CHAPTER XI.

Swansea—Cambrian Pottery—Dillwyn’s Etruscan Ware—Swansea China—Glamorgan Pottery—Richard’s Pottery—Landore Pottery—Llanelly—South Wales Pottery—Ynisymudw—Terra Cotta Works—Nantgarw—Billingsley—Nantgarw China—Brown and Stoneware Potteries—Cardigan—Cardigan Potteries—Hereford—Lugwardine Tile Works—Torquay—Terra Cotta Works—Alderholt—Smethwick—Reading—Coley Avenue Works—Wakefield Moor—Houghton’s Table of Clays—Ditchling Pottery, &c.—Amblecote—Leicester—Spinney Hill Works—Wednesbury—Winchester—Aylsford—Exeter—Lincoln.

Cambrian Pottery.—A small manufactory of earthenware appears to have existed at Swansea in the middle of last century, at which time the works had come into the hands of, and belonged to, a Mr. Coles, who afterwards took into partnership a Mr. George Haynes. The buildings were originally copper-works, and were converted into a pottery. In February, 1783, the works were offered for sale, as will be seen by the following highly interesting advertisement, which I now, for the first time, reprint. It shows the importance and extent of the works at that time.

“POTTERY AND MILLS.

“To be SOLD, A very capital SET of WORKS, well calculated for thePOTTERY, GLASS, or any other Business, wherein well constructed Cones are necessary.“These Works have been built within these few Years, and have been employed in a very extensive Pottery and Earthenware Manufacture. They are situated at Swansea, in Glamorganshire (the most flourishing Port in that Part of this Island), and have every Convenience for carrying on the present or any other similar Business. Coals of a most excellent Quality are brought into the Works for less than 5s. per Ton; Teignmouth Clay for 12s. per Ton; and Flints for 20s. per Ton; and may be landed at the Door of the Works, from Vessels of 300 Tons.“The Country being full of excellent Coals, and there being several considerable Manufactures of Copper, Lead, Tin, &c. on the River, the Port of Swansea is resorted to by great Numbers of Ships from the West of England, Ireland, Holland, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Norway, by which Means advantageous Connexions are already formed and may be easily extended. The Country is very populous, Provisions in great plenty, and Labour very cheap.“There are two excellent Water Mills included in the Premises, for grinding the Flints, one of which is more than sufficient for the Works; the other may be very advantageously altered to a Grist-Mill, not being above a Quarter of a Mile from Swansea; and at present the Inhabitants of that populous Town are under the Necessity of sending their Corn above three Miles to be ground.“The Purchaser may be accommodated with a very good Dwelling-House, Gardens, Stable, and some Pasture Ground, close to the Works.“The present Proprietor accidentally became possessed of the Works, and is settled in a very different Way of Business, at a 100 Miles distance; which is the Reason of the Premises being disposed of.“Further Particulars may be had by applying to Mr. John Miers, Merchant, in London; Messrs. J. and W. Cave, Merchants, in Bristol; Mr. Edward Coles, on the Premises; or Mr. John Coles, at the Iron Warehouse, Glocester.”

“To be SOLD, A very capital SET of WORKS, well calculated for thePOTTERY, GLASS, or any other Business, wherein well constructed Cones are necessary.

“These Works have been built within these few Years, and have been employed in a very extensive Pottery and Earthenware Manufacture. They are situated at Swansea, in Glamorganshire (the most flourishing Port in that Part of this Island), and have every Convenience for carrying on the present or any other similar Business. Coals of a most excellent Quality are brought into the Works for less than 5s. per Ton; Teignmouth Clay for 12s. per Ton; and Flints for 20s. per Ton; and may be landed at the Door of the Works, from Vessels of 300 Tons.

“The Country being full of excellent Coals, and there being several considerable Manufactures of Copper, Lead, Tin, &c. on the River, the Port of Swansea is resorted to by great Numbers of Ships from the West of England, Ireland, Holland, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Norway, by which Means advantageous Connexions are already formed and may be easily extended. The Country is very populous, Provisions in great plenty, and Labour very cheap.

“There are two excellent Water Mills included in the Premises, for grinding the Flints, one of which is more than sufficient for the Works; the other may be very advantageously altered to a Grist-Mill, not being above a Quarter of a Mile from Swansea; and at present the Inhabitants of that populous Town are under the Necessity of sending their Corn above three Miles to be ground.

“The Purchaser may be accommodated with a very good Dwelling-House, Gardens, Stable, and some Pasture Ground, close to the Works.

“The present Proprietor accidentally became possessed of the Works, and is settled in a very different Way of Business, at a 100 Miles distance; which is the Reason of the Premises being disposed of.

“Further Particulars may be had by applying to Mr. John Miers, Merchant, in London; Messrs. J. and W. Cave, Merchants, in Bristol; Mr. Edward Coles, on the Premises; or Mr. John Coles, at the Iron Warehouse, Glocester.”

Later on, probably after the sale, Mr. Haynes became sole proprietor, and by him and his partners, under the firm of “Haynes & Co.,” the works were much enlarged, and were by them styled the “Cambrian Pottery.”

