English Slipware Pottery

24 GETTING THINGS DONE NAN MUSGROVE is a young potter working in the English Slipware tradition. She trained in the workshop of John Pollex, one of the best-known contemporary slipware potters, and moved to Marsden, near Huddersfield, in March 1979 to establish her own workshop. Training in slipware was a deliberate choice for her, partly because it gives great scope for decoration and partly because she responds to its intrinsic 'Englishness'. Most people are familar with craft copy of the Willow Pattern, in the 1702 said that it was nicknamed 'Little pottery that is glazed with sombre col- customary brown and yellow colours London' by the locals, presumably ours: greys, dull greens and soft of earthenware. because of its activity and smoke. browns. Often it is decorated with There is a little rhyme about the subtle brush patterns, but the overall Yearsley pottery, which was estab- impression is usually restrained. This 0174 lished by a branch of the Wedgewood is stoneware pottery in the oriental family in the late seventeenth tradition, which was introduced into century: this country by Bernard Leach, who "At Yearsley there were panche- did more than any other person to ons made re-establish a tradition of hand- 4 ry By Willie Wedgewood that thrown pottery here. He was trained lle young blade" Ga in Japan and, when he set up his work- t These potteries produced a great shop in St. Ives in the 1920's, he Ar naturally continued to use oriental range of slipware dishes, jugs, cups City glazes, although he adapted his r and chamber pots as well as the big shapes to his English market. His te functional pots that farmers' wives hes would need in their domestic chores. influence has spread over the years nc and the majority of craft potters still They also made various ornaments Ma decorated with patterns and dots of make stoneware with oriental-type Trailed 'Willow Pattern' dish. glazes. slip and, of course, many pots were However, there is another type of Country pottery was almost always inscribed with names and dates. pottery which fewer people are famil- made in red clay and any decoration Slipware lends itself easily to such iar with and that is English slip-decor- that was applied was in the form of inscriptions, as it does to a particular ated earthenware. Perhaps the older slip, which is liquid clay. It is applied kind of humour that stems from its generation know it best because thay to pots when they are half dry by can remember examples of the shiny brushing, pouring or dripping and brown 'country pottery' that their there are various ways of putting on a mothers and grandmothers used. Lots pattern in contrasting coloured slips. of people even now use jugs, cas- Most regions of the country that seroles, pancheons etc., often for had clay and fuel made slipware, and other purposes entirely, that were the the Pennines are no exception — hav- `craft' pots of years ago. Their unres- ing a tradition that goes right back to trained earthy qualities of shape and the Middle Ages. A type of slipware decoration are in complete contrast to was made by Cistercian monks at all modern stoneware. These pots were the great abbeys of North Yorkshire. made in small workshops and were But here, as in the rest of the country, the everyday articles of ordinary slipware had its heyday in the seven- rner people. They didn't compete with teenth and eighteenth centuries. Wa manufactured 'china', being more There were flourishing pottery humble, but they often aped it. There centres in Halifax, Midhope, Simon is a delightful dish in Manchester City Potorens, nr Wakefield and Yearsley. The authors version of an original trailed dish Art Gallery that is a slip-decorated A visitor to the village of Potorens in dated 1760. PENNINE MAGAZINE GETTING THINGS DONE 25 peasant origins. English slipware has always been a vehicle for funny rhymes and homespun philosophy such as this, inscribed on a jug of 1770: "No art with potters Can compare We make our pots Of what we potters are" Slipware potters have always liked to poke gentle fun at people in such things as 'We three fools' dishes and puzzle jugs, which had holes cut below the rim and were impossible to pour or drink from unless you knew the secret: "This jug was made to test your skill Drink if you can and do not spill" Another essential feature of slipware is its transparent shiny glaze. The brilliant reflections on the surface of each pot compensates for any absence of vivid colour in the decoration, but it is the very shine itself that gives to slipware its alluring qualities, and although the colours are not bright they are the warm and homely earth colours of gold and green and brown that sit so well on cottage mantel pieces and wooden dressers. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Trailed 'Moon' dish. Trailing is a technique much like cake icing. The pot is coated with slip and, while still wet, the design is applied in contrasting coloured slips from rubber trailing bulbs with fine nozzles. slipware gradually declined until only Mistakes cannot be rectified so trailed designs are vigorous and direct. the big country pots remained. George Curtis, of Soil Hill, Halifax, was one of the last big ware potters in England and a film made to record his skills shows him crushing a plastic flower pot in his hands with great con- tempt. Handmade pottery all but died out in England until Bernard Leach so vigorously reintroduced it, and any- one who feels and appreciates the spirit of the maker in a handmade pot will be grateful to him for the revival. Although during his era slipware car- ried something of a stigma and wasn't often made, Bernard Leach himself liked slipware and actually taught it to the Japanese potters, but he felt that it was unsuitable for domestic ware. Times and techniques change, though, and slipware seems about to have a revival. Technically it has improved considerably since the old days and modern slipware is fine and durable enough to compete with domestic stoneware. It is gratifying to see an increasing interest paid to it by ceramic magazines and exhibition organisers as well as the buying public. More young potters are find- ing their 'roots' in slipware and it is my hope that the sight of it will evoke folk Warner memories in many people and encourage its production, so that we Simon will have much more of what is, after Square dish with sqrafito design adapted from an 18th Century harvest jug. For Sqrafito the coating of all, our own, traditional English Slip- white slip is allowed to dry and then the design is scratched through to reveal the red clay underneath. It ware. ■ is a more laborious method but allows much greater subtlety of design. PENNINE MAGAZINE .

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