Chapter VII: Preface (6)

Under the fostering care of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher Methodism, planted on ground watered by them, found a congenial soil, on which it has flourished to the present day. As early as May, 1767, as we find from a letter to the Rev. George Whitfield, dated Madeley, Mr. Fletcher had invited Captain Scott, then a great preacher among the Wesleyans, to preach to his congregation, and that he had done so from his horse-block, for Mr. Fletcher adds, that his sermon did more good than a hundred preached by himself from his own pulpit. In this letter we find him inviting Whitfield to follow the Captain’s example, and to come down and preach too. Others succeeded, whose ministrations, aided by the meetings of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher, meetings which were attended by the piously disposed from the Broseley side of the Severn, from Wellington and neighbouring parishes, raised up a pious and efficient body of men who became prayer leaders, class leaders, local preachers, and centres of societies which spread far and wide. Fortunately, that good man Melville Horne, who succeeded Mr. Fletcher, and who after labouring in Madeley for some years went out to Africa and founded the Mission of Sierra Leone, on being appointed curate after the death of Mr. Fletcher favoured this state of things, which continued for some years, with the sanction of the vicar. Mrs. Fletcher in her Journal, August 3, 1815, says, “I have been joined to the people united to Mr. Wesley for threescore years, and I trust to die amongst them. The life of true religion is amongst them, and the work increases.” At the same time she says, “I have always considered myself a member of the church, and so have the united friends in Madeley.” When Mr. Horne left to go out as a missionary to Africa, the vicar, Mr. Burton, desirous of promoting the same kind of harmony, left it to Mrs. Fletcher to recommend a successor. Writing to the one who succeeded Mr. Horne, she says:—“Those who are religious in the parish, as well as those who attend from a distance, go to hear the Wesleyan ministers, and also attended the Church Services.”

RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF MADELEY IN 1777 AND 1877.

It is, of course, difficult to arrive at strictly accurate statistics by which to determine the complete state of religious feeling at any given time; but taking well ascertained facts for our guide we may at least get an approximate result. The moral ground and receptacle of religious truth upon which Mr. Fletcher had to work was the same as now; but that ground may be, and is, we imagine, in a more favourable condition for the reception of the seed now than it was in Mr. Fletcher’s day: facts also tend to shew that men are less indifferent and supercilious now than then, and that the means of influencing them are vastly increased, probably as a natural consequence whilst the fruits are in proportion. The channel of truth is wider and deeper, and the climate of thought and feeling is more favourable, and although diversities may have increased, there are collateral benign and ameliorating influences in operation, producing mutual reverence for the good and the true, and a growing tolerance of opinion where such diversity exists.

In Mr. Fletcher’s time, Protestantism, as represented by the Church of England, and Catholicism as represented by a small body which does not seem, so far as Madeley itself is concerned to have increased, stood alone, if we except the Friends or Quakers, also small as regards numbers. From the time of the Reformation, a few Catholic families of influence lingered here. They worshipped first in a room fitted up as a Chapel in the house of Mr. Wolfe, who gave shelter to King Charles. Afterwards the Giffards of Chillington, gave some ground on which was erected a house and chapel about the year 1760. Mr. Fletcher in one of his letters mentions the disquietude the erection of this Chapel gave him, and describes it as the new mass-house. The present Church of St. Mary was not built till 1853. It consists of nave, side aisles, and gallery, and will accommodate 500 persons, but if we except those who attend from other parishes we question whether the congregation is greater now than in Mr. Fletcher’s time. This however is not to be taken as shewing the state of Catholicism in the neighbourhood, inasmuch as missions have been established from this in Bridgnorth, Shifnal, Wellington, and other places.

