![Print, trade-card (BM Banks,98](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Print%2C_trade-card_%28BM_Banks%2C98.16%29.jpg)
The Cambrian Pottery was founded in 1764 by William Coles in
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
,
Glamorganshire
, HQ = Cardiff
, Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974)
, Origin=
, Code = GLA
, CodeName = Chapman code
, Replace =
* West Glamorgan
* Mid Glamorgan
* South Glamorgan
, Motto ...
, Wales. In 1790, John Coles, son of the founder, went into partnership with
George Haynes, who introduced new business strategies based on the ideas of
Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indust ...
.
Lewis Weston Dillwyn
Lewis Weston Dillwyn, FRS (21 August 1778 – 31 August 1855) was a British porcelain manufacturer, naturalist and Whig Member of Parliament (MP).
Biography
He was born in Walthamstow, Essex, the eldest son of William Dillwyn (1743–1824) and ...
became a partner in 1802 and sole owner when George Haynes left the pottery in 1810. In 1811 Dillwyn took T.& J. Bevington into partnership, the company becoming known as Dillwyn & Co.
Initially "its main product was coarse
redware
Redware as a single word is a term for at least two types of pottery of the last few centuries, in Europe and North America. Red ware as two words is a term used for pottery, mostly by archaeologists, found in a very wide range of places. Howeve ...
for farm and domestic use, though
creamware
Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 175 ...
and lead-glazed earthenware were also made". But Dillwyn, who also wrote naturalist books, was keen to move upmarket and employed the artist
William Weston Young
William Weston Young (1776–1847) was a British Quaker entrepreneur, artist, botanist, wreck-raiser, surveyor, potter, and inventor of the firebrick.
Biography
William Weston Young was born on 20 April 1776 at Lewin's Mead, Bristol, England ...
from 1806, and also
Thomas Rothwell (1740-1807). Between 1814 and about 1822, the famous Swansea china or Swansea porcelain was made there.
Porcelain
After
William Billingsley, then owner of the
Nantgarw porcelain factory, asked the
Board of Trade for help, as he was not making a profit, the board asked Dillwyn, as a noted nearby pottery manager, to report on the matter. Dillwyn was so impressed with Billingsley's
soft-paste porcelain
Soft-paste porcelain (sometimes simply "soft paste", or "artificial porcelain") is a type of ceramic material in pottery, usually accepted as a type of porcelain. It is weaker than "true" hard-paste porcelain, and does not require either the hig ...
product that he arranged with him to transfer production to the Cambrian Pottery, which began in 1814. However, Billingsley kept the secret of his recipe for the paste, which was of extremely high quality, especially for receiving painting, "highly translucent and of beautiful whiteness, but very liable to melt out of shape in the kiln" and so extremely expensive to make, as a high proportion of pieces were unsaleable, 90% according to many sources.
Initially most pieces were still marked "Nantgarw", leading to great uncertainty as to where pieces were made. In 1817 Billingsley and his son-in-law Samuel Walker returned to Nantgarw. Dillwyn devised a new paste recipe, initially using ground flint and a higher proportion of
china clay
Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedra ...
. This is known as the "duck's egg" body and regarded by collectors as somewhat less fine than the original, but better than Dillwyn's next formula, containing
steatite
Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the ...
(soapstone). In 1817 Dillwyn leased the pottery to Bevington and Company, whose name is sometimes seen as a mark on the porcelain. This continued to be made until "1822 at latest", and the moulds were sold about 1823.
Floral painting, and often similar decoration in low relief, was the staple of the factory's output. The Cambrian employed some notable artists for its porcelain, such as
Thomas Baxter, who moved to Swansea for three years from 1816,
Thomas Pardoe
Thomas Pardoe (3 July 1770 – 1823) was a British enameler noted for flower painting.
Pardoe was born in Derby on 3 July 1770 and was apprenticed at the Derby (Nottingham Road) porcelain factory in the 1780s, later moving to Worcester. He pa ...
, and
William Pollard. Many of the wares were sent "outside" to London for decoration.
[Honey, 322-323]
Later history
Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn
Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn (19 May 1814 – 19 June 1892) was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician who served as MP for Swansea for 37 years.
Early life
Dillwyn was born in Swansea, Wales, the fourth of six children of Lewis Weston Dill ...
(Lewis Weston Dillwyn's son) ran the pottery from 1836. He bought out the neighbouring
Glamorgan Pottery
The Glamorgan Pottery was situated on the banks of the River Tawe, Swansea, Wales, from 1814 until 1838, producing various earthenware products. It is not to be confused with the Cambrian Pottery, also of Swansea, which made fine porcelain
...
in 1838. Many of the redundant staff went on to help found the South Wales Pottery at Llanelli, the competition from which, played a part in the ultimate demise of the Cambrian Pottery in 1870.
The pottery closed in 1870, when the site was sold to Cory, Yeo & Co.
File:Plate LACMA M.85.227.2.jpg, Plate, painting attributed to Thomas Pardoe
Thomas Pardoe (3 July 1770 – 1823) was a British enameler noted for flower painting.
Pardoe was born in Derby on 3 July 1770 and was apprenticed at the Derby (Nottingham Road) porcelain factory in the 1780s, later moving to Worcester. He pa ...
(1770-1823), pearlware
Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 17 ...
, c. 1810
File:Burdette-Coutts Service (Soup Plate) LACMA 55.101.28.jpg, Porcelain soup plate from the Burdette-Coutts Service, c. 1815
File:Plate LACMA 55.101.6.jpg, Porcelain plate painted by William Pollard, c. 1817
File:Cow creamjug, Walker Art Gallery.jpg, Earthenware cow creamer
A creamer is a small Pitcher (container), pitcher or jug (container), jug designed for holding cream or milk to be served with tea or coffee in the Western tradition. Creamers can be earthenware or porcelain, but also made of silver or other me ...
, 1820–40, "possibly Cambrian Pottery"
Notes
References
*
*Honey, W.B., ''Old English Porcelain'', 1977 (3rd edn.), Faber and Faber, ISBN 0571049028
*
* E. Morton-Nance, ''The Pottery and Porcelain of Swansea and Nantgarw'' (1943)
Further reading
*Jimmy Jones and Sir Leslie Joseph, ''Swansea Porcelain Shapes and Decoration'', (Cowbridge, 1988)
*W.D. John, ''Swansea Porcelain'', (1958)
{{Authority control
Ceramics manufacturers of Wales
Companies based in Swansea
British companies disestablished in 1870
1764 establishments in Wales
British porcelain
Manufacturing companies established in 1764
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1870
British companies established in 1764