the mode of manufacture, or of the engines or tools mentioned in the title of the invention.

In 1724 Robert Redrich and Thomas Jones had a patent granted them for “a new art or method, as well for staining, veining, spotting, clouding, damasking, or otherwise imitating the various kinds of marble, porphyry, and other rich stones, and tortoiseshell, on wood, stone, and earthenware, and all and every such goods, wares, utensils, and things as are made, cut, or fashioned thereout, as for the making, marbling, veining, spotting, staining, clouding, and damasking any linen, silks, canvas, paper, and leather.”

In 1726, and again in 1732, patents were taken out for methods of grinding flints, &c., which were of much importance. The first of these, by Thomas Benson, is described as “an engine or new method for the more expeditious working the said flint stone, whereby all the said hazards and inconveniences attending the same will effectually be prevented.” It is stated that in the making of “white pots,” flint stone is “the chief ingredient,” and that the method hitherto used in preparing it “has been by pounding or breaking it dry, and afterwards sifting it through fine lawns, which has proved very destructive to mankind;” and this invention is to obviate it, and is as follows:—The flint stones are first wetted, then crushed as fine as sand by two large wheels, of the bigness and shape of mill-stones, of iron, and made to turn upon the edges by the power of a water-wheel. This material is afterwards conveyed into large circular iron pans, “in which there are large iron balls, which, by the power of the water-wheel above named, are swiftly driven round: in a short time the operation is concluded, and by turning a tap the material empties itself into casks.”

The next one, by the same Thomas Benson, taken out in 1732, was described as—

“A new engine, or method for grinding of flint stones, being the chief ingredient used in making of white wares, such as pots and other vessels, a manufacture carried on in our county of Stafford, and in some other parts of this our kingdom; that the common method hitherto used in preparing the same hath been by breaking and pounding the stones dry, and afterwards sifting the powder through fine lawns, which hath proved very destructive to mankind, occasioned by the dust suckled into the body, which, being of a ponderous nature, fixes so closely upon the lungs that nothing can remove it, insomuch that it is very difficult to find persons to engage in the said manufacture, to the great detriment and decay of that branch of trade, which would otherwise, from the usefulness thereof, be of great benefit and advantage to our kingdom; that by the petitioner’s invention the flint stones are sprinkled with water, so that no dust can arise, then ground as fine as sand, with two large stones made to turn upon the edges by the power of a wheel, worked either by wind, water, or horses, which is afterwards conveyed into large stone pans, made circular, wherein are placed large stone balls, which, by the power of such wheels are driven round with great velocity; that, in a short time, the flint stones so broken are reduced to an oily substance, which, by turning on a cock, empties itself into casks provided for that purpose; that by this invention all hazards and inconveniences in making the said manufacture in the common way will be effectually prevented, and in every particular tend to the manifest improvement and advantage thereof, and preserving the lives of our subjects imployed therein.”

In 1729 Samuel Bell took out a patent for fourteen years “for a new method not hitherto practiced within Great Brittain for making of a red marble stone ware with minerall earth, found within this kingdom, which being firmly vnited by fire will make it capable of receiving a gloss so beautiful as to imitate, if not to compare with rubie; that the stone ware may be formed into vessells for any necessary vse, or into ornaments for houses or gardens, such as jarrs, flower potts, &c., it being the most perfect of its kind, both in colour, nature, and form, that hath ever appeared in this part of Europe;” but no specification, to show what the mineral earth was, is given.

In 1733 (April 24th) Ralph Shawe, potter, of Burslem, who, like many other potters of the district, had long adopted the improvements of Mr. Astbury and others, took out a patent for employing “various sorts of mineral, earth, clay, and other earthy substances, which, being mixt and incorporated together, make up a fine body, of which a curious ware may be made, whose outside will be of a true chocolate colour, striped with white, and the inside white, much resembling the brown China ware, and glazed with salt.” The secret was merely washing the inside, and forming broad lines on the outside of the articles with a very thick slip of flint and pipeclay. “To keep his process more secluded and secret, he was accustomed to evaporate his mixed clays on a long trough, in a place locked up under cover, beneath which were flues, for the heat from fire applied on the outside. This also kept the clay free from any kind of dirt; and the idea is supposed to have been gained from the tile-makers’ method of drying their tiles in stoves. A pair of flower-pots, excellent specimens of this person’s manufacture, which had been received as a present from the maker by his wife’s grandfather, were in the author’s possession till very recently. Mr. Shawe became so litigious and overbearing, that many of the manufacturers were extremely uncomfortable, and prevented improving their productions. Not content with the success he experienced, and the prospect of speedily acquiring affluence, his excessive vanity and insatiable avarice incited to proceedings that terminated in his ruin. Unwilling to admit the customary practices of the business, and to brook any appearance of competition, he was constantly objecting to every trifling improvement as an infringement of his patent, and threatening his neighbours with suits in equity to protect his sole rights; till at length self-defence urged them to bear the expenses of a suit he had commenced against J. Mitchell, to try the validity of the patent, at Stafford, in 1736; and very aged persons, whose parents were present, give the general facts of the trial:—All the manufacturers being interested in the decision, those most respectable were in the court. Witnesses proved Astbury’s invention and prior usage of the practice, and a special jury of great intelligence and wealth gave a verdict against Mr. Shawe. The learned judge, after nullifying the patent, thus addressed the audience—“Go home, potters, and make whatever kinds of pots you please.” The hall re-echoed with acclamations, and the strongest ebullitions of satisfaction from the potters, to the indescribable mortification of Mr. Shawe and his family, who afterwards went to France, where he carried forward his manufactory, whence some of his family returned to Burslem about 1750.” This event is thus characteristically spoken of in native tongue, in the “Burslem Dialogue,” by Mr. Ward:—

“Terrick. Dust moind, Rafe, owt o’ th’ treyal at Staffurt o’ Johnny Mutchil for makkin Rafy Shay’s patten ware?

“Leigh. Oi just remember, bu oi wur ony a big lad at th’ teyme. It had bin mitch tawkt abaht, and when, it wur oer, they aw toud’n wat th’ judge sed to th’ mesters—‘Gooa whomm, potters, an mak wot soourts o’ pots yoa loiken.’ An when they coomn to Boslem, aw th’ bells i’ Hoositon, an Stooke, an th’ tahn, wurn ringin loike hey-go-mad, aw th’ dey.”

The kind of ware just described was sometimes known as “bitstone ware,” from “bits” of stone being used to separate the pieces in the oven. This was, of course, prior to the use of “stilts,” “triangles,” or “cockspurs.”

In 1744, Edward Heylyn, in the parish of Bow, in the county of Middlesex, merchant, and Thomas Frye, of the parish of West Ham, in the county of Essex, painter, took out a patent, and early in the following year enrolled their specification, for the making of china and porcelain ware. This specification, which is deeply interesting, is as follows:—

“Whereas His most Excellent Majesty King George the Second, by His Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of December, in the eighteenth year of His reign, reciting that whereas we, the said Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye, had, by our Petition, humbly represented unto His said Majesty that we had, at a considerable expence of time and money in trying experiments, applyed ourselves to find out a method for the improvement of the English earthenware, and had at last invented and brought to perfection “A New Method of Manufacturing a Certain Material, whereby a Ware might be made of the same Nature or Kind, and equal to, if not exceeding in goodness and beauty, China or Porcelain Ware imported from Abroad;” which Invention we, the Petitioners, apprehended would be of vast advantage to the kingdom, as it would not only save large sums of money that were yearly paid to the Chinese and Saxons, but also imploy large numbers of men, women, and children; and that as many and as great benefits would arise therefrom to this nation, as from the woolen or iron manufactories, in proportion to the numbers of people that would be employed therein, His Majesty did therefore, of His especial grace, certain knowledge, and meer motion, give and grant unto us, the said Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye, our extors, admors, & assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole priviledge & authority, to make, use, exercise, and vend our said Invention in that part of Great Britain called England, Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, to hold to us, the said Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye, our extors, admors, and assigns, for the term of fourteen years from the date of the said recited Letters Patent. In which said Letters Patent there is contained a provisoe, that if we, the said Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner and of what materials the same was to be performed, by an instrument in writing, under our hands and seals, or the hand and seal of one of us, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty’s High Court of Chancery, within four calendar months after the date of the said recited Letters Patent; that then the said Letters Patent, and the libertys and advantages thereby granted, should cease and be void, as in and by the same Letters Patent (relation being thereunto had) may more at large appear.

“NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye, in pursuance of the said provisoe, contained in the said recited Letters Patent, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and the manner and of what material the same is to be performed, as hereinafter is mentioned (that is to say):—

“The material is an earth, the produce of the Chirokee nation in America, called by the natives unaker, the propertys of which are as follows, videlicet, to be very fixed, strongly resisting fire and menstrua, is extreamly white, tenacious, and glittering with mica. The manner of manufacturing the said material is as follows:—Take unaker, and by washing seperate the sand and mica from it, which is of no use; take pott ash, fern ash, pearl ash, kelp, or any other vegetable lixiviall salt, one part of sands, flints, pebbles, or any other stones of the vitryfying kind; one other part of these two principles form a glass in the usual manner of making glass, which when formed reduce to an impalpable powder. Then mix to one part of this powder two parts of the washed unaker, let them be well worked together until intimately mixed for one sort of ware; but you may vary the proportions of the unaker and the glass; videlicet, for some parts of porcelain you may use one half unaker and the other half glass, and so in different proportions, till you come to four unaker and one glass; after which knead it well together, and throw it on the wheel, cast it into moulds, or imprint it into utensils, ornaments, &c.; those vessells, ornaments, &c., that are thrown, should be afterwards turned on a lathe and burnished, it will then be in a situation to be put into the kiln and burned with wood, care being taken not to discolour the ware, otherwise the process will be much hurt. This first burning is called biscuiting, which, if it comes out very white, is ready to be painted blue, with lapis lazuli, lapis armenis, or zapher, which must be highly calcined and ground very fine. It is then to be dipt into the following glaze:—Take unaker forty pounds, of the above glass ten pounds, mix and calcine them in a reverberatory; then reduce, and to each pound when reduced add two pounds of the above glass, which must be ground fine in water, and left of a proper thickness for the ware to take up a sufficient quantity. When the vessells, ornaments, &c., are dry, put them into the kiln in cases, burn them with a clean wood fire, and when the glaze runs true lett out the fire, and it is done, but must not be taken out of the kiln till it is thorough cold.”

In 1748 Thomas Frye took out another patent, the specification for which, enrolled March 17, 1749, is as follows:—

“WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Second, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the twenty-third year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Frye, His especial licence that I, the said Thomas Frye, during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend my “New Method of Making a certain Ware, which is not Inferior in Beauty and Fineness, and is rather Superior in Strength, than the Earthenware that is brought from the East Indies, and is comonly known by the Name of China, Japan, or Porcelain Ware;” in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Thomas Frye, by a writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty’s High Court of Chancery within four kalendar months after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more at large appear.

“NOW KNOW YE, that in complyance with the said provisoe, I, the said Thomas Frye, do hereby declare that the said Invention is to be performed in the manner following (that is to say):—

“As there is nothing in nature but by calcination, grinding, and washing will produce a fixed indissoluble matter, distinguished by the name of virgin earth, the properties of which is strictly the same whether produced from animals, vegetables, or fossills, no other difference arising from the process but that some bodys produce it in greater quantities than others, as all animal substances, all fossils of the calcarious kind, such as chalk, limestone, &c.; take therefore any of these classes, calcine it till it smokes no more, which is an indication that all the volatile sulpherous parts are dissipated, and that the saline are sett loose; then grind and wash in many waters to discharge the salts and filth, reiterate the process twice more, when the ashes or virgin earth will be fit for use; then take of these ashes two parts, one part of flint, or white peble, or clear sand, either producing the same effect, which mix together with water and make into balls or bricks, and burn them in a feirce fire, then grind it fine, and it is ready to be mixed with one third part of its weight of pipeclay, and temper it well, when it is fit to be thrown on the wheel, which, when finished and dry, is to be burned as all other pottery ware till it is transparent and of a fine colour, then to be painted with smalt or zaffer, as it is required to be deeper or paler, and it is ready to be glazed with the following preparation:—Take saltpetre one part, red lead two parts, sand, flint, or other white stones, three parts. To make a glass, melt it well and grind it, to every twenty pounds of which add six pounds of white lead, adding a small portion of smalt to clean the colour; mix it well and glaze the ware, which is done by dipping in the vessell and setting it on to dry, when it must be put in cases and burned as above with wood, till the surface of the ware is clear and shining, and it is finished.”

In these specifications we have important materials touching the Bow china works, under which head they will again be referred to. About this time, the Chelsea, Worcester, and Derby, and, a little later, the Plymouth, porcelain works were established. The year in which this specification was enrolled, 1749, is memorable as the year when Josiah Wedgwood completed his term of apprenticeship, and when, consequently, he entered upon that course of work and life which have ever since had so brilliant and so marked an effect upon the potter’s art in this country. At this time, too, there were in Staffordshire a number of very skilful potters, who were, even before Wedgwood’s time, making rapid strides in the art. To some of these I shall refer later on in this work.