On the other hand, the Church of England has made great progress. It has more than kept abreast of the increasing population, whether we consider the accommodation it affords or its efficiency, its activity, or the varied machinery by which it works. Not only has the mother church been enlarged to twice the size of the one in which Mr. Fletcher preached, but two others have been added in other parts of the parish, each of which has become a separate ecclesiastical division. The population of Madeley in the time of Mr. Fletcher may be judged of from the fact that there were 900 families which, upon the usual calculation of five to a family, would give 4,500 inhabitants. In 1801, when the first census was taken, it had only increased to 4,758; and in 1831 to 5,822. In 1841 it was 7,267; in 1857, 8,524, in 1861 it was 9,461; and in 1871 it was 9,475; of which number 4,345, are in the electoral and ecclesiastical division of Madeley. The population therefore of the entire parish has little more than doubled itself during the past century.

In Mr. Fletcher’s time, then, if we except the out places then being opened for the convenience of small societies, there was church accommodation only for 500, leaving 4,000 unprovided for. We have now a church capable of holding 1000; and a chapel of Ease at the Aqueduct holding 200; in addition to places of meeting at Lower Madeley, Blissers Hill, Coalport, and the Lloyds.

In addition to this, a church has been erected at Ironbridge capable of holding 900; and one at Coalbrookdale seating 850 persons. We thus get Church accommodation alone for over three thousand, or nearly one third of the population, as against 500 formerly. But the best criterion is the activity and co-operation of workers and helpers, the machinery called into play by those who, having themselves been indoctrinated, come willingly forward to carry on the work of benevolence, education, and religion, and who give evidence to their faith by their works.

At least one hundred more persons than the old church would hold now attend service at 11 a.m. and 300 more than it could have held attend at 6 p.m. A Service is also held on the 1st Sunday in every month at 3-15 p.m. at which children are catechised, and the Sacrament of Baptism administered.

At the Aqueduct Church, which was built in the year 1851, and enlarged in 1864, there is a service every Sunday evening, at which from 150 to 200 persons attend.

IRONBRIDGE CHURCH.

We are not so well informed with regard to the Church at Ironbridge. It was built in 1836, and consists of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a tower in which is a clock and one bell; it has a fine east window of stained glass, with full length figures of St. James and St. John. It will accommodate about a thousand hearers, but at present the number attending is small. In addition to the cost of the erection, which was defrayed chiefly by local subscriptions, £1000 was contributed towards the endowment by one firm, that of Madeley Wood; the great, or rectorial, tithes have since been added, and the rector receives an income of £250 per annum.

There are Sunday Schools and other institutions but we are without the precise information as to the amount of money raised. The population in the year 1871 was 3,605.

COALBROOKDALE.

A beautiful little Church dedicated to the Holy Trinity was erected here by the munificence of the Darby family, who endowed it, and gave to the Incumbent a handsome house as a residence. It is in the Decorated Gothic style. It consists of nave, chancel, and aisles, and has a handsome tower, with illuminated clock, and a peal of eight fine-toned bells. It will accommodate 850 persons, and is generally well filled.

The number of communicants averages 60. The Sacrament is administered monthly, and on the usual festivals. The offerings for the poor are about £25 yearly; for the expenses of the Church, somewhere about £2 weekly, i.e., £104 annually. There is a good state of religious feeling.

WESLEYAN METHODISM.

In Mr. Fletcher’s day Wesleyan Methodism was but struggling into existence. Societies were formed at Madeley, Madeley Wood, Coalbrookdale, and other places in adjoining parishes, and Mr. Fletcher, and his curate subsequently, preached there alternately with the preachers of Mr. Wesley. These societies were attached to the Shrewsbury Circuit, and preachers came fortnightly, travelling on horseback. In or about the year 1764 we find him inviting the Rev. A. Mather, then an eminent preacher in Mr. Wesley’s connection, and his fellow labourer to call at the Bank, Coalbrookdale, and other places. He adds:—“And I hope, that my stepping, as Providence directs, to any of your places, (leaving to you the management of the Societies,) will be deemed no encroachment. In short, we need not make two parties: I know but _one_ heaven below, and that is Jesus’s love; let us both go and abide in it, and when we have gathered as many as we can to go with us, too many will still stay behind.” May 27, 1766, he says to a friend, “The coming of Mr. Wesley’s Preachers into my parish gives me no uneasiness. As I am sensible that every body does better, and of course, is more acceptable than myself, I should be sorry to deprive any one of a blessing; and I rejoice that the work of God goes on by any instrument or in any place.”

