INDUSTRIES 



power having been used for the last twenty 

 years.* 



Buckinghamshire is not famous for any great 

 potteries, but the Brill pottery dates from very 

 ancient times. The first mention of potters 

 there is in 1254,' in an inquisition as to rights of 

 gathering wood in Brill Woods. The jurors gave 

 evidence as to the privileges of certain ecclesias- 

 tical lords and ended with saying that the potters 

 took small-wood, &c., for their kilns contrary to 

 the forest regulations. The right to dig brick 

 earth in Barnwood Forest was probably theirs 

 from time immemorial, but the lord of the 

 manor of Brill exacted an annual payment of 

 4*. bd. known as the 'Claygavel.' This was 

 paid in the I3th and I4th centuries with regu- 

 larity and is continually entered in the steward's 

 accounts.' At the disafforestmcnt of Barnwood 

 in the reign of James I,' an allotment of common- 

 able land was made for artificers and cottages, by 

 an order of the Court of Chancery, ' many 

 artificers of Brill having received employment by 

 making brick, tyle, lyme and potts out of the 

 soyle of Brill hills.' A pot was dug up at Long 

 Crendon near Brill, about 1885, containing coins 

 of the period of the Civil War and earlier, and 

 presumably was made by the Brill potters. 



More recently the chief pottery works were 

 carried on by a family of the name of Hubbocks, 

 the last descendant being still at Brill at the 

 present time. 10 They were potters for 1 49 years 

 and the father of the present Mr. Hubbocks owned 

 the last pottery. His kiln is still to be seen, and 

 was used till within three years of his death, 

 which took place about thirty-two years ago. 

 He used the old wheel and fashioned the pots 

 with his finger and thumb. At one time, 

 presumably during the lifetime of the elder 

 Hubbocks, there were seven potteries in Brill, 

 and in 1831 thirty-five men were employed in 

 making earthenware pottery in the county. 11 

 The industry was, however, not in a flourishing 

 condition a few years later, owing to the in- 

 creased price of fuel and the cost of carriage, 11 

 but in 1862, there was still a pottery for the 

 manufacture of brown earthenware. The colour 

 however, seems more generally to have been 



' From information kindly given by Mr. A. H. 

 Woolley, 14 Mill Street, Slough. 

 7 HunJ. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 21. 

 ' Mins. Accts. bdlc. 759, nos. 30, 31. 



I Lipscomb, Hist, of Bucks, i, 107. 



'* From information kindly obtained from Mr. Hub- 

 bocks, by Mrs. Riley, Brill Vicarage. 



II Pop. Ret. 1831, i, 34. 



" Lipscomb, Hut. of Bucki. i, 107. 



varying shades of yellow and green, produced by 

 the different kinds of clay from which the pots 

 were made. 



Hubbocks made for the most part flower-pots 

 and large pans and jugs, one or two of which 

 are to be seen at Brill, but they bear no date 

 since he only dated his pots at the request of the 

 customer. His stock was bought up some 

 years ago ' for a museum in Oxford.' 



An older pot is in the possession of Mr. F. H. 

 Parrott, of 'The Camp,' Kimble. It bears the 

 indented inscription 'M.M. 1764 'on its side 

 and on the bottom is written ' John Sheperde, 

 Poter, Brill, Bux.' The pot is of rough red 

 earthenware with a greenish-brown glaze and 

 was found in a cottage at Brill where it was 

 bought by a man at Aylesbury, who sold it to 

 its present owner. 



There were other potteries at Coleshill, a ham- 

 let in the parish of Amersham, and at Chalfont 

 St. Peter, in the early part of the i gth century. 11 

 The latter, which is now called the Beaconsfield 

 Pottery, was established in 1 805 by Mr. William 

 Wellins, but changed hands shortly and was 

 bought by Mr. John Swallow, who practically 

 was the real starter of the pottery. It has never 

 assumed very large proportions, and Mrs. M. 

 Saunders & Son, the lessees of the pottery, now 

 chiefly produce flower-pots, stands, chimney-pots 

 and pipes and similar articles. 14 It has, however, 

 continued working to the present day, in spite of 

 the keen competition in the industry. 



A pottery of another character existed near 

 Great 'Marlow until the present year, when 

 it was moved to Staffordshire. 16 The Med- 

 menham pottery was established ten years ago 

 about a mile from the town of Great Marlow, 

 with the object of producing architectural pot- 

 tery and tiles with individuality in design and 

 execution. To secure this, the works were 

 established in the country, materials from Mar- 

 low being used when possible and village work- 

 people only employed for the most part. It has 

 however, been found impossible to continue the 

 pottery in Buckinghamshire, so far from the 

 main pottery districts. Some of the chief pieces 

 of work accomplished were, however, done while 

 the pottery was still at Marlow, one of the most 

 important being the frieze surrounding the new 

 hall of the Law Society in Chancery Lane. 



11 Ibid, iii, 146 ; Sheahan, Hut. and lopog. of 

 Biukt. 8*7. 



14 From information kindly supplied by Mrs. 

 Saunders & Son, Beaconsfield Pottery. 



" Information kindly given by Mr. Conrad 

 Dressier. 