The next patent taken out was in 1762, by “William White, of Fulham, in the county of Middlesex, potter,” for making white crucibles or melting-pots of Stourbridge clay and Dorsetshire clay, calcined, mixed with Woolwich sand, and water, and trodden together, and burned. Two years later, James Williamson and Joseph Spackman patented “a new method of turning ovals in pewter, English china, and all other earthenwares,” on a lathe with movable chucks and sliding ring, of their inventing. In 1766, “the Count de Lauraguais, of London,” having, “by his petition, humbly represented unto us, that by labour, study, travelling, and expence in trying experiments, he hath found out and invented ‘a new method of making porcelain ware in all its different branches, viz.—to make the coarser species of china, the more beautiful of the Indies, and the finest of Japan, in a manner different from any that is made in our dominions, and he, having the materials tryed in Great Britain, has brought the same to so great perfection that the porcelain made therewith after his new method far excells any that has hitherto been made in Great Britain, the same not being fusible by fire, as all other china made there is,’” took out a patent for fourteen years, but no specification seems to have been enrolled.

During all this time the pottery district of Staffordshire was rapidly increasing, and important strides were being made by its manufacturers in the improvement of their art. In various parts of the country, too, old pot works continued their business in an improved state, and new ones sprang up in every direction. The history of the art, therefore, becomes that of the various works which I shall have to pass under review. The patents taken out from this period to the close of the century are some guide to this state of progress, but not much; for it is an undoubted fact, that many of the most important improvements and most reliable inventions were never patented at all, while others, which were the gradual result of daily practice, were not sufficiently “inventions” to entitle them to patent right.

In 1768 William Cookworthy, of Plymouth, took out a patent for his newly invented porcelain, which was renewed in 1775 to Richard Champion; to these reference will be made under the heads of “Plymouth” and “Bristol.”

In 1769 Josiah Wedgwood took out his only patent; it was for decorative, not manufacturing, processes, and will be spoken of more fully in the notice of Etruria.

In 1782 James Crease patented some inventions in the making of sanitary vessels; and in the two following years “Joseph Cartledge, of Blackley, in the county of York, Doctor of Physic,” enrolled his specification for “a method of glazing earthenware.” This interesting document is as follows:—

“Whereas His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifth day of February, in the twenty-fourth year of His reign, reciting that I, the said Joseph Cartledge, had, by my Petition, humbly represented unto His said Majesty, that I had, by great study, invented “A New Method of Glazing Earthenware,” which would be of public utility and advantage, and praying His said Majesty to grant unto me, my e[~x]ors, adm̃ors], and assigns, His said Majesty’s Letters Patent for the sole exercise of my said Invention, within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, for the term of fourteen years from the date of the said Letters Patent, was graciously pleased to condescend to my request; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if I, the said Joseph Cartledge, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in his said Majesty’s High Court of Chancery within four calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the said Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had, may and will more fully appear.

“NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Cartledge, in compliance with the said proviso, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as follows, viz.:—

“First, as to the nature of the Invention, it is well known to the manufacturers of earthenware, that all the sorts of common ware now in use are now, and have been heretofore at all times, both in this and all other countries I know, glazed either by sea salt, or by lead ore, or by some preparation of lead, or of lead and tin united to ground flints or clay, or both. Now the nature of the discovery which I have made consists in this, that instead of the use of sea salt, or metallic substances, the earthenware is glazed with various kinds of earths and stones, by which there will be a great saving of expence in the glazing of the said ware, and the glaze itself, it is apprehended, will be more perfect than that which is made with salt, and more wholesome than that into which either lead, or lead and tin, enter as constituent parts.

“Secondly, with respect to the manner of applying the earth and stones:—They are to be ground into powder, and laid on the ware as potters use their own composition. With respect to the sorts of earths and stones which are adapted to the purposes they are various. The toad-stone of Derbyshire, and other places, the Scotch and Guernsey pebbles, the basaltes, and other productions generally esteemed volcanic, rag stone, slate, shale, granite, gypsum, fluor spar, mare stone, and many other kinds of earths and stones which I know not how to denominate, will all, either severally or when mixed in different proportions with each other, or with siliceous or argillaceous, micaceous, or calcareous earths or stones, or with all of them, answer the purpose. I would have it also understood, that portions of the metallic substances now used for the purpose of glazing earthenware or saline bodies (tho’ not necessary for producing the effect) may be used in conjunction with the earths and stones here mentioned. I would further remark, that the slags of furnaces, the slags of pit-coal, and the crust which forms on the bottom slip-kilns, by themselves, or in conjunction with the substances before mentioned, will glaze earthenware. But as the same effect may be produced by a great many different sorts of earths and stones, when used either separately or when combined in very different proportions, all of which it is impossible to enumerate or ascertain, I think it fit to mention the three following, which have succeeded well with me. Take of Derbyshire toad-stone five parts by weight, fluor spar one part, take thirty-three parts of clay, nineteen parts of flint, thirty-eight parts of striated gypsum, take fluor spar one, two, three or four parts, porcelain clay two parts, siliceous earth one fourth of a part, of calcareous earth one sixth of a part.”

The next patent, in 1785, was by Thomas De-la-Mayne, for “making buttons of burnt earth or porcelain;” and the next, in 1786, by John Skidmore, for ornamenting various articles and “all sorts of china and earthenware with foil stones, Bristol stones, paste, and all sorts of pinched glass, lapped glass, and every other stone, glass, and composition used in or applicable to the jewellery trade,” in ways therein described. In 1789 an improvement in the form and construction of “soup ladles, tureens, gravy spoons, ladles, and skimmers,” was patented by John Baynes; and in 1790, Johanna Hempel patented newly invented filters. In 1796, James Keeling patented improvements in decorative and glazing processes; and in the same year, in conjunction with Valentine Close, an improved mode of constructing “ovens, kilns, and firing-places, so as to make and cause a very great saving of coals and fuel in and about the firing, hardening, and baking all manner of porcelain, china ware, and all manner of earthenwares, in every state wherein firing is needful and necessary.”

In the same year, 1796, Ralph Wedgwood took out three separate patents. The first of these was for a “new discovered and invented method of making earthenware, whereby the article of earthenware may be made at a less cost than hitherto, to the great advantage of the manufacturers thereof, and of the public.” This consists “in casing over inferior compositions with compositions commonly used for making cream-coloured ware, white ware, or china.” “Thick bats or laminæ” of the inferior are covered on each side with thin bats of the superior clay, and if the edges of the ware are required to be cased, they are surrounded “with a square piece commonly called a wad.” Afterwards the “bats” are beat, pressed, or rolled out to the required dimensions, “as are proper for the wares to be made from the same.” For moulding the wares single moulds may be used, but double are preferred, of wood, or “wood cased with plaster, of metal,” or any material capable of standing much pressure. The press is such as is used for stamping buttons. The glazing is applied dry to the bats; if the edges of the ware, after moulding, are not properly covered with dry glaze, supply these parts “with wet glaze, by means of a pencil;” afterwards stove and burn the ware. The others were respectively for a new method of making glass from old earthenware, china, &c.; and for “a new-invented stove,” “calculated principally for the use of manufacturers of earthenware and china.” On the same day on which this patent was dated, one was also granted to John Pepper, for a new construction of kilns or ovens for the same purpose. In 1799 Messrs. William and John Turner patented “a new method or methods of manufacturing porcelain or earthenware, by the introduction of a material not heretofore used in the manufacturing of those articles;” the material being “Tabberner’s Mine rock,” “Little Mine rock,” and “New rock,” mixed with the growan, or Cornish stone, and flint.

This is the last patent connected with ceramics before the year 1800, and therefore brings us down to the commencement of the present century. From 1800 to 1861 no less than three hundred and twenty-two patents were taken out for improvements in the potter’s art or in matters connected with that art. These will be briefly enumerated at the close of this work, and of many of them notices will be found incorporated in its body.

In the early part of this century, with the exception of the productions of a few houses, the state of the art was still at a low ebb; and, although improvements were constantly being made, when the great world-struggle took place in 1851, we, as a nation, were found to be lamentably behind some other countries, not only in the beauty of form and decoration of our ceramic productions, but even in quality of body and glaze. Between the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862 a marked improvement was effected, and this has gone on steadily extending itself, until now Great Britain, without exception, stands foremost of all the nations of earth in this art.

I now proceed, in succeeding chapters, to speak of the various earthenware and porcelain works and seats of pottery manufacture, of the kingdom.

CHAPTER VI.

The Fulham Works—Dwight’s Inventions and Patents—First China made in England—Dwight’s Books of Recipes, &c.—Present Productions—Lambeth—Exchequer Trial—High Street—Coade’s Works—London Pottery—Lambeth Pottery—Fore Street—Waters’ Patent—Imperial Pottery—Crispe’s China—Blackfriars Road—Bas-reliefs for Wedgwood Institute—Vauxhall—Aldgate—Mill Wall—Mortlake—Southwark; Gravel Lane—Isleworth—Stepney—Greenwich—Deptford—Merton—Hounslow—Wandsworth—Ewell—Cheam—Chiselhurst.

Fulham.

In 1671, as I have already shown,[39] John Dwight took out a patent for “the mistery of transparent earthenware, comonly knowne by the names of Porcelaine or China, and Persian Ware,” &c. The patent runs as follows:—

“CHARLES THE SECOND, &c., to all to whome theise presents shall come, greeting.

“WHEREAS wee have bene informed by the humble peticon of John Dwight, Gentl, that he had discovered “The Mistery of Transparent Earthenware, comonly knowne by the Names of Porcelaine or China, and Persian Ware, as alsoe the Misterie of the Stone Ware vulgarly called Cologne Ware; and that he designed to introduce a Manufacture of the said Wares into our Kingdome of England, where they have not hitherto bene wrought or made.” And thereupon the said John Dwight hath humbly besought vs to grant him the sole benefitt of the manufacture of the said wares for fourteene yeares, according to the statute in that behalfe made and provided.

“KNOW YEE, that wee, being willing to cherish and encourage all laudable endeavours and designes of such our subiects as shall find out vsefull and profitable arts, misteries, and invencons, by granting and appropriating vnto them for some terme of yeares the fruite and benefitt of their industry, whereby their labours and expences in the attainm^t thereof may be recompensed and rewarded vnto them, of our especiall grace, certaine knowledge, and meere mocon, have given and granted, and by theise presents, for vs, our heires and successors, doe give and grant vnto the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, speciall lycense and full and free libertie, priviledge, power, and authoritie, that he, the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, by him and themselves, or by his or their deputies, servants, workemen, or assignes, and none other, shall and may, from time to time, and att all and everie time and times hereafter, dureing the tearme of fourteene yeares next ensueing the date of these presents, att his and their owne proper costs and charges, vse, exercise, practise, and enioy the said misterie and Invencon of makeing transparent earthen ware, comonly knowne by the names of porcelaine or China, and Persian ware; and also the mistery and Invencon or makeing the stone ware vulgarly called Collogne ware, within any convenient place or places within our Realme of England, Dominion of Wales, or Towne of Berwick-vpon-Tweed, in such manner as to him or them in their discrecons shall seeme meete; and shall and may have and enioy the sole benefitt and advantage from, by, or vnder the said misteries and invencons or manufactures of the said wares, or either of them by him the said John Dwight found out and discovered, as aforesaid, ariseing or groweing from time to time dureing the terme hereby granted, to have, hold, and enioy the said lycenses, priviledges, powers, and authorities, benefitt, advantages, & other the premisses in and by these presents granted or menconed to be granted, and everie of them, vnto the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, from and dureing the tearme of fourteene yeares from henceforth next ensueing, and fully to be compleate and ended, yeilding and paying therefore yearely and every yeare dureing the said tearme into the receipt of our Exchequer att Westminster, to the vse of vs, our heires and successors, the yearely rent or sume of twentie shillings of lawfull money of England, att the two most vsuall feasts or tearmes in the yeare, (that is to say) att the Feast of Saint Michaell the Archangell, and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by even and equall porcons. And to the end the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, and everie of them, may the better enioy the full and whole benefitt and sole vse and exercise of the said misteries, invencons, and manufacture of the said wares, as well within liberties as without, wee doe by theise presents, for vs, our heires and successors, require and streightly charge and comand all and everie person & persons, bodies pollitique and corporate, of whatsoever qualitie, degree, name, or condicon they be, that neither they nor any of them, dureing the tearme hereby granted, either directly or indirectly, doe or shall vse or putt in practise the said misteries and invencons or manufacture of the said wares, or either of them, soe by the said John Dwight found out or discovered as aforesaid; nor doe or shall counterfeit, imitate, or resemble the same; nor doe or shall make any addicon therevnto, or substraccon from the same, whereby to pretend themselves the inventors or devisors thereof, without the lycense, consent, and agreement of the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, or assignes, in writeing under his or their hands and seals first had and obteyned in that behalfe, vpon such paines and penalties as can or may be inflicted on such offendors for the contempt of this our comand in that behalfe, and further to be answearable to the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, according to law and justice, for his and their damages thereby susteined. And further, we doe by theise presents, for vs, our heires and successors, give and grant vnto the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, full power and authoritie that he, they, and everie of them, his, theire, & everie of theire deputies, servants, and agents, or any of them, haveing first obteyned a warrant in this behalfe from the Lord Chiefe Justice of the Court of King’s Bench for the time being, may, with the assistance of a constable or any other lawfull officer, as well within liberties as without, vpon request, att convenient times in the day, dureing the time aforesaid, and in lawfull manner, to enter and make search in any houses or other places where there shall be iust causes of suspition, for discovering and finding out of all such persons as shall within the tearme of fourteene yeares aforesaid imitate or cause to bee imitated or vse or putt in practise the said misteries and invencons, or manufacture of the said wares, or either of them, soe by the said John Dwight found out and discovered as aforesaid, that soe such offendors may be proceeded against and punished according to their demeritts. And further, wee doe by theise presents, for vs, our heires and successors, will, authorise, and require all and singuler justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffes, bayliffes, constables, head-boroughs, and all other officers and ministers whatsoever, of vs, our heires and successors, for the time being, that they and every of them respectively be from time to time dureing the said tearme hereby granted in their respective places, favouring, ayding, helping, and assisting vnto the said John Dwight, his executors, adminr^s, and assignes, and to be his and their deputie and deputies, servants, and agents, in and by all things in and aboute the accomplishment of our will and pleasure herein declared, and in the exercise and execucon of the powers and priviledges herein and hereby granted or menconed to be granted as aforesaid; and, moreover, wee will and comand by theise presents, for us, our heires and successors, that our said officers, or any of them, doe not molest, trouble, or interrupt the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, or assignes, or his or their deputie or deputies, servants, or workemen, or any of them, in or about the vse or exercise of the said misteries and invencons or manufacture of the said wares, or either of them, or any matter or thing concerning the same, or either of them: Provided alwaies, that if att any time dureing the said tearme of fourteene yeares it shall be made appeare vnto vs, our heires or successors, or any six or more of our or their Privy Councell, that this our grant is contrary to law or preiudiciall or inconvenient or not of public vse or benefitt, then, vpon significacon & declaracon to be made by vs, our heires or successors, vnder our or their signett or privie seale, or by the Lords and others of our Privy Councell, or any six of them for the time being, in writeing vnder their hands, of such preiudice or inconvenience, these our Letters Patents, and all things therein conteyned, shall forthwith cease, determine, and be vtterly void to all intents and purposes, anything hereinbefore conteyned to the contrary notwithstanding. And our will and pleasure is, that the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, or assignes, shall enroll these presents, or cause the same to be enrolled, before the Clerke of the Pipe within six moneths next after the date hereof. And lastly, wee doe by theise presents, for vs, our heires and successors, grant vnto the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, that these our Letters Patents, and the inrollment thereof, shall bee in and by all things good, valid, sufficient, and effectuall in the law, according to the true intent and meaning of theise presents, and shall be taken, adiudged, and construed most favourably and beneficially for the best benefitt and advantage of the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, as well in all our Courts of Record as elsewhere, notwithstanding the not specifying the various sorts of the said Collogne wares, and the not full and certaine describing the manner and qualitie of the said misteries and invencons, or any of them, or of the materialls, way and manner of workeing the same, or of the true and certaine vse and benefitt thereof, and notwithstanding any other defects, incertainties, or imperfeccons in theise presents conteyned, or any act, statute, ordinance, provision, proclamacon, or restraint to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding.

