North Devon Pottery and Its Export to America in the 17th Century Part 6

(2) Oven in place in Bowne House, Flus.h.i.+ng, Long Island. Similar in shape to Jamestown oven. Opening is arched.

(3) Body sherd and handle sherds at Jamestown, from additional oven or ovens.

(4) Body sherd from dome-top oven similar to those at Jamestown and Flus.h.i.+ng. John Howland House site, Rocky Nook, Kingston, Plymouth County, Ma.s.sachusetts. (Fig. 26.)

COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE

Paste color, temper, and texture are consistent when examined microscopically. Resemblance is very close between oven sherds from the Jamestown and Howland house sites, and between these and a large chip obtained from the Smithsonian's oven purchased in Bideford. Except for a somewhat lower proportion of temper, utensil sherds from various sites are consistent with the oven fragments. The Smithsonian's 19th-century Bideford pan also closely resembles these, except for the proportion of temper, which is somewhat less. Further close resemblance of form exists between the Jamestown and Flus.h.i.+ng ovens and those in the Bideford Museum.

(Figs. 7, 9.)

In 1954 comparative tests were made by Frederick H. Norton, professor of ceramics at Ma.s.sachusetts Inst.i.tute of Technology. Jamestown clay was used for a control. Thin sections, made of sherds found at Jamestown, were fired at several temperatures and the results recorded in photomicrographs. Of the gravel-tempered sherd submitted in these tests, Professor Norton commented, "The clay ma.s.s looks quite dissimilar from the Jamestown clay."

No other identifiable English ware of this period compares with the gravel-tempered pottery, the use of gravel for temper apparently being restricted to North Devon. Gravel is found in red earthenware sherds from Spanish colonial sites and in olive oil jars of Hispanic origin, but both the quality and proportion of temper differs, as do the paste characteristics, so that no possibility exists for confusion between them and the North Devon ware.

The North Devon potteries produced gravel-tempered ovens that probably were unique in England. Ceramic ovens were made elsewhere, to be sure; Jewitt describes and ill.u.s.trates an oven made in Yearsley by the Yorks.h.i.+re Wedgwoods in 1712, but it is in no way related to the North Devon form. We have mentioned Dr. Poc.o.c.ke's allusion to "earthenware ovens" made in the mid-18th century at Calstock on the Cornish side of the Devons.h.i.+re border, about 35 miles from Bideford; however, one may suppose that these were the products of diffusion from the North Devon center, if, indeed, they even resembled the North Devon ovens.

The closest comparisons with the North Devon ovens are to be found in Continental sources. A woodcut in Ulrich von Richental's _Concilium zu Constancz_ (fig. 35), printed at Augsburg in 1483, shows an oven whose shape is similar to that of the Jamestown specimen. The oven in the woodcut is mounted on a two-wheeled cart drawn by two men. A woman is removing a tart from the flame-licked opening while a couple sits nearby at a table in front of a shop. Le Moyne, a century later, depicted the Huguenot Fort Caroline in Florida.[71] Just outside the stockade, on a raised platform under a thatched lean-to appears an oven whose form is similar to that of typical North Devon examples (fig. 36). It is a safe a.s.sumption that the ovens in both Richental's and Le Moyne's scenes were ceramic ovens, for both were used outdoors in a portable or temporary manner. No other material would have been suitable for such use.

This portable usage gives support to Bailey's conjecture that the Jamestown oven may have been used indoors in the winter and outdoors in the summer. He noted that carbon had been ground into the base, as though the oven had lain on a fireplace hearth.[72] Sidney Strickland, writing about his excavation of the John Howland House site, noted that the stone fireplace foundation there had no provision for a built-in brick oven of conventional type.[73] Not having recognized the earthen oven sherd, he a.s.sumed that bread was baked on the stone hearth. The pottery oven may well have been placed on the hearth or have been set up in an outbuilding.

That ovens of some sort, whether ceramic or brick, were used away from houses is borne out by occasional doc.u.mentary evidence. In 1662 John Andrews of Ipswich, Ma.s.sachusetts, bequeathed a "bake house" worth 2 pounds, 10 s.h.i.+llings. In 1673, Henry Short of Newbury provided in his will that his widow should have "free egress and regress into the Bakehouse for bakeing & was.h.i.+ng." In 1679 the inventory of Lt. George Gardner's estate in Salem listed his "dwelling house, bake house & out housing."[74] Bailey quotes the records of Henrico County, Virginia, to show a similar usage in the South.[75]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 31.--Pedestal bases of small chafing dishes or standing salts. Top, exterior and interior of one sherd; bottom, exterior and top view of another sherd. Colonial National Historical Park. (_From Smithsonian photos 43039-C, 43030-D._)]

The only unquestionable evidence of how these ovens were used remains in the Bowne House, where the oven is built into the fireplace back.

Originally, the oven protruded outdoors from the back of the chimney.[76]

Conclusions

Archeological, doc.u.mentary, and literary evidences indicate that yellow sgraffito ware, gravel-tempered earthenware utensils, and gravel-tempered pottery ovens were made in several potteries in and around Barnstaple and Bideford in North Devon. Clay from the Fremington clay beds was used.

The North Devon potteries manufactured for export, sending their wares to Ireland as early as 1600 and to America by 1635. The trade was particularly heavy in the years following the Stuart Restoration and was tied to the influential 17th-century West-of-England commerce with America. New England, Maryland, and Virginia received many s.h.i.+pments of North Devon pottery, an entire cargo of it having been delivered in Boston in 1688.

Sgraffito ware found in colonial sites in Virginia and Maryland is from a common source. The style of decoration is unique to English pottery and reflects Continental elements of design. It is reminiscent of decoration found on English and colonial New England furniture and embroideries. The only counterparts of this ware--matching it in style, paste color, and technique--are found among 17th-century sherds excavated from the sites of two potteries in Barnstaple. The 18th-century and 19th-century North Devon sgraffito ware surviving above ground differs considerably in style and form but in other respects it is the same as the ware found archeologically in Virginia and Maryland. The stylistic differences, noticeable on a piece in the Glaisher collection dated as early as 1704 (in which traces of the earlier style remain), were introduced by the turn of the century, thus strengthening the conclusion that the sgraffito tablewares found archeologically in this country must date from before 1700.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 32.--Photomicrographs of gravel-tempered sherds enlarged twice natural size, showing cross-sectional fractures. Top left, pan sherd from Jamestown (Colonial National Historical Park); top right, pan sherd from Angelica Knoll site, Calvert County, Maryland (United States National Museum); and oven sherd from Bideford (United States National Museum).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 33.--Photomicrographs of gravel-tempered sherds enlarged three times natural size, showing cross-sectional fractures. Top, pan sherd from "R. M." site, Plymouth, Ma.s.sachusetts (Plimoth Plantation, Inc.); lower left, oven sherd from Jamestown (Colonial National Historical Park); and oven sherd from John Howland house site, Rocky Nook, Plymouth, Ma.s.sachusetts (Plimoth Plantation, Inc.).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 34.--Rim profiles of North Devon gravel-tempered earthenware pans. All are from the fill around and beneath the May-Hartwell site drain at Jamestown (constructed between 1689 and 1695) except those marked, as follows: _A_, from Angelica Knoll site, Calvert County, Maryland, late 17th century to about 1765; _B_, from John Was.h.i.+ngton House site, Westmoreland County, Virginia, the period from about 1664 to about 1680; _C_, from "R. M." site, Plymouth, Ma.s.sachusetts, about 1670; _D_, from site of George Was.h.i.+ngton's birthplace, near the John Was.h.i.+ngton house site; _E_, from Winslow site, Marshfield, Ma.s.sachusetts, which was occupied from about 1635 to about 1699.]

For kitchen utensils, tiles, and other objects subject to heat or breakage, the same Fremington clay received an admixture of fine pebbles, or gravel, secured at a special place in the bed of the River Torridge in Bideford. The use of gravel was described by 18th-century writers as well as by later historians. As found in America, the gravel-tempered ware apparently is unique among the products of either English or colonial American potters.

A specialty of the North Devon potteries was the manufacture of ovens made of the same gravel-tempered clay as the kitchen utensils. The appearance of these ovens and the method of making them remained virtually the same from the 17th through the 19th centuries. At Jamestown, a wholly reconstructed oven reveals typical North Devon traits throughout, while a fragment of an oven from the John Howland House site near Plymouth displays, under a microscope, the same qualities of paste and temper as in a fragment of an oven obtained in Bideford by the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution.

Sherds of gravel-tempered utensils from several American sites also match the oven fragments. Paste characteristics, exclusive of the temper, are the same in the sgraffito ware, the gravel-tempered ware, and the ovens.

Furthermore, the gravel-tempered ware occasionally is found with a plain coating of slip, which, under the glaze, has the same yellow color as the sgraffito ware, while an undecorated variant of the sgraffito ware also occurs with a similar plain slip.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 35.--Baker's portable oven in a woodcut from Ulrich von Richenthal's _Concilium zu Constancz_, printed at Augsburg, Germany, in 1483. Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 36.--Detail from De Bry's engraving of Le Moyne's painting of Fort Caroline, depicting an oven on a raised platform under a crude shed. Fort Caroline was a French Hugenot settlement established in Florida in 1564. Rare Book Room, Library of Congress.]

All these wares, including the ovens, are interrelated--the specimens found in America having been s.h.i.+pped in a busy North Devon-North American trade. The North Devon towns, moreover, were an important pottery-making center for export markets in the West of England, Ireland, and North America. Thousands of parcels of earthenware were s.h.i.+pped to the American colonies from Bideford and Barnstaple during the 17th century. Any doubts that ovens were among these overseas s.h.i.+pments are dispelled by the knowledge that they continually were being s.h.i.+pped in the English coastwise trade, and also by intrinsic and comparative evidence that oven sherds found on American sites are of North Devon origin.

The only known counterparts of the North Devon ovens are Continental. A 15th-century example appears in an Augsburg woodcut, and a 16th-century specimen is depicted in De Bry's engraving after Le Moyne's painting of Fort Caroline, the Huguenot settlement in Florida. There are many suggestions of Huguenot and Low Country influences on North Devon pottery.

Bideford and Barnstaple both were Puritan strongholds in the 17th century, and both became French Huguenot centers, especially after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

The style of sgraffito decoration changed radically after about 1700.

After that date, decoration was confined mainly to harvest jugs and presentation pieces. Gravel-tempered utensils and ovens continued to be made, but the North Devon trade with America ceased by 1760.

Archeological evidence indicates that gravel-tempered ware was used in America between about 1675 and about 1760. An isolated example of sgraffito pottery, distinguished by crude design and glaze, dates from before 1640. The typical sgraffito ware is ill.u.s.trated by specimens found in the fill under and around the brick drain in the May-Hartwell site at Jamestown. This ware dates between 1677 and 1695. No other sites provide a more certain dating than this. Sgraffito ware found at Bridge's Creek, Virginia (John Was.h.i.+ngton house site), may date as early as 1664, but may be as late as 1677 or a few years thereafter.

The May-Hartwell oven was also found in the drain fill, so presumably it also was used before 1695. The oven fragment from the site of the John Howland house dates between about 1630 and about 1675, the lifetime of the house. The oven in the Bowne House is no earlier than 1664, the date of construction.

Typical sgraffito ware, therefore, dates from 1664 to 1695, plus or minus a few years. Gravel-tempered ware predominates in the same period, but extends well into the 18th century, probably to about 1760. Ovens date from between 1664 and 1695. The concentrations of wares within the limits of the May-Hartwell drain site correspond roughly with records of heavy s.h.i.+pments of the wares between 1681 and 1690. The earliest s.h.i.+pment recorded was to New England in 1635.

The sgraffito ware probably served as much for decoration as for practical use. Each piece was decorated differently, with elaborate designs, and in such a manner that it could provide a colorful effect on a court cupboard or a dresser, matching in style the carved woodwork or crewel embroidery of late 17th-century furnis.h.i.+ngs. Although sgraffito ware represented a degree of richness and dramatic color, it did not match the elegance of contemporary majolica, decorated after the manner of Chinese porcelain.

Heavy and coa.r.s.e, the sgraffito ware essentially was a variant of English folk pottery, reflecting the less sophisticated tastes of rural West of England. It did not occur in the colonies after 1700, by which time it was supplanted in public taste by the more refined majolica.

Gravel-tempered ware apparently was esteemed as a kitchen ware, much as is the modern "ovenware" or Pyrex in the contemporary home. Since gravel-tempered ovens were widely used in the West of England, they were accepted by settlers in America, especially where built-in brick ovens were lacking.

Unlike those of Staffords.h.i.+re or Bristol, the North Devon potteries failed to develop new techniques or to change with s.h.i.+fts in taste. The delftware of London and Bristol and the yellow wares of Bristol and Staffords.h.i.+re became preferable to the soft and imperfect sgraffito ware. In the same way, the kitchen ware of Staffords.h.i.+re and the adequate red-wares of American potters made obsolete the heavy, ugly, and incomparably crude gravel-tempered ware, while American bricklayers, having adopted the custom of building brick ovens into fireplaces, outmoded the portable ovens from North Devon after 1700. Any chance of a renaissance of North Devon's potteries was killed by the blockading of its ports in the mid-18th century. From then on the potteries continued traditionally, their markets gradually shrinking at home in the face of modern production elsewhere. Today, only Brannan's Litchdon Street Pottery in Barnstaple has survived.

OTHER REFERENCES CONSULTED

BEMROSE, GEOFFREY, _Nineteenth-Century English Pottery and Porcelain_, New York, n.d. (about 1952).

BLACKER, J. F., _Nineteenth-Century English Ceramic Art_, London, 1911.

CHAFFERS, WILLIAM, _Marks and Monograms on Pottery and Porcelain_, 14th issue, London, 1932.

GRIBBLE, JOSEPH B., _Memorials of Barnstaple_, Barnstaple, 1830.

HAGGAR, REGINALD, _English Country Pottery_, London, 1950.

HONEY, W. B., _European Ceramic Art from the end of the Middle Ages to about 1815_, London, n.d. (about 1952).