The Nantgarw China Works was a
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
factory, later making other types of
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
, located in
Nantgarw
Nantgarw is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, near Cardiff.
From an electoral and administrative perspective Nantgarw falls within the ward of Taffs Well, a village some south, but historically fell within the boundari ...
on the eastern bank of the
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal in South Wales, UK, was begun in 1790. It ran along the valley of the River Taff from Merthyr Tydfil to the sea at Cardiff. The final section of canal was closed in 1951.
History
Construction started in 1790; being wa ...
, north of
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
in the
River Taff
The River Taff ( cy, Afon Taf) is a river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons; the Taf Fechan (''little Taff'') and the Taf Fawr (''great Taff'') before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. Its confluence with the R ...
valley,
Glamorganshire,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
.
The factory made porcelain of very high quality, especially in the years from 1813–1814 and 1817–1820. Porcelain produced by Nantgarw was extremely white and translucent, and was given
overglaze decoration of high quality, mostly in London or elsewhere rather than at the factory. The wares were expensive, and mostly distributed through the London dealers. Plates were much the most common shapes made, and the decoration was typically of garlands of flowers in a profusion of colours, the speciality of the founder,
William Billingsley. With
Swansea porcelain
The Cambrian Pottery was founded in 1764 by William Coles in Swansea, Glamorganshire, 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 ...
, Nantgarw was one of the last factories to make
soft-paste porcelain, when English factories had switched to
bone china
Bone china is a type of ceramic that is composed of bone ash, feldspathic material, and kaolin. It has been defined as "ware with a translucent body" containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from animal bone and calculated calcium phospha ...
, and continental and Asian ones continued to make
hard-paste porcelain.
The history of the ownership and management of the factory is complicated. The first formula, used in 1813–14, gave excellent results, but had an unacceptably high wastage rate, being very prone to deform ("slump") during firing. This formula was also being used at Swansea, and pieces can be impossible to allocate between the two with confidence. After a period of experimentation, in 1817-1820 the original paste formula was used again.
After ceasing to make or decorate porcelain in the 1820s, and a period of closure, the pottery reopened in 1833, making
earthenware
Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...
and
stoneware, as well as
clay pipes, before finally closing in 1920, when
cigarettes
A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the oppo ...
had replaced pipes. The site is now a museum, and also a working pottery. In 2017 a limited quantity of porcelain was made there, using the original formula, as reconstructed.
History
Established in November 1813, when artist and
potter
A potter is someone who makes pottery.
Potter may also refer to:
Places United States
*Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US
* Potter, Arkansas
*Potter, Nebraska
* Potters, New Je ...
William Billingsley and his son-in-law Samuel Walker, a skilled technician, rented "Nantgarw House" on the eastern bank of the
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal in South Wales, UK, was begun in 1790. It ran along the valley of the River Taff from Merthyr Tydfil to the sea at Cardiff. The final section of canal was closed in 1951.
History
Construction started in 1790; being wa ...
, eight miles north of
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
in the Taff Valley,
Glamorganshire,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, and set about building the kilns and ancillary equipment in its grounds, necessary to transform the building into a small porcelain pottery.
Billingsley had been instrumental in the development of the
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
recipe for ''Flight, Barr & Barr'' at
Royal Worcester
Royal Worcester is a porcelain brand based in Worcester, England. It was established in 1751 and is believed to be the oldest or second oldest remaining English porcelain brand still in existence today, although this is disputed by Royal Crown De ...
, he and Walker, had signed an agreement not to disclose their new porcelain recipe to a third party, but there was no clause preventing them from using that recipe themselves. They had left
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
in secret and started the venture at
Nantgarw
Nantgarw is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, near Cardiff.
From an electoral and administrative perspective Nantgarw falls within the ward of Taffs Well, a village some south, but historically fell within the boundari ...
with only £250 to invest in the project between them. By January 1814, the
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
entrepreneur
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 ...
had already become the major share-holder in their venture, having invested £630 into the first production period at Nantgarw, as his diaries at the
Glamorgan Record Office testify, where payments are recorded to a ''Mr "Bealey;"'' an alias Billingsley travelled under since leaving
Royal Worcester
Royal Worcester is a porcelain brand based in Worcester, England. It was established in 1751 and is believed to be the oldest or second oldest remaining English porcelain brand still in existence today, although this is disputed by Royal Crown De ...
