Part 2

Besides bricks and tiles, these clays have been turned to account from very early periods in other ways, as for pottery, for instance, of different kinds.

We have no reliable authority for fixing the date at which the art of potting was first practised in Shropshire, but it appears clear that the articles were of the simplest kind, being almost uniformly domestic: those in daily use, such as milk-pans, dishes, tea-pots, jugs, and mugs. The latter were substitutes for the drinking horns, which later improvements in the plastic and ceramic arts have driven out of use. We have an ancient specimen of one made at the Pitchyard, and a drawing of another made at Haybrook, well _potted_, and elegant in shape. The latter is the best manipulated, and probably it was from this circumstance that the latter work was called “The Mug-House.”

In evidence adduced sometime since in an Election Scrutiny at Bewdley, a public-house referred to was called the “Mughouse,” which house is situated on the Severn, at a point where the bargemen, who formerly drew the vessels up the river instead of horses, were in the habit of stopping to get mugs of ale. “Tots” were made out of the same kind of clay, but smaller, and were used when the men drank in company; hence a person who had drank too much was supposed to have been with a convivial party, and was said to have been “totty,” a word often found in old works. Tots had no handles, and some of the old drinking cups, more particularly those of glass of Anglo Saxon make, were rounded at the bottom that they should not stand upright, and that a man may empty them at a draught,—the custom continuing till later times gave rise to our modern name of tumbler. The small tots had no handles; the mug had a “stouk,” as it is called, consisting of a single piece of clay, flattened and bent over into a loop. The ware was similar to the famous “Rockingham ware” made on the estate of Earl Fitzwilliam, near Wentworth.

The discovery of a salt glaze took place in 1690, and the manufacture of that kind of ware must have commenced here soon after, as traces of works of the kind are abundant. This method consisted in throwing salt into the kiln when the ware had attained a great heat, holes being left in the clay boxes that contained it in order that the fumes may enter and vitrify the surface. Evidences of the manufacture of these old mugs and tots, together with milk-pans and washing-pans, having been made at an early period, are numerous; and the old seggars in which they were burnt often form walls of the oldest cottages in Benthall and Broseley Wood.

A considerable number of old jars, mugs, and other articles, have from time to time been found in places and under circumstances sufficient to indicate great antiquity; as in mounds overgrown with trees, and in old pits which for time immemorial have not been worked. One large earthen jar, with “George Weld,” in light clay, was found in an old drain at Willey, and is now in the possession of Lord Forester. Mr. John Thursfield, who lived at Benthall hall, was at one time proprietor of these works.

Three quarters of a century ago these works were carried on by Messrs. Bell & Lloyd; afterwards by Mr. John Lloyd, one of the best and most truly pious men we ever knew, who some time before his death transferred them to a nephew, Mr. E. Bathurst. His son succeeded him, and after a time sold them to the present proprietor, Mr. Allen, who to the ordinary red and yellow ware, which finds a ready sale in North and South Wales, has added articles of use and ornament in other ways, including forcing pots, garden vases, and various terra cotta articles.

Of the Pitchyard works we know little, only that they stood where the late Mr. E. Southorn carried on his Pipe Works, and where we remember them in ruins more than fifty years ago; but the numerous seggars, now found in cottage garden walls, shew that they must have been continued for some considerable time.

But, besides the manufacture of bricks, tiles, and pottery, these clays have been raised to a trade within the past few years in this district which is every day increasing, and which is capable of much further expansion: we refer now to the important department of encaustic or inlaid tiles and mosaics. The art of producing tiles of this description is only recently revived in this country, and is one which in point of antiquity is not to be compared with its sister branches. The first attempt, so far as we are aware, to revive the art in Shropshire, was at Jackfield; but the first designs were crude, quaint, and spiritless, and altogether wanting in those nicer distinctions and qualities which, not being perceived by the mind of the producer, could not be wrought by the hand. In this as in many other branches of fictile art _insight_ into the principles as well as eyesight is required, and the mistake—as in many other instances—was committed of attempting something which, with the expenditure of thought and time, might catch the uneducated eye—the object being to produce _quantity_ rather than _quality_. But the call made upon the art by the enlightened demands of the age soon gave a wonderful impetus to the improvement, and men of educated artistic taste—like the Mintons and the Maws—soon called to their aid the assistance of the greatest genius and the highest designing talent at command; at the same time that they directed their efforts to definite points in which utility might be made the instrument of beauty, and by which originality and intelligible design might be made to rise out of the most common-place wants. But although the modern manufacture of geometric and encaustic tiles is recent, it already far surpasses the ancients in variety and arrangement, in geometric patterns, and in beauty of design in encaustics as well as in mechanical finish; although it may be doubted whether the same breadth of general effect is studied as in many ancient examples. Mintons, of Stoke, Maw and Co., of Benthall, Hargraves and Craven, of Jackfield, and Mr. Bathurst, of Broseley, have each produced beautiful encaustic tiles for pavements—both for ecclesiastical and domestic use; and there is yet a large field for development of the use of similar tiles to colour and enrich the details of our street architecture, as well as in that of more elaborate and important structures.

