Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 15 November 1929
Vanished History.
The “Bristol” Boom
A Tale of Two Centuries.
The last link with one of the oldest industries in Mexborough and district has been severed with the closing down and dismantling of Kilnhurst Pottery, the oldest pottery in South Yorkshire.
For 103 years the manufacture of earthenware was carried on then without interruption. Time was when the works employed 70 or 80 hands, but with changing conditions of manufacture, increased competition and the effects of the war, it was gradually “frozen out,” and on August 5th of this year, closed its gates.. Liquidation followed, and last Thursday the plant was dismantled and sold.
The Last Survivor.
Established in 1746, the pottery has outlived contemporary works at Swinton and Mexborough, and its closing down is to be regretted. At one time pottery manufacture was the staple industry of the district. Kilnhurst grown up around its pottery, and it is probable that its name is derived from association with pottery kilns. At any rate, it is declared locally that pottery made Kilnhurst and the township took its name from a one-time pottery owned by a Hurst or Hirst.
History of The Pottery
It is not certain, but probable, that William Malpas, who at Swinton Old Pottery in 1765. started the Kilnhurst works and William Hawley, who heId at the time the Rawmarsh Top Pottery, assumed control about 1800.
It is known that in 1818 Turner and Hawley were the owners, and then George Green, who was one of the partners in the Leeds Old Pottery.
The ground landlord was Mr. Shore, and it is recorded that on April 28th. 1832, the works were purchased, subject to the tenancy being accepted by the landlord, Brameld and Co., of the Rockingham Works. However, it is uncertain that the transaction was completed, as it is found that George Green held the works in 1838. In 1833 the works passed into the hands of Joseph Twigg and Brothers, who worked it jointly with the Newhill Pottery at Wath-on-Dearne. Joseph Twigg and his sons, Joseph and John, were formerly working potters at Rockingham, but a third brother. Benjamin, was a joiner by trade.
In 1852, Benjamin Twigg died, and his brother Joseph having predeceased him, John Twigg became sole proprietor, until his death on June 21st, 1877. Little is known of the proprietors previous to John Twigg but to this day old inhabitants of Kilnhurst have stories to tell of that dominating old gentleman, who at one time owned a great part of Kilnhurst. Undoubtedly he was a keen business man, and our representative in gleaning facts about the works heard many a tale of business methods in the “old days.” Not that John Twigg was unscrupulous, but business acumen obtained much property for him in the district. He was a considerate master, it is stated, and good to the poor. Under his management the works, prospered. On his death the establishment was taken over by his son. Daniel, the sole survivor of five sons. Daniel carried on , the business until 1884, when it was purchased by William Simpson Hepworth. and his son-in-law, Bowman Heald. Daniel Twigg died on April 17th. 1892.
“Bristol ” Ware.
Mr. Bowman Heald became sole proprietor on the death of Mr. Hepworth on November 14th, and made considerable extensions. He introduced roller engraving machinery for his designs and Aisings rotary grinding cylinders for glaze and other materials. The number of employees was at that time 70 or 80, men and women. The clay was obtained from Cornwall, and much use was made of the canal which runs alongside the pottery yard. White and ivory domestic earthenware, printed, painted, sponged, banded and mosaic were made, and; at one time a big business was done. The firm’s speciality was the production ; of mugs and jugs known as “Bristol” stoneware. These were beer mugs in gill, pint and quart measure, and they met with a ready sale owing mostly to the fact that ; they were “non-crazing,”—the glaze was guaranteed not to crack with age or heat. The mugs had a widespread sale. More than one million were sold between 1844; and 1907, and during the year 1902, over 40,000 were laid. This was the mainstay of the business, as nowhere else was such an excellent article produced, but with the cheapening of glass, the sale for “Bristol” ware fell off, and it is stated that when the manufacturers commenced putting handles on beer glasses, ” Bristol” ware lost what little hold it had. During the last few years the sale has been negligible.
Mr. Bowman Heald was formerly manager of the Rock Pottery, Mexborough, and it was on the closing of the Rock Pottery that he went to Kilnhurst. After Mr. Hepworth’s death the firm was still carried on under the name of Hepworth and Heald, but in 1924 it was formed into a limited company. Mr. Bowman Heald retired in April of last year, and the business was superintended by his son, Mr. William Heald, who still resides at Kilnhurst. Seen by our representative, Mr. Heald expressed regret that the company was unable to carry on. The war, he said, had crippled the industry, and the smaller works were not able to weather the storms which even the big manufacturers found difficulty in combating. Business had gradually slipped away; work could not be carried on in face of such difficulties, and the firm had to see cut its losses.
Scattered and Laid Waste.
There is much that is historic about the old pottery, and much of the original stonework is still there. Four out of five kilns were closed, and some of them were exceedingly old. The old bell, which used to summon the employees to work, was erected in 1885 by Mr. John Twigg, who obtained it from the Rockingham Pottery when it closed down. It is understood that the bell is to be retained by the ground landlord, Mr. Pope, of Halifax. The works clock, which, by the way, had not told the hour for 30 years, has been purchased by a Mexborough hairdresser for the sum of 7s 6d.
Quite a number of skilled potters have passed through the workshops, and many of the old employees still reside in the district, There are a number who have worked in the shops for thirty and forty years, and several who have passed half a century under its roof. James Lee, brother of Joseph Lee, who carried on a small pottery (now demolished) at Bridgegate, Rotherham, and built Northfield Pottery, was employed there and is regarded as a clever workman and modeller.
At one time there was another pottery at Kilnhurst, known as Kilnhurst Pottery, the site of which is near the railway station and close to the canal. This was owned in 1818 by Messrs. Hills.; in 1822 by Gibson and Co.; in 1833 by Septimus Frost; in 1838 by Robinson and Wood; in 1849 by Chas. Robinson, and in 1852 by Richard Bedford, who worked it with his son Richard until 1860, when it was closed. A square of houses known as Hick’s Square, now stands on the site, but in the locality it is better known as Pottery Yard.
Small white and coarse brown ware, chiefly panshions, bread pans, peggy tops (wash tubs) and milk utensils, were made from local clay.
Old Potters.
By an old potter in Kilnhurst our representative was informed that before extensive road and rail facilities made travel easy, the earthenware made at Kilnhurst used to be hawked round the countryside by pedlars. Those were days when the potter started in the early morning and finished late at night. Wages were poor and conditions not always of the best. Indeed until the war the employees worked 12 hours a day, starting at six in the morning. As with all other industries, however, there was a great improvement in hours and wages after the war, and in many cases wages were doubled.
“We are all sorry the old pottery has gone,” declared another old potter with 50 years’ service. “Many of us had fathers and grandparents who worked there, and the pottery became part of our lives. We knew that trade was bad, but we hoped that things would brighten, and when it was closed down we could hardly realise that we were never to work there again.
“I attended the sale and saw them pulling the old place apart, and it seemed like breaking up one’s home. Things were sold, or practically given away, that we highly valued, and I don’t suppose that the old place will be started again.’ He was right; little remains but the kilns. and if the pottery was to be re-established, it would be cheaper to pull the old brickwork down than reconditioned the present building