It was under auspices such as these that the early preachers of Methodism commenced their labours. It had an able lay agency in its local preachers, like William Smith, Samuel Onions, Thomas Owen, Thomas Mollineaux, Richard Williams, and others, with class leaders, like the Smiths, Robertses, Milners, and Joneses, men and women who lived lives of faith and purity, and laid a firm substratum on which to erect the general edifice.

For many years the “Old Barn” and “Miss Tooth’s Room” sufficed for the Wesleyans in Madeley. They then erected the building now used as the Infant School by the Church party. This proving too small, they built in 1841, the present place of worship in Court Street, which will hold 800 persons or more. It is calculated that Madeley Wood chapel will hold 900 persons, Coalbrookdale chapel about 400, and Coalport about 200, or 2,200 altogether. The usual number of hearers at these places is over 1,500, and the number of members 300. Collections are made at each chapel for pretty much the same purposes, such as colleges, and schools for training young ministers, ministers sons, and teachers for day schools. For home missions and circuit purposes there is raised altogether £447. In addition to this there is raised for Foreign Missions a further sum of £100; thus making a total of £547.

PRIMITIVE METHODISTS.

The Primitive Methodists established themselves in Madeley about 50 years ago. They have a chapel at Madeley with an attendance upon an average of 220.

Members 53 Sunday School scholars 136 Monies raised for various purposes during the year £131 19 0 Ironbridge Chapel attendance 150 Members 37 Sunday School scholars 93 Monies raised for various purposes during the year £50 12 4 Aqueduct Chapel attendance 60 Members 6 Sunday School scholars 43 Monies raised for various purposes during the year £31 10 7 TOTAL £211 11 0

THE NEW CONNEXION.

This body established themselves in Madeley about half a century ago, and they have two chapels, one at Madeley and another at Madeley Wood, each capable of holding 200 hearers. At the Bethesda chapel, Madeley, about 60 attend, and there are 18 members. There is a Sunday School, with 60 scholars and 8 teachers. For Home objects, including the Sunday School, £26 is raised yearly and for Foreign Missions a further sum of £2. TOTAL £28 0 0.

At Zion chapel, Madeley Wood, there is an average attendance of 70, and about 20 members. There is a Sunday School, with about 60 scholars. We are without definite statistics as to the amount of monies raised, which probably amount altogether to £20, or upwards. The Connexion has 8 chapels, nine societies, 25 local preachers, and 136 members.

BAPTISTS.

The Baptists erected a chapel here in 1858 at a cost of £650, which holds 250 persons. There are 30 members, and the congregation averages 100. There is a Sunday School, with 60 children. The sum raised for various objects amounts to £60.

CONGREGATIONALISTS.

The Congregationalists erected a church here in 1874, at a cost of £1,400. It was opened in January 1875, and has an average congregation—Morning, 50; Evening 100. Sunday School 80 on the books. Mothers service 20 attend. Two weekly services; average attendance 30. Amount raised for all purposes in connection with the Church £130.

Besides these well recognised institutions in connection with various religious bodies there are other useful institutions, some of a religious, and others of an educational but unsectarian character, such as Union Prayer Meetings at Ironbridge, the Severn side School, various Literary Societies and Reading Rooms, in connection with which large sums are annually raised; and by means of which at Madeley, and Coalbrookdale more particularly, a large amount of information is disseminated.

THE MADELEY WOOD WORKS.

