“The circumstances under which I came upon the hand-made pottery were as follows. In conversation with a Scotch friend on archæological matters, he happened to mention thathand-made potteryis still used in the Hebrides. Taken in connection with the fact that the inhabitants of some of the islands still, I believe, live in the same circular dry stone huts, with their cattle under the same roof, of which so many traces remain on Dartmoor, Ingleborough in Yorkshire, the Yr Eifel Hills in Carnarvonshire, and with the curious speculations contained in the introduction to the popular tales of the West Highlands, by Mr. Campbell, this fact seemed to be of some archæological interest. Mr. Tyler, in his ‘Early History of Mankind,’ gives many instances of the old savage instruments having lasted to our times,e.g., the flint knife used to cut cabbages by some old woman in Orkney, the bone ‘barker’ from Cornwall, in Christy and Blackmore Museums, the stone hammer for breaking the shells of whelks in Brittany, and so on.“My friend gave me an introduction to Mr. D. Munro, the chamberlain of Sir James Matherson, Bart., at Stornoway, in the Lewes, and Mr. Munro promptly sent me a complete tea-service consisting of teapot, milk-jug, sugar-basin, slop-basin, egg cups (or probably dram cups), cups and saucers, and marmalade pot! which he had purchased for the magnificent sum of 10s. from an old woman at Stornoway, who was actually using them in the year of grace 1868 at her tea table. The pottery is evidently hand-made, and is of a very rough quality and form, baked, but not turned on the wheel. I gave half the set to the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury, and half to the Christy Museum, at 103, Victoria Street (visible on Fridays between 10 and 4 p.m. by ticket obtained at the British Museum; no doubt a letter enclosing stamped envelope wouldsave the trouble of an application to the British Museum). The pottery is in a case in the secretary’s room. I am not sure if this room is shown to the public, but of course it would be shown to any one having an object in view.“The remarkable thing is, that the pottery is distinctly copied, rudely enough, from modern pottery. The forms are ordinary Tottenham Court Road forms, and their continued use in an island with a regular steamboat service from Glasgow strikes me as very curious.“Of course the view of the pottery is open to you, and all the information contained in this letter. I should prefer, however, not having my name published, unless to substantiate any statements I have made.”
“The circumstances under which I came upon the hand-made pottery were as follows. In conversation with a Scotch friend on archæological matters, he happened to mention thathand-made potteryis still used in the Hebrides. Taken in connection with the fact that the inhabitants of some of the islands still, I believe, live in the same circular dry stone huts, with their cattle under the same roof, of which so many traces remain on Dartmoor, Ingleborough in Yorkshire, the Yr Eifel Hills in Carnarvonshire, and with the curious speculations contained in the introduction to the popular tales of the West Highlands, by Mr. Campbell, this fact seemed to be of some archæological interest. Mr. Tyler, in his ‘Early History of Mankind,’ gives many instances of the old savage instruments having lasted to our times,e.g., the flint knife used to cut cabbages by some old woman in Orkney, the bone ‘barker’ from Cornwall, in Christy and Blackmore Museums, the stone hammer for breaking the shells of whelks in Brittany, and so on.
“My friend gave me an introduction to Mr. D. Munro, the chamberlain of Sir James Matherson, Bart., at Stornoway, in the Lewes, and Mr. Munro promptly sent me a complete tea-service consisting of teapot, milk-jug, sugar-basin, slop-basin, egg cups (or probably dram cups), cups and saucers, and marmalade pot! which he had purchased for the magnificent sum of 10s. from an old woman at Stornoway, who was actually using them in the year of grace 1868 at her tea table. The pottery is evidently hand-made, and is of a very rough quality and form, baked, but not turned on the wheel. I gave half the set to the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury, and half to the Christy Museum, at 103, Victoria Street (visible on Fridays between 10 and 4 p.m. by ticket obtained at the British Museum; no doubt a letter enclosing stamped envelope wouldsave the trouble of an application to the British Museum). The pottery is in a case in the secretary’s room. I am not sure if this room is shown to the public, but of course it would be shown to any one having an object in view.
“The remarkable thing is, that the pottery is distinctly copied, rudely enough, from modern pottery. The forms are ordinary Tottenham Court Road forms, and their continued use in an island with a regular steamboat service from Glasgow strikes me as very curious.
“Of course the view of the pottery is open to you, and all the information contained in this letter. I should prefer, however, not having my name published, unless to substantiate any statements I have made.”
Manufactories of brown ware, of delft, of common earthenware, and fire-clay goods, have also existed, or exist, in other parts of Scotland.