“In witnes, &c. Witnes our selfe att Westminster, the Three and twentieth day of Aprill P bre de privatoe sigillo.”

This was the commencement of the Fulham Pottery, whose history I am about to attempt to trace, and which has continued uninterruptedly in work for more than two centuries.

Dwight appears to have been a man of considerable learning and ability. He graduated as M.A. at Christ Church, Oxford, and successively held the appointments of secretary to more than one Bishop of Chester. He seems to have long experimented upon clays and mineral products in the search after the body of which the oriental china was made, and at length to have brought those researches to a successful issue. Six years after the date of the first of his patents, Dr. Plot, the eminent antiquary and keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, thus wrote of his discoveries in his “History of Oxfordshire”:—

“§ 84. Amongst arts that concern formation of earths, I shall not mention the making of pots at Marsh Balden and Nuneham Courtney, nor of tobacco-pipes of the white earth of Shotover, since those places are now deserted. Nor indeed was there, as I ever heard of, anything extraordinary performed during the working these earths, nor is there now of a very good tobacco-pipe clay found in the parish of Horspath, since the first printing of the third chapter of this history.... Let it suffice for things of this nature, that the ingenious John Dwight, formerly M.A. of Christ Church College, Oxon, hath discovered the mystery of the stone or Cologne wares (such as d’Alva bottles, jugs, noggins), heretofore made only in Germany, and by the Dutch brought over into England in great quantities; and hath set up a manufacture of the same, which (by methods and contrivances of his own, altogether unlike those used by the Germans), in three or four years’ time, he hath brought it to greater perfection than it has attained where it hath been used for many ages, insomuch that the Company of Glass-sellers of London, who are the dealers for that commodity, have contracted with the inventor to buy only of his English manufacture, and refuse the foreign.

Ҥ 85. He hath discovered also the mystery of the Hessian wares, and vessels for reteining the penetrating salts and spirits of the chymists, more serviceable than were ever made in England, or imported from Germany itself.

Ҥ 86. And hath found ways to make an earth white and transparent as porcellane, and not distinguishable frome it by the eye, or by experiments that have been purposely made to try wherein they disagree. To this earth he hath added the colours that are usual in the coloured china ware, and divers others not seen before. The skill that hath been wanting to set up a manufacture of this transparent earthenware in England, like that of China, is the glazing of the white earth, which hath much puzzled the projector, but now that difficulty also is in great measure overcome.

“§ 87. He hath also caused to be modelled statues or figures of the said transparent earth (a thing not done elsewhere, for China affords us only imperfect mouldings), which he hath diversified with great variety of colours, making them of the colour of iron, copper, brass, and party-colour’d as some Achat-stones. The considerations that induced him to this attempt were the duration of this hard-burnt earth, much above brass or marble, against all air and weather, and the softness of the matter to be modelled, which makes it capable of more curious work than stones that are wrought with chisels, or metals that are cast. In short, he has so advanced the Art Plastic that ’tis dubious whether any man since Prometheus have excelled him, not excepting the famous Damophilus and Gorgasus of Pliny (Nat. Hist., lib. xxxv. c. 12).

“§ 88. And these arts he employs about meterials of English growth, and not much applyed to other uses; for instance, he makes the stone bottles of a clay in appearance like to tobacco-pipe clay, which will not make tobacco-pipes, although the tobacco-pipe clay will make bottles; so that that which hath lain buried and useless to the owners may become beneficial to them by reason of this manufacture, and many working hands get good livelihoods, not to speak of the very considerable sums of English coyn annually kept at home by it.”

Dwight having patented his discovery of “the mistery of transparent earthenware, commonly known by the names of Porcelaine or China, or Persia ware,” in April, 1671, it is perfectly clear that the discovery must have been made before that time, and that it must have been the result of a long series of patient trials and experiments. Thus, I think, we may safely say that the actual discovery was made some time prior to 1671. In 1684 the patent expired, and a new one granted, in June, for another term of fourteen years—this time the wares and articles being more specifically named. It is as follows:—

“CHARLES THE SECOND, by the grace of God, &c., to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.

“WHEREAS John Dwight, Gentl, hath represented vnto vs that by his owne industry and at his owne proper costs and charges, hee hath invented and sett vp at Fulham, in our County of Middx, ‘Severall New Manufactures of Earthenwares, called by the Names of White Gorges, Marbled Porcellane Vessells, Statues, and Figures, and Fine Stone Gorges and Vessells, never before made in England or elsewhere; and alsoe discovered the Mistery of Transparent Porcellane, and Opacous, Redd, and Darke-coloured Porcellane or China and Persian Wares, and the Mistery of the Cologne or Stone Wares,’ and is endeavouring to settle manufactures of all the said wares within this our kingdome of England; and hee having humbly besought vs, to grant vnto him our Letters Patents for the sole vse and exercise of the same for the terme of fowrteene years, according to the Statute in that case provided, wee are gratiously pleased to condescend to that his request.

“KNOW YEE THEREFORE, that wee being willing that the said John Dwight may reap some reasonable recompence and compensacon for his great charge and paines in and about the premisses, and to incourage the inventers of such arts as may be of publick vse and benefitt, of our especiall grace, certeine knowledge, and meere mocon, have given and granted, and by these presents, for vs, our heires and successors, doe give and grant, vnto the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, speciall licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that hee, the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, and every of them, by themselves, or their deputy or deputys, servants or agents, or such others as the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, or assignes, shall at any time agree with, and noe others, from time to time and at all times dureing the terme of yeares hereafter in these presents expressed, shall and lawfully may vse, exercise, and enioy the said Invencons of new manufactures within any part or parts, place or places whatsoever, of, in, or belonging to our kingdome of England, dominion of Wales, and all and every or any of our kingdomes and dominions whatsoever, in such manner, and according to such reasonable and lawfull rates and limitacons, as to him, the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, or any of them, shall in their discrecons seeme meet, and that hee, the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, shall and may have and enioy the sole benefitt, profitt, comodity, and advantage from time to time coming, growing, and arising by reason of the said Invencons of new manufactures, for and dureing the full terme of yeares hereafter menconed; to have, hold, exercise, and enioy the said licence, powers, privileges, and advantages hereinbefore granted or menconed to be granted vnto the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, for and dureing and vnto the full end and terme of fourteene yeares from the day of the date of these presents next and imediately ensueing and fully to be compleate and ended according to the Statute in this case made and provided; and to the end that the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, and every of them, may enioy the full benefitt and the sole vse and exercise of the said Invencons of new manufactures according to our gratious intencons hereinbefore declared, wee doe by these presents, for vs, our heires and successors, require and strictly comand all and every person and persons, bodys politique and corporate, and all other our subiects whatsoever, of what estate, quality, or degree, name, or condicon soever they be, within all and every our kingdomes & dominions, that neither they nor any of them, at any time dureinge the continuance of the said terme of fowrteene yeares hereby granted, either directly or indirectly doe, vse, or put in practise the said Invencons of new manufactures, or any of them, or any part of the same soe atteined vnto by the said John Dwight as aforesaid, nor shall in anywise counterfeite or resemble the said Invencons of manufacture, or any of them, nor shall make or cause to be made any addicon thereto or substraccon from the same, whereby to pretend themselves the inventers or devisers thereof, without the licence, consent, or agreement of the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, or assignes, in writing vnder his, their, or some of their hands and seales, first had and obteyned in that behalfe, vpon such paines and penaltys as can or may be iustly inflicted on such offenders for their contempt of this our Royall comand; and further to be answerable to the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, according to law for his and their damages thereby to be susteined. And wee doe, of our further especiall grace, certeine knowledge, and meere mocon, for vs, our heires and successors, grant vnto the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, by these presents, that hee, they, and every of them, and his, their, and every of their deputys, agents, and servants, haveing first obteined a lawfull warrant from the Lord Chiefe Justice of our Court of King’s Bench at Westm for the time being, and with the assistance of a constable or any other lawful officer, at convenient times in the day dureing the terme hereby granted, and in lawfull manner, may enter into and make search in any place or places whatsoever within any of our kingdomes and dominions where there shall be iust cause of suspicon for the discovery and finding out of all and every person and persons as shall imitate or cause to be imitated, or shall vse or put in practise the said Invencons of new manufactures, or any of them, or shall make or counterfeite any instruments or materialls to the same belonging, that soe such offender or offenders may be proceeded against and punished according to law. And further, wee doe by these presents, for vs, our heires and successors, will, authorise, and comand all and singular justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffs, bayliffes, constables, head-boroughs, and all other officers and ministers whatsoever of vs, our heires and successors, for the time being, as well within our kingdome of England and dominion of Wales, as within all and every other our kingdomes and dominions, that they and every of them respectively be from time to time dureing the terme hereby granted, in their respective offices, favouring, aiding, helping, and assisting vnto the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, and to his and theire deputy and deputys, servants and agents, in and by all things in and about the accomplishment of our Royall will and pleasure hereinbefore declared, and in the exercise and execucon of the powers and privileges hereby granted as aforesaid. And moreover wee doe by these presents, for vs, our heires and successors, will and comand that our said respective officers and ministers before menconed, or any of them, doe not, nor shall att any time hereafter dureing the said terme hereby granted, in anywise, molest, trouble, or hinder the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, or assignes, or any his or their deputys, servants, or agents, in or about the due and lawfull vse or exercise of the aforesaid Invencons, or any of them, or anything relateing therevnto: Provided always, and these our Letters Patents are and shalbe vpon this condicon, that if at any tyme dureing the said terme hereby granted it shalbe made appeare to vs, our heires or successors, or any six or more of our or their Privy Councell, that this our present grant is contrary to law or preiudiciall or inconvenient to our subiects in generall, or that the said Invencons and every of them are not new invencons as to the publick vse and exercise thereof within this our kingdome, and not invented and found out by the said John Dwight as aforesaid, then vpon significacon and declaracon thereof to be made by us, our heires or successors, vnder our or their signett or privy seale, or by the lords and others of our or their Privy Councell, or any six or more of them vnder their hands, these our Letters Patents shall forthwith cease, determine, and be vtterly void to all intents and purposes, any thing before herein conteined to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding: Provided alsoe, that these our Letters Patents or any thing therein conteined shall not extend or be construed to extend to give privilege vnto the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, or assignes, or any of them, to vse or imitate any invencon or worke whatsoever which hath been heretofore found out or invented by any other of our subiects whatsoever, and publicly vsed or exercised within our said realme and dominions, or any of them, vnto whom we have already granted our like Letters Patents of Privilege for the sole vse, exercise, and benefitt thereof, it being our will and pleasure that the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, and all and singular other person and persons to whom we have already granted our like Letters Patents or privileges, as aforesaid, shall distinctly vse and practise their severall invencons by them invented and found out according to the true intent and meaning of the said Letters Patents and of these presents. And lastly wee doe by these presents, for vs, our heires and successors, grant vnto the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, that these our Letters Patents or the inrollment thereof shalbe in and by all things firme, valid, sufficient, and effectuall in the law according to the true intent and meaneing thereof, and shalbe taken, construed, and adiudged in the most favourable and beneficiall sense for the best advantage of the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, aswell in all Courts of Record as elsewhere, and by all and singular the officers and ministers whatsoever of vs, our heires and successors in all and singular our realmes and dominions whatsoever, and amongst all and every the subiects of us, our heires and successors, whatsoever and wheresoever, notwithstanding the not full and certaine describing the nature or quality of the said Invencons, or any of them, or of the materialls thereto conduceing or belonging, or any other defects or incertaintys in these presents contained, or any act, statute, ordinance, provision, proclamacon, or restriccon, or other matter, cause, or thing whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.