The Coalbrookdale Co., have recently manufactured some admirable terra-cotta entablatures, with historical subjects for costly buildings in the metropolis. The erection of the Literary and Scientific Institution also, of different coloured clays shews their adaptation to works of great architectural beauty.

MAW AND CO’S TESSELATED, MOSAIC, AND MAJOLICA WORKS.

It was the excellency of the Broseley and Benthall clays, above referred to, which attracted the Messrs. Maw to the spot and led them to remove from Worcester, to where they had been in the habit, first of all, of having them conveyed by barges on the river, to the present site of their works, fashioned out of the old Benthall Iron Works, carried on a century ago by Mr. Harries, then owner of the Benthall estate. Notwithstanding the additions made by them, the trade has so wonderfully developed itself that after building upon or in some way occupying every inch of ground, they are cramped for room, and have purchased a piece of ground at the Tuckies on which they are about to erect more commodious premises.

In addition to those classical and other adjuncts of architectural comfort and embellishment, embracing encaustic tiles—the reproduction of an art limited in mediæval times to church decoration, but now having a much more extended application, and the manufacture of tesseræ, used in the construction of geometrical mosaic pavements, similar in character to those found in the mediæval buildings of Italy, also moresque mosaics, like those occurring in Roman remains in this country and on the continent, they now manufacture a superior majolica, and faience of great purity, in both of which departments they have recently received first class medals at the Philadelphia exhibition. The accompanying engraving will convey an idea of the adaptation of faience to articles of domestic utility.

[Picture: The adaptation of faience to a fireplace]

JACKFIELD POTTERY AND PORCELAIN.

Older even than the Haybrook Mug House are the Pot Works of Jackfield, which, according to the parish register of Stoke-upon-Trent, quoted by Mr. Jewitt and Mr. Chaffers, supplied a race of potters to that great centre of early pot-making in the year 1560. Excavations made too, some years ago, brought to light on a spot near which the present works of Craven, Dunnill & Co., now stand, an oven, or kiln, with unbaked ware, which appeared to have been buried by a land-slip; and in an old pit, which it was said had not been opened for two centuries, a brown mug was discovered, which had upon it the date 1634. If Jackfield supplied early potters for Stoke, Stoke sent pot masters to Jackfield. One of these was Mr. Richard Thursfield, an ancestor of Greville T. Thursfield M.D., who took these works and carried them on in 1713. He was succeeded by his son John, of whom we have spoken as afterwards living at Benthall and carrying on works there. The late Richard Thursfield, Esq., had in his possession some good examples of Jackfield ware. Among them was a handsome jug, gilt, having on it, we believe, the name of one of the family.

In 1772, or soon after, Mr. Simpson carried on the works; and he appears to have further improved the manufacture, for in addition to the “black decanters,” as his mugs were called, he made various articles of superior quality, which prior to the breaking out of the war with America found a ready sale there. The old mill turned by the waters of the Severn, where he ground his materials, has just been taken down.

Mr. Blakeway afterwards carried on the works, and was joined by Mr. John Rose, upon leaving Caughley, and, after carrying them on a short time by himself, he removed them, as he did the Caughley Works, to Coalport, on the opposite bank of the river.

The site of the old pottery was on the ground which is now occupied by the Jackfield Encaustic Tile Works, the clays of which are specially adapted for geometrical and encaustic tiles; and such tiles have been made here for a number of years; but since the old works, came into the possession of the present firm of Messrs. Craven, Dunnill and Co., great changes have taken place. The firm took a lease of about four acres of ground, and adjoining the old works built a large and commodious manufactory, which has been in operation for nearly two years. They have since taken down all the buildings of the old works, and have erected on their site and joining up to the new works, large warehouses, show room, offices, and entrance lodge. The plan of the works is very complete, so as in every way to economise in the process of manufacture, and they are now among the most complete works of the kind.

