THE BROADSTONE POTTERS (1928 -1934)

The article in our Spring Newsletter under this heading aimed to discover a local collector of Joyous pottery who would be prepared to mount a local exhibition of their collection. We have been successful in the first part, but unfortunately we have failed to find somewhere offering adequate space or security to satisfy our collector's reasonable demands.

Our loss was Poole's gain, and from 23rd June until mid September an exhibition of Broadstone pottery can be seen at Poole Central Library in the Dolphin Centre.

Its organiser, Gary Rook, writes...

The pottery was founded by Lancelot Shadwell and Mary Longbottom. It started in 1926 in Bournemouth and they originated a striking design known as JOYOUS that they had Trade Mark protected. Demand for Joyous pottery must have been such that by 1928 they needed larger premises and they purchased land at Darby's Corner, Broadstone from George Weldon. His house and abattoir were their only neighbour. Two dwellings and a pottery works were constructed and initially the pottery prospered and expanded rapidly, but the recession of 1929 must have seen the start of a downturn from which they were never to recover and eventually they closed in 1934. In 1936 the pottery was resold and opened briefly as the Iris Pottery, but this soon ceased trading and in 1938 the pottery premises were converted for the manufacture of clothing.

The design most associated with The Broadstone Potters is 'Joyous' - this was hand thrown and hand decorated in vibrant colours that must have reflected the gay and exciting times of the late 1920's. It comprised a collar of multi-coloured amorphic shapes around the shoulder or neck of the pot, the main body of which would be enamelled in a single bright colour, typically bright blue, uranium orange or green. There were other more ornate designs such as Tavern and Canford, but these are less commonly found due to the greater expense involved in their production thereby necessitating a higher retail price. The Broadstone designs are considered to be Art Deco in style and this makes them highly sought after by today's collectors. In the early 1950's the pottery building and one of the private dwellings was swallowed up by the Waterloo development, but Candlestick Cottage still remains at 29 Lower Blandford Road. The entrance to the pottery ran along the right hand edge of its present boundary. An exhibition of Broadstone pottery can be seen at Poole Central Library in the Dolphin Centre until mid September. Its organiser, Gary Rook (01202 659094) would welcome information from anyone with personal or family connection with the pottery.

Archive Summer 2005 | next

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