William Reynolds having at his death left a share in the Madeley Wood works to his nephew, William Anstice (father of the present William Reynolds Anstice) whom he also appointed one of his executors, and by whom, in partnership with William Reynolds’s surviving son, the late Joseph Reynolds, the works were carried on until the decease of Mr. Anstice in the year 1850.

Mr. Anstice was a young man, not more than twenty-one, when he succeeded to the management of these works, and although he possessed little practical knowledge gained in connection with this branch of industry, he possessed a mind well stored with knowledge. He was a fair amateur chemist of the school of Dr. Black and his contemporaries, under whom Mr. Reynolds had previously studied, and the friend of the tale Sir Humphrey Davy, then a young man, with whom he spent some time with Dr. Beddows, at one time of Shifnal, but then of Bristol, assisting him in a course of experiments he was conducting on pneumatic chemistry and galvanism. He was also a fair amateur geologist, and his early studies led him, on succeeding to the management of the works, to observe, and to apply his knowledge to account. The old hearths and “bears,” as accumulations in the blast-furnaces were called, on occasions of renewal, were carefully scrutinized and searched by him for metallic substances and salts not usually known to exist in iron-ores; and we remember him giving us some remarkably fine cubes of titanium, taken from one he had had blown to pieces. He inherited the very fine collection of fossils Mr. Reynolds had collected, and added thereto by encouraging his men to bring anything they found of a rare character in the clay ironstones. Sir R. Murchison, Mr. Buckland, and Mr. Prestwich occasionally came down to Madeley Wood Hall to study this collection, and derived much information. Mr. Buckland pronounced them at that time the finest collection of fossils of the coal-measures in the kingdom, and nearly the whole of the figures found in Mr. Prestwich’s paper, prepared with great care and research, on the coalfield, were from specimens in this collection.

In consequence of the mines being exhausted on the Madeley Wood side of the field he had new shafts sunk to the east, the first of importance being the Hills Lane pits. The Halesfield pair of pits followed, and the mines having been thus proved on that side, the idea first suggested by William Reynolds, of removing the works to that place, was acted upon by Mr. William Anstice, who built his first furnace at Blisser’s Hill, in 1832. A second was built in 1840 and a third in 1844.

The offices of the Madeley Wood Works were at the Lloyds, but a land-slip, or series of slips rather, which have been going on for years, bringing down rocks and trees from the high ground, have swept away these, and also some houses and orchards near them. In these offices on one occasion an explosion took place, occasioned by recklessness on the part of a youth entrusted with the task of giving out powder for blasting, candles, &c., for the pits. A lad named Brown had filled a horn of powder and was crossing the office to go to play at marbles, when finding the fire did not burn brightly, he stooped to poke out the ashes with the horn under his arm, and some grains igniting, he was blown a black and apparently lifeless mass against the door, whilst the windows went flying as far as the water-engine. Although shorn of his arms above the elbows, and with only two short stumps remaining, “Stumpy Brown,” as the boys still call him, managed to learn to write a good clear hand, became a schoolmaster, a Sunday-school teacher, a preacher, and a capital wood-turner of bedsteads and children’s dolls, which at the present moment are in great request in very many towns in the Midland Counties, where they are well known as “John Brown’s Dolls.” {175}

Upon the death of Mr. Anstice he was succeeded by his son John, who, having been brought up under his father, in close proximity to the works, was in every respect well qualified for the task; and to him his partner, Joseph Reynolds, at his death left his shares of the works, and the general residue of his property. John Anstice at once generously transferred to his brother, William Reynolds Anstice, a share in the Madeley Wood concern, but retained the sole management of the works during his life. He entered on no great new enterprise beyond sinking a new pair of pits to the east of the field, an enterprise on which he several times consulted the writer long before the men had headed to prove the mines in that direction. He was a man whose amiable qualities and generous nature won for him general admiration.