In witnesse, &c. Witnesse Ourselfe at Westm, the Twelfth day of June. By Writt of Privy Seale.

In 1694[40] Houghton thus, in his “Letters on Husbandry and Trade,” wrote[41] while speaking of the tobacco-pipe clays, “gotten at or nigh Pool, a post-town in Dorsetshire, and there dug in square pieces, of the bigness of about half a hundredweight each; from thence ’tis brought to London, and sold in peaceable times at about eighteen shillings a ton, but now in this time of war is worth about three and twenty shillings,” And again he says: “This sort of clay, as I hinted formerly, is used to clay sugar; and the best sort of mugs are made with it, and the ingenious Mr. Daught of Fulham tells me that ’tis the same earth China-ware is made of, and ’tis made, not by lying long in the earth, but in the fire; and if it were worth while, we may make as good China here as any is in the world. And so for this time, farewel Clay.” Again, on “March 13, 1695,” he thus writes: “Of China-ware I see but little imported in the year 1694, I presume by reason of the war and our bad luck at sea. There came only from Spain certain, and from India certain twice. ’Tis a curious manufacture, and deserves to be encourag’d here, which without doubt money would do; and Mr. Dowoit at Fulham has done it, and can again in any thing that is flat: but the difficulty is that if a hollow dish be made, it must be burnt so much that the heat of the fire will make the sides fall. He tells me that our clay will very well do it; the main skill is in managing the fire. By my consent, the man that would bring it to perfection should have for his encouragement one thousand pound from the publick, though I help’d to pay a tax towards it.”

Although no specifications are preserved with Dwight’s patents,[42] I am enabled, through the extreme kindness and courtesy of the present owner of the works, C. I. C. Bailey, Esq., to give recipes for the manufacture of porcelain, &c., in Dwight’s own words, and copied from his own private pocket-books. These two extremely curious books were recently discovered among some old account books and their discovery throws considerable light on the history of the plastic art at this period. One of these books, which is bound in vellum, contains on its outside front cover the words:—

“All that is in this

book was enterd since

9 ber 15 1695;”

but the other contains many earlier entries, from 1691. Both the books are in Dwight’s own handwriting. Among the number of curious recipes are the following, which possess more than ordinary interest.

“To make transparent Porcelane or China Cley.—Take fine white thirty pounds. Best cley sifted twenty pounds. Mingle & tread. This works strong and may be wrought thin vpon ye wheel.

“To make another transparent porcelane or China Cley.—Take fine white thirty pounds. Best Cley fifteen pounds. Mingle and tread. This works weaker and thicker but burns very clear with low fire.

“To make red porcelane Cley.—Take Cley sifted twenty pounds. Ffine dark Earth fifteen pounds. White ꝑ. Cyprus five pounds. Mingle & tread.

“To make a bright red Cley w^th Staffordshire red Cley.—Take sifted Staffordshire Cley thirty pounds. ffine dark twenty pounds. Mingle & tread.

“The fine Stone Cley.—Take sifted cley sixty pounds ffine white fourteen pounds. ffine white sand sifted ten pounds. Mingle and tread. The best way of weighing and mingling this Cley is, 1, To weigh thirty pounds of Cley & put that into ye mingling box, 2, To weigh thirty pounds of Cley and put that also into ye mingling box. Spreading all the Cley till it lye Leuell. 3, Then weigh fourteen pounds of fine white, & ten pounds of fine white sand, and pour y^m together upon the Cley, and spread them to lye leuell, yⁿ mingle all y^e grate Shouell.

“The fine white Cley for Gorges & Cans.—Take Cley sifted three and thirty pound, ffine white thirty pounds. Mingle & tread. The readiest way of weighing and mingling this Cley is 1^st, Weigh three and thirty pounds of Cley and put it into ye mingling box, spreading it abroad till it lye leuell, 2, Weigh thirty pounds of fine white, put it into the mingling box vpon the Cley, spreading it to the leuell, then mingle them with y^e grate Shouell.

“The like fine white Cley in smaller quantity if occasion require.—Take Cley sifted two & twenty pounds, ffine white twenty pounds. Weigh the white first, and lay the Cley a top, mingling y^m in the scale.

“The fine white Cley for dishes or Teapots to endure boiling water.—Take Cley sifted two & twenty pounds ffine white twenty pounds. White ꝑ. Cyprus six pounds. Weigh these one vpon another and mingle them in y^e Scale.

“‘9ber[43] 1695. An Essay towards a China Glasse.—Take calcin’d sand six ounces, ffine white sand two ounces. Mingle and melt them vnder the ffurnace into a white hard glasse. Take of the set white hard glasse beated & sifted half a pound. White Lead two ounces. Mingle & melt them into a glasse to be ground for a china glasse.’ ‘Not (note) yt in burning China you must set pots near the wideness of ye Arches and set them 6 inches distant from one another and from the wall. The little furnace where the last Red Teapots were burnt I take to be a convenient one for this vse.’

“1691 March 14. To make a gray Porcellane by Salt.—Take eighteen pound of fine white Earth, two pound of fine pale Earth, twenty pound of Cley, six pound of vnground White Earth sifted through Cyprus sieve; mingle & tread. This is a strong hardy Cley, fit for Garden pots, teapots, dishes &c.

“1691 March 15. To make a blew porcellane Cley to be turn’d into vessells or to spot and inlay pots of any other Porcellane.—Take fiue pounds of Cley, fiue pound of ye fine White Earth, one pound of zaffer fine ground-dryd and done through a midling hair Sieve, mingle & tread. If it be wetted with the white water ’twill be the brighter.

“To make another blew porc: Cley more bright.—Take six pound of fine White Earth, four pound of Cley, one pound of zaffer ground fine dry’d & sifted through ye midling hair sieve, mingle, and tread them w^th the white water.

“1692 July 12. To make a blew porcell: Cley of inlaying or to turn into vessells.—Take fine white two ounces. White ꝑ. Cyp’s sieve one ounce. Best Smalt one ounce. Cley three ounces.

“1693 9ber 14. To make transparent porcellane or China Cley.—Take fine white Earth thirty pounds. Cley sifted twenty pounds. Mingle & tread.

“To make another transparent porcellane or China Cley.—Take fine white Earth thirty pounds, Cley sifted fifteen pounds. Mingle and tread.”

Other recipes are:

“Light grey Cley to endure boiling water;” “ffiner light grey Cley for ye like vses;” “Mouse coloured cley to endure boiling water;” “ffiner mouse coloured Cley for ye same vse;” “1698 Apr: 6. To make Number Sixteen;” “The best White Cley to make Gor: Cans, or dishes to endure boiling water;” “To make ye White Earth;” “To make the White Earth in larger quantity at one time;” “To make the Dark Earth;” “To make fine White;” “To make fine Dark;” “To make calcin’d Sand;” “To make white ꝑ. Cyprus;” “To make ye Black Earth;” “A fine brown colour w^th out Grinding;” “To make a fine bright and strong brown;” “To make ye brightest brown colour;” “Cley to burn brown;” “for marbling stone-pots;” “White to marble ston pots;” “Another grey for marbl: stone pots;” “To make a fine white porcellane Cley to be burnt w^th Salt fitt only for things of ornament;” “Grey Cley for ye like vse;” “A darker Cley for ye same vse;” “A Mouse colour’d Porcellane w^th white specks;” “A bright Mouse colourd Cley to endure boiling water;” “A fine porcellane Cley fit for deep dishes w^th out handles to be burnt w^th out glasse in the strongest fire that may serve to perfect ye China ware. ℞ Cley twenty pounds. ffine White twenty pounds. fine Black Earth two pounds. White ꝑ Cyprus sieve six pounds. Mingle & tread;” “The best Dark Earth;” “The fine grinding of the Dark Earth;” “The best browne glasse for white browne pots;” “To make the Dark Earth;” “A dark colour’d Cley for marbled dishes and teapots to endure boiling water;” “The Mouse colour’d Cley to endure boiling water;” “Another lesse red Cley;” “To make a grey porcellane Clay hardy & fit for Garden Potts, Teapots &c.;” “Another lighter Grey Cley;” “To make a deep red Cley of the Staffordshire red Cley;” “Another good red of ye same Cley;” “Another Red Cley;” “To make a Cley to burn brown strong & hardy fit for teapots to be sprig’d white;” “To make ye best fine ston Clay;” “Wh: br: & wh: gor: to be excisd[44] Cley sixty pounds, White sand 12 pounds, ffine White 24 pounds.”

These extracts will be amply sufficient to show the interest and importance of these curious old books which have so kindly been placed at my disposal for this work by their owner, Mr. Bailey, but I cannot refrain from giving some extracts of a totally different character. These relate to the way Mr. Dwight had of being his own banker by hiding his money in all sorts of out-of-the-way corners of his pot-works until wanted. Probably there may still be some of this “treasure-trove,” as well as his moulds and models, &c., to be turned on by some fortunate possessor of the place.

“1693 9ber.[45]—In ye garret in a hole vnder ye fire-place 240 G.[46] in a wooden box.[47]

“In ye old Labouratory at the old house, in two holes vnder the fire-place on both sides ye ffurnace in 2 half pint Gor: Couered 460.

“Behind the door of the Old Labouratory, & within ye end of ye bench, in a pot couered 200.

“In ye second presse in ye said Laboura: vnder some papers at ye bottome in a bag some mill’d money.[47]

“Behind ye doore of the little parlor old house in a corner some mill’d money.[47]

“In ye same little parlour behind some boxes just going into ye kitchen some mill’d money.[47]

“In ye second side hole at the bottome of ye first ffurnace in ye kitchen on ye right hand going to ye chimney, pott of Gui:[46][47]

“between a little ffurnace & great one that joynes to ye oven behind Shouels & forks some Gui:[47] “Close by those Shouells w^th in a hole into ye vent of ye same large furnace, Gui:[47]

“In two holes of that great furnace running in almost to the Ouen, 2 boxes full of mill’d money. May be drawn out w^th a long crooked Iron standing behind ye kitchen door.[47]

“1698 Vnder ye lower shelfe in ye kitchen near y^e Oven, 2 cans couer’d.

“In severall holes of ye ffurnace in ye middle of the kitchin opening at ye top where the sands lyes is a purse of 100 gui: & seuerall Cans couer’d.

“At ye further End of the bottome hole of my furnace in the little parlour a box of 200l.”

There are also many other matters of interest in these books; among them the names of

evidently in her own handwriting, and which I take to mean “Lydia Dwight, her book, Fulham, 15”—the 15 being her age, which is arrived at by adding the figures together as they occur in form of a cross, 1, 2, 8, and 4.

“Ly D. Lewin,” “Lydia Dwigh,” “Mrs. Deb Nel,” “Mrs. Deb N,” “Mary,” “Deb Nel,” “Miss Betty Osgood,” “Miss Lucy,” “Miss Betty Osgood,” and “Miss Molly Osgood,” are also scribbled in different parts of the book.

Dwight is stated to have buried, in like manner as he did his money, all his models, tools, moulds, &c., in some still-unknown secret hiding-place of his manufactory that his descendants might not continue that branch of the trade which he had been the first to invent; and very securely he has, evidently, done this; for, whatever may be found in future alterations and excavations, it is certain that these have never yet been brought to light. A few years ago, however, after taking down some of the old buildings, which had become much dilapidated, the workmen, while digging foundations for the new workshops, &c., discovered a vaulted chamber or cellar which had been firmly walled up, and which, on being broken into, was found to contain a number of stoneware grey-beards or bellarmines and ale-pots, &c., undoubtedly of Dwight’s manufacture. These were of the same form, precisely, as the old Cologne ones which they were intended to, and did, supersede in this country—and were those “fine stone gorges never before made in England”—and for which his patent was granted. One of these, presented to me by the present proprietor of the works, Mr. Bailey, I here engrave (Fig. [338]).

