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The Cambrian Pottery was founded in 1764 by William Coles in
Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the C ...
, Glamorganshire, Wales. In 1790, John Coles, son of the founder, went into partnership with George Haynes, who introduced new business strategies based on the ideas of Josiah Wedgwood. Lewis Weston Dillwyn became a partner in 1802 and sole owner when George Haynes left the pottery in 1810. In 1811 Dillwyn took T.& J. Bevington into partnership, the company becoming known as Dillwyn & Co. Initially "its main product was coarse
redware Redware as a single word is a term for at least two types of pottery of the last few centuries, in Europe and North America. Red ware as two words is a term used for pottery, mostly by archaeologists, found in a very wide range of places. Howeve ...
for farm and domestic use, though
creamware Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 175 ...
and lead-glazed earthenware were also made". But Dillwyn, who also wrote naturalist books, was keen to move upmarket and employed the artist William Weston Young from 1806, and also Thomas Rothwell (1740-1807). Between 1814 and about 1822, the famous Swansea china or Swansea porcelain was made there.


Porcelain

After William Billingsley, then owner of the
Nantgarw porcelain The Nantgarw China Works was a porcelain factory, later making other types of pottery, located in Nantgarw on the eastern bank of the Glamorganshire Canal, north of Cardiff in the River Taff valley, Glamorganshire, Wales. The factory made porce ...
factory, asked the
Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
for help, as he was not making a profit, the board asked Dillwyn, as a noted nearby pottery manager, to report on the matter. Dillwyn was so impressed with Billingsley's soft-paste porcelain product that he arranged with him to transfer production to the Cambrian Pottery, which began in 1814. However, Billingsley kept the secret of his recipe for the paste, which was of extremely high quality, especially for receiving painting, "highly translucent and of beautiful whiteness, but very liable to melt out of shape in the kiln" and so extremely expensive to make, as a high proportion of pieces were unsaleable, 90% according to many sources. Initially most pieces were still marked "Nantgarw", leading to great uncertainty as to where pieces were made. In 1817 Billingsley and his son-in-law Samuel Walker returned to Nantgarw. Dillwyn devised a new paste recipe, initially using ground flint and a higher proportion of china clay. This is known as the "duck's egg" body and regarded by collectors as somewhat less fine than the original, but better than Dillwyn's next formula, containing steatite (soapstone). In 1817 Dillwyn leased the pottery to Bevington and Company, whose name is sometimes seen as a mark on the porcelain. This continued to be made until "1822 at latest", and the moulds were sold about 1823. Floral painting, and often similar decoration in low relief, was the staple of the factory's output. The Cambrian employed some notable artists for its porcelain, such as Thomas Baxter, who moved to Swansea for three years from 1816,
Thomas Pardoe Thomas Pardoe (3 July 1770 – 1823) was a British enameler noted for flower painting. Pardoe was born in Derby on 3 July 1770 and was apprenticed at the Derby (Nottingham Road) porcelain factory in the 1780s, later moving to Worcester. He pa ...
, and William Pollard. Many of the wares were sent "outside" to London for decoration.Honey, 322-323


Later history

Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn (19 May 1814 – 19 June 1892) was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician who served as MP for Swansea for 37 years. Early life Dillwyn was born in Swansea, Wales, the fourth of six children of Lewis Weston Dill ...
(Lewis Weston Dillwyn's son) ran the pottery from 1836. He bought out the neighbouring
Glamorgan Pottery The Glamorgan Pottery was situated on the banks of the River Tawe, Swansea, Wales, from 1814 until 1838, producing various earthenware products. It is not to be confused with the Cambrian Pottery The Cambrian Pottery was founded in 1764 by Wi ...
in 1838. Many of the redundant staff went on to help found the South Wales Pottery at Llanelli, the competition from which, played a part in the ultimate demise of the Cambrian Pottery in 1870. The pottery closed in 1870, when the site was sold to Cory, Yeo & Co. File:Plate LACMA M.85.227.2.jpg, Plate, painting attributed to
Thomas Pardoe Thomas Pardoe (3 July 1770 – 1823) was a British enameler noted for flower painting. Pardoe was born in Derby on 3 July 1770 and was apprenticed at the Derby (Nottingham Road) porcelain factory in the 1780s, later moving to Worcester. He pa ...
(1770-1823),
pearlware Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 175 ...
, c. 1810 File:Burdette-Coutts Service (Soup Plate) LACMA 55.101.28.jpg, Porcelain soup plate from the Burdette-Coutts Service, c. 1815 File:Plate LACMA 55.101.6.jpg, Porcelain plate painted by William Pollard, c. 1817 File:Cow creamjug, Walker Art Gallery.jpg, Earthenware cow creamer, 1820–40, "possibly Cambrian Pottery"


Notes


References

* *Honey, W.B., ''Old English Porcelain'', 1977 (3rd edn.), Faber and Faber, ISBN 0571049028 * * E. Morton-Nance, ''The Pottery and Porcelain of Swansea and Nantgarw'' (1943)


Further reading

*Jimmy Jones and Sir Leslie Joseph, ''Swansea Porcelain Shapes and Decoration'', (Cowbridge, 1988) *W.D. John, ''Swansea Porcelain'', (1958) {{Authority control Ceramics manufacturers of Wales Companies based in Swansea British companies disestablished in 1870 1764 establishments in Wales British porcelain Manufacturing companies established in 1764 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1870 British companies established in 1764