Farnham Pottery is located in

Wrecclesham Wrecclesham is a village on the southern outskirts of the large town of Farnham in Surrey, England. Its local government district is the Borough of Waverley. History It was once in the estate of Henry of Westminster and Blois the powerful 13th ...

near Farnham, Surrey. This is one of the best preserved examples of a working Victorian country pottery left in England and is a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. Its significance in the local area is shown by it featuring on the emblem of Wrecclesham Cricket Club.

History

A major pottery industry has existed in the Farnham area since

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

times and in the 16th century supplied London with a substantial part of its pottery requirements. In the Middle Ages, Farnham clay was shipped by river to

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...

and surrounding villages, where it was potted; collectively this is known as "Surrey whiteware". A letter in 1594 mentions that white clay was dug in Farnham Park to make drinking vessels used by lawyers at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

in London. At its height, the pottery operated its own

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

pits, had four working

kilns A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay in ...

and employed up to thirty men. A lightweight tramway connected the pits to the pottery, with tubs being pushed along the temporary tracks. In 1872 it was owned by Absalom Harris. The early work was utility wares including drainpipes and

tiles Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...

. Around 1880, he was asked to copy a French vase. After many trials, Harris managed to produce a reasonable example using a

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

glaze made green by the addition of

copper oxide Copper oxide is a compound from the two elements copper and oxygen. Copper oxide may refer to: * Copper(I) oxide (cuprous oxide, Cu2O) * Copper(II) oxide Copper(II) oxide or cupric oxide is an inorganic compound with the formula CuO. A black so ...

. After that, the production of

art pottery Art pottery is a term for pottery with artistic aspirations, made in relatively small quantities, mostly between about 1870 and 1930. Typically, sets of the usual tableware items are excluded from the term; instead the objects produced are mostly ...

featured more prominently in the company's agenda, and Farnham Greenware, as it was known, established itself. A strong connection with

Farnham School of Art Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tribu ...

was formed. W. H. Allen designed for Farnham Pottery from the turn of the century until 1943. The pots were sold at Heals and Liberty. The company was widely known for its 'owl jugs' which were produced up to the 1950s. The pottery is now no longer owned by the Harris family. Farnham Buildings Preservation Trust (FBPT) bought the site in 1998 and they have their own group of potters (West Street Potters) producing pottery there.Abbey Chronicle
/ref> The pottery still contains many examples of the original moulds and a number of local houses were built using architectural fittings made on this site.

Gallery

File:Farnham Pottery, Wrecclesham - yard.jpg, Farnham Pottery yard File:Back entrance to Farnham Pottery.jpg, Back entrance, showing "A. Harris & Son, Pottery Works, 1873" File:Old kiln at Farnham Pottery.jpg, The bottle kiln File:Farnham Pottery, Wrecclesham - owls and elephant.jpg, Examples of typical Farnham Pottery wares from the early 20th century

References

Bibliography

External links

Farnham Pottery
{{Waverley Farnham Grade II listed buildings in Surrey English pottery Art pottery