Coxside Carto g raphies Object Stories Object ’s can Box drawn here and artefacts objects in The be found The they tell Together sites in Coxside. to related directly and are collection plantations to sugar of trade that takesa story Coxside the on us from on a journey in the tea cultivation in India, islands of the Caribbean, pursuit who discovered Cookworthy by businessman William of that accompany the objects, the stories are clay’ in . Overleaf ‘china see if you canwhich. is which identify The stories...

Figurehead of the HMS Sybille, 1846. William Cookworthy porcelain makers mark

Coxside was traditionally at the heart If you turn over a piece of ceramic like of Plymouth’s shipbuilding industry, a plate, mug or jug, you can often find its location providing the perfect site for the a maker’s mark – letters or a symbol – construction of ocean-going sailing ships which tells you where it was made. that powered exploration, trade and slavery. Only a small percentage of Plymouth A figurehead is a carved wooden sculpture porcelain has marks, but the mark shown often found on the prow (very front part) here is one that signified a piece was made of a sailing ship. It was designed to capture in William Cookworthy’s factory on Sutton the spirit of the vessel and offer the crew Wharf, Coxside. protection from the harsh seas they might face on their long and dangerous ocean Cookworthy’s mark was the alchemical journeys. The HMS Sybille played an active sign for tin which probably originates role in the Second China (or Opium) War from his discovery of the first UK china (1856-60). In 1858 she returned to the clay which could be used to produce white United Kingdom and was broken up in porcelain in an area known for tin mining. 1866 at Plymouth. The figurehead is now Cookworthy used his knowledge on display at The Box Plymouth. as a chemist and a process of trial and error to mix the china clay in the right quantities to produce a stable porcelain, Sugar mould (in use 1660s–1720s) he then experimented with firing and decorating it. Finally, in 1768, he was able to During a dig in the 1990s, the foundations patent hard-paste porcelain production in of a sugar refinery were found in Coxside. Plymouth. These marks are usually in blue The sugar mould pictured here would have (underglaze) or red (enamel/overglaze). been used in the process of refining sugar, There are two special items in The Box from dark raw sugar to a white cone Plymouth’s collection that have the mark in or sugarloaf, the usual form that sugar was gilt (gold). In total The Box Plymouth holds bought and sold in until granulated sugar 483 pieces of Plymouth Porcelain. became fashionable in the late 19th century. Once the raw sugar had been through a series of boiling and filtering processes Plymouth Porcelain teapot, 1768-1770 it was then poured into an inverted conical mould. These were usually made of extremely A teapot is a familiar item found in many hard wearing brown earthenware and were of our kitchens, but this one is special as it placed on top of a collecting pot. In time was made in Coxside at William Cookworthy’s any dark syrup or impurities would drain (and the UK’s first) true hard paste white away through a small hole in the bottom porcelain factory. Although the secret of the mould leaving a white sugar loaf, of its manufacture had long been known ready to be wrapped in blue paper in Germany and China, no British factory to enhance its colour. succeeded in making porcelain until 1768.

Before the invention of the tea bag in 1908, teapots were relied upon to brew and steep

tea. While tea bags may be convenient

Porcelain teapot Porcelain many people still prefer a properly brewed

makers mark, Sugar mould, Plymouth Plymouth mould, Sugar mark, makers pot of tea. This Plymouth Porcelain teapot

, Cookworthy Cookworthy , Figurehead of the HMS Sybille HMS the of Figurehead in The Box’s collection is painted with The objects (clockwise from top left): top from (clockwise objects The flowers in red, blue and green and is decorated with gilt patterns Coxside Memory Mug

William Cookworthy had a porcelain factory until 1770 at the China House in Coxside. He made ceramics including a mug shaped like this. Fill the mug outline with your memories and stories of Coxside, draw, add photographs or write them in the space below. Take a photograph of your finished mug and send it to [email protected] or post them on Instagram with the hashtag #mappinghistories Coxside CartographiesCoxside , Joanna Brinton & Bridgette Ashton, 2020