Fig. 338.

Nothing, at present, is known as to when the death of John Dwight took place, or who succeeded him. A Dr. Dwight died at Fulham in 1737, who, according to the Gentleman’s Magazine of that year, was “author of several curious treatises on physic. He was the first that found out the secret to colour earthenware like china;” but this was not John Dwight, as supposed by some writers, but Samuel Dwight, who, in 1722, published “De Vomitione, et Purgatione, eorumque excessu curando, necnon de emiticis Medicamentis, de Catharticis, et Variolis, et Morbillis;” in 1725, “De Hydropibus;” and in 1731, “De Febribus, Symptomaticis.” As the death of this Samuel Dwight took place in 1737, or sixty-six years after the date of John Dwight’s patent, the probability is that he was the son of John Dwight, and that his finding out the secret of colouring earthenware like china took place while engaged in his father’s business. About this time it would appear (probably after the death of Samuel Dwight) the business was carried on by a Margaret Dwight, in partnership with Thomas Warland, and these two—Margaret Dwight and Thomas Warland of Fulham, potters—became bankrupt in 1746. This lady is said afterwards to have married a Mr. White, or Wight, who continued the works. In 1762 “William White, of Fulham, in the county of Middlesex, potter,” took out a patent for the manufacture of “white crucibles or melting potts made of British materials, and never before made in England or elsewhere, and which I have lately sett up at Fulham aforesaid,” and which were composed of “Stourbridge clay and Dorsetshire clay, calcined; mix them with Woolwich sand and water, to be trodden with the feet, and then burned.” For these he had, in the previous year, obtained a premium from the Society of Arts. In 1795 the works were, according to Lysons, “carried on by Mr. White, a descendant in the female line of the first proprietor,” and they were so continued until 1862, when, on the death of the then Mr. White, they passed into the hands of Messrs. Makintosh and Clements. Two years later, however, on the death of Mr. Makintosh, the works were sold to the present proprietor, Mr. C. I. C. Bailey, who shortly afterwards considerably enlarged and improved them; he having built a new factory and introduced the newest and most improved machinery.

The articles and the wares made by the Dwights will have been pretty well understood from the foregoing notice; but, in addition, it is essential to speak of some few well-authenticated examples which still exist. About the time of the sale in 1862, Mr. Baylis, of Priors Bank, obtained from the Fulham works a number—about twenty-five—of extremely curious and historically valuable specimens of the ware produced there by the Dwights, and kept in the family. Of these he sent a brief account to the Art-Journal,[48] a part of which I here transcribe:—

“The first is a dish, said, and with more than mere probability, to be one of a dinner set manufactured for the especial service of Charles II. It is of a round form and large size, being 64½ inches in circumference. The groundwork is a rich blue, approaching to the ultramarine; it is surrounded by a broad rim nearly four inches wide, formed by a graceful border of foliage and birds in white, and shaded with pale blue. The whole of the centre is occupied by the royal arms, surmounted by its kingly helmet, crown and lion crest. The arms themselves are encircled with the garter, on which is inscribed the well-known motto, ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense.’ The arms and supporters rest upon a groundwork of foliage, in the middle of which is the motto, ‘Dieu et mon Droit.’ The workmanship of this piece of crockery is of very superior character, and a dinner set of similar ware would make many a modern one look poor. The solitary specimen left of this once-magnificent royal dinner service is believed to be by far the finest extant of this early English manufacture, and includes five classical figures of brown ware, of admirable execution, testifying to the skill and taste of the Italian workmen: they consist of Saturn—at least we presume it is meant for him, as he is represented with a child in his arms, which he seems to be on the point of devouring, according to his agreement with his brother Titan. He has already got the child’s hand in his mouth, and the bite of his teeth is by no means agreeable to his offspring, as is evident by the expression of pain on his countenance. The next figure is Jupiter, the third is Neptune, the fourth Mars, and the fifth either Adonis or Meleager, the emblem of the boar’s head applying to either—the former being killed by a boar; the latter having killed the boar; and as the head is cut off, and lying at his feet, it is most probably Meleager, as he cut off the head of the beast and presented it to Atalanta. The grey ware consists of a bust of Charles II.; a bust of his queen, Catherine of Braganza; another of James II., and a companion one of his queen, Mary d’Este—all four of meritorious execution and excellent likenesses; a statuette of Flora; a likeness of one of the Dwight family, thirteen inches high; another of Adonis, same height; and a likeness of a lady; a portrait of one of the Dwights; a smaller pair of statuettes of a gentleman and lady of the court of Charles II., probably intended as likenesses; a curious figure, or rather bust, of one sleeping, or rather lying on a pillow, for it was a death likeness, and is inscribed ‘Lydia Dwight, dyd March the 3rd, 1762;’ a drinking cup, called Hogarth’s cup—it is lettered ‘Midnight Conversation,’ and and has on it a representation of Hogarth’s picture in raised figures, and also four arms of the City companies. There are also four brown liqueur bottles, with white figures in relief, temp. Charles II., with his initial letter; and one or two specimens, such as a butter-boat and a couple of pickle saucers of fine grey ware; but these appear of a somewhat different kind of manufacture, and may have been brought from Delft.”[49]

Other productions were flip-cans, gorges, grey beards, ale pots, bottles, mugs, single figures and groups, busts, statuettes, flasks, leaf-dishes, &c. In the Jermyn Street Museum are some examples of this ware, and others may be found in various private collections. Among the latter may be named an historically interesting flip-can, belonging to “Robinson Crusoe,” and carefully preserved by his family. It bears the incised inscription—

“Alexander Selkirke. This is my one

When you take me on bord of ship

Pray fill me full with punch or flipp

Fulham,”

and is said to have been made for him in or about 1703.

The goods now made at these works, by Mr. Bailey, are glazed and unglazed stoneware, porous ware, terra-cotta, and china. In stoneware, or “Bristol ware,” all the usual domestic vessels—in bottles, pitchers, jars, pans, drinking-mugs, tobacco-pots, feet, carriage, and chest warmers, funnels, bird fountains, barrels, filters, &c.—are made very extensively, as also are drain and sanitary pipes, traps, &c., of every description. The stoneware is of the hardest, finest, and most durable character, and the glaze is remarkably good. To this excellent quality is to be attributed the success of these works, Mr. Bailey supplying, I believe, the large house of Crosse & Blackwell, as well as many distillers, chemists, and shippers, with their stoneware, both for home and export trade, and constantly increasing his business and premises. Works of art of a high order, in his stoneware, terra cotta, china, and other productions, are now executed. For the stoneware department, M. Cazin, late Director of the School of Art at Tours, in France, has been engaged chiefly to design figured and other fancy jugs, mugs, cannettes, &c. Some of these, with armorial bearings and other decorations in incised lines, or impressed, are remarkably good adaptations of the antique. A cannette, in my own possession, bearing the artist’s name, “CAZIN, 1872, STUDY,” is remarkably good, and gives evidence of great things to follow. Another example, also in my own possession, and made expressly for me, is of excellent form and remarkably pure and simple design. It bears an admirably modelled armorial medallion, with arms, crests, helmet, mantling, &c., and is likewise decorated with incised and relief ornaments. On the bottom is the date, incised, “1873,” and on the handle the artist’s name, C. CAZIN, also incised. In 1872 Mr. Bailey received a medal at the Dublin Exhibition for his stoneware and terra cotta.

Mr. Bailey has introduced a marked improvement in the construction of filters—the water passing downwards at the back, and then rising in zig-zag direction by its own force to the tap at the top in front—thus the water has to travel a much further distance through the filtering matter (as shown by the arrows in the section) than the old method, and having to be taken a far more circuitous course, it is brought more thoroughly in contact with the purifying medium. The usual method is for the water to pass perpendicularly down or up, but in these filters the water is kept a considerable time in contact with the charcoal and other ingredients, and any sediment is left at the bottom, instead of forming a compact mass of filth for the water to pass through each time it is filled.

Fig. 339.

Terra-cotta stoves, of simple and effective construction, are also extensively made at these works. In “Sunderland Ware”—i.e. brown ware, white inside—cream pots, starch pans, milk bowls, dishes, trays, and basins are largely manufactured.

Chemical apparatus—receivers, retorts, evaporating dishes, condensing worms, filtering and other funnels, still heads, &c.,—are a speciality in these works, and are of high repute.

These various goods were thus spoken of in the Official Report of the International Exhibition, 1871:—

“Mr. Bailey exhibits some samples of well-made chemical ware of a highly vitreous and durable body, consisting of acid tanks, retorts, receivers, condensing worms, and other vessels. He sends one or two specimens of sewer pipes, well burnt, and of dense body. His contribution of Bristol ware, for excellence of make, glaze, and colour, is equal to any exhibited, and comprises, among many other things, an ingenious ascension filter, in which, by a certain arrangement of stoneware discs in the interior, the water is more exposed to the filtering material than in ordinary filters. A churn, entirely constructed of stoneware, by this exhibitor, is also well worth notice; it is stated to be exceedingly rapid in its action.”

In terra-cotta, the Fulham Works now produce vases, statues, architectural enrichments, chimney shafts, stoves, &c., of very good quality and of admirable design; Mr. R. W. Martin, sculptor, student of the Royal Academy and Government Schools of Art, having been engaged as modeller and designer. The productions in this department are of a very high order of merit, and will take rank with those of any other manufactory. The brackets and jardinières are of great beauty, and are characterised by a pure artistic feeling and a touch such as is seldom attained; the pieces bear evidence of being not only modelled by a clever artist, but of receiving finishing-touches by the master-hand itself. In colour the Fulham terra cotta is a light pink and a rich red, and, when these are combined, a peculiar delicacy and finished effect is produced. The mark R. W. Martin fecit occurs on the productions of this artist.

The manufacture of china ware was, during the year 1873, very wisely and successfully added to this establishment, and, with the aid of the good workmen and artists who have been engaged, has already done much to establish a fresh fame for Fulham. The art direction of this branch was placed by Mr. Bailey in the hands of Mr. E. Bennet, a well-known sculptor, while the china body flowers, &c., were undertaken by Mr. Hopkinson. I am the more particular in stating these arrangements as, being the beginning of a new manufacture, I am desirous of putting on record the circumstances of its commencement. The “body,” it may be well to note, is made from Dwight’s original recipe—the very body of which the first china ware made in England was produced—and therefore the “Fulham china” of to-day has an historical interest attached to it which is possessed by no other. It was a wise thought that induced Mr. Bailey to restore to Fulham the special manufacture which has rendered its name famous in the ceramic annals of this country; and it is to be hoped that the spirit he has shown will be amply compensated by a liberal patronage of his productions.

The marks used by Mr. Bailey are:—

At the 1871 Exhibition (at which no medals were given) Mr. Bailey’s productions were highly spoken of in the Official Report; and at the Dublin Exhibition of 1872 he was awarded a medal for his terra cotta and stoneware.

Lambeth.

Lambeth has been a seat of pottery manufacture from an early period. In mediæval times the characteristic brown-ware pitchers, pans, tygs, &c., were made; and, later on, at this place was quite a colony of makers of Delft ware, who in turn gave place to stoneware manufacturers. China, too, appears to have been made at Lambeth from perhaps 1760, or thereabouts. It is recorded that in the middle of the seventeenth century the Delft ware manufacture commenced; but it is not unlikely that Rous and Cullyn, some years earlier, here established themselves in the making of “stone potts, stone jugs, and stone bottels,” for which they received a patent in 1626.[50] It is conjectured, and with some probability, that one of the Delft ware makers at this place was John Ariens Van Hamme, a Dutchman, who had come over from the Hague under the encouragement of our ambassador, who, as has already been shown,[51] took out a patent in 1676 for the “art of makeinge tiles and porcelane and other earthen wares, after the way practiced in Holland,” and who, with his staff of workmen, probably formed the nucleus of what was afterwards a nest of potters, comprising, according to the “History of Lambeth,” no less than twenty manufactories. In 1693 a trial took place in the Court of Exchequer concerning some parcels of potter’s clay which had been seized by the Custom House officers, under pretence that it was fuller’s earth. In this trial five London potters, William Knight, Thomas Harper, Henry De Wilde, John Robins, and Moses Johnson, gave evidence in favour of the clay being potter’s clay. There is nothing in the record of this trial to identify any of the five potters therein named with Lambeth; but the probability is that some of them belonged to that place. One of them, William Knight, was undoubtedly the “William Knight of the parish of St. Buttolph Without, Aldgate, London, Pottmaker,” concerning whom I give, from the original deed in my possession, some particulars under the head of “Aldgate;” some of the others were, I believe, of Lambeth. The account of the trial has been printed by my friend, Mr. Reeks, in the “Catalogue of the Museum of Practical Geology,” and is so interesting that I here reproduce it entire.

A Brief Account of the Evidence given on behalf of Edmund Warner, at a Tryal had at the Bar the 24th of November, 1693, before the Four Barons of the Exchequer, relating to a Parcel of Potters Clay, seized by the Custom-House Officers, under the pretence of it’s being Fullers Earth.