.
It is assumed Young was acquainted with Billingsley through a mutual friend, and fellow earthenware decorator
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 ...
, whom Billingsley had approached at Swansea's
Cambrian Pottery, while seeking employment in 1807. Young's work across Glamorganshire as a surveyor may have put him in the position to advise Billingsley whilst still at
Royal Worcester
Royal Worcester is a porcelain brand based in Worcester, England. It was established in 1751 and is believed to be the oldest or second oldest remaining English porcelain brand still in existence today, although this is disputed by Royal Crown De ...
, of the suitability of the site at
Nantgarw
Nantgarw is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, near Cardiff.
From an electoral and administrative perspective Nantgarw falls within the ward of Taffs Well, a village some south, but historically fell within the boundari ...
. Its proximity to the Glamorganshire Canal enabled heavy shipments of
china clay, as well as the pottery's delicate porcelain wares to be smoothly transported to and from Cardiff docks by barges.
With the pottery established, Billingsley sought to produce a ''
soft paste
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 high ...
'' porcelain.
Nantgarw
Nantgarw is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, near Cardiff.
From an electoral and administrative perspective Nantgarw falls within the ward of Taffs Well, a village some south, but historically fell within the boundari ...
porcelain was made to Billingsley's secret formula. Bones, burnt and mixed with clay, were ground by miller David Jones in a mill adjoining the Cross Keys public house, in the village. The water wheel was powered by a leat running from the canal to the
River Taff
The River Taff ( cy, Afon Taf) is a river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons; the Taf Fechan (''little Taff'') and the Taf Fawr (''great Taff'') before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. Its confluence with the R ...
. The high temperature needed to produce perfect pieces made Billingsley soft paste method difficult to fire. The vast majority of the pieces warped or shattered in the firing process. The resources of the three associates soon ran out and the group approached the British Government's ''Committee of Trade and Plantations'' (The Board of Trade), requesting a grant of £500, referring to the subsidy afforded to the famous
Sèvres Porcelain Factory by the French Government. They were not successful, but one member of the committee, porcelain enthusiast Sir
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences.
Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...
, suggested his friend and
potter
A potter is someone who makes pottery.
Potter may also refer to:
Places United States
*Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US
* Potter, Arkansas
*Potter, Nebraska
* Potters, New Je ...
Lewis Weston Dillwyn of the
Cambrian Pottery of
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, should make an inspection and report on the matter.
Dillwyn made the inspection, observing that 90% of the porcelain was ruined in the firing, but was so impressed with the quality of the surviving pieces that he invited Billingsley and Walker to use his facilities at the Cambrian Pottery to improve their recipe and process. An annexe was built for porcelain production at the Cambrian Pottery, where Walker and Billingsley were based from late 1814. The recipe was modified and improved, but was still wasteful enough for Dillwyn to abandon the project in 1817, when the pair returned to Nantgarw. Royal Worcester's attempts to sue Dillwyn, Billingsley & Walker for breach of contract was a further reason for Dillwyn to cease porcelain production at the Cambrian Pottery. The contract signed at
Royal Worcester
Royal Worcester is a porcelain brand based in Worcester, England. It was established in 1751 and is believed to be the oldest or second oldest remaining English porcelain brand still in existence today, although this is disputed by Royal Crown De ...
prevented the recipe being disclosed to a third party, which superficially, ''Flight, Barr & Barr'' could not prove. However, when Dilwyn's notebooks were interred at the
V&A Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
,
South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 1920; Bilingsley's recipe was found, but had never used in Billingsley's absence.
In the second phase of production at Nantgarw, Young invested a further £1,100 in the pottery as well as mustering a further £1,000 from "ten gentlemen of the county". Billingsley and Walker continued to fire their porcelain, which by this stage was of the finest quality Billingsley had ever attained but still at a loss until one day in April 1820, while Young was away in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, the pair absconded to
Coalport leaving behind them the lease to the pottery and several thousand pieces of undecorated porcelain in various stages of production ("in the biscuit and the white").
