Cookworthy Museum On June 15th 2016 members of the KEU3A Local History Group visited the Cookworthy Museum which is in the Old Grammar School, 108 Fore Street, Kingsbridge. This report contains pictures of the museum, not taken during the visit but provided afterwards by Holly Trubshawe, Curatorial Assistant. All those of the museum itself are © Jon Arnold. They are here to give an impression of what could be seen there in recent times. Collated and edited by Rodney Strong with added information about William Cookworthy.

First, a note about the museum from its website: http://www.kingsbridgemuseum.org.uk About the Museum The museum was opened in 1972 in the old Kingsbridge Grammar School buildings. Mrs Evelyn Northcott persuaded English China Clays Ltd. to rescue the derelict building and found a museum to collect and record the social history of the area.

The Museum was named after William Cookworthy, who was born in Kingsbridge, and who developed the first true hard-paste (‘china’). More details on page 6 (with acknowledgements to Wikipedia).

Front of the museum, which was originally the Grammar School for Kingsbridge, built in 1670

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The Museum facilities now include:

 Displays of artefacts from the early history of Kingsbridge through to the present day  A gallery of agricultural machinery and tools  A collection of over 14,000 photographs dating from the 1870's through to the present day  Costumes from the 19th and 20th centuries  A viewing gallery giving a virtual tour of the Museum  A resource centre to support personal research. This has many local documents including microfilm copies of local newspapers from 1855 to the present.

Entrance display of Models of local Carts made by local resident Mr Pope

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Display of agricultural equipment in our farm gallery at the back of the museum

All items were used locally and collected for the museum by local farmers in the 1970’s to 1990’s.

Close up of Graffiti in the main museum room

The museum building was a school, 1670–1960’s. 3

Museum Scullery area and Shop

Museum Kitchen and Dresser

The kitchen was used to cook school dinners for pupils.

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Main museum Cookworthy room

View of main room in museum

This shows the headmaster’s desk and (above it) the crest of Charles II who was monarch when the school was opened in 1671.

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William Cookworthy He was born of Quaker parents in Kingsbridge, Devon on 12 April 1705. His father, also called William, was a weaver and his mother was Edith, the daughter of John and Margaret Debell of St Martin-by-Looe in east : they had married in 1704. William was a bright child but his education was halted when his father died on 22 October 1718 and the family's investment in the South Sea Company failed in the autumn of 1720. William had been offered an apprenticeship, at no cost, by the Bevan Brothers, two Quaker apothecaries with a successful business in London. As the family had no spare money, William walked to London to take up the offer and, eventually, completed the apprenticeship. He was taken into partnership. He moved to where he set up a pharmacy as Bevan and Cookworthy which flourished. He eventually brought his brothers Philip and Benjamin into the partnership and bought out the Bevans' interest in 1745. He became prominent among Devon Quakers, being appointed as an Elder. Among his concerns was that Quakers should not tolerate their members trading in prize goods (ships and their cargoes seized in war), as Quakers should not benefit from war. Porcelain William Cookworthy was the first person in Britain to discover how to make hard porcelain, which had been imported from China. He subsequently discovered china clay in Cornwall.

Porcelain Factory In 1768 he founded a works at Plymouth for the production of Plymouth Porcelain.

‘Clobbered’ decoration teapot. Plymouth 1768–1770

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