Nantgarw China Works facts for kids
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The Nantgarw China Works was a famous factory that made porcelain, and later other types of pottery. It was located in Nantgarw, a village in Wales, about 8 miles north of Cardiff. The factory was known for making very high-quality porcelain, especially between 1813-1814 and 1817-1820.
The porcelain made at Nantgarw was super white and almost see-through. It was often decorated with colorful designs, usually after it left the factory. These items were quite expensive and mostly sold through dealers in London. Plates were the most common things made. They often featured garlands of flowers, which was a special design of the factory's founder, William Billingsley.
Nantgarw was one of the last factories in England to make soft-paste porcelain. Other factories had already switched to bone china, which was easier to make.
The factory's history is a bit complicated. The first recipe for the porcelain, used in 1813-14, made beautiful pieces. However, many of them would get ruined during firing, meaning they would bend or break. This recipe was also used at another factory in Swansea, so sometimes it's hard to tell pieces from the two places apart. After some experiments, the original recipe was used again from 1817-1820.
After the 1820s, the factory stopped making porcelain and closed for a while. It reopened in 1833, making things like earthenware and stoneware, as well as clay pipes. The factory finally closed in 1920 because cigarettes became more popular than pipes. Today, the site is a museum and still a working pottery! In 2017, they even made a small amount of porcelain using the original recipe.
Contents
History of Nantgarw Pottery
Starting the Pottery in Wales
The Nantgarw China Works began in November 1813. An artist and potter named William Billingsley and his son-in-law, Samuel Walker, rented a place called "Nantgarw House." They built kilns and other equipment in the grounds to turn it into a small porcelain factory. The location was great because it was next to the Glamorganshire Canal. This meant heavy materials like china clay could easily arrive, and delicate porcelain could be shipped out.
Billingsley had helped create a porcelain recipe for another factory, Royal Worcester. He and Walker had promised not to share their new recipe with others. But they could use it themselves! They secretly left Worcester and started their own factory at Nantgarw with only £250.
By January 1814, a businessman named William Weston Young became the main investor. He put £630 into the factory. Young likely knew Billingsley through a friend. Young's work as a surveyor probably helped him suggest Nantgarw as a good spot for the factory.
Making the Special Porcelain
Billingsley wanted to make a soft paste porcelain using his secret recipe. This recipe involved bones, burnt and mixed with clay. A local miller ground these ingredients. The problem was that the high heat needed to make perfect pieces often ruined them. Most of the porcelain would warp or shatter during firing.
Soon, Billingsley, Walker, and Young ran out of money. They asked the British government for a grant, like the one the famous Sèvres Porcelain Factory received in France. They didn't get the money, but a porcelain fan named Sir Joseph Banks suggested his friend, Lewis Weston Dillwyn, inspect the factory.
Working with Swansea Pottery
Dillwyn visited and saw that 90% of the porcelain was ruined during firing. But he was so impressed with the few perfect pieces that he invited Billingsley and Walker to use his factory, the Cambrian Pottery in Swansea. They moved there in late 1814 to try and make their recipe better.
They did improve the recipe, but it was still too wasteful. Dillwyn gave up on the project in 1817, and Billingsley and Walker returned to Nantgarw.
The Pottery Changes Hands
In the second period of making porcelain at Nantgarw, Young invested even more money. Billingsley and Walker continued to fire their porcelain, which was now of the best quality. But they were still losing money. One day in April 1820, while Young was away, Billingsley and Walker left for another factory in Coalport. They left behind the factory lease and thousands of unfinished porcelain pieces.
Young then put the Nantgarw Pottery up for sale in October 1820. He bought out his partners and became the only owner. He asked his friend, Thomas Pardoe, to help finish and decorate the leftover porcelain. Young and Pardoe tried to perfect a glaze for the unfinished pieces, but they couldn't make new porcelain because they didn't have Billingsley's secret recipe.
The last sales of the finished porcelain happened between 1821 and 1822. The money paid Pardoe and his team, but it didn't cover all of Young's losses. Many pieces were sold plain, without decoration, to be decorated in London by other artists.
Some Nantgarw porcelain pieces have "NANTGARW" pressed into them, sometimes with "C.W." (for China Works) underneath. You might also see "NANTGARW" written in red on some of the fancier items.
Later Years and New Products
In 1833, William Henry Pardoe, Thomas Pardoe's son, took over the empty Nantgarw Pottery. He started making stoneware bottles and brown glazed earthenware called Rockingham ware. He also made clay tobacco pipes, sending many to Ireland. The business stayed in the Pardoe family and, at its busiest, made about 10,000 pipes a week. It closed in 1920 when people started using cigarettes more.
Where to See Nantgarw Porcelain
You can see collections of these historic porcelain items in museums. These include the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, the Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw in Llanbedrog, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Nantgarw China Works Museum
In 1989, the local council bought the old, partly ruined factory site. After digging up and restoring the kilns and buildings, the site opened to the public two years later as the Nantgarw China Works and Museum.
The museum closed for a short time in 2008 due to money cuts. But it reopened in November 2010 with the help of two artists. Today, the museum is used for artists' studios, art shows, classes, and special events. The Welsh government is also finishing the restoration of the old kilns.
