Farnham Pottery
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Farnham Pottery is located in
Wrecclesham Wrecclesham is a village on the southern outskirts of the town of Farnham in Surrey, England. Its local government district is the Waverley, Surrey, Borough of Waverley. History It was once in the estate of Henry of Blois, Henry of Westminster ...
near
Farnham Farnham 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 tributary of the ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
. 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 is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. 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 Farnham 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 tributary of the ...
area since Roman 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, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...
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 association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...
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. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
pits, had four working kilns 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 ot ...
. 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; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
glaze made green by the addition of copper oxide. After that, the production of art pottery 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 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

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External links


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