In the year 1800, when Donovan wrote his excursions in South Wales and Monmouthshire, the works, then carried on by G. Haynes & Co., of which he gives an extended account, were considered to be extensive, and to be producing wares of a superior class; the buildings being said to be arranged on the same plan as those of Josiah Wedgwood, at Etruria. In 1802 Mr. Haynes sold his works, moulds, models, stock, &c., to Mr. Lewis Weston Dillwyn, and by him the buildings were very greatly enlarged, and the business considerably extended.

At first, only the ordinary descriptions of common earthenware were made at these works; but the manufacture was gradually improved by Mr. Haynes, who produced a fine white earthenware, a cream-coloured ware, an “opaque china,” and other varieties, as well as a very passable kind of biscuit ware. This “opaque china,” a fine, hard, compact, and beautiful body, is doubtless the “porcelain” ware spoken of by Donovan, on which so much unnecessary stress was laid by a recent writer in attempting to prove that veritable porcelain was made at Swansea before the time when Mr. Dillwyn commenced it; the same writer forgetting to notice that in the same paragraph in which Donovan speaks of the Swansea “porcelain” he speaks also of it and other wares bidding fair some day to vie with “Sievepottery.”

In 1790, one of the “throwers” was Charles Stevens, who had been an apprentice (at the same time as William Taylor) at the Worcester China Works. In that year he applied to be employed at the Derby China Works, sending as his address “The Pot Work,Swansea,” and next “at Mr. Bothwell’s, engraver, in the Strand, Swansea.”

In the body of the Swansea wares, “the North Devon or Bideford clays seem to have been early employed; as also the Dorset or Poole clays, the last still continuing to be used. Cornish Kaolin and China stone likewise formed a portion of the porcelain body.”

Upon the works passing into the hands of Mr. Lewis Weston Dillwyn, in 1802, the opaque china was much improved, and the decorations assumed a much more artistic character. Mr. Lewis Weston Dillwyn, who was a Fellow of the Linnæan Society, was the author of “A Synopsis of British Confervæ, Coloured from Nature, with Descriptions;” “A Description of Recent Shells;” and “Catalogue of the more rare Plants found in the neighbourhood of Dover;” and, in conjunction with Dawson Turner, of “The Botanist’s Guide through England and Wales.”

Fig. 653.

The principal painter employed for the decoration of this ware appears to have been a Mr. W. W. Young, an artist of great ability, who was particularly skilful in painting flowers, but more especially natural history subjects—birds, butterflies and other insects, and shells. These he drew from nature, and was remarkably truthful and free in his delineations. Pieces decorated with his painting are now of rare occurrence, especially those with his name signed upon them. When it does appear, it is, so far as my knowledge goes, eitherYoung pinxit, orYoung f. In the Museum of Practical Geology are some interesting examples of this “opaque china,” or “opaque porcelain.” The decorations consisted—we are told by Donovan—in 1800, of “emblematical designs, landscapes, fruit, flowers, heraldic figures, or any other species of ornamental devices,” so that several artists must at that time have been employed. Mr. Young, of whom I have just spoken, had been for some time previously employed by Mr. Dillwyn in illustrating his works on Natural History; and having been instructed in the use of enamel colours, he proved a great acquisition to the manufactory. He afterwards became one of the proprietors of the Nantgarw China Works, as I shall show in my account of that manufactory.

In 1814 Mr. Dillwyn received a communication from Sir Joseph Banks, that a specimen of china had been submitted to Government from Nantgarw, and he was requested to examine and report on those works. This matter is thus spoken of by Mr. Dillwyn himself: “My friend Sir Joseph Banks informed me that two persons, named Walker and Beeley,[57]had sent to Government, from a small manufactory at Nantgarw (ten or twelve miles north of Cardiff), a specimen of beautiful china, with a petition for their patronage; and that, as one of the Board of Trade, he requested me to examine and report upon the manufactory. Upon witnessing the firing of a kiln at Nantgarw, I found much reason for considering that the body used was too nearly allied to glass to bear the necessary heat, and observed that nine-tenths of the articles were either shivered, or more or less injured in shape, by the firing. The parties, however, succeeded in making me believe that the defects in their porcelain arose entirely from imperfections in their small trial-kiln; and I agreed with them for a removal to the Cambrian Pottery, at which two new kilns, under their direction, were prepared. While endeavouring to strengthen and improve this beautiful body, I was surprised at receiving a notice from Messrs. Flight & Barr, of Worcester, charging the parties calling themselves Walker and Beeley with having clandestinely left an engagement at their works, and forbidding me to employ them.” In 1814, then, William Billingsley and George Walker commenced for Mr. Dillwyn, at the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea, the manufacture of china, of the same body and glaze as that they had produced at Nantgarw.

