78 
YORKSHIRE POTTERIES, ETC. 
bottle manufacturer, Mr. William Wilkinson, who after ten months 
trial relinquished the business, and finally he disposed of every¬ 
thing by auction, this being the finish of its history as a pottery. 
The site being a valuable one, almost in the centre of Mex- 
borough, the buildings and kilns were soon in the hands of the 
wreckers, and eventually a series of houses and shops, together 
with a handsome Wesleyan chapel, were erected on the spot, 
where for nearly a century the busy artisan had plied his craft. 
Prior to the sale Mr. Wilkinson allowed Mr. Bowman Heald to 
choose any models and designs that he cared to take, and he 
became the possessor of the model of the Keep of Conisborough 
Castle referred to by Jewitt, also of many other interesting models 
which formerly had been obtained at the dissolution of the old 
Rockingham and other works. 
The marks used at the Rock Pottery were REED in large 
capitals impressed in the ware. 
REED in blue letters printed on the bottom of a garland sur¬ 
mounted by a crown, the garland enclosing the words “stone 
ware,” everything in blue. This is on a fine large jug or ewer in 
our Collection, printed in a deep rich blue with the same rural 
scene on each side, namely, a boy playing on Pan-pipes and some 
goats lying down. 
Fig. 73- Large Ewer. York Museum Collection. 
