HER 13306 - THE FARNHAM POTTERY

Pottery. Established by Absalom Harris in 1873, the north eastern range earliest, and the buildings expanding piecemeal in 1890s and up to 1930s with some later 20th century modifications. Built of brick with pantiled roof, all materials produced on the premises. Two storeys; irregular fenestration, mainly casements. North east front has wide left side hipped roof with 20th century extension. To the right are three gables with mainly casement windows and cambered entrance with plank door. South west front has gabled portion of two bays to left with two wooden casements and external brick chimneystack, central hipped roof part of five bays with roof now covered in corrugated iron with wooden casements to first floor and ground floor having sexfoil window of moulded bricks and right side part with half-hipped roof with central round-headed window with terracotta voussoirs. INTERIOR: Glazing room decorated with late 19th century tiles produced by the pottery. Drying and storage rooms have poles with holes for shelving and tiled floors. Throwing area has shelving. Pugmill Room no longer has the original steam engine which was removed to the steam museum at Hollycombe near Liphook but retains the claypit and pugmill machine on larch supports. The blunger loft (which mixed clay into liquid slip) on the first floor retains original 19th century wooden roof and there is a further drying area on slats in the attic. A slave wheel for turning large items survives and a potter's wheel probably of c1916. Two former kilns in this building are no longer extant. Originally the Farnham Pottery produced objects for domestic and horticultural uses as well as bricks and tiles. In the 1880s, the pottery began producing green-glazed wares, first for collectors, but after about 1890, at the bidding of W H Allen of the Farnham School of Art, a wider range of art wares was produced and marketed through stores such as Liberty's. Moulded and pressed work was also produced. Among the clients was Gertrude jekyll. This pottery is thought to be the finest remaining example of a Victorian "country" pottery left in England and is a great rarity in the south of England. [RCHME Interim Report on Farnham Pottery. 1999.] Listing NGR: SU8252044636

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