A HISTORY OF SURREY 



from which goldsmiths' crucibles were made 

 has been already noticed. According to Mr. 

 Jewett a pottery existed at Ewell early in the 

 eighteenth century but was discontinued soon 

 after 1790 on the exhaustion of the bed of 

 clay. A new pottery however was opened 

 in Nonsuch Park with the permission of the 

 steward of the estate shortly after the year 

 1800 by Mr. Richard Waghorn in partner- 

 ship with his son. Messrs. Waghorn had 

 also about 1840 another pottery at Cheam, 

 but retired from the management of both 

 works in 1 85 1. The Nonsuch Pottery then 

 came into the hands of Mr. Swallow who had 

 been foreman there. He afterwards took into 

 partnership Mr. Stone, and the works were 

 carried on under the style of Swallow & Stone 

 until the death of the former in 1866 or 

 1867. The firm established another pottery 

 at Epsom, chiefly for the manufacture of fire- 

 bricks. The works subsequently were vari- 

 ously called ' the Nonsuch Pottery ' or ' Stone's 

 Ewell and Epsom Potteries.' Mr. Waghorn 

 manufactured Italian tiles of great strength 

 and durability and much used in buildings of 

 the time, ornamental tiles for roofs, paving 

 and other tiles, moulded bricks, firebricks 

 and fire loam, chimney-pots, pipes, vases, 

 etc. In 1878 the same descriptions of goods 

 were manufactured at Nonsuch. At the 

 present day the Epsom pottery is still con- 

 tinued under the name of the firm, Messrs. 

 Stone & Co., Limited, and is devoted to the 

 manufacture of drainpipes and other earthen- 

 ware goods. 



The Cheam pottery on Messrs. Waghorn 's 

 retirement in 1851 was worked by Mr. Baker, 

 who was succeeded in 1 868 by Messrs. Cow- 

 ley & Aston. The works however were 

 closed in the following year. Soon after 

 another pottery at this place was opened by 

 Mr. Henry Clark, and was in existence in 

 1878 for the manufacture of flower-pots, rustic 

 fern stands, vases, chimney-pots, and the like.* 



Farnham. — Farnham is mentioned in 

 connection with the manufacture of pottery 

 as early as 1594, in which year, under date 

 19 August, we find Sir Julius Csesar writing 

 to Sir William More, during the vacancy of 

 the see of Winchester, to request that the 

 bearer of his letter might have, as he had had 

 in times past, out of Farnham Park, ' certaine 

 white cley for the making of grene pottes 

 usually drunke in by the gentlemen of the 

 Temple.' - For some reason the use of this 



' Jewett, Ceramic Art, i. 166, 167. 



2 Loseley MSS. See Hist. MSS. Com. 7th 

 Rep. App. 652 ; and Inner Temple Rec. vol. i. 

 pp. Ixxxvi., Ixxxvii. 



clay had been restricted. The green pots 

 were of the common medieval type. The 

 name of the bearer is not given, but as 

 permission is asked for him to dig and carry 

 away as much of the clay as was required, it 

 is at least doubtful whether the pots were 

 actually made at Farnham. 



The manufacture of what is now called 

 Farnham ware is said to be of some antiquity. 

 Originally the ware was glazed a dark olive 

 green and made in such small articles as vases, 

 basins, ewers, etc' The present Farnham 

 potteries were however started no further 

 back than 1875 at the small village of Wrec- 

 clesham by Mr. Absalom Harris. They are 

 now carried on under the style of Messrs. A. 

 Harris & Sons. At first the only products 

 were ordinary garden pots and vases, bread- 

 crocks, pans, chimney-pots, and the like. The 

 glazes in use were only yellow or red, with 

 now and then some chocolate colour. About 

 1886 the firm was asked to copy some green 

 glazed vases for the garden, which had been 

 bought in France but had become unsightly 

 through their inability to stand the severity of 

 our English winters. For some years the firm 

 tried without much success to get the requi- 

 site colour, but soon found that the body of 

 this ware could not be adapted to the glazes 

 used in the great midland potteries. Eventu- 

 ally by using a number of clays and the firm's 

 old glaze as the medium for the different 

 colours, a product was obtained which equalled 

 the originals in colour and far surpassed them 

 in durability. 



Messrs. A. Harris now make in addition to 

 the goods already mentiorted, vases for flowers 

 both for indoor and outdoor use, glazed and 

 unglazed, glazed mantelpieces, hearth tiles, 

 toilet ware, sgraffito ware, and some table 

 ware. The glazes used are blue, green, pale 

 yellow, orange, chocolate, and brown. 



It may be mentioned that the head of the 

 present firm, before starting this pottery, had 

 carried on business at two other places in the 

 neighbourhood ; first, at an old pottery near 

 the village of Elstead, and secondly near the 

 Holt Forest just over the border of Hamp- 

 shire. Both these places have since been 

 pulled down.* 



Various. — In addition to the places which 

 have been especially remarked in the foregoing 

 account as seats of the earthenware industry in 

 Surrey, a few other places are mentioned at 

 various times in connection with the manufac- 

 ture. Manning and Bray notice a manufactory 



3 See the Homeland Association's Handbook on 

 Farnham, pp. 9, 38, 89. 



• Ex inf. Messrs. A. Harris & Sons. 



294 