William Riddal swore that he was Steward and Tenant to the said Warner for above 20 Years, in all which time the said Warner constantly sold to the Potters in London considerable quantities of the same sort of clay now in dispute, for the making of White and Painted Earthen-Ware: That he never knew or heard that the least Parcel of it was ever sold as Fullers-Earth, or put to any other Use than making Earthen-Ware, excepting some small quantities yearly in the Neighbourhood for daubing of Houses, which may be alledged as a good Argument that the said Clay is not of the nature of Fullers-Earth; for, whereas this makes the best Clay Wall in England, if it were of the nature of Fullers-Earth, upon the first wet Weather it would all fall to the Ground: He likewise further deposed, That the first time the said Warner shipt the said Clay for Holland, it was seized by the Custom-house Officers as Fullers-Earth; but upon Tryal of it, they were convinced of their Error, and cleared the same.

William Knight, Thomas Harper, Henry de Wilde, John Robins, Moses Johnson are all Potters in London, and swore that they had all seen the said Warner’s Clay, which was seized, that it was really Potter’s Clay, and of the same sort which they had constantly bought of him, some for above 25 Years, others ever since they were Traders, that it is of a quite different nature from Fullers Earth; for the said Warner’s Clay tho’ never so often dissolved in Water, may be brought into a Body again, and will work, like Wax, into any shape, whereas Fullers Earth being once dissolved is never to be got into any Body, but when it is dry crumbles like Sand, and all the art of Man can never make a Pot of it.

Hen. de Wilde, one of the said Potters, farther deposed, That about five Years since he shipt some of the said Warner’s Clay for Pensilvania, where his Son had set up a Pot-House, that the Custom-House Officers did then likewise seize it as Fullers-Earth, but upon Trial of it found they were mistaken, and cleared the same.

Benjamin Furly, Merchant in Rotterdam, to whom the said Warner consigned his Clay, John Sonman, Servant to the said Furly, were, by virtue of a Commission from the Court of Exchequer, examined upon Oath (by Commissioners appointed for that purpose), to several Interrogatories, and their Depositions being read in Court, did plainly prove that all the said Warner’s Clay which was sent for Holland was really sold to Potters for making of Earthen-Ware; That they never heard, nor do believe that any part of it was ever used for the Fulling Trade, or is any way proper for it; that they sold the said Warner’s Clay from 25 to 30 Guilders a Last, when they could buy Fullers-Earth at 7 Guilders a Last.

Adrian Van Arde, sworn Measurer of all the Earth and Clay imported to Rotterdam, was examined by vertue of the said Commission, and Deposed, That for many Years which he had been in that Office, he never knew or heard of any English Fullers-Earth imported into Holland, that they were so plentifully supplied with that sort of Earth from Flanders; that it is commonly bought and sold at Seven Guilders a Last, and had an Hundred Last by him to sell at the same Rate.

Ten or Twelve Potters in Holland were likewise examined by virtue of the said Commission, and deposed severally, That they had bought considerable quantities of the said Warner’s clay of Mr. Benj. Furly, and paid for the same from 25 to 30 Guilders a Last; that they used the same in making Earthen-Ware, but do not believe it any way useful for the Fulling Trade, nor never heard that any of it was ever sold for that use.

Colonel Holt, a Member of Parliament, swore, That he (being very lately in Holland) made the strictest inquiries into the Truth of this Business, that he could, First amongst the Potters, who all declared to the same Effect, as in their Depositions before mentioned, that he likewise took some of the said Warner’s Clay, and got a Fuller to try it, whether it were any way useful for their Trade, who answered it was not? nor could he use it if he might have it for Nothing; after which the Colonel ask’d him, From whence they were supplied with Fullers-Earth, and at what Rates? The Fullers answered, generally from Flanders at 6½, and 7 Guilders per Last; and sometimes from Rosendale, in the States Dominions, at 10 Guilders per Last; that being much dryer, and wasted less by lying; all which the Colonel (being unwilling to believe upon the Fuller’s bare word) caused to be drawn up in the Form of an Affidavit, and the Fuller before a Magistrate, swore to the Truth of it, which Affidavit the Colonel hath to produce.

Mr. Edward Paget, a Divine, swore, That he being in Holland at the same time, made the like Enquiry amongst the Fullers at Layden, the chief cloathing Town in Holland, who all gave him the same Information, that the Fuller at Rotterdam had done the Colonel above; and for his better satisfaction, Three of the Chiefest went with him before a Magistrate, and swore to the Truth of what they Affirmed; after which he went to Delft amongst the Potters, who all affirmed the same thing, that the Ten or Twelve had sworn in their aforementioned Depositions, the Truth of which they attested by a Certificate, under the Hands of above Twenty, which Affidavits, and Certificate, the said Paget hath to produce.

Rich. Cutler, Matthew Hanson, Ship-brokers, swore, They had hired many Ships for the said Warner, to load Clay for Rotterdam; and the general Price of the Fraight, and Primage paid for the same, was 15 Guilders, 8 Stivers per Last; and sometimes 17 Guilders, 12 Stivers per Last.

Will. Read, Tho. Wood, John Saliby, Mariners, swore, They had the same Prices above mentioned, for several Fraights which they carried, and saw delivered to the Potters in Holland.

Hump. Bellomy, Richard Hopkins, Timothy Fowler, —— Shepherd, Worcester, are all Buyers, and Sellers of Fullers-Earth, and swore they could well judge of the same, having dealt therein from Ten to above Twenty-five Years, that they all took Samples of the said Warner’s Clay, out of the King’s Celler, and tryed all the Experiments to judge of it, that they were capable of; and possitively affirmed that it was no Fullers-Earth; neither could they find anything of the Nature of Fullers-Earth in it, that for their Use they would not give a Shilling for 100 Last, for they should never be able to sell it.

Alderman Bearcraft, Tho. Cooksey, John Wynn, Rowl. Hancock, Gloucestershire; Rich. Osborne, Tho. Woorrel, John Chilton, Sam. Beadle, Essex; Simon Meazy, John Lawson, John Backer, John Peartree, Suffolk; John Clarke, Senior, John Clarke, Junior, Will. Baines, Tho. Baines, Dan. Baines, John Smith, John Carter, Dan. Wenden, Sam. Wrinch, London; Dan. Barrs, John St. Berry, are all Clothiers, Fullers, and Cloth-Workers; being the most eminent in their several Places; as well for Honesty, as great Traders, and good Estates; they all swore they had made the most impartial Experiments they could of the said Warner’s Clay, now in dispute, being the same taken out of the King’s Celler, that they tried it upon several sorts of Goods, as several sorts of Cloth, Bays, Cloth-Serges, and Perpetuanæs, and every one possitively affirmed that it was no Fuller’s-Earth, but on the contrary was an absolute Enemy to the Woollen Manufacture; for instead of scouring, it fix’d the Grease in the Grownd of all the Goods, that were done with it, and instead of makeing them White, it absolutely stained them Yellow, all which was apparent to the most common Eye, in all the above-said several sorts of Goods, produced in Court: They likewise declared upon Oath, that they were all Strangers to the said Warner; and that it was as prejudicial to their interest, to have Fullers-Earth Transported, as any men’s, and therefore could have no Inducement to favour the said Warner, beyond the Merits of his cause, to the Violation of their Consciences.

This is so just a Recital of the Evidence given on behalf of the said Warner, that he challenges the greatest of his Enemies to detect him of the least Falsehood therein; and if his Adversaries had been as fair in representing theirs, there would have been no need of this; for whereas in their printed Papers they make their Witnesses to affirm the said Warner’s clay was tried in all Experiments, without any mixture, there was not above One or Two, but upon cross-Examination at the Tryal, owned they used either Segg and Hogs dung, or Soap and Gauls with it, which would have scowered any Cloath better without the said Clay than with it.

It may not be amiss likewise to observe that for a whole Year in which the Custom-House Officers have been so very diligent in spreading the Fame of the said Warner’s Clay to be the best Fullers-Earth in England, he hath not been able to sell the least quantity of it as such, tho’ he has proffered it to all Men for a very little more than one-Third of what Fullers-Earth is generally sold for.

The Delft ware here made was of the ordinary kind, same as imported from Holland, and as that made in various English localities, and, being without mark, is not to be distinguished from others. Besides tiles, plates, jugs, mugs, dishes, &c., sack and other wine bottles, apothecaries’ pill-slabs, wine-bin labels, &c., were made. Some of these pill-slabs are preserved in the Jermyn Street Museum, as are also some of the “sack-pots,” both of which may most probably, as well as the apothecaries’ jars, be ascribed to Lambeth. They are all of Delft ware, painted with blue, in the same manner as the tiles and other articles of this ware.

In 1820 there “were six or seven potters in Lambeth,” says Mr. Goddard, “working some sixteen small kilns, of seven or eight feet in diameter, the produce of each kiln being under £20 worth of ware, the principal articles made being blacking bottles, ginger-beer bottles (very extensively made still), porter and cider bottles (not so largely made now), spruce-beer bottles (gone, with the beer, quite out of fashion), ink bottles (more used now than ever), oil bottles, pickle jars, hunting jugs, &c. A few chemical vessels were also turned out well from one kiln belonging to an eccentric individual, whose chief boast was to drink a gallon of beer a day, and do without rest on Sundays.” In 1860: “In place of some sixteen kilns, turning out each under £20 per kiln, we have now about seventy, turning out each, perhaps, on an average £50. They consume upwards of 20,000 tons of coal, paying a corporation tax of say £2,100 per annum. The law requires this quantity to be burnt without smoke, and, after immense cost and labour, this difficulty may be called surmounted. Twenty-three thousand tons of clay are annually changed into useful articles, giving employment to more than eight hundred persons. The returns of the Lambeth potters cannot be estimated at less than £140,000.”

High Street.—From about 1750 to 1770 the Delft ware works were carried on by a Mr. Griffiths, who had, for those days, a large establishment. A curious reference to this manufactory occurs in the following extract from the Monthly Magazine for 1797. A man, at that time unknown, but who turned out to be James Doe, a potter, committed suicide by drowning, on the 14th of September in that year, at Sea Mill Docks, two and a half miles from Bristol, having remained “fasting and praying,” without food or bedding in the ruined building there from the 11th, waiting opportunity and determination to commit the rash act; and having, during the whole of that time, written a kind of diary of his feelings and intentions, his hopes and fears, on the walls of the old room he remained in. Mr. Joseph James interested himself much in the matter, and wrote an account for the Monthly Magazine; and this, and the inquest, and other means he took, resulted in the discovery of the name and some particulars of the life of the suicide. Two of the letters forwarded in October, 1797, are highly interesting as showing at what works he had been employed. The first letter is from London, from “a respectable proprietor of a pottery there,” and thus runs:—

“To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

“Sir,

“The extraordinary and affecting manuscript writing of the unfortunate stranger found drowned in Sea-Mill Dock, which I transmitted to you last month, having very probably excited the attention and sympathy of many of your numerous readers, I feel it a duty incumbent upon me to lay before them (through the channel of your useful publication) some information which I have since been enabled to procure of this unhappy and extraordinary person.

“A few days previous to the publication of your magazine, I caused a paragraph to be again inserted in the Bristol newspapers, requesting the attention of the readers to the personal description of the stranger found drowned at Sea-Mill Dock, and inviting the two women who had made inquiries after a stranger that was missing, and answering the same description, to come forward with their information, as the only probable means left of tracing out the name and connections of this unfortunate stranger. I was soon after waited on by two gentlemen of Bristol of the name of Ring, the proprietors of a large pottery, whose information and description of a person lately come to Bristol, and who worked in their manufactory, in the art of painting china, so exactly corresponded with the clothing and person of the man found drowned at Sea-Mills, that there remained not a doubt of his being the person, the subject of their inquiry. Through their polite assistance I obtained the name of the deceased, which is James Doe, and I also got an interview with the K—f—m acquaintance, who, having visited the tenement, and viewed the manuscript writing there upon the wall, recognised the handwriting of his friend; he gave me likewise a description of his person and dress, which corresponded with that already published. For particulars of the deceased’s family and friends, I was referred to several persons in London, one of whom, a respectable proprietor of a pottery there, writes thus:—

“‘Sir,—I received yours, and was much affected at its contents. I should have written sooner, but I wished first to see his uncle, who has informed me of the following particulars:—

“‘James Doe was born at Lambeth, in Surrey, of very respectable parents, and was educated in the same place. He served an apprenticeship at Lambeth to a painter in the china and earthenware line, and he painted in the biscuit before it was glazed. In this line he was esteemed a good workman; and, to my own knowledge, he worked some years at Mr. Wedgwood’s manufactory in Staffordshire. He was there very much respected by his employer, his fellow-workmen, and by all who knew him. He was fond of company, but I do not remember him to neglect business when urgent. Having a tolerably good education, he was fond of reading. He was particularly generous, and always first to relieve any of the trade out of employ or in sickness. He worked at Mr. Baddely’s, in Staffordshire, for six or seven years, and was, at that place, very much respected. In fact, I believe him to be generally beloved and respected wheresoever he worked. About three years ago he came to London, and finding little or no employment in the line in which he was brought up, he was obliged to leave town, and, being assisted by his friends, he embarked on board a ship for Newcastle, and from thence went on to Glasgow in Scotland, where he was a fellow-workman with one of my present journeymen, and supported an excellent character there. From this time, I believe, he met with many disappointments. He then went to Ireland, and, after stopping there a short time, he embarked on board a vessel bound for Swansea, in South Wales, where he worked some time, and then went on to the Worcestershire China Manufactory, which was, I believe, the last place he worked at.’”