As an employer Mr. Anstice was on good terms with his workpeople. He aimed at being so, and in bad times he kept his men employed whether others did or not. He had a fellow-feeling with them, and tried to understand and to be understood by them; he knew them by their names, and generally had a joke, a kind word, or a cheerful recognition for each. We believe he spared no expense to secure the safety of life and limb in his works; and if by some unforeseen circumstances, or some act of carelessness on their part, accidents did occur, his grief knew no bounds, and he would often weep like a child with the bereaved. Equally liberal with his means and time, he was accessible to all those who sought aid, counsel, or protection; and his good sense and timely aid availed in lightening many cares, in drying many tears, and in allaying many sorrows. The county though benefited by his philanthropy, but daily-occurring acts of kindness and usefulness less widely known taxed still more his talents and his means. Nor did his acts partake of ostentation, or seem selfishly aimed to win the tribute of applause. On the contrary he dedicated his energies less to the service of his peers than to those in a condition to require them.

Mr. Anstice was seldom free for long periods from that physical suffering which fills up so large a space in human experience; but he knew how to enjoy life, and did so more than most men, but he never quailed before its sternest duties. His sun may be said to have gone down at noon: he died in the zenith of his fame, and people mourned as for a father or a friend; for with that great tenderness and Christian generosity which distinguished him, he made many his debtors. Others at a riper age, not less laden with the goods of life, whose cup equally overflowed with prosperity, have lived and passed away, and as the grave closed over them the little world in which they moved scarcely missed them or thought of them after the funeral-bell had ceased to toll; but it was felt that such a man could not pass away without his memory being perpetuated in some form, and the present handsome building called the Anstice Memorial Institute was the result of a deep and wide-spreading feeling to do honour to his name. A brother ironmaster, the present Mr. W. O. Foster, who presided at the inauguration, said they had erected that building to one very much respected and beloved amongst them, but who had been removed from their midst. He would not attempt to pourtray the many virtues of his character in the presence of his family, nor dwell upon his many merits. He enjoyed his acquaintance for many years. He must say to know him was to love him, and whilst his virtue was fresh in their recollection it was their high privilege to dedicate that building to his memory, and to hand down to posterity his name in association with it.

The Madeley Wood works are now carried on by William Reynolds Anstice and two of John Anstice’s sons, Captain John Arthur Anstice, J.P., and Lieut. Edmund Anstice.

With regard to William Reynolds, previously alluded to, it may be well to add the following, together with some interesting notes and additions, kindly supplied by his nephew, William Reynolds Anstice, Esq., the senior partner in the Madeley Wood Works.

William Reynolds, the proprietor of these works, died at the Tuckies House, in 1803, and was followed to his grave in the burial-ground adjoining the Quakers’ chapel, in the Dale, by a very large concourse of friends and old neighbours, thousands lining the way and following in the procession.

It may here be mentioned that the first use to which Watt’s fire engine as it was called, was put at Bedlam, as at Coalbrookdale, Benthall, Ketley, and many other places, was not to blow the furnaces direct, but to pump water to drive the water-wheel, which at Bedlam, worked a pair of leather-bellows, which themselves supplied the blast. The race in which the old wheel worked is still observable, as also are the arches which supported the reservoir into which water was pumped from the Severn.

With regard to the prophetic utterances of Mr. Reynolds, already given, we have received the following from W. Reynolds Anstice, Esq.

“The exact words, as I have often heard them repeated by my father,
were ‘The time will come, &c: when all our principal towns will be
lighted with Coal Gas—all our main roads will be railroads worked by
steam locomotive engines, and all our _coasting_ navigation will be
performed by steam vessels.’ He had no idea, evidently that steam
navigation would extend beyond this, but steam locomotion was an idea
at that time not unfamiliar to engineers. William Murdock, Watt’s
right-hand man, had made a working model of a road-locomotive as
early as 1784. Trevithick had constructed working models much
resembling modern locomotives in construction, in and before the year
1800. In 1802, the Coalbrookdale Company were building for him a
_railway-locomotive_, the engine of which was tried first in pumping
water, and its performance astonished everyone. In a letter of his
to Mr. D. Giddy, dated from Coalbrookdale, 22nd August, 1802, he
says: ‘The Dale Company have begun a carriage at their own cost _for
the railroads_, and are forcing it with all expedition. There was a
beautifully executed wooden model of this locomotive engine in my
Uncle, William Reynolds’ possession, which was given me by his Widow,
the late Mrs. Reynolds, of Severn House, after his death. I was then
a boy, fond of making model engines of my own, and I broke up the
priceless relic to convert it to my own base purposes, an act which I
now repent, as if it had been a _sin_.’