For this purpose some new buildings, kilns, &c., were erected, and the utmost secrecy was observed. The new buildings for the manufacture of china were erected on a place previously a bathing-place. Mr. Dillwyn—or rather Billingsley and Walker for him—succeeded in producing a beautiful china; but the loss of time in building and altering the kilns, &c., and the losses and disappointments attending numerous experiments and trials, prevented it being made to more than a limited extent. Soon after the receipt of Messrs. Flight & Barr’s letter, Mr. Dillwyn dismissed Billingsley and Walker (who returned to Nantgarw), and continued the manufacture of china, but of a somewhat different body. About 1817 the manufacture was laid aside by Mr. Dillwyn, and for a time carriedon by Mr. Bevington. In 1823, the moulds, &c., were purchased by Mr. Rose, of the Coalport Works, and removed to that place; and since that time no china has been made at Swansea.

The Cambrian Pottery passed successively from Mr. Lewis Weston Dillwyn (who afterwards became, from 1832 till 1835, Member of Parliament for Glamorganshire) to Mr. Bevington, who, I am informed, was at one time manager of the works, and who subsequently took a partner, and carried them on under the style of “Bevington & Roby,” and “Bevington, Roby, & Co.,” and so back again, ultimately to Mr. Dillwyn, and thence to his son, Mr. Lewis Llewellyn Dillwyn, M.P. for Swansea. Under this gentleman’s management the works were carried on with much spirit and consequent success. In 1840 negotiations were entered upon between Mr. Dillwyn and the Messrs. Brameld of the “Rockingham Works” (which see) for the letting of the “Glamorgan Pottery” to the latter firm for the purpose of manufacturing china ware. The following letter in my own possession is too interesting to omit:—

“Burrows Lodge, Swansea.

“June 1, 1840.

“Gentlemen,—I am altogether unacquainted with the China manufacture and should therefore decline any partnership in one. I have, however, no doubt that China may be manufactured very profitably in Swansea, and should rejoice to see a manufacture established here. I am also convinced that a China and Earthenware factory might very materially assist each other in many ways. On these accounts I have made an arrangement, at some inconvenience to myself, by which I shall be enabled to let you the Glamorgan Pottery, which I should think was in every way well calculated for a China work. I am ready also to let the premises to you on lower terms than I should have expected from any other party.

“The terms I would let them upon to you would be £300 per annum, with a stipulation on your part that nothing but China of the best transparent body should be manufactured upon them.

“Should you think this offer worth your consideration, if one of your Firm will come down, I shall be happy to shew him everything in my power.

“I remain, Gentlemen,

“Yours very truly,

“L. L. Dillwyn.”

“Messrs. Brameld & Co.

Near Rotherham.”

The letter is addressed to Messrs. Brameld, and a pencilled note by Mr. Brameld says, “Too high, unless a good mill with it.” The negotiations fell through, and thus Swansea was deprived of a good chance of becoming an important centre of porcelain manufacture.

About 1848 or 1850 Mr. Dillwyn introduced a new branch of manufacture—that of an imitation of Etruscan vases, &c. Thisware, which was called “Dillwyn’s Etruscan Ware,” was a fine rich red body. On this was printed, in black outline, Etruscan figures, borders, &c., and the general surface was then painted over and up to the outlines with a fine black, leaving the figures of the original red of the body. The effect was extremely good, and some remarkably fine examples, although but few pieces were made, are still preserved. The accompanying engraving exhibits an example formerly in my own collection. It is of extremely elegant form, and the pattern, both border and figures, is in remarkably good taste. The mark is the one shown below. It is printed in black on the bottom of the vase. The forms were all taken either from vases in the British Museum, or from Sir William Hamilton’s “Antiquités Etrusques, Grecques, et Romaines.” But very little was produced, as it was not a ware, unfortunately, to command a ready sale. It was made from clay found in the neighbourhood, which, when not too highly fired, burns to a good red colour.

Fig. 654.

Fig. 655.

In 1852 Mr. Lewis Llewellyn Dillwyn retired from the concern, and it then passed into the hands of Mr. Evans, who carried it on, under the firm of “Evans, Glasson, & Evans,” until 1859, when, for a time, the style was altered to “Evans & Co.,” and, subsequently, to “D. J. Evans & Co.” (son of the Mr. Evans just alluded to), by whom it is at the present time carried on. The manufacture consisted of the ordinary classes of white, blue and white, and agate earthenware; the markets being principally Wales, Ireland, West of England, and Chili. No trade-mark is used.

About the end of 1869 earthenware was rather suddenly discontinuedbeing made at the Cambrian Pottery, and the bulk of the workpeople discharged, a portion only being retained till the ware made was printed and finished by passing through the kilns. The site of the Cambrian Pottery, adjacent to the Swansea Canal and the North Dock, having become more valuable for other commercial purposes than for a pottery, an arrangement was made by Mr. Dillwyn with Messrs. D. J. Evans & Co. to surrender the short unexpired term of their lease, so that as soon as the stock and plant could be cleared off, the buildings might be taken down or converted to other uses. The whole site was let to Messrs. Cory, Yeo, & Co., who held an adjoining wharf, and about June, 1870, they commenced clearing space for erecting their new Patent Fuel Works, and cutting a branch from the canal across the site to near the North Dock. The “Patent Fuel Works” was quickly erected (in part from the old pottery materials at hand), about the centre of the site, the kilns, workshops, and warehouses taken down (except one or two buildings and sheds on the west side, converted), so that scarcely a vestige of what was properly called the working part of the Cambrian pottery now remains. At the close of the works the copper-plates were sold to the South Wales Pottery, Llanelly.