Young put the Nantgarw Pottery and its contents up for sale via public
auction
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...
in October 1820, enabling him to buy out his minor partners, become sole proprietor and manage the completion and sale of the stock; effectively salvaging the business. He invited his friend and former co-working artist from the Cambrian Pottery, Thomas Pardoe, to aid him with the completion and decoration of the salvaged porcelain. Young and Pardoe experimented to perfect a glaze for the biscuit ware, but were unable to add to Billingsley's stockpile of porcelain, having no access to his recipe. The final sales of the finished
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
(sold between 1821 and 1822), paid Pardoe and his staff's salaries in arrears, but failed to recoup Young's total losses, leaving Young narrowly avoiding
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
. Besides the porcelain decorated by Young, but predominantly by Pardoe at Nantgarw, many pieces were sold ''in the white'' to be decorated in London. These wares are known to have been decorated by
Thomas Martin Randall (working for
John Mortlock at the time),
John Latham,
William Peg and probably
Matthew Colclough.
Some Nantgarw porcelain is identified with the mark "NANTGARW" impressed, often with the initials C.W. ''(for China Works)'' underneath. The word "NANTGARW" in red script is also seen on some of the finer specimens.
In 1833 William Henry Pardoe, son of Thomas Pardoe, took over the vacant Nantgarw Pottery and began manufacturing stoneware bottles and brown glazed earthenware known as
Rockingham ware. He also began manufacturing clay tobacco pipes, many of which were exported to Ireland. The business continued under Pardoe's descendants, and at its peak produced around 10,000 pipes a week, until its closure in 1920, when cigarettes replaced such clay pipes.
Collections
Collections of the historic wares can be seen at museums including the
National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, the Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw,
Llanbedrog
Llanbedrog is a village and community on the Llŷn peninsula of Gwynedd in Wales. It is situated on the south side of the peninsula on the A499 between Pwllheli and Abersoch. Formerly in the county of Caernarfonshire, it had a population of 1 ...
,
Pwllheli
Pwllheli () is a market town and community of the Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn) in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011 of whom a large proportion, 81%, are Welsh language, Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the pl ...
, and the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
in London.
China Works Museum
In 1989 the semi-derelict site was bought by
Taff-Ely
Taff-Ely ( cy, Taf-Elái) was a local government district with borough status in Wales from 1974 to 1996.
History
The borough was formed in 1974 as a local government district of Mid Glamorgan. It covered parts of five former districts which were ...
County Borough Council, who still today own the site. After the start of
archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
excavation and restoration of its kilns and buildings, the site opened it to the public two years later as the Nantgarw China Works and Museum. Closed at the end of 2008 due to budget cuts at
Rhondda Cynon Taff
Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff (Welsh: ''Taf'') and Ely valleys, plus a number of towns and vil ...
council, the Nantgarw Chinaworks Museum was reopened during the week in November 2010 by two artists. The museum is currently (February 2016) used for artists' studios, exhibitions, art classes and special events,
and the restoration of the
kilns is being completed by the
Welsh government
The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...
.
Notes
References
*Honey, W.B., ''Old English Porcelain'', 1977 (3rd edn.), Faber and Faber,
*Jones, Jimmy in
Battie, David, ed., ''Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Porcelain'', 1990, Conran Octopus.
* Morton-Nance, E. ''The Pottery and Porcelain of Swansea and Nantgarw.'' London: Batsford. 1943
* Jenkins, Elis. "William Weston Young." ''The Glamorgan Historian, Volume 5.'' Stewart Williams Publishers; p. 61-101
Further reading
* William Weston Young (1776–1847) of Bristol, Aberdulais and Neath: Journals, 1801-1843 (D/D Xch); Fact Books & Plans, 1787–1840; Fact Book, 1807 (D/D Xls)
External links
Nantgarw China Works Museum
{{Authority control
Ceramics manufacturers of Wales
Manufacturing companies established in 1813
Design companies disestablished in 1920
Companies based in Rhondda Cynon Taf
Museums in Rhondda Cynon Taf
1813 establishments in Wales
Ceramics museums in the United Kingdom
Industry museums in Wales
British companies established in 1813
Design companies established in 1813
1920 disestablishments in Wales
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1920
British porcelain