As shewn in the accompanying engraving, the buildings consist of four blocks, one detached and the others connected, each block accommodating a separate branch of the manufacture.

[Picture: Craven Dunnill & Co.’s new works]

In the detached block the raw materials are reduced to a state ready for the workman.

The second block contains the damping places, where the clays are kept in a certain degree of moisture; pressers’ shops for the various colours of geometrical tiles, and the encaustic tile makers’ shops, with their stoves.

The next block provides for the drying and firing of the goods and decorating shops.

On the first floor are workshops employed for painting, printing and enamelling, or other decorative purposes.

The fourth block provides for the sorting and stocking of goods and for packing them for despatch; also the offices and showroom.

Near to the detached block first described a small gas-works has been erected, which supplies the whole of the buildings.

CAUGHLEY.

Like the works previously mentioned, those of Caughley were upon the outcrop of the coals and clays of the Shropshire coal-field. They were established about the middle of the 17th century, on the estate of Mr. Brown, who lived at Caughley Hall, and was an ancestor of T. Wylde Brown, Esq., of the Woodlands, near Bridgnorth. An opaque stone china appears to have been made there in the first instance.

The works appear to have been carried on by Mr. Brown, in the first place, and then by Mr. Gallimore, a relative of Mr. Brown’s; and afterwards by M. Turner, who succeeded in producing an article of very superior merit, and one which will always hold a distinguished place in the history of the ceramic art. Mr. Turner was the son of the Rev. Richard Turner, D.D., rector of Cumberton, vicar of Emley Castle and Norton, and Chaplain to the Countess of Wigtown. Thomas his son, was born 1749, and married in 1783, Miss Dorothy Gallimore, a niece of Mr. Brown, of Caughley Hall. Mr. Turner was a gentleman of great taste, a good draughtsman, and an excellent engraver, having learned the latter art at Worcester, probably under Robert Hancock, some very fine examples of whose work are in the possession of Mr. Arthur Maw, of Severn House, who also has many very fine productions of Caughley at the best period of its existence. In 1780 Mr. Turner visited France, and brought back with him several skilled workmen, and an architect, whom he employed in the erection of a very handsome _chateau_, in the French style of architecture. The works were several years in progress, and were completed in 1775, as shewn by a newspaper paragraph of November 1st in that year, which, is as follows:—

“The porcelain manufactory erected near Bridgnorth, in this county, is now quite completed, and the proprietors have received and supplied orders to a very large amount. Lately we saw some of their productions which in colour and fineness are truly elegant and beautiful, and have the bright and lively white of the so much extolled Oriental.”

Printing on porcelain appears first to have been introduced by Dr. Wall at the Worcester works, a process soon after taken to Caughley by a person named Holdship, a former partner in the Worcester works, where it was practised as a great secret, with closed doors.

Mr. Chaffers says:—

“The excellence of Turner’s porcelain and the invention of the beautiful dark blue of the Caughley china, attributed to him, gained him great patronage. In 1780 he produced the celebrated “willow pattern,” which even at the present day is in great demand, and the “blue dragon,” another favourite pattern, and completed the first _blue printed table service_ made in England for Thomas Whitmore, Esq., of Apley Park, near Bridgnorth; the pattern was called _Nankin_, and was something similar to the Broseley tea service produced in 1782, all in porcelain. Mr. Thomas Minton, of Stoke, assisted in the completion of this service, being articled as an engraver there.

“Messrs. Chamberlain of Worcester, until the end of 1790, had their porcelain in the white from Thomas Turner of Caughley. He at first mixed all the bodies himself, but afterwards instructed his sister how to do it; subsequently a man named Jones mixed for him.”

The other works at Worcester, Grainger & Co., formerly, when first established, merely painted and finished ware manufactured at Caughley. The China so sent was marked with the letter “C.” for Caughley; sometimes “S.” for Salopian.

Among the chief workmen were the following:—Dontil, painter; Muss and Silk, who afterwards attained great celebrity in London, as painters on enamel, were landscape painters. Thomas Fennell, and Edward Jones flower painters, Thomas Martin Randall, bird painter, Edward Randall, gold decorator, Adams, blue painter, De Vivy and Stephan, modellers.

Perry, one of the workmen who was apprenticed to Mr. Turner, states that in 1797 they had four printing presses at Caughley, introduced by Davis; the patterns at that time and for years previously being birds and blue panels; that Turner had been an engraver at Worcester; that he recollects a slab on the front of one of the arches of the building at Caughley, stating the date of its foundation, 1772, which would be the time he succeeded Mr. Gallimore, and that it was not finished for some time after.