Among the artists at one time or other employed at Swansea, besides Young, of whom I have already spoken, it may be interesting to note the following: Pardoe, who was an excellent flower-painter (afterwards of the Nantgarw Works); Baxter, a clever figure painter, who came to these works from Worcester, to which place he afterwards returned;[58]Bevington, a flower-painter, alsofrom Worcester; Reed, a modeller of considerable repute; Hood, also a clever modeller; Jenny, a tracer in gold; Morris, a fruit-painter; Colclough, who was much admired as a painter of birds; Evans, who was a talented flower-painter; and Beddoes, who was the best heraldic painter; to these, of course, must be added Billingsley, who was the best flower-painter of the day, or since.

The principal marks used at these works appear to have been the following:—

Fig. 656.

This occurs on a beautiful dark mottled blue oviform earthenware vase (formerly in the collection of Mr. S. C. Hall), having on one side an exquisitely painted group of passion-flowers, roses, &c. The mark is painted on the bottom, and is, I believe, unique. In Mr. Hall’s collection, besides this splendid example of “Cambrian” ware, were an oviform vase and cover, having a yellow ground, with blue borders and handles, and brown scrolls at top; a flower vase on a tripod stand, blue ground with a white border, painted with acanthus scroll, and on the cover a bouquet of flowers in relief; a pair of cup-shaped vases, with blue ground, black borders, and white classical figures at the top; and a lamp, the handle in form of a female holding a pitcher, the lamp resting on a pedestal and triangular foot.

Another mark occasionally met with has the words “Cambrian Pottery” in writing letters, and another has the same words but in capital letters.

Cambrian Pottery.

CAMBRIANPOTTERY.

On the porcelain made by Billingsley and Walker for Mr. Dillwyn, the mark appears to have simply been the name SWANSEA printed in red; or, as on the subsequent make of china, the name sometimes occurs simply impressed,

Swansea, orSWANSEA, or Swansea.

Sometimes the nameappears impressed in the body of the ware, at other times with the addition of a trident, “which,” Mr. Dillwyn says, “denotes a supposed improvement which was not ultimately found to answer.” It is thus—or

Another mark, which I here engrave, has two tridents in saltire and the name Swansea, thus—

Other marks which I have met with, or have notes of, are—

DILLWYN & CO.

CAMBRIAN POTTERY.

OPAQUE CHINA,SWANSEA.

HAYNES, DILLWYN & CO.CAMBRIAN POTTERY.SWANSEA.

TheGlamorgan Pottery, already alluded to, was situated to the west of the “Cambrian Pottery,” on the opposite side of the road leading to the North Dock Bridge. In extent it was about two-thirds of the Cambrian, and produced similar wares. It was discontinued some years ago, the kilns taken down, and part of the building converted into iron warehouses. It was, I am informedby Mr. Holland, built about the year 1816, by a Mr. Baker, who was soon after joined in partnership by Mr. Bevan and Mr. Herwain, and the business carried on under the style of “Baker, Bevan, & Herwain,” until 1839, when it seems to have been purchased by Mr. Dillwyn, who, in the following year, as I have shown, offered it to Messrs. Brameld, of the Rockingham China Works, for the purpose of carrying on the porcelain manufacture there. Mr. Baker also, at one time, held another small pottery for a finer kind of earthenware, near the river Tawe, in another part of Swansea.

Rickard.—In Swansea, too, is also a small potwork belonging to Mr. Rickard or Ricketts, who produces only the commonest kinds of black and Rockingham ware tea-pots, jugs, &c., and hardware jugs of mixed local clay and Dorset clay (principally for the home markets), ornamental flower-pots, garden vases, &c.

Landore Pottery.—About 1848 Mr. John Forbes Calland, of Swansea district, built a pottery, conveniently situated, on the Swansea Canal, and near the river Tawe at Landore, about a mile from Swansea. This was worked for a few years by Mr. Calland, who produced printed and common earthenware from white clays, in dinner, tea, and toilet ware, for the home trade under the style and mark of

J. K. CALLAND & CO.,LANDORE POTTERY.

and

CALLANDSWANSEA.

Not being commercially successful, Mr. Calland discontinued the manufacture about 1856, when the whole of the copper-plates then in use were transferred to the South Wales Pottery at Llanelly. The Landore Pottery has since been converted into a smelting-works, and is now used for smelting copper ores.