The following is an extract from the letter alluded to:—

“‘London, Nov. 20, 1797.

“‘Sir,—

“‘You seem to be very anxious concerning the life of the unfortunate stranger found drowned in Sea-Mill Dock. You have a right to know it, for the kindness you have shown to his unfortunate remains. James Doe was born at Lambeth, about two miles from London, of honest parents, who brought him up in as creditable a manner as their circumstances would admit. At the age of fourteen years, or thereabouts, he was put as an apprentice to Mr. Griffiths, at the delft pottery, High Street, Lambeth. When he was out of his time, he continued working at his business until he became slack; and the queen’s ware meeting with great encouragement, he went into Staffordshire for employment, where he remained upwards of twenty years, working for different masters, and then came up to London, in want of employ, and got work at China-gilding for a few months. He was then invited into Staffordshire again, where he remained but a short time: and from that time he has been considered the wanderer of the trade. He was the most charitable man I ever knew; and he was often known to neglect himself when misfortunes came on his friends and acquaintances, to whose relief he contributed both time and money, as much as lay in his power. Believe me, Sir, you have bestowed your trouble on the remains of a very good-hearted man. The acquaintance he alluded to in his diary, and another person, were going to France, about thirteen years ago, with a view of carrying over and establishing there the queen’s-ware manufactory; some of the master potters heard of it, and had them confined in prison. As soon as James Doe heard of it, he went through the trade to gather money to support his friend, and to preserve him from want; and he, poor soul, contributed all he had, for that purpose. To be denied assistance by that man whom he had relieved in distress, was too great for his tender heart to bear. Sir, I do not pretend to hold my friend up to perfection, the last action of his life is against him; but, I believe, the denial of relief by that man whom he had served and relieved in distress was the sole cause of his committing the rash act of suicide. The language of the manuscript writing is nearly the same as his last conversation with me, as far as this friend is mentioned. I perfectly agree with you, that he was in his senses as much as he ever was in his life, when he committed the act of suicide. He was acquainted with a Mr. Greenwood in Staffordshire for some years, a man remarkable for fine knowledge; to that man the unfortunate Doe owed a great deal of his knowledge; and although Mr. Greenwood was a very sensible man, yet he held it just for a man to destroy himself, and, like my friend, in his perfect senses, actually made away with himself the day before he was to have been married to a person of credit and property. They are two of the strangest suicides I ever heard; and had James Doe written to his friends in London, he would have had money sent him; for his friends in London would have thought it a happiness to relieve him. He was a very useful man in the Staffordshire ware manufactory, as he had studied the chemical secrets of that business. He was fond of reading. I shall be happy to communicate any further particulars you may require; and am, Sir,

“‘Yours,’ &c. &c.”

In the possession of Mr. R. C. Ring is a mug painted by Doe—said to be his last work. It is signed “J. Doe, Sept., 1797;” and as he committed suicide on the 14th of that month, it would certainly be one of his last productions. Mr. Owen’s assertion that he committed suicide through a fear that that painting would injure the enameller’s trade is, from the above letters, &c., amply shown to be without foundation.

Coades.—Coade’s Artificial Stone Works, at Pedlar’s Acre, King’s Arms Stairs, Narrow Wall, Lambeth, opposite Whitehall Stairs or Ferry, were established about 1760 by Mrs. or the Misses Coade, under the name of “Coade’s Lithodipyra, Terra Cotta, or Artificial Stone Manufactory.” This material was intended to take the place of carved stone for vases, statues, and architectural enrichments. In 1769 the two Misses Coade took into partnership their cousin, a Mr. Sealy (the nephew of Mr. Coade), and by these the works were carried on. In 1811 the firm was still “Coades & Sealy.” At the death of Mr. Sealy, who survived the Misses Coade, a Mr. Croggan, who had for a long time been a clerk or manager attached to the business, became the proprietor of the works, which he continued for many years. He then disposed of the business to Messrs. Routledge, Greenwood, & Keene, who were succeeded by Messrs. Routledge & Lucas. These gentlemen, about 1840, dissolved partnership and sold off all their moulds, models, plant, &c., by auction, by Messrs. Rushworth & Jarvis, of Saville Row. Many of these moulds and models were bought by Mr. Blashfield[52] and by other manufacturers, among whom was Mr. H. M. Blanchard of Blackfriars Road[53] (which see), and who, being an apprentice with the Coades, and possessing many of their models, &c., claims to be their successor.

The Coades are said to have come from Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, and probably it was for the purpose of turning their native clay to good account in London that induced them to establish this manufactory. Bacon, Flaxman, Banks, Rossi, and Panzetta, the sculptors, were employed to model for these works, and many of the old mansions and public buildings in London and in the country, as well as abroad—including the bas-relief in the pediment over the western portico of Greenwich Hospital, representing the death of Nelson, designed by Benjamin West, and modelled by Bacon and Panzetta; and the rood-screen of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor; the statue of Britannia on the Nelson monument at Yarmouth, &c.—were executed at these works. The works principally produced at Coades were capitals of columns, statues, vases, bassi-relievi, monuments, coats of arms, keystones, angle rusticated blocks, balustrades, &c. They were of durable quality and excellent manufacture.

Another person employed at Coades was William John Coffee, who afterwards attained some celebrity as a modeller at the Derby China Works, and as a terra cotta maker, for a short time, at Derby. I believe he was employed as a fire-man at Coades, and here, no doubt, being a clever fellow, picked up his knowledge of modelling and of mixing bodies. The following curious letter and “information,” from the originals in my own possession, give some highly interesting particulars regarding Coades’ and Sealy’s manufactory in 1790:—

“The information got from the fire-man that worked at the Artificial Stone Manufactory, Lambeth:—There is three kilns, the largest is 9 feet diameter and about 10 feet high, the other two are sizes under; they have only three fire-holes to each, and they are about 14 inches in the clear. They make use of no saggers, but their kilns are all muffled about two inches thick, which was always done by this fire-man. They always was four days and four nights of fireing a kilns, and the moment the goods are fire’d up he always took and stop’d the kilns intirely close from any air whatever without lowering the fires at all. He has been use to fire intirely with coal (which are call’d Hartley coals—they are not much unlike yours at Derby). He never made use of any thermometer, but depended intirely on his own knowledge. The composition shrinks about half an inch in a foot in the drying, and about the same in the firing. A great deal of the ornaments are 4 inches thick when fired, and he has fired figures 9 feet high. This man has had the intire management of building the kilns, setting and firing them for many years; his wages was one guinea per week, and for every night when he fired he had 2s. 6d. for the small kiln, 3s. for the next size, and 3s. 6d. for the largest.

“Sir,—Quite unexpected, the fire-man from Lambeth that I have been after so long, call’d on me on Monday, to say that he was out of imploy; therefore I engaged him to meet me at Field’s in the evening, which he did; and inclosed is all the information I cou’d get from him. I informed him that when I wrote to him in the country I was imploy’d to look out for a person in his way, but did not know wether there was now the same person wanted or not, but wou’d write. At the same time I ask’d him if he shou’d like to go down into the country to make a trial for a short time, and see how he was likely to succeed; but this he seem’d to decline for some time, unless he went upon a certainty for constant imployment. After drinking a bowl of punch, he said he wou’d go down to make trial, in case his expences was all paid up and down, and paid for the time he was away. He seems to think, before he cou’d attempt doing any thing, there must be some alteration made to the kiln; but of this you will be the best judge, if you agree to have him down. He seems pretty confident they will be glad to have him back to Lambeth again very soon: in short, he thinks they cannot do without him. He says they had better a made him a present of £500 than a parted with him. I have been inform’d thro’ another hand that had use to work at the manufactory they have had very great losses in the kilns since he left, and that they have lost everything in the large kiln. He seems very confident in succeeding in firing China figures to any size; but of this he cannot be a judge till a trial is made. After I first see this man, I went and inform’d Mr. Vulliamy of it, and his advise is to for you to have him down, tho’ he says he is a drunken bad chap, but clever in his business. If you shou’d so determine to have him down, I think sooner the better, as he expects soon to be call’d to Gen. Conway’s[54] again, and likewise to fire some figures, &c., for a Mrs. Dimer,[54] in town. He has promis’d to call again in a few days, therefore you will please to give your answer. Mr. Vulliamy very much wants two boys of the last mould sent: begs you will forward them immediately. Mr. V. inform’d me a few days since that he would write to you the first opportunity, and am,

“Sir, your very obedient servant,

“J. Lygo.”

“March 23rd, ’90.”

In 1792 the following letter, also in my own possession, was addressed to Coffee by Miss E. Coade, and shows what a clear-headed, right-minded, and well-disposed employer she was:—

“Lyme, 25 July, 1792.

“Mr. Coffee.—I received your third letter, but have had so many engagements that I cou’d not answer it sooner; besides that at this distance I can’t speak upon it as if I were present. I supposed, as you now say, that Mr. Pritchard’s information against you was in consequence of some quarrell you had had with him; but I do not justify his manner of taking revenge, and you are now returning it upon him by acquainting me of his making tools in my time and selling them, which, as you say, is a greater crime than what he has charged you with, and if Mr. Sealy knew it, I can’t suppose he wou’d keep such a man. But it is always a rule with me to let every man speak for himself if he can; and, therefore, as I am at such a distance I must put it by for ye present, or else refer it to Mr. Sealy, who is ye only judge whether ye hurry of business will allow of parting with a man or not. You shou’d put yourself in ye place of a master, and then consider how many things they have to try them, and how impossible to attend to ye private quarrells of ye workmen: however, I know Mr. Sealy is disposed to do justice. You say he behaved very well to you in ye beginning of this affair, and if he changed his conduct, it must be in consequence of your improper behaviour to him. But as it is too late to recall what is past, my advice to you is to do as you say—return to your work; and if you are conscious that in your passion you have behaved disrespectfully to Mr. Sealy, make such acknowledgments to him as will show your good sense, as well as a sense of duty. I have no doubt but he would have lent you money if you had asked it in a becoming spirit. I hope your hand is better and that you are at work. And wishing you may improve this accident to your own good, I remain

“Your sincere friend,

“E. Coade.

“My best wishes to Patty. I did not know but I shou’d have been up by this time, but I hope it will not be long.”

The London Pottery is in High Street, Lambeth. It was established on a small scale in 1751, on a portion of old “Hereford House,” the palace of one of the former bishops of Hereford, and has been carried on without intermission, from that time to the present. In 1840 the manufactory came into the hands of Mr. James Stiff, the head of the present firm of “Messrs. James Stiff & Sons.” At that time the works consisted only of two kilns (the larger one being only about ten feet in diameter), and covered an area of probably less than a quarter of an acre of ground. Since 1840 it has been gradually developed, until at the present time it comprises fourteen kilns (some of them more than twenty feet in diameter) and covers an area of about two acres of ground. It has a very extensive frontage on the Albert Embankment, overlooking the river Thames, and by means of a private dock, with entrance under the Embankment, is enabled directly to carry on a very extensive export trade, and also to import most economically the coals, clay, and other raw material used in the production of brown and white stoneware, terra-cotta, &c. Until 1860, when fresh buildings were erected, a Delft-ware sign-board existed in the front of this pottery.

The four principal kinds of pottery manufactured by Messrs. Stiff and Sons are: 1. Brown salt-glazed stoneware, in which the tubular socket drain-pipes so extensively made here are produced; water-filters, jugs, bottles, jars, and all kinds of chemical apparatus are also made in this class of ware. 2. White stoneware or “double-glazed” ware, or “Bristol ware,” in which salt is not used, but the glazing is obtained by the application of a liquid glaze to the interior and exterior of each article before it is placed in the kiln. This ware, which is generally made with a rich yellow ochre on the upper parts of goods, while the lower part is of a creamy-white colour, has only been introduced into Lambeth about twenty years. It has, however, to a considerable extent superseded the old brown stoneware, on account of its superior appearance and cleanliness. 3. Buff terra-cotta, in which is made garden vases, pedestals, chimney-tops, window arches, string-courses, &c. This terra-cotta, being thoroughly vitrified, is valuable for the manufacture of keystones, springers, string-courses, &c., for buildings where durability is of the very highest importance; one great advantage (for architectural purposes) lying in the fact that, in it, the choicest and most elaborate patterns, either raised or countersunk, can be obtained at little more than the cost of perfectly plain stone. 4. Porous ware, in which round and square porous cells, plates, &c., are extensively made, and have been used by some of the first telegraphic engineers, philosophical instrument makers, &c., of the day, and have given much satisfaction, securing, as they do, the greatest amount of porosity, together with a degree of hardness and fineness of texture which render them insusceptible of disintegration.

