A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



by early members of the craft in Nottingham, 

 where Roger and Robert the potters were 

 engaged in the industry in 1242." Potters' 

 ware was long part of the traffic of 'princely 

 Trent.' 13 There were numerous 'earthenware 

 houses ' in Defoe's time, when ' the fashion of 

 tea-drinking, and the consequent demand for 

 fine stone mugs, tea-pots and cups,' caused these 

 establishments to be ' much increased.' 13 William 

 Lockett, potter, was admitted a burgess in 1 739- 14 

 Brown earthenware was made by Charles Morley 

 (sheriff of Nottingham in 1737), in the lower part 

 of Beck Street (Mughouse Yard, Mughouse Lane), 

 and he there amassed a considerable fortune. 18 



In 1744 the following were engaged in the 

 industry in Nottingham : John Ash, William 

 Barns, John Clayton, Moses Colclough, John 

 Coppock, Thomas Elnor, Thomas Glover, John 

 Handley (mug-maker), John Hazelley, Thomas 

 Hough, William Lockett (pot-maker, New 

 Buildings), Isaac Selby, Leonard Twells, Samuel 

 and John Wyer ; most of these being still at 

 work in 1780. John Bacon was a pot-maker in 

 Sheep Lane in I799. 16 



There were two potteries in Nottingham in 

 1815, one on the east side of Milton Street and 

 the other at the bottom of Beck Lane, 17 the 

 ' town's market,' according to Blackner, ' being 

 well supplied ' with their productions. 18 The 

 sellers of the coarse and fine earthenware of the 

 county were accustomed to take their stands, says 

 Deering, round the Malt Cross at Nottingham. 19 



Nottingham ware, 'distinguished,' writes Miss 

 Hodgkin, ' from others of the same period by a 

 curious smoothness of surface and an almost 

 metallic lustre peculiar to itself,' 20 was of great 

 celebrity in the Midlands, especially the brown 

 earthenware jugs frequently found in public- 

 houses. An example of these, in the possession 

 of Mr. Briscoe, is 5^ in. high, holds half a pint, 

 has one handle, and is of the usual brown, hard, 

 and durable clay. The jug in question was dis- 

 covered during excavations in Victoria Street, 

 Nottingham, near the site of the ' Old Ship.' 21 



The articles produced were chiefly beer jugs, 

 tobacco jars, puzzle jugs, and bowls, the clay 

 from which they were made being brought, it 

 is thought, from the neighbourhood of Hucknall 

 Torkard a yellow clay, imported from Stafford- 

 shire, being also utilized. This importation, 



11 Stevenson, Rec. Bon. Nott. i, 43, 437. 

 18 Deering, Nottinghamla, 91. 

 15 Defoe, Tour, iii, 18. 



14 Notts, and Derb. N. and Q. July 1895, p. 108. 



15 Blackner, Hut. Nott. 251 ; Mr. Morley's house 

 in Beck Lane, says a local historian, is now more or 

 less represented by the People's Hall in Heathcote 

 Street ; Granger, OU Notts. 23. 



16 Jewitt, op. cit. 241. 



" Blackner, op. cit. 251; Granger, Old Notts. 119. 

 18 Ibid. 63. " Deering, Notting/iamia, 8. 



10 Notts, and Derb. N. and Q. Oct. 1 892, p. 7. 

 " Notts. Journ. 15 Jan. 1872. 



according to Blackner, 'added so much to the 

 cost of the ware as to prevent the proprietors 

 maintaining a competition with the Stafford- 

 shire dealers. 22 Pinks 23 were the flowers most 

 commonly used in the decorations of the ware, 

 whilst the date, name of the person for whom 

 the article was intended, and in some cases the 

 address, were generally written upon the jug 

 before baking. Dark red pinks together with 

 the initials 'G. B.,' and the date, 1755, figure 

 on an existing puzzle jug, whilst the oldest piece 

 preserved, a jug in the possession of Mr. E. 

 Norman, bears the following inscription : 'John 

 Smith, junr. of Basford, near Nottingham, 1712.' 

 A brown stoneware jug bears a hare-hunt in 

 relief, with the inscription : ' Southwell for ever, 

 j. H. and w. c. M. i739.' M 'The finest 

 piece of Nottingham pottery extant ' is said to 

 be a headstone in St. Mary's Churchyard, dated 

 1714, the letters being burnt into the earthen- 

 ware of which it is composed. 25 A speciality of 

 this manufacture, however, was the production 

 of drinking jugs in the form of a bear, similar 

 to those made at Brampton and Fulham. A 

 specimen of the shape in question is described 

 by Mr. Jewitt as being entirely powdered, ex- 

 cept the neck, with fragments of dry clay 

 sprinkled over the surface before firing, and 

 burnt in, the outlines of the ears, teeth, and 

 claws being laid on in white slip. 26 



A coarse red ware 27 suitable for garden pots 

 and other rough uses was made in considerable 

 quantities at Sutton in Ashfield towards the close 

 of the 1 8th century. 



' Elegant, useful, and ornamental china ' was 

 being made at Pinxton in 1796, under the 

 superintendence of the celebrated William Bil- 

 lingsley, who would seem to have resided in 

 Belvedere Street, Mansfield, during his engage- 

 ment with Mr. John Coke, younger brother of 

 the lord of the manor of Pinxton, by whom he 

 had been brought from Derby. 28 At Pinxton, 

 where he remained five or six years, Billingsley 

 produced the 'granular body' which he after- 

 wards perfected elsewhere. The china manu- 

 facture which he inaugurated continued until 

 1818, but was not so good after his departure. 89 



The modern pottery trade of Nottingham 

 consists chiefly in the production of chimney- 

 pots, flower-pots, and ornamental rough vases. 3U 



" Blackner, op. cit. 251. 



13 Possibly suggested by ' the maiden pink which 

 groweth so plentifully by the roadside on the sandy 

 hill you ascend going from Lenton to Nottingham'; 

 Ray, Cata/ogus Plantarum (ed. 2, 1677), 57. 



21 Chaffers, Marks on Pottery, 790. 



15 ThorotonSoc. Trans. \, 34. * 6 Jewitt, op. cit. 242. 



" Lowe, Gen. View Agric. of Notts. (1798), 139. 



'" Harrod, Hist. Mansfield, 6. We are told of his 

 having ' brought the art of painting and gilding this 

 china to great perfection.' 



" V.C.H. Derb. i, 366. 



30 Ann. Rep. Factories and Workshops, 1905, p. 89. 







334 