South Wales Pottery.—These works, belonging to Messrs. Holland & Guest, are now the only blue and white earthenware manufactory in the principality. They were established in 1839 by William Chambers Jun., Esq., of Llanelly House, Llanelly, who carried on the manufacture of earthenware for home and foreign markets, with different managers, up to the end of 1854. The general classes of goods manufactured were for the home trade, and included whiteor cream colour, edged, dipt, painted, and printed wares. Other descriptions of goods, viz., coloured bodies, figured, enamelled, and parian, were tried and worked for a time, but soon discontinued. It was also intended, a few years after starting the pottery, to commence the making of china, and a kiln was built specially for that purpose, but the idea was then abandoned, and porcelain has never been made at these works. For some two or three years, about 1850, a large quantity of white granite, printed, and flown printed ware, was made for the United States market, the crates being sent per vessel from Llanelly to Liverpool for transshipment. During the first few years after the commencement of these works the principal trade was by coasting vessels carrying coals to ports in England and Ireland, and by carts and waggons inland. When the South Wales Railway (now Great Western, South Wales section) was opened to Swansea, crates of earthenware for forwarding were frequently sent there by road, twelve miles, till the continuation of the railway past Llanelly was opened.

At the end of 1854 the business of the South Wales Pottery was transferred to Messrs. Coombs and Holland, who were then connected in the management, and they carried on the works till May, 1858, when there was a dissolution of partnership, and Mr. W. T. Holland continued the business alone till November, 1869, when he was joined in partnership by Mr. D. Guest, under the firm of Holland & Guest. The trade after 1854 was chiefly local or South Wales, with the West of England districts and South of Ireland for seven or eight years, when there was a partial discontinuance of travelling, and introduction of orders for foreign markets, as for South America, Brazil, Chili, East Indies, France, and the Mediterranean, so that the working became about half for foreign markets. The goods produced consist of a variety of table, tea, and toilet services, and other ordinary articles in printed and flown printed earthenware of average quality, and the usual classes of white, cream-coloured, sponged and painted wares.

It is interesting to add that the copper-plates formerly in use at the other earthenware potteries in South Wales—now discontinued working, viz., the Landore, the Ynisymudw, and the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea—were purchased for the South Wales Pottery, and selections of patterns made from these (as well as more modern styles) have been introduced in patterns and shapes. Mr. Holland was an exhibitor at the International Exhibition of 1862.

Terra Cotta Works.—This manufactory, now devoted to terra cotta goods, fire bricks, and sanitary pipes, was formerly an earthenware pottery, where ordinary blue printed ware was manufactured. It is situate in the Swansea Valley, about ten miles from Swansea on the Brecon road, is on the Swansea Canal (which extends seven miles higher up the valley), and about two miles from Pontardawe station, on the Midland Railway Swansea Vale section. It was commenced as a fire brick works (there having been a small common brick works there previously) in 1840 by Mr. William Williams and his brother, Mr. Michael Martyn Williams, of Swansea, who then took a long lease of the premises, and soon afterwards introduced, in addition, the manufacture of the now famed “South Wales Dinas Bricks” from the Cribbath stone, obtained near the top of the Swansea Canal. These bricks are still made there, and the “Ynisymudw dinas” are equal to the best “dinas” or silica bricks made. Terra cotta work was also introduced, and made in buff of good quality, with some success. About 1850 Mr. William Williams and his brother decided to add the manufacture of earthenware, in table, tea, toilet, and other services, &c., in common white, painted and printed wares, for home or local trade, and foreign shipment (chiefly worked for South America, crates sent to Liverpool per steamer from Swansea); and this was continued till about 1859, when the blue-and-white earthenware branch was discontinued (the copper-plates being purchased for the South Wales Pottery, Llanelly), and the works transferred to another brother, Mr. Charles Williams, and in course of a year or so it was disposed of to Messrs. Griffith Lewis and John Morgan, of Pontardawe, who carried it on under the style of the “Ynisymudw Brick Company,” “Ynisymudw Pottery Company,” and “Lewis & Morgan,” at various periods during eleven years, in the early part of which the manufacture of Rockingham tea-pots, &c., glazed stoneware bottles and similar goods, was for a time carried on. From the first, arrangements had been made for the extension of the manufacture of salt glazed sanitary pipes, using the three old pottery glost kilns for this purpose, and the manufacture of these, together with fire bricks and terra cotta goods, was continued till the end of 1870, when the works and business were transferred to Mr. William Thomas Holland, of the South Wales Pottery, Llanelly, by whom they have beencontinued. In 1871 Mr. Holland exhibited specimens of his fire bricks, glazed pipes, and terra cotta manufacture at South Kensington. The premises consist of ten kilns, with ample space for extensions, and the works are situate in a beautiful part of the Swansea Valley, on the river Tawe, with a tributary stream, the Cwm Du, running through the premises, giving a supply of good water. Probably the manufacture of white earthenware will ere long be revived at Ynisymudw as an addition to the present manufactures.

