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In 1949 Britain was still struggling in the aftermath of the Second World War. The lights were on again, it is true, but there were many things to darken people's thoughts.

The economy staggered under a huge dollar deficit; the pound was devalued. We still walked around in utility clothing and our fresh meat ration was down to 10d. a week! Business enterprise was still subject to masses of restrictions and controls.

Not a very auspicious time to start a Pottery! But that is just what the Rawson Brothers did in Hornsea. The elder, Desmond had emerged from wartime service in the Army with his right hand shattered at Anzio, and Colin had just completed his National Service with the R.A.F.

They were living in an old terrace house, No. 4 Victoria Avenue, Hornsea, near the sea front. Desmond was married and had four small daughters. They had very little capital and no experience.

They started by buying a kiln. a tiny second hand affair, with a firing capacity of only one cubic foot and it took the bulk of their savings to pay for it. They cleared out the indoor coal store at the back to put it in, and Desmond recalls that when they fired it the butter melted in the adjoining pantry!

The wash-house was converted to a work room, and they set out mixing clay into a liquid by hand in a bucket to fill moulds of little Toby Jugs that Colin had modelled, while Desmond obtained and delivered orders in an old 'banger' of a car.

This was also used on numerous visits to Stoke-on-Trent where they learned much by visiting other Potteries and by chatting to old, experienced potters in pubs.

It was all work, day and night but the products sold and soon they had to take on extra help, and two years later, in 1951, they moved into bigger premises at the Old Hall, the big house in the Market Place.

The first real developments took place here, and expansion was rapid, so that by 1954 more space was needed and they moved to the present site.

This land and the buildings on it had an interesting history too.

In the middle of the 1800's they formed part of a Brick and Tile Works, and an interesting product of these times was a patented tile which had flanges both on the front and the back so that successive layers were closely interlocked. Examples of these and the bricks that were also made then, were used to build the two pigeon cotes now to be seen close to the aviaries.

The clay for these products was dug from a deep pit and was hauled up to the works level in tubs drawn up a long ramp by a huge five-sailed windmill which was a landmark for many miles around.

The pit filled with water long ago and now forms a very pleasant ornamental lake.

In 1954 when Desmond and Colin took over, these same buildings were being used as a piggery! They still dislike being reminded of the cleaning up that had to be done before they could move in and set up their kilns!

Today, less than 20 years later, these same buildings form part of an enterprise employing about 250 people and producing over 3,000,000 pots per year - pots that are sold all over the world - pots that have all been accepted by the Council of Industrial Design for inclusion in Design Index.

In the early days on the site it was, of course, still very much a struggle for existence. The brothers were making "fancies", that is, vases, posy bowls, ashtrays, condiment sets - a variety of articles that they sold to Gift Shops all over the country. The changeover to Dinner and Tea ware was not made until 1968.

However, right from the very start they insisted on being original and employing decorative techniques that they could tackle because of their small size and individual control - techniques that their bigger competitors would find difficult to copy.

This striving for individuality coupled with quality of product and a continual effort to streamline production and keep prices down has been characteristic of their methods through the years. Today's success proves the worth of this effort.

It was very soon discovered that people loved to see pottery made, to watch the craftsmen at work, to learn something of the intricacies of this age-old craft. At first it was relatives and friends from Cleckheaton in the West Riding where the boys had been brought up, but soon the word spread around that a welcome was waiting at the little Pottery, and people started to come from all over the country.

Among those who joined the brothers in the early days - at Victoria Avenue in fact - were Philip and Enith Clappison, and when the move to the Brickworks was made they bought the house attached and they took over the job of guiding the visitors around the Factory, explaining the various processes and doing whatever they could to make their visit pleasant.

Out of this small beginning and out of the warmth they instilled into their welcome has grown the other side of this success story, with more than 350,000 visitors a year now coming to "see how it's made".

Today the tour takes about 30 minutes and in the peak period of the holiday season up to 15 guides are continually employed conducting parties through the Factory.

Every effort is made to take as many people around as possible, but because so many more come during the period of the School holidays and particularly in the afternoons, it is quite impossible to satisfy all who wish to make the tour.

Of course, many other amenities are available and to most people these alone are sufficient to make the visit well worth while.

The main entrance to the Factory is on the Rolston Road, the main road running south from Hornsea to Aldbrough and Withernsea, and the driveway dips down past pleasant lawns and shrubberies to the big free Car Park adjacent to the Garden Centre.

Garden Centre

The largest Centre of its kind in the East Riding, its central covered selling area is a huge glasshouse 100 ft. long. Arranged in here are a whole host of gardeners' tools and sundries of many different types and makes. Under the glass canopy that runs along the front is a big display of basketware and rustic garden furniture in many different sizes and woods.

A specialist selection of Cacti and Succulents, the most comprehensive for very many miles, occupies one end of this glasshouse. The rows of curiously shaped plants, from tiny thumbnail sized Lithops from the stony deserts of South Africa to giant 4 ft. high Cereus from the Americas are backed up by the vivid colours of big displays of pot plants that share this space with them.

A wide variety of other goods including a fine selection of dried flowers, grasses and other equipment for Floral Artists are also on sale at this light and pleasant shop.

Outside are numerous raised beds of trees, shrubs and plants in containers, and wheeled trolleys are at hand so that customers may easily carry their purchases to the cash point and to their cars.

Alpines, Heathers and Roses are being developed as specialities, and all the shrubs are "containerised" to ensure easy and successful planting. This method of preparing them for sale has been developed in recent years and has revolutionised the business. They are all sold in black plastic containers, their roots well established in a special compost containing a carefully selected blend of slow-release fertilizers. Placed in a hole in the ground and the plastic container cut away, it is easy not to disturb the root systems and all that is necessary then is to ensure that the plant is well watered until the roots have established themselves in the surrounding soil.

Thanks to this method it is now possible to plant trees and shrubs at any time of the year, indeed Roses can be bought and planted whilst in bloom.

Lake

Just beyond the Garden Centre the path divides; turn to the right and you will walk down a short hill through a pleasantly wooded area to the Lake. There are seats here under the high willows and in a shelter by the path and on a hot day in summer lots of people, especially the not-so-young, find this a pleasant place to sit and watch the passing parade of visitors.

At the bottom of the path a platform projects out over the Lake edge and provides an excellent viewing point for watching the ducks in the sun-dappled water and the shoals of fish that circle endlessly around in the hope of a few breadcrumbs, not to mention the big Perch that swim past every now and then scattering the little Roach by their very presence.

Picnic Area

The other pathway to the left passes through a Tree Walk south of the Factory, and on the opposite side you will see an area of about seven acres laid out with grass and trees to form a pleasant place for those who wish to picnic.

Quite close to the car park so that Father doesn't have to carry those picnic cases too far, on any nice day you can see lots of family groups relaxing and enjoying a quiet picnic or just having a bit of a rest in the sunshine while the children expend some of their seemingly endless energy clambering up and down the sets of climbing bars or exploring the possibilities of the helterskelter and the roundabout all of which are free.

There are two areas set aside for electric kiddie-cars too, one, for under-fives and the other for the older children, though a small charge is made for these.

Cafe

Nearby, a paved concourse dotted with tables and gay umbrellas provides a pleasant place for an alfresco meal when the sun shines. The Cafe which borders one side of this area has seating accommodation for 230, and has a very good range of refreshments at reasonable prices. The specialities of the house are its excellent Coffee and "Goliath" sandwiches.

On the opposite side past the rockeries, the fountain and the goldfish pool. there are kiosks selling fresh fruit and packaged refreshments, ices, sweets, etc., and vending machines purveying hot and cold drinks. So provision is made for all tastes and all purses.

Aviaries etc

Also just here are the Aviaries with flights of strange and beautifully coloured birds, and the Monkey Houses with their gymnastic occupants always ready to put on a display of their amazing agility to appreciative spectators.

Rabbits, squirrels, guinea pigs, and a goat help to make up a Pets Corner to intrigue any child - and many an adult too.

"Seconds" Shops

However, the most popular features of this area are the two big "serve-yourself' shops of Hornsea Pottery selected "seconds".

The articles sold here are those which, at the final check point in the Factory, do not quite come up to the very high standards set for the first quality goods we export or send to our retail customers throughout this country.

Articles having bad or very obvious faults are smashed at once, but there are a percentage that have slight faults, frequently very difficult for the untrained eye to spot and these are displayed in quantity on long island stands. Baskets are provided and visitors are free to pick and choose at random and select their own bargains without the frustration of sales staff standing over them.

Prices are kept at extremely reasonable levels and most people seem to be able to find a souvenir of their visit or the presents they require to take home. "Excellent value for money" is the general verdict.

As all these amenities are available throughout the year quite a few people manage to come in the spring or autumn when there are fewer visitors around and it is easier to make careful selections. The Visits Organiser is happy to make special arrangements for coach parties during these periods, if advised beforehand.

Factory Tours

Nearby the shops a Factory Tour office sells tickets for the tour, and calls the parties together through a public address system as the guides become available.

Let us join such a tour and see how the grey, shapeless clay is converted into the colourful pots we have just seen in the shops.

Sliphouse

Firstly we are taken into the Sliphouse. This is where the various clays and other materials are mixed together to form the "body" that is used to make the pottery.

Information on these raw materials has been included in an Appendix at the end as has a Factory Flow Diagram which also bears references to the illustrations. For this brief account of the Factory Tour, however, it will suffice to say that several different raw materials are used and that here they are most carefully blended together and cleansed of any impurities. and that the resultant clay is then prepared for use in two forms-a plastic clay suitable for the making machines, and a creamy liquid or "slip" that is used to cast articles in moulds.

Casting

This slip is pumped directly from the Sliphouse to the benches of the Casting Department. The articles made here are those which require two or more parts to the moulds or which, because of their shape, cannot be made mechanically.

Tea Pots, Coffee Pots, Vinegar Jars, Oblong Butter Dishes and Lids are a few of the pieces that you will see being made here.

The method used is to fill a Plaster of Paris mould with the clay slip and let it stand for about twenty minutes. In that time some of the water in the slip will have been absorbed by the plaster and a layer of solid clay will have been laid down on the inside surface of the mould, and then the surplus slip (which has remained fluid) can be tipped out. After a while this layer of clay, which forms

the article we require, will have hardened off enough for it to be handled gently, also as it has dried it will have shrunk very slightly and so can now be removed from the mould. The mould can then be filled again.

Jolleying

The mechanical method of making our pots is called "jolleying", the machine being a "jolley". Two main types are used on the Factory - those that make holloware, Cups, Mugs, Soup Bowls etc., and those that make flatware.

A Plate is made upside down on a plaster mould which is placed on a circular table that rotates carrying it through four positions. At the first stop a piece of clay cut to the right size and shape is automatically placed on top of it at the next a heated, shaped, steel disc comes down and as both the mould and the disc rotate the clay is spread over the face of the mould and the disc forms the back and the foot of the Plate. At the last position the operative takes the mould with its soft clay Plate and puts it into a large dryer. This jolleying machine is capable of making 720 articles per hour.

The dryers used in this department take several forms but basically consist of a series of long trays on which the moulds are placed. These trays are on conveyor belts and are carried through a heated chamber where the moulds and the ware are partially dried. On their return to a position near the machine operator they are emptied of the nearly dried ware and the moulds go on to be filled again in their turn.

The machines making holloware are somewhat different in that the plaster moulds make the outside of the articles and the machine tool the inside.

The larger articles such as Storage Jars, Vegetable Dishes and Soup Bowls are made on another automatic machine. At the time of writing, the production flow through the Factory is in process of re-organisation and while it is hoped to include this jolley on the visitors' route it is not certain that this will be possible.

In the case of the smaller holloware articles such as Mugs and Cups, a semi-automatic machine is used and this has two metal cups or "heads" rotating on vertical shafts into which the moulds fit tightly. A lump of clay is placed in the mould by the operator and the mould placed in the head.

As it rotates a metal tool on an arm comes down inside and forms the inside of the pot. The surplus that squeezes over the top is scrapped off by a wire

cutter. The two heads and arms work alternately so that one operator can keep both supplied and place the filled moulds into a dryer. About 600 per hour can be produced this way.

Handles for Cups and Mugs are produced separately by casting a dozen at a time in big round moulds. Then they are trimmed to the shape of the pot and stuck in place with a special clay slip. This is done mechanically on some articles, though others are still done manually.

Sponging and Fettling

Whatever method is used to produce the pots we make there are inevitably the seam marks where the mould parts come together, or sharp edges left by the wire scrappers, or some roughnesses that need to be dealt with. These have to be cut off with a knife and the whole thing sponged to produce a smooth, clean finish.

As the clay at this stage is still very brittle and can easily be crushed by incautious fingers this is a highly skilled job. In this department too the first of many quality checks is made. It is obviously useless wasting time on anything that is chipped or otherwise faulty in this clay state so all sub-standard pieces are smashed.

Biscuit Firing

After the articles have been sponged and fettled they are dried out thoroughly and then receive their first or "biscuit" firing. This is done in one of the big continuous Gas Kilns. The ware is placed as closely packed as possible on to trucks that are wheeled into the Kiln and are pushed by an hydraulic ram very slowly right through the long tunnel to emerge with their load of "biscuit" fired ware at the other end. There are 16 trucks in the Kiln at any one time and each one will pass through in twelve hours. The temperature in the firing zone is approximately 1060°C. which. of course, means that the clay is incandescent at this point.

As it takes a long time for the Kiln to cool down and even longer to heat up to the temperature needed, it is only shut down during the annual holiday when examination of the interior condition and any repairs can be done. This Kiln, incidentally, was the first major industrial installation in the country to be fired with North Sea Gas, and it consumes nearly 2,000,000 cubic feet per year!

The clay pots that went into the Kiln were hard but extremely brittle, the biscuit pots that come out are a good deal harder and a lot less brittle. However, at this temperature the clay is only "soft" fired, and the pots are consequently still very porous and will chip easily if handled roughly.

Biscuit Cleaning

They are also slightly dusty on the surface and this is removed in a special machine which has a big rubber bowl full of tiny wooden cubes that is vibrated at great speed. Pots plunged into these cubes are carried around the bowl by the action of the vibrations and when they come out the other side are clean and dust-free. The dust is sucked out by vacuum and collected in a large bag. Originally this cleaning was done by hand by brushing the ware with stiff brushes and a lot of elbow grease.

Printing and Glazing

All Hornsea Pottery that carries a pattern is decorated in a very special way. Firstly, each piece is printed by a screen printing machine direct on to the biscuit ware.

In this department you will see pots being placed one by one on a machine which lifts them up into contact with one end of a screen, then a squeegee comes down and the screen moves across revolving the pot by the friction of its movement and printing the pattern as it goes along.

The other aspect that is special about our decorative technique is that the ink used is one that has been developed by the Company's Research Team and has been patented. It consists of colouring materials which are metallic oxides capable of withstanding the great temperatures involved in the subsequent firing and a very specially balanced mixture of waxes and oils.

Glazing

After printing the patterns the pots are dipped into tubs of glaze. The glaze at this stage can be likened to a very finely powdered glass plus colouring oxides all suspended in water. The pot. it will be remembered, is porous, so when it is dipped into the glaze it absorbs the water and is covered with a layer of the glaze powder. However, the ink was made of oils and waxes so where the pattern is printed the watery glazes will run off. Thus we achieve that unique Hornsea effect. There is a contrast between the colours of the glaze and the pattern and a contrast between the texture of the glassy smooth glaze and the matt decoration. Also the glaze is thicker than the ink so that there is a marked "relief' effect. In these ways we achieve a tactile as well as a visual stimulation.

We also employ a purely mechanical method of glazing some of the pots and this is done on a very ingenious machine that sprays a layer of glaze on such things as Plates, Saucers and the insides of Cups and Mugs. Just one of the advantages of this method is the possibility of achieving great accuracy in the thickness of the layer of glaze applied.

Glost Firing

After the pots have dried out from the glazing process they are placed on the trucks of the Glost Kiln. This is very similar to the continuous firing Biscuit Kiln with the important difference that the temperature is higher this time - 1120°C. The pots too must be carefully placed, for the powdery glaze on them fuses in the intense heat of the firing zone and becomes, in effect molten glass, and consequently any pots that are touching stick together when they cool down.

So we see the pots going into the Kiln clothed in a layer of dull, matt pastel-hued glaze powder, but twelve hours later we can see them emerge from the fire still very hot but bright shiny and many-coloured, and of course much harder, stronger and with a non-porous surface.

Checking

The next stage on their journey is the final scrutiny of the Checkers. In this department each piece is carefully examined for faults of any kind and graded accordingly. Only those that are perfect are passed on to the warehouse for despatch to our retail customers in this country or abroad-above 30% are exported all over the world.

Those showing slight faults, that in no way diminish the use of the article, are sent to our "seconds" shops on the site and in Hornsea town, and anything else is broken up and scrapped.

In this way the quality of Hornsea Pottery that has been a watchword from the very early days is maintained and is indeed improved on continually.

So this is Hornsea Pottery in 1971.

What of the future?

Obviously a firm that has travelled so far in such a short time is not now going to stand still, and plans are being laid to extend the Visitors' amenities to make a day out at Hornsea even more attractive.

In addition a very pleasant 41acre site has been chosen on the outskirts of Lancaster and it is proposed to erect a similar Factory there. Roadworks and landscaping are scheduled to start in 1972 and it is intended that production will begin in the autumn of 1973 and the first visitors will be welcomed the following year.

Over half a million pounds will be spent developing this project and it is intended that it will operate along very similar lines to the enterprise outlined in this booklet.

Initially it is intended that in addition to Tableware we shall produce "fancies" again at this Lancaster Factory - Vases, Plant Pot Holders, etc. though of course these would be designed by the Hornsea Design Team and would have to be accepted by the Council of Industrial Design for their Design Index in accordance with the accepted policy of the Company. One of the advantages of this decision to make "fancies" at Lancaster will be that by an interchange of "seconds" between the two Factories we will be able to offer our visitors at both places a wider variety of product.

We look forward to 1974 - our 25th anniversary - it should be a vintage year for Hornsea Pottery.

APPENDIX

Plaster-of- Paris

Plaster-of-Paris (Calcium Sulphate Hemihydrate) used for making moulds is produced by heating Gypsum at 150-160°C. and grinding it to a fine powder.

Plaster-of- Paris readily absorbs water and re-forms Gypsum in interlocking crystals which then set as a hard mass. The Plaster is added to the water in a given ratio, allowed to soak for a minute or two, and then blended in a vacuum by a mechanical de-airing mixer.

All the moulds in the Factory are made in our own workshops but it is unfortunately not possible to let visitors see this process.

Clay

The clay (or "body" as it is technically known) from which our pottery is formed is a mixture of various materials, only half of which are actually clays.

However, two types of clay are used, China clay (Kaolin) and Ball clay, and they both come from the Newton Abbot area of South Devon. The China clays which are very white are primary clays, that is, they are found in large deposits on the sites where they were formed many millions of years ago by the gradual breaking down of granite rock. The Ball clays are sedimentary clays, that is, they were transported by the action of seas, rivers and glaciers away from their site of origin. These clays