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| AUSTIN & SEELEY | Felix Austin
commenced making artificial stone in 1828 and established works in New Road, London.
Around 1840 he entered into partnership with John Seeley to produce their
"artificial limestone" collection of garden ornaments. The cold cast
composition stone comprised a mixture of Portland cement, broken stone,
pounded marble and coarse sand which was then cast in moulds.
Though their items were rarely stamped with the makers mark items by Austin and Seeley can often be identified by their quality which was recognised Queen Victoria, who can be included among their patrons. and was renowned for their quality of finishing. The firm of Austin & Seeley which produced a large range of urns, figures and fountains continued until at least 1872. |
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| BLANCHARD | Mark
Blanchard worked as an apprentice with the Coade company (see bellow) until around 1839
when he established his own works in London. In 1883 he moved his works to
Bishops Waltham so he could be nearer his source of clay.
Producing a range of terracotta garden ornaments his earlier items have a buff colour similar to Coadestone however by the end of the 19th century this had changed to strongly coloured terracotta being the current vogue of the Victorians. |
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| BLASHFIELD | John Marriott
Blashfield commenced his production of terracotta architectural items during
the early part of the 1840's from his works at Millwall, London and then in
1858 moved to Stanford in Lincolnshire to be nearer his source of clay.
Blashfield published a number of catalogues illustrating a wide range of garden ornaments (urns, pedestals, figures and fountains) as well as architectural fittings. Items by Blashfield are generally stamped with a makers mark but can also be recognised by their quality, crispness of detail and yellowish hue to the finished product. The works finally closed in 1875. |
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| BROMSGROVE | Walter
Gilbert established the Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Art in 1894. Based at
Bromsgove in Worcestershire the firm produced predominantly lead figures and
vases with some being available in a cement based artificial stone.
The firm which was famous for its fine quality of finish and detail as well as contemporary design continued throughout the main part of the 20th century finally closing in 1966 |
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| JOSEPH CLIFF | Joseph Cliff (1806-1879) the founder of a brick works at Wortley, North Lincs combinbed in 1890 with a number of other firms including Burmantoffs to form the Leeds Fireclay Company whose products were branded as Lefcoware. |
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| COADESTONE | At the end of
the 18th Century a breakthrough in the production of Garden
Statuary was made by Eleanor Coade with her invention of "Coade Stone" being
the first form of cast stone substitute. The recipe was a closely guarded secret but the essence of Coade Stone also referred to as Lithodpyrha, meaning "stone twice fired" consisted of Clay, grog (crushed stoneware) and flint which was heated to very high temperature and then crushed into fine particles and then mixed with sand and glass in solution to be cast in moulds and then once again fired at a high temperature (1100EC) for four days to give a very strong final product with intricate detail resistant to erosion by the elements. An advertising slogan described Coade Stone "The property which this artificial stone has above stone, of resisting frost, and consequently of retaining sharpness renders it peculiarly fit for statues in parks and gardens." During the latter part of the 18th And early part of the 19th centuries Coade Stone was used to produce items for the garden including urns, figures and fountains but was also a favourite of architects to embellish important buildings of the time such as Buckingham Palace. Often stamped with the makers mark Coade Stone can also be recognised by its matt finish and warm colour ranging from light pink through to yellow or beige. Coade stone is also noted for the skill of the craftsmen in producing items of sublime quality renowned for their intricacy and crispness of detail. Numbers of Coade Stone items produced from each mould was limited and as such surviving examples are very much sought after by collectors
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| COALBROOKDALE | Cast Iron was one of the first materials to become a product of the Industrial Revolution. In 1708 the first iron furnace was established at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire where initially industrial ironwork was produced. By 1834 the firm of Coalbrookdale had become the largest foundry in the country and had begun to produce decorative work including garden furniture and ornaments. Subsequently countless iron foundries have been established, more recently in the Far East and Eastern Europe, sometimes producing poor copies of Coalbrookadale designs, including any makers stamps However the original Coalbrookdale pieces can be identified for the quality of casting and attention to detail in finishing |
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| COMPTON POTTERY |
Mary Watts, wife to the famous painter
George F Watts, founded the Compton Pottery near Guildford, Surrey at the
end of the 19th Century as an amateur evening class to revive the
dying art of handicrafts and to teach young uneducated artisans skills.
Initially the pottery, using the distinctive local red clay, produced
decorative panels for a new chapel at Compton designed by Mary Watts and
completed in 1898. The standard of craftsmanship was so high that on
completion of the chapel her evening class was able turn professional and
they became known as the Compton Potters Art Guild. The garden pots and
ornaments with the designs incorporating a mixture of Celtic and Art Nouveau
styles were sold by, amongst others, Libertys of London. Mary Watts was born in 1849 and was brought up in the familys Highland castle, Aldourie in Invernesshire. She studied at the South Kensington Art Training School and at Slade’s new Fine-Arts School. She also received tuition in clay modelling from the French sculptor Aimee-Jules Dalou. Mary Watts designed terracotta sundials and garden ornaments which were made and sold by the Guild. They received many commissions, some from architects including Lutyens, Goodhart Rendel and Clough Williams-Ellis and won medals at the Chelsea Flower Show, the Royal Botanical Society and the Home Arts highest award, the gold cross. |
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| DOULTON | The original Doulton Pottery was established in Vauxhall in 1815 producing predominately salt glazed items for household and laboratory use. By the Great Exhibition in 1851 the firm had started to produce garden vases and figures which by the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century had become an extensive range of terracotta vases, statues and fountains. |
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| HANDYSIDE | Founded in 1818 on the bank of the river Derwent in Derbyshire initially known as the Britannia Ironworks the firm was taken over by a Scotsman, Andrew Handyside. The firm of Andrew Handyside and Co went on to specialise in the production of cast iron vases and fountains until it closed in 1911. |
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| PULHAM | James Pulham established the Pulham Company in 1820 but only started terracotta manufacturing from around 1846. By the middle part of the 1880s through to the early part of the 20th century the firm specialised in producing garden and landscape ornaments using their material known as Pulhamite which can be recognised for its beige/pink colouration. |
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| STIFF AND SON | James Stiff, a former employee of Doulton, took his sons into partnership in 1863 to produce a range of stoneware urns and plinths at their works at Lambeth in London. The clay body of items by J. Stiff & sons, though similar to Coade stone tends generally to be stamped with the makers mark and to be slightly yellower in colour |
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