Chapter IV

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fig. 281.

Fig. 282.

Fig. 283.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whether the petition was granted or not does not appear.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ben Jonson, in his _Gipsies Metamorphosed_, gives the following amusing version of the origin of these vessels:--

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

In another place he says:--

“Whose, at the best, some round grown thing, a _jug
Faced with a beard_, that fills out to the guests.”

In another play, the _Ordinary_, is the following:--

“Thou thing,
Thy belly looks like to some strutting hill,
O’ershadowed by thy rough beard like a wood;
Or like a larger jug that some men call
A _Bellarmine_, but we a _Conscience_;
Whereon the lewder hand of pagan workman
Over the proud ambitious head hath carved
An idol large, with beard episcopal,
Making the vessel look like tyrant Eglon.”

In the curious play of _Epsom Wells_, one of the characters, while busy with ale, says, “Uds bud, my head begins to turn round; but let’s into the house. ’Tis dark. We’ll have one _Bellarmine_ there, and then _Bonus nocius_.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

£ _s.__d._

1644. May 7. For 8 cwt. 2 qrs. 7 lb. of cheese to Tutbury 7 15 10
For 5 _potts of butter_ to ditto 0 12 0

1645. June 25. Bread, beer, cheese, _a pott of butter_, and
a flitch of bacon, for Lieut.-Col. Watson’s
men quartered at Blunts Hall 2 5 6

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

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

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

“1. _Bottle clay_, of a bright whitish streaked
yellow colour.

“2. _Hard fire-clay_, of a duller whitish colour,
and fully intersperst with a dark yellow, which they
use for their _black wares_, being mixt with the

“3. _Red blending clay_, which is of a dirty red
colour.

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

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

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

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

“2. The _White Slip_: this, before it is work’t, is
of a dark blewish colour, yet makes the ware yellow,
which, being the _lightest_ colour they make any of,
they call it, as they did the clay above, the _white
slip_.

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

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

“27. When the potter has wrought the clay either into hollow or
flat ware, they set it abroad to dry in faire weather, but by
the fire in foule; turning them as they see occasion, which they
call _whaving_. When they are dry they _stouk_ them, _i.e._ put
ears and handles to such vessels as require them. These also
being dry, they _slip_ or _paint_ them, with their severall
sorts of slip, according as they designe their work; when the
first slip is dry, laying on the others at their leisure, the
_orange slip_ makeing the ground, and the _white_ and _red_
the paint; which two colours they break with a _wire brush_,
much after the manner they doe when they _marble_ paper, and
then _cloud_ them with a _pencil_ when they are pretty dry.
After the vessels are painted they _lead_ them with that sort
of _Lead Ore_ they call _Smithum_, which is the smallest _ore_
of all, beaten into dust, finely sifted, and strewed upon them;
which gives them the _gloss_, but not the colour; all the
colours being chiefly given by the variety of slips, except the
_motley colour_, which is procured by blending the _Lead_ with
_Manganese_, by the workmen call’d _Magnus_. But when they have
a mind to shew the utmost of their skill in giving their wares
a fairer gloss than ordinary, they lead them then with lead
calcined into powder, which they also sift fine and strew upon
them as before, which not only gives them a higher gloss, but
goes much further too in their work than the lead ore would have
done.

“28. After this is done they are carried to the oven, which
is ordinarily above 8 foot high, and about 6 foot wide, of a
round copped forme, where they are placed one upon another
from the bottom to the top; if they be ordinary wares, such as
_cylindricall butter-pots_, &c., that are not leaded, they are
exposed to the _naked_ fire, and so is all their _flat ware_,
though it be leaded, having only _parting shards_, _i.e._ thin
bits of old pots, put between them to keep them from sticking
together; but if they be _leaded hollow wares_, they doe not
expose them to the _naked_ fire, but put them in _shragers_,
that is, in coarse metall’d pots made of _marle_ (not _clay_)
of divers formes, according as their wares require, in which
they put commonly three pieces of clay, called _Bobbs_, for the
ware to stand on, to keep it from sticking to the _shragers_;
as they put them in the _shragers_, to keep them from sticking
to one another (which they would certainly otherwise doe by
reason of the leading), and to preserve them from the vehemence
of the fire, which else would melt them downe, or at least warp
them. In twenty-four hours an oven of pots will be burnt; then
they let the fire goe out by degrees, which in ten hours more
will be perfectly done, and then they draw them for sale, which
is chiefly to the poor _Crate-men_, who carry them at their
backs all over the countrey, to whome they reckon them by the
piece, _i.e._ _Quart_, in _hollow ware_, so that six pottle, or
three gallon _bottles_, make a _dozen_, and so more or less to
a _dozen_ as they are of greater or lesser content. The _flat
wares_ are also reckoned by pieces and dozens, but not (as the
_hollow_) according to their _content_, but their different
_bredths_.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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