J is for Jugs, Pots and China

This April we are once again blogging along with the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Our team of one-place studiers will be sharing some of the treasures to be found for a one-place study, particularly around the theme of Visualisation, our Shared Endeavour for 2016.

If your place had any kind of tourist industry, you will probably be able to find souvenir pottery or china that bears the place’s name. Crested ware produced by the company Goss was made in the UK from 1858-1939 and many towns were commemorated on ornaments in a variety of shapes. More practical was Devon Blue Ware, which consisted of jugs, mugs, egg cups, ash trays and other items that had inscribed white place names on the blue background. This style spread far beyond Devon.

Individual potters might produce commemorative items for special occasions, such as a wedding. These often took the form of clay harvest jugs, used for taking ale to farm workers in the fields. The style was Sgrafitto ware, with the slip being incised with a pattern and inscription, to reveal the red clay beneath. Similar motto ware was produced from Cumnock in Scotland to Torquay in Devon. More recently, schools, churches and businesses in your place may have had inscribed mugs made as fund raising, commemorative or advertising items. Can you source these for your one-place study?

Janet Few