In the Salopian Mag. we gave an engraving of the old works, from a view in the possession of Mr. Hubert Smith, the only lineal descendent of Mr. Turner; and also of a “puzzle jug,” now in the possession of Mr. E. Thursfield, of Bridgnorth. It is eight inches in height, and is formed of the usual body of these works. It is decorated with blue sprigs, and bears on its front the name, in an oval border, of

John Geary Cleak of the Old Church Brosley 1789.

On the bottom is written in blue “Mathew th v & 16,” though one would fail to see any allusion in the text here referred to either to the vessel or to its purpose.

The first specimens of Caughley are but little removed from earthenware, but the material speedily improved, as did the manipulation or potting; the latter to an extent as regards shape and outline so much so as to render many of them superior to the same class of articles of the present day. Their excellence in this respect is so self-evident as still to render Caughley china a great favourite. Choice articles of this manufacture are carefully guarded by Shropshire families, with whom they have become heirlooms; they are carefully stored in corner cupboards and on kitchen shelves, where they were once kept in countenance by rows of shining pewter, and are only produced at christenings and weddings, and on such red-letter days and rare occasions. Every year will add to their value, to the veneration in which they are held; and at distant periods, and when compared even with the ordinary productions of our factories at the present day, they will serve to show how successful were the well-directed efforts at the Caughley Works to produce a porcelain which should take high rank and maintain it.

The buildings of the old factory have been razed to the ground; the plough passes over where they stood, and a few pitchers turned up now and then are the only indications obtained of these interesting works. But a class of clever men were educated there; some of whom—as the late Herbert Minton’s father, John Rose, and others—have done much to raise the character of our English productions.

COALPORT PORCELAIN WORKS.

The first works at Coalport were we believe founded and carried on by William Reynolds, Thomas Rose, Robert Horton, and Robert Anstice; the former William Reynolds, being then Lord of the Manor. The buildings, or a good portion occupied by them are still standing.

Mr. Thomas Rose, and Mr. John Rose, were sons of a respectable farmer living at Sweeney. The latter was a clerk under Mr. Turner, at Caughley, and left him to take the Jackfield works about the year, it is said, 1780. Having carried them on for a few years, in conjunction with Mr. Blakeway, during which time he greatly improved the quality of the article manufactured there, he established the present Coalport works on the side of the canal, then recently opened, and opposite to those of Reynolds, Horton, Thomas Rose, and Robert Anstice. On Mr. Turner retiring from the Caughley works in 1799, Mr. Rose and the new company he had formed purchased them, and by means of increased capital shortly afterwards removed both plant and materials from Caughley and Jackfield to the more advantageous position they now occupy, on the banks of the canal and the Severn. Even the buildings were pulled down and the bricks and timber removed to the opposite side of the Severn, where they were used in constructing the cottages now standing opposite to the present Coalport Works.

A staff of excellent work-people had been obtained from Caughley and Jackfield works combined, but an accident occurred on the night of the 23rd of October in that year by the capsizing of the ferry, as the work-people were crossing the Severn, by which twenty-eight were drowned, some among them being the best hands employed at the works. It was a dark night, the boat was crowded, and the man at the helm, not having been accustomed to put the boat over allowed the vessel to swing round in the channel where, with a strong tide running, it was drawn under by the rope which went from the mast to a rock in the bed of the river. Some managed to scramble out on the Broseley side of the stream; but the following were lost, notwithstanding the efforts of those who rushed to the river side on hearing the despairing cries raised to save them. Jane Burns, Sarah Burns, Ann Burns, Mary Burgess, Elizabeth Fletcher, Mary Fletcher, Elizabeth Beard, Jane Boden, Elizabeth Ward, Sarah Bagnall, Sophia Banks, Mary Miles, Elizabeth Evans, Catherine Lowe, Jane Leigh, Charles Walker, George Lynn, James Farnworth, George Sheat, John Chell, Robert Lowe, William Beard, John Jones, Benjamin Gosnall, Benjamin Wyld, Richard Mountford, Joseph Poole, and another. The twenty-eight lost included some of the best artists; and an unfinished piece of work, left by Charles Walker but a few minutes before he lost his life, was till within a few years ago reverently kept in the warehouse as a memento of the unfortunate event.

The event, as may be expected, created a great sensation at the time, and was thus commemorated, by Mr. Dyas, one of the Coalport workmen: