Most weeks we hold a valuation day somewhere in the region and last Monday we were in Cawthorne a pretty village near Barnsley. It was a busy day which we held in conjunction with Canon Keith Farrow to raise money for the Church roof repair fund. 

One of the exciting things is that you never know what people are going to bring along. We had all sorts of items brought in from pocket watches, pictures, African artefacts, silverware and my favourite Rockingham porcelain. So this week I thought I would tell you about this wonderful South Yorkshire ceramic factory.

South Yorkshire as many of you will know also had several ceramic factories the most well known being Rockingham which was located in Swinton near Rotherham. Examples of Rockingham can be seen at Windsor Castle and the famous Rhinoceros vase in the Victoria and Albert museum in London with its pair on display at the Clifton Park museum in Rotherham.

The pottery dates back to 1745 when Edward Butler set up the Rockingham China works on the estate of the Earl of Fitzwilliam who was an indirect descendant of the Marquesses of Rockingham who were the major landowners in the area and whose stately home was Wentworth Woodhouse. At first the factory produced domestic wares but after the factory passed to new owners the Brameld family in 1778 they started to produce better quality wares. The factory was barely profitable and with the financial support of the Earl the Bramelds started to experiment with fine porcelains. The Earl was impressed by the potential of these new products and even allowed his family crest to be used by the company. It was not until 1826 that it assumed the name Rockingham and it only continued to operate until 1842. Rockingham porcelain is light in weight and was often eclectic in style often in the extravagant Rococo style that was popular at the time.  

Production of fine porcelain services and ornamental wares were very popular which through the Earl’s connections were brought by many of aristocratic families and they even received orders from Royalty and received a Royal warrant in 1831. Rockingham porcelain was produced in two distinct periods. 1826-1830 the so called red mark period and the later 1831-1842 puce mark period. Porcelain products included tea and coffee service, dessert services, baskets, scent bottles, animals, plates, figurines to name a just a few. Many of the more elaborate pieces feature hand painted local landscape scenes, flowers and botanical specimens. The earlier examples tend to be the most extravagant and decorative depicting the fashion at the time and later becoming slightly plainer as was the taste in the early Victorian period.

So if you have any Rockingham or other items you would like to know more about do come along to one of our valuation days or we carry out valuation at the sale room every weekday 10am-4pm and no appointment is needed.