These short-lived works, whose history is so mixed up with those of Swansea, Derby, Coalport, Pinxton, and other places, were commenced on a very small scale, in 1813, by William Billingsley,[59]the famous flower-painter of Derby, and his son-in-law, George Walker; the former at that time passing under the assumed name of Beeley, which was simply a contraction of his own name B’ley or B[illings]ley. Shortly afterwards, having applied to the Board of Trade for patronage and, of course, Government aid, Mr. Dillwyn, of the “Cambrian Pottery,” at Swansea, went over to examine and report upon the ware; and this examination resulted in his entering into an engagement with Billingsley and Walker, by which they, with their recipe, their moulds and other appliances, removed to Swansea. In about two years this engagement was brought to a close, and Billingsley and Walker returned to Nantgarw, where they again commenced the manufacture of china of the same excellent and peculiar kind for which they had become so famous. The proprietors appear to have met with liberal friends to assist them in their undertaking. The Hon. William Booth Grey, of Duffryn, is said to have subscribed £1,000 towards the undertaking, and other gentlemen almost equally liberal sums. The whole of the money subscribed, understood to have been about £8,000, is said to have been expended in little more than two years. This in great measure appears to have been caused by experiments and trials and alterations in buildings, &c., and by the immense waste in “seconds” goods, or “wasters,” which were invariably broken up, instead of, as now at most works, being disposed of at a cheaper rate.

That Billingsley and Walker, with Mr. Young, who appears to have come from Swansea to join them, as also Mr. Pardoe, from the same works, who was formerly of Staffordshire (with Mr. Turner), and afterwards of Bristol, and who was a clever painter, were the proprietors of the renewed works, seems evident, and they were carried on with considerable success.

Fig. 657.—Nantgarw Works.

The productions of Nantgarw were, as far as beauty of body and of decoration, as well as form, are concerned, a complete success, and the works gradually, but surely, made their way in public estimation. The London houses—especially it is said Mr. Mortlock’s—found it to their advantage to support the manufactory, and there was thus no difficulty in finding a good and profitable market. A service was made and presented to the Prince of Wales (afterwards King George IV.); “the pattern was a green vase, with a single rose on every piece, and every rose different.” This beautiful service was painted, I believe, partly by Billingsley and partly by Pardoe. It helped very materially to make the works fashionable, and it is said that they were visited by numbers of the nobility and gentry, “as many as forty gentlemen’s carriages having been known to be there in one day.” A considerable quantity of the Nantgarw ware was sold in the white to Mortlock, who had it painted in London, and fired at the enamel kiln of Messrs. Robins & Randallof Spa Fields. Webster, one of the painters of the Derby China Works, thus decorated a deal of this ware in London. The trade which was thus beginning to prosper being felt to be likely to some considerable extent to affect that of the Coalport Works, Mr. Rose (of those works) entered into an arrangement with Billingsley and Walker by which he bought up their concern, made a permanent engagement with them, and at once removed them and their moulds, and everything else to Coalport. The manufacture of china was, therefore, closed at Nantgarw. In 1823 Mr. Pardoe died. Mr. Young removed, I am informed, to Droitwich, where he carried on a salt-work. Billingsley and Walker, as I have already stated, removed to Coalport, where Billingsley died in 1827 or 1828. Walker ultimately sailed for America, where he established a pottery, still, I believe, in operation.

Fig. 658.

In 1823 the greater portion of the china works were pulled down, the dwelling-house and some other portions alone remaining. In 1832, Mr. William Henry Pardoe, of Bristol (who was a china painter of great skill), a good practical potter of great experience in the art which had, through Richard Champion and his successors, made his city famous, entered upon the premises, and commenced there a red-ware pottery, in connection with an extensive tobacco-pipe manufactory. To this he afterwards added Rockingham ware and stoneware departments, in each of which he produced goods of excellent quality. Mr. Pardoe died in 1867, and the Nantgarw works—those works around which such a halo of interest exists—are still carried on by his widow and her family. The goods now produced are red or brown earthenware, made from clay found in the neighbourhood—many of the pitchers being of purely mediæval form—stoneware bottles of every kind, jugs, butter-pots, cheese and bread pans, foot and carriage warmers, snuff-jars, hunting jugs andmugs, tobacco-jars, jugs, &c., and other goods; tobacco-pipes, which experienced smokers declare to be at least equal to those from Broseley, garden-pots, pancheons, &c., are also made.

The only marks used at Nantgarw which can be considered to be marks of the works are the following, impressed in the the body of the china:

NANT-GARWG. W.

the G. W. being the initials of George Walker, the son-in-law and partner of Billingsley; and the single wordNANT-GARWin red colour.[60]Another mark, supposed to belong to these works is this:; with the number of the pattern as “No.” added.

Fig. 659.

Fig. 660.

The goods produced were tea, dinner, and dessert services, vases, match-pots, cabinet cups, pen and wafer trays, inkstands, and a large variety of other articles. One of the most interesting relics of these works which has come under my notice is the cup here engraved, which was formerly in my own collection. It has been painted with what is technically known as the “Chantilly pattern,” in blue, and then has been used as a trial piece for colours and glazes. It bears in different parts of its surface various washes of colour, with marks and contractions to show the mixture, which have been submitted to the action of the enamel kiln. In my own collection are also some other highly interesting examples, including an oval tray, painted with flowers, a plate, “Chantilly” pattern saucers, and some interesting fragments and relics of the old works. In the Jermyn Street Museum the collector will find some goodexamples for comparison, as he will also in some private collections. Some remarkably fine examples of Nantgarw china are in the possession of Sir Ivor Bertie Guest, Bart., and others are in various collections.