The quality of the stoneware or “Bristol ware” produced at the “London Pottery” is remarkably good, being extremely hard, and covered with an excellent, clear, and firm glaze, not surpassed by any other house. The same remark will apply to the porous ware, which is fine in composition, and possesses to an eminent degree the porous quality so essential in vessels of this description. The terra-cotta goods are of very fine, hard, and durable quality, and of a peculiarly pleasing tone of colour. Their artistic execution is of a high order, and some of the designs—as notably the draped bowl and flower-pots which are engraved on Figs. [340 to 342], and [345], [346].

Fig. 340.

Fig. 341.

Fig. 342.

Fig. 343.

Fig. 344.

Fig. 345.

Fig. 346.

Messrs. Stiff & Sons produce a large number of filters of excellent construction and of artistic design. Some of these have Gothic arches, with figures or armorial decorations, and others are decorated with elegant foliage; two of these effective designs are shown on Figs. [343] and [344]. These filters have been more than thirty years before the public. The filtering medium consists of alternate layers of charcoal, silica, and another purifying substance, all carefully cleansed, and so arranged as to retain full efficiency for eight or ten years without further cost or trouble. The “Popular” filter—intended for common use among all classes—purifies eight gallons of water per day, and is sold complete and fitted for a mere trifle.

The potteries of Messrs. Stiff & Son are among the largest in London. They employ about two hundred hands, and their annual import of raw material, clay, coals, &c., is about 15,000 tons. They have business relations in almost all parts of the world, and their manufactures have been admitted to the principal International Exhibitions; their terra-cotta vases combine excellence of finish with correctness of design, and are sold at very moderate prices. Their stoneware chemical apparatus has a very wide reputation, and their drain-pipes and other sanitary appliances, comprising nearly two-thirds of their business, have an immense sale.

It is well to add that at this pottery antique jugs and water-jugs, of excellent design and clever manipulation, are made. The forms are chaste and good, and they have, partly owing to the care in making, and partly to the fineness of the glaze, a pleasanter feel to the hand than others. The carriage and foot warmers, &c., made here are also extremely good in quality and design.

The Lambeth Pottery.—In 1818 Mr. John Doulton established stoneware works at Vauxhall, and soon afterwards was joined in partnership by Mr. John Watts, the business being carried on under the style of Doulton & Watts. Some years after, the works were removed to High Street, Lambeth, to premises near those which had formerly been occupied by Mr. Griffiths, already spoken of. In 1858 Mr. Watts died, and from that time to the present the manufactory has been carried on by Mr. John Doulton in co-partnership with his sons, under the style of Doulton & Watts, and Henry Doulton & Co. In 1854 Mr. Henry Doulton took out a patent for “improvements in kilns used in the manufacture of stoneware, earthenware, and china.” In 1859 he took out another patent for “improvements in earthenware jars and bottles,” and in 1861 the same gentleman also patented his “improvements in the construction of vats and similar vessels for containing liquids.” At the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862, medals were awarded to this firm, as they were also at the Exhibitions at Paris, Hamburg, Oporto, New Zealand, Auxerre, Caen, and Amsterdam. At the International Exhibitions of 1871 and 1872 they also received the highest commendation.

The goods manufactured by Messrs. Doulton & Co. include chemical vessels of large size (up to 500 gallons) and all kinds of stoneware suitable for the laboratory and works of the manufacturing chemist—jars, bottles, jugs, water-filters, and other articles of domestic use; terra-cotta for architectural and gardening purposes; drainage pipes, irrigation conduits, sinks, and all kinds of sanitary ware; plumbago and other crucibles, muffles, furnaces, &c.: and, in addition to their manufactory at Lambeth, they have works for the manufacture of sewer pipes, fire goods, blue bricks, &c., at Rowley-Regis, Staffordshire; Smethwick, Staffordshire; and St. Helen’s, Lancashire. The various kinds of stoneware and terra-cotta produced by Messrs. Doulton at their Lambeth works give employment to about six hundred men; and their consumption of coals at Lambeth alone (exclusive of the quantity used in their Staffordshire and Lancashire factories) is over 10,000 tons per annum.

Fig. 347.—Doulton Ware.

Figs. 348 to 353.—Doulton’s Vases, Filters, &c.

Figs. 354 to 357.—Doulton’s Terra Cotta.

In stoneware—which, like every other branch of the ceramic art, has made great progress during the last twenty or thirty years, and has been made applicable to scores of purposes never dreamed of by the potters of old—Messrs. Doulton produce, to a very large extent, bottles, jars, pitchers, and jugs; troughs and pans; feet, carriage, bed, and other warmers; barrels and taps; filters, filter-stands, and drip-pans, and every possible variety of household vessels. Besides these, force-pumps, retorts, receivers, condensing-worms, still-heads, evaporating dishes and pans, filtering-funnels, percolators, and every other conceivable kind of chemical and manufacturing vessels and apparatus, as well as drain-pipes, gullies, sinks, and sanitary goods, are largely made.

Many of the productions in this stoneware are of extremely artistic character, and evince a purity of taste which is highly meritorious. Some of the jugs and tankards, from antique examples, and which are produced both in brown, blue, claret, and fine white stoneware, are remarkably chaste and elegant, and remind one of the best periods of German and Flemish art. The forms are admirable, and the decorations, whether foliage or animal, incised or in relief, are always thoroughly well considered, and especially adapted to the material, the mode of production, and the use of the object. “There are no affected imitations of antique types. The spirit of true design is caught with admirable perception and insight, and when colour is introduced, it is done sparingly, and with a view to enhance the form of the object and the natural beauty of the material, rather than to conceal either the one or the other.”

Fig. 358.—Group of Doulton Ware.

In terra-cotta, Messrs. Doulton’s works rank high, both for the beauty of their productions, the variety of designs they have introduced, and the durability and excellence of their material. In vases for gardens, &c.—the finest of which is their Amazon vase (Fig. [354]) sent to the Exhibition of 1871—Messrs. Doulton produce a large number of exquisite patterns, as they do also of pedestals, fountains, garden-seats, flower-boxes, and vases, fern-cases, flower-pendants, mignionette-boxes, brackets, terminals, &c., which are all characterized by extreme excellence of design and workmanship. In statuary and architectural decorations the productions consist of figures, busts, and medallions; keystones, arches, trusses, and string-courses; capitals, bases, and finials; window and door heads and jambs; rain-water heads, of marvellously bold and effective design; parapets and balustrades; panels of coloured stoneware and terra-cotta, modelled in very high relief, and mostly of scriptural subjects, for out-door decoration; tiles and bosses of endless design—some ornamented in the sgraffito style, and others richly coloured; and everything requisite for the architect or the builder. Of terra-cotta flower-pots and fern-cases a large variety are made, all elegant in shape—some ornamented with masks and medallions, and others with vegetable composition; and of brackets and pendants the specimens are very graceful. Painting on pottery has also of late been introduced into this manufactory with very good results.

One class of objects to which attention should be called, presents, in ordinary clays, adaptations in which is conspicuous all the play of the chastest Greek contours, with all the forms dear to successive generations of housewives before the revival set in. Prominent are claret cups, loving cups, hot and cold water jugs, flower vases, candlesticks, hunting jugs, pitchers, and inkstands, with a great variety of other vessels. “What particularly arrests the eye in this branch of the manufacture is, that each object has a style which now takes us back to the flowery periods of Doric and Etruscan forms, now to the days of mediæval hospitalities, or to modern instances, by vessels of form and capacity which would delight even the hearts of the notoriously beer-loving Burschenschaft of Jena. And it is necessary to explain that, as these works are not the results of the common course of earthenware production, it has cost much thought and the exercise of much knowledge and ingenuity to appoint a confederacy of labour so particularly qualified as shall work successfully to this special end.” The ornament is principally the sgraffimento, or incised outline, which is effected sometimes as soon as the vessel leaves the wheel, or more generally after it has been allowed partially to dry to a consistency which will allow of its being handled, though yet sufficiently soft to admit of being easily worked upon. To the designs thus engraved in outline, especially to the leafage, colour is applied with an ordinary water-colour brush, and burnt in. This ware is called “Doulton ware,” or “Sgraffito ware,” and no two pieces are formed alike. With regard to the body it will be sufficient to say that the great strength of stoneware in comparison with that of earthenware, and also its perfect cleanliness, have secured its adoption, whether produced by this or any of the other eminent firms who manufacture it, in all kinds of appliances in connection with drainage and sanitary engineering; and the perfect resistance it offers to the strongest acids, proves the material to be admirably fitted for the manufacture of every kind of vessel and apparatus employed in trades depending in any degree on chemical operations.

Fore Street.—A manufactory of various kinds of pottery existed here in the beginning of the present century, and was carried on by Mr. Richard Waters, who in June, 1811, took out a patent for “a new method of manufacturing pottery ware.” First, “in the fabrication of various articles of considerable magnitude,” “instead of throwing or moulding them on a revolving table, the clay is made into sheets and then applied upon moulds and finished, by beating or pressure, or by turning while in a revolving state;” second, forming “delf-ware pots and other articles by compression of the clay between suitable moulds;” third, “making or clouding the ‘Welsh ware,’ by using a number of pipes instead of one in distributing the colour;” fourth, “making earthenware jambs, tiles for facing houses, and for paving hearths, balustrades, balconies, and bricks vein-coloured, variegated either by the last process or by putting together masses differing from each other,” and in the admixture of stony or metallic or other mineral substances, so as to differ in their colours and appearance when baked; fifth, by this process making “figures, statues, ornaments, armorial bearings, and the like;” sixth, by this process making “stone mortars and pestles, cisterns, coffins, worms for distillers’ use, tiles, with a hook on the back instead of a knob, also with a higher edge and deeper return than usual.”

Imperial Pottery.—Another pottery at Lambeth was that of Messrs. Green & Co., which in 1858 passed, by purchase, into the hands of Mr. John Cliff, by whom it was considerably enlarged. Mr. Cliff here brought into use his own “patent kiln for what is known as double glaze or Bristol glaze kiln, and a circular bag for the salt glaze and pipe kiln, since adopted generally.” Here also Carr’s “Disintegrant” was first proved and got to work; and here, under his own eye, Siemens’s gas furnace was tried on pottery. Here also Mr. Cliff brought out, and into work, his patent wheel and patent lathe—two most important improvements in the potter’s art, and said to be the most perfect and convenient machines extant. The works were closed in 1869, through the site being required by the Metropolitan Board of Works for improvements, and Mr. Cliff removed to Runcorn, in Cheshire, where he still continues his manufactory.[55] The works were originally established for the manufacture of common red ware; but after a time Mr. Green added a little salt-glazed ware; and then, as the double glazed gained favour, added it, and made it his principal business, giving up the red ware entirely. Later still, he manufactured drain pipes and a good deal of chemical stoneware; and, besides all the usual articles, filters were here extensively made for the celebrated George Robins, the auctioneer. The old works were many times much injured by fire—being nearly destroyed just before passing into Mr. Cliff’s hands in 1858.

Figs. 359 to 363.—Blanchard’s Terra Cotta, &c.

Crispe’s China.—Crispe of Bow Churchyard is said to have had a manufactory of china ware at Lambeth in the middle of last century; and to him John Bacon, the sculptor, is stated to have been apprenticed in 1755. But little is known of this manufactory of Crispe’s, but reference to him and to his connection with the china trade will be made in another part of this book.

Several other potteries—one carried on by Mr. Northen, who was an apprentice to Mr. White of Fulham—existed at Lambeth, but have been removed, like the “Imperial,” by the improvements on the banks of the Thames.

Blackfriars Road.

The terra-cotta works of Messrs. M. H. Blanchard, Son, & Co., were established in 1839 by Mr. Blanchard, who served his apprenticeship with Messrs. Coade & Sealey at Lambeth, and they are still carried on by him and his sons and other partners under the above style.

The terra-cotta goods manufactured by this firm are of remarkably fine and good quality, and consist of vases, tazzas, statues, busts, groups of figures, brackets, pedestals, terminals, crosses, fountains, balustrades, trusses, and every species of architectural enrichment. In 1851, and again in 1862, as well as at the Paris Exhibition, Mr. Blanchard was awarded medals for his terra-cotta goods, and they are considered to be among the best produced, either in this country or on the Continent. Among the more successful of the works executed by them may be named the terra-cotta for the Brighton Aquarium; the permanent buildings, South Kensington Museum; the columns, &c., of the arcades in the Royal Horticultural Gardens; the Charing Cross and Cannon Street hotels and termini; the Grosvenor mansions; the Grand Hotel, Cairo; and the chastely beautiful and effective enrichments of the Wedgwood Institute, Burslem. Of this last, as one of the greatest achievements of ceramic art, as applied to external decoration of buildings, I give a series of engravings. The principal features of these designs are a series of twelve nearly square panels, in alto-relievo, representing the months of the year—each month being represented by a seated, recumbent, or stooping life-size figure, with the attribute of the season; and a series of oblong panels or plaques, representing, in similar relief, all the more striking details of the work of the potter, thus, very appropriately, illustrating the staple trade of the district in which the Wedgwood Institute is situated. Of the months, the four illustrations here given (Figs. [364 to 367]) will convey a correct idea.

Fig. 364.

Fig. 365.