“The Coalbrookdale engine is, I believe, the first locomotive engine
on record, intended to be used _on a railroad_. The boiler of it is
now to be seen in use as a water tank, at the Lloyds’ Crawstone Pit,
and the fire-tube and a few other portions of it are now in the yard
at the Madeley Wood Works. I never heard how it came to be disused
and broken up.”

Shortly before William Reynolds’s decease, he had had a large pleasure boat built, which was intended to be propelled by steam, and the cylinders of the engines intended for it, beautifully executed by the late James Glazebrook of Ironbridge, are now at the Madeley Wood Offices, but the engines were not finished at his (W. Reynolds’s) death, in 1804, and I never saw any drawing or model of them. The boat lay within my recollection, moored in the river Severn, just above Mr. Brodie’s Boring Mill, at the Calcutts, in a state of much disrepair, and I believe, ultimately fell to pieces or was carried away by a flood.

William Reynolds had a very complete private Laboratory at his residence, at Bank House, which was lighted with gas. William Murdock had, however, as early as 1794, applied gas to the lighting of his own house, in Cornwall, and in 1798, a portion of the Soho Works were lit with gas of his making.—In 1803, the whole of the Works were thus lighted, and from that time its use gradually extended.

Mr. Miller, of Darswinton, had a steam pleasure boat at work in 1788, and in 1801, the “Charlotte Dundas” steam boat was built at Glasgow by Symmington, and this is the first authentic case of steam-boat navigation on record.

THE CLAY INDUSTRIES OF THE DISTRICT.

The very excellent coal-measure clays found on both banks of the Severn, and turned to such good account by the Coalbrookdale Co., by Mr. Legge at the Woodlands, by neighbours too on the opposite bank of the Severn, as well as the celebrity attained by the Coalport works, renders it necessary that we should take a somewhat comprehensive view of the subject. Bricks and tiles and pottery of various kinds appear to have been made from a very early period, but the manufacture of Salopian porcelain dates from the latter end of the last century. The sites of the old pot works were at the outcrops of the coal-measure clays; and it was the advantages the fire-clays and accompanying coals afforded which led to the manufacture of porcelain. The former were situate at Benthall and Jackfield, where advantage is still taken of them, flourishing works being still carried on in places where these very excellent materials are readily procurable; and before noticing the introduction and very successful manufacture of the former at Caughley and Coalport, it may be desirable to devote a few pages to a description of the old pot-works, at Haybrook, the Pitchyard, and at Jackfield.

The art of moulding a plastic substance like clay is, of course, as old as the world, and on the banks of the Severn, as shewn by specimens ascribed to early British and Roman periods, it must not only have existed but been carried to some perfection there. These clays are said to have been used by the Romans, as evinced by the red and grey pottery and tiles discovered at Uriconinum. Jacquemart, in his “History of Ceramic Art,” says that Jackfield is the most ancient site of pottery in Shropshire. And it is added that from a period so early as 1453, the valley of the Severn was famous for ornamental tiles, many specimens bearing that date having been found in Cathedrals and Churches. We have no reliable authority however for fixing the date at which the art was first practised in Shropshire, but it appears tolerably clear that the articles made 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 earthern 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 a 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.

[Picture: Decorated fireplace]

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 are on the look out for 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.

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, soma 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.

