Waterloo Pottery Kiln and Pottery Ponds
« Rockingham Pottery
The Waterloo Pottery Kiln was built in 1815, in the same year as the Battle of Waterloo. It is one of the few surviving parts of the Swinton, later, known as Rockingham Pottery, that occupied the site.
Other traces that can be seen include the pottery ponds, along with parts of the gatehouse and painting rooms, which are now private houses. At its height, 270 workers were employed here. The site included other kilns, a flint mill, china warehouses and cottages.
The pottery was founded in 1745 and remained in production until 1842, under the patronage of the Wentworth Estate.
Early products included cheap domestic pottery , but its later owners established a national reputation for quality earthenwares and fine porcelain.
The kiln originally contained a firing chamber for pottery and acted as a chimney that funnelled air through it and out of the roof opening.
After the pottery closed the kiln was converted for residential use and the door and window openings created can still be traced.
Between about 1900 and the 1930's it was used as a smallpox isolation hospital and later a private house.
Clifton Park Museum in Rotherham hosts a fine display of Swinton and Rockingham Pottery, including the Rhinoceros Vase, a massive showpiece made by the Rockingham Pottery Works in 1826. At over a metre tall, it was claimed at the time to have been the largest piece of porcelain ever to have been fired in one piece in England, and it demonstrates the variety of decorative and technical skills which the Works were capable of.
Photographs: © Kerys Witton
An excellent book, Rockingham 1745-1842 by Alwyn Cox and Angela Cox - This new, comprehensive and well-illustrated account of the Rockingham Pottery, one of England's major nineteenth century porcelain manufactories, traces its unusual development and diverse wares from 1745, when it was founded, to its closure almost a century later. Archaelogical evidence has been used to identify eighteenth century slip-decorated pottery, fine unmarked creamware, pearlware and the early products of the following century. Characteristic shapes and types of decoration are illustrated, including the complete range of transfer-printed designs on pottery. In porcelain, for which the Rockingham Works is justly renowned, its tea and dessert services, including those made for royalty and nobility, are described and illustrated, as are figures and the many ornamental items. All known factory marks are shown and guidance is given to help collectors avoid spurious wares. Many of the pieces illustrated are in private collections. They vary from items of extraordinary beauty and richness to more everyday wares. This book, with its many new findings and previously unpublished documentary material, provides an indispensable guide to this Pottery's remarkably diverse products.
Clifton Park Museum Opening Times
Monday to Thursday 10-5; Friday, Closed; Saturday,10-5; Sunday, 1.30-4.30
Full Disabled Access, Cafe, Gift Shop, Toilets and Baby Changing, Lion's Den - Children's play area, Exhibitions and Events Programme, Meeting Room, Museum available for Hire
Contact:Clifton Park Museum, Clifton Lane, Rotherham, S65 2AA. Telephone: . email
Gallery Index
Wath-on-Dearne
« Rockingham Pottery
©