The village of Nantgarw is situated in the parish of Eglw y Sillan, in Glamorganshire; it is eight miles from Cardiff, and one mile from the “Taffs Well” Station, on the Taff Valley Railway; and the Rhymney Valley Railway is also equally near.

The works shown in the engraving are picturesquely situated by the side of the Glamorganshire Canal, on the road to Caerphilly, from whose glorious old ruined castle they are only a few miles distant.

Brown and Stoneware Potteries.—The other works (besides Nantgarw) in Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire are those of Messrs. Henry James, Joseph Rogers, Evan Davies, George Sherrin, and Thomas Moore. At these only common, coarse brownware pitchers and other domestic vessels are made.

The Cardigan Potteries.—These pottery works were established in 1875 by Mr. J. H. Miles and Mr. William Woodward, and were at first intended simply for the production of common coarse red earthenware goods for domestic and horticultural purposes. The clay of this district having been found to be of a superior character and capable of being turned to good account for better classes of goods, the firm turned their attention to its development, and have succeeded in producing not only articles of an artistic character, but architectural decorations of more than average excellence. The productions of Messrs. Woodward and Co. are vases, jugs, flower stands, and other ornamental articles, and these are decorated and glazed in a manner peculiarly their own, and which gives to them a distinctive character over those of other manufactories. In some, quaint and well-designed patterns are impressed in the clay, and the whole being surface coloured and highly glazed have a rich and peculiar appearance. The firm trade under the names of “The Cardigan Potteries,” “Woodward and Co.,” and their works are called the “Patent Brick, Tile, and Pottery Works” and “Cardigan Potteries.” The goods are principally for the Welsh coast and forEngland, but the trade is rapidly developing itself, and by the addition of other branches, especially in blue clay goods, will become an important feature in Welsh manufactures. Glazed and unglazed bricks and tiles, coloured tiles for interior mural decoration, and paving tiles of various kinds, form also a staple branch of trade of the Cardigan Works.

The marks used by the firm are the words “Cardigan Potteries” and “Woodward and Co.,” impressed in the ware, and a design of a brick bearing the wordsWoodward and Co., Cardigan.

Lugwardine Works.—These encaustic tile works, situated at Withington, four miles from Hereford, were established in 1861 by Mr. William Godwin, and are of considerable extent. In encaustic tiles Mr. Godwin has paid particular attention to the reproduction of mediæval patterns in all their entirety, both as to fac-simile of form and ornament, and antique appearance of surface, and in these essentials to artistic effect has succeeded admirably. Many of his tiles are exact reproductions, not old designs modernised, and this it is that gives to floors laid by him that peculiar charm which they undoubtedly possess. In addition to actual copies of old tiles, Mr. Godwin has produced a large variety of new designs, in which the patterns are characterized by pure mediæval feeling and by excellent workmanship. The tiles are of extremely hard and durable quality, and the colours clear, distinct, and good. Mr. Godwin’s name impressed on the back of the tile is his mark.

Terra-Cotta Works.—The Terra-Cotta Works at Hele Cross, Torquay, were established in October, 1875, by Dr. Gillow, who that year discovered the bed of clay, and are worked by a Limited Liability Company, with that clever and energetic gentleman as chairman and general director. The clay is of remarkably fine, tenacious, and durable quality, and is capable of working to the very highest degree of perfection. Its colour is a rich full red, and its surface almost metallic in its hardness and fine texture; it is almost identical in quality and beauty of tone to that at Watcombe, to whose productions those of Torquay bear a marked resemblance. Dr. Gillow has, very wisely, directed his efforts entirely in an Artdirection, with a determination to produce only works of a high class of excellence, whether the designs or objects be simple or elaborate, low priced or costly, useful or strictly ornamental. Architectural terra-cotta is not made or intended to be made, but only Art productions of an ornamental character. To this end a staff of forty or more experienced workmen has been got together, and skilled modellers, enamellers, and decorators engaged from other seats of manufacture. The company started with the aim of producing works of a high standard of excellence, and thus expressed their intention: “They (the Company) believe that they have at Hele Cross the best deposit of clay yet discovered, and their one aim and object is to improve the artistic standard by persevering energy; one year’s existence has given grounds for hope and encouragement; much has been done, but much more remains to be done. They trust to improve year by year until they place terra-cotta in its old proud position as a favoured branch of Ceramic Art, and until Devonshire productions stand unrivalled throughout Europe.” The success which has so far attended Dr. Gillow’s efforts is very marked, and shows that they have been directed in a right way and in a commendable spirit.

TORQUAY TERRA COTTA Co. LIMITED.Figs. 661 and 662.

TORQUAY TERRA COTTA Co. LIMITED.

Figs. 661 and 662.

The productions of the Torquay Terra-Cotta Company are statuettes, single figures and groups, busts, groups of animals, birds, &c.; vases, ewers, bottles, jugs, and tazzæ; butter-coolers, spill cases, and other domestic appliances; plaques of various sizes; candlesticks, toilet-trays, water-bottles, tobacco vases, &c. Many of the productions are painted and enamelled in good taste, and the ornamentation, whether in colour or gilding, is characterized by clever workmanship and judicious arrangement. Many designs of vases, plaques, &c., are original and in good taste. The company supply not only the home but foreign markets, and have received high recognition, with medals from the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society and from the Turners’ Company. The marks used by the firm are an oval garter bearing the wordsTorquay Terra-Cotta Co., and in the centreLimited, printed on the ware; the nameTorquayimpressed in the clay; the words within a single oval line; and the monogram, Fig.652, which is a combination of the letters T T C, for “Torquay Terra Cotta.”

At this place, in Hampshire, potteries for common coarse ware for domestic purposes exist. The bed of clay is the same as that in the New Forest worked in early ages, as described in the first volume.

Tile Works.—Mr. T. W. Camm commenced the business of Art decoration of tiles in 1866, in Brewery Street, and later on new buildings were erected in High Street. Having been joined in partnership by Messrs. J. M. and H. C. Camm, the business was carried on under the style of “Camm Brothers”—the general management of the business being divided into three departments, each under the special management of one of the partners, the first-named taking the designing department, the second the painting, and the third the glazing. By this excellent arrangement the whole processes from beginning to end are carried on under the eye of the entire firm, and thus excellence in each is insured. Messrs. Camm Brothers do not manufacture the tiles themselves, but purchase them in their unglazed state and then decorate and glaze them. Their designs are extremely varied, and the whole being hand-painted they are adapted to the tastes and requirements of their customers and designed in strict accordance with the style of building they are intended to adorn. The figure subjects, whether allegorical, historical, or otherwise, the productions of this firm, are of the highest order; the drawing bold, firm, masterly, and effective, and the colouring rich, full, and harmonious. Some other larger works, notably historical plaques of two or three feet in length and proportionate depth, are grand in conception, and form historical pictures of considerable value. The firm also produce appropriate tile-decorations for furniture, cheeks of fire-places, hearths, linings of bath and other rooms, friezes, memorial figures and other designs for churches and for every purpose where they can be made available, and these are characterized by the same good taste that is shown in their stained glass. The mark is simply the name “CAMM BROTHERS, SMETHWICK.”

Coley Avenue Works.—These works were established in 1861 by Messrs. Collier & Son, and are continued under the style of “S. & E. Collier.” Brown terra-cotta, glazed and unglazed brown ware, and roofing and other tiles are the products of these works.

“Potters Pale Yellow Clay of Wakefield Moor,” is mentioned in a list of clays, by Houghton, in 1693. As the list contains valuable particulars I give it entire. In the same work is a vast deal of curious information on tobacco-pipe clay and the making of pipes, brick and tile-making, etc. The list is as follows:

“A TABLE OF CLAYS.

Pure, that is, such as is soft like butter to the teeth, and has little or no greetiness in it.

Greasy, to be reckoned amongst the medicinal earth, orterræ sigillatæ.

At Ditchling, in Sussex, pot-works are said to have existed for “several hundred years.” Be this as it may, some old pot-works for the coarsest brown ware, and bricks and tiles, were bought in 1870 by Messrs. H. Johnson & Co., in the belief that from the superior quality of the native red clay they would be able to produce architectural terra-cotta of a more than ordinarily durable quality. By them the Ditchling Works were much extended, and they have succeeded in making terra-cotta, both useful and ornamental, of an excellent bright red colour, and a fine hard, durable, and almost metallic surface. In this, with careful workmanship, they manufacture well-designed terminals, ridge crestings, crosses, panels, mouldings and all the usual varieties of architectural pottery, as well as moulded bricks, tiles, &c. Among public buildings where the Ditchling terra-cotta has been successfully used is the St. James’s Hall, Piccadilly, and the firm have received medals from the London International Exhibition and the Philadelphia Exhibition. In 1875 Messrs. H. Johnson & Co. opened extensive works on the same vein of clay at Keymer Junction. They are the largest works in Sussex.

A pottery at this place is mentioned by Plot in 1686.

Spinney Hill Works.—At these works, belonging to Mr. Fielding Moore, garden vases, flower baskets, rustic ornaments, fountains, pedestals, flower-pots, and all the usual variety of terra-cotta goods are made; as are also similar articles in ordinary red and other clays.

A potwork existed here in the seventeenth century. Plot, who wrote in 1686, says “of these (i.e.clays from Horsley Heath, &c.) they make divers sorts of vessels at Wednesbury, which they paint with slip, made of a reddish sort of earth gotten at Tipton.”

A famous manufactory of tobacco-pipes existed here in the seventeenth century. Ben Jonson notes that they were the best made in his day.

Terra-cotta Workswere established here about 1850, by Mr. Edward Betts, who discovered a valuable bed of plastic clay on his estate in the neighbourhood. At the Exhibition of 1851 Mr. Betts exhibited a terra-cotta vase (Fig.663) made at Aylesford from this native clay, from a design furnished by Mr. John Thomas, the architect.

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