[Picture: Craven Dunhill & Co. Works]

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.

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.

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.

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.

Alas! Alas! the fated night
Of cold October twenty third,
In seventeen hundred ninety-nine;
What cries, what lamentation heard,
The hour nine, when from yon pile,
Where fair porcelain takes her form,
Where energy with genius joins,
To robe her in those matchless charms,
A wearied band of artists rose,
Males and females, old and young,
Their toil suspend, to seek repose,
Their homes to gain, they bent along.
Sabrina’s stream was near to pass,
And she her frowning waves upraised,
Her mist condensed to darksome haze
Which mocked the light; no star appeared.
Yon boat, which o’er her bosom rides,
Enveloped in the heavy gloom,
Convulsive stretch’d along her sides,
To snatch the victims to their doom.
Soon e’er on board their faltering feet
A monster fell who grasped the helm,
Hove from the shore the distressed crew,
And so the dreadful overwhelm,
Swift horror’s wings o’er spread the tides,
They sink! they rise! they shriek! they cling!
Again they sink; alarm soon flies,
Along their shores dread clamours rise,
But Oh, the bleakest night preventing
Every means to save their breath,
Helpless, hopeless, life despairing
Twenty-eight sunk down in death.
Alas small time for Heaven’s implorings,
Quick sealed their everlasting state,
Or, in misery, or in glory.
The last tribunal will relate,
Here fold, O muse thy feeble wings,
Hope where thou canst, but not decide,
Dare not approach those hidden things,
With mercy, justice, these abide.
Return with sympathetic breath,
See yon distracted mother stands,
Three daughters lost, to heaven she lifts
Her streaming eyes and wringing hands,
Hark! from those dells how deep the wailings,
Fathers, Mothers, join their moans,
Widows, orphans, friends and lovers,
Swell the air with poignant groans;
Recluse in grief, those worthy masters
Silent drop the mournful tear.
Distress pervades surrounding hamlets,
Sorrow weeps to every ear,
Sleepless sighings hail the morning,
Morning brings no soothing ray.

The author of these verses, Mr. Dyas, was a very clever carver on stone and on wood. He engraved the blocks for a work printed by Mr. Edmonds at Madeley, entitled “Alexander’s Expedition down the Hydaspes and the Indus to the Indian Ocean.” He was the author too of an invention world-wide in its benefits, that of the printers’ roller; an invention second only to the art of printing itself, and infinitely superior to thousands of others out of which vast fortunes have been made.

In 1804 the company consisted of Cuthbert Johnson, William Clarke, John Wootton, and John Rose. In 1811 it was John Rose, William Clarke and Charles Maddison. In 1820 they bought the famous Swansea works and entered into an agreement with Messrs. Billingsley and Walker to make a superior kind of porcelain made by them, first at Nantgarw in Glamorganshire, and afterwards at the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea, in the same county. This was a pure soft paste porcelain, superior to any at present produced in the kingdom, and second only to the famous _pate tendre_ of Sevres at the very best period of its manufacture. This china was first made in 1813 by Billingsley, who went from Derby to Worcester, and from there to South Wales. He was an artist, and understood the manufacture in all its branches. He produced a fret body, by mixing the materials, firing them in order to blend them together, then reducing the vitrified substance into clay—a process which was carried on at Old Sevres during the reign of Louis XV.—and thereby produced an article fine in texture, beautifully transparent, and of a delicate waxy hue, very superior to the dingy blue tinge given to much of the best china of that day. Connoisseurs were at once attracted by it, and Mr. Mortlock went down and entered into an engagement to purchase all that Billingsley and his son-in-law could make. Mr. John Rose finding he had lost a customer, whilst orders he was wont to receive were going to South Wales, went over, bought the plant, moulds, and everything, and entered into an agreement with Walker and Billingsley for a period of seven years to make the same quality of china at Coalport. The process however was an expensive one, from the difficulty of working the clay, which wanted plasticity, and also from the loss in the burning, as being a soft body it was apt to melt or warp, and to go out of shape, if it had a little too much fire in the biscuit kiln. About that time, too, Mr. Ryan discovered a very pure felspar in the Middleton, one of the Briedden hills, the true _Kaolin_, to which the Chinese were indebted for the quality of their egg-shell and other first class china. The fret body was therefore abandoned, the _pate tendre_ for a _pate dure_, as the French say, and by adding pure felspar to the Cornish stone and clay which contains a large percentage, a good transparent body was obtained at a less cost than by using a _fret body_. About this time also the Society of Arts offered a prize to any one who should find a substitute for lead in the glaze, the deleterious effects of which told upon the dippers, and produced paralysis; and Mr. Rose by applying felspar to the glaze succeeded in obtaining it. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Society; and from that time following, for some years, a badge was either attached to the ware or engraved upon it as follows:—“Coalport Felspar Porcelain, J. Rose & Co: the Gold Medal awarded May 30, 1820; Patronised by the Society of Arts.” The Devonports and other manufacturers competed for the prize.

The felspar porcelain however never equalled the original Nantgarw fret body ware for purity and transparency, a white plate of which would at the present time fetch a couple of guineas. It cannot be said that any new element was introduced by using felspar, because the kaolin, contained in Cornish stone and day, as discovered by Cookworthy in 1768, had been, and was now used at Plymouth, Derby, Worcester, Caughley, and Coalport; and by a judicious admixture of this and a free use of bone (phosphate of lime) a good serviceable china was produced. The former gave mellowness, and the latter whiteness, which approached in a degree the qualities of old and Oriental china. In fact Mr. Rose, who had the sole management of the works, spared neither pains nor expense in raising the character of the productions of the Coalport Works, which were now by far the largest porcelain works in the kingdom, if not in the world. Like Minton, he was a man of wonderful energy, being strong in body, having a clear head, a cool judgment, and gifted with remarkable perseverance.

The works were now in a state of prosperity; warehouses were opened in Manchester, London, Sheffield, and Shrewsbury, and a large trade was being done with dealers all over the kingdom. There was plenty of employment, and a good understanding generally prevailed between masters and their work people. Both before and after the strike there were at Coalport, as at other works of the kind elsewhere, an intelligent class of men, among potters and painters, as well as in other departments. Painters, especially, had good opportunities for mental culture and obtaining information. Numbers worked together in a room, one sometimes reading for the benefit of the others, daily papers were taken, discussions were often raised, and in politics the sharp features of party were as defined as in the House of Commons itself. The rooms were nicely warmed, and a woman appointed to sweep up, to bring coals, to keep the tables clean, to wash up dishes, peel potatoes, and fetch water for those who, not living near, brought their meals with them. It is not surprising, therefore, that men, having such advantages, should sometimes rise to higher situations. Some became linguists, some schoolmasters, engineers, and contractors; one, breakfasting with a bishop, whose daughter he afterwards married, saw upon the table, some time since, a service painted by himself when a workman at Coalport. Some were singular characters: old Jocky Hill kept his hunter; John Crowther, a very amiable fellow, exceedingly good natured, and always ready to do a favour to any one who asked him, lived quite a recluse, studying algebra and mechanics. He has suggested many improvements in locomotives, steam paddles, breaks, &c., &c., and had the honour of submitting to the Government the plan of terminating annuities, by which money at that time was raised to carry on the war, and by which we have been saved the burden—so far—of a permanent debt; also of making other suggestions, which have been likewise adopted. He also invented a most ingenious almanack applicable to all time.

Coalport men were usually great politicians; Hunt, Hethrington, Richard Carlile, Sir Francis Burdett, and Cobbett, had their disciples and admirers; and such was the eagerness to get the Register, with its familiar gridiron on the cover, that a man has been despatched to Birmingham for it from one of the rooms, his shopmates undertaking to do his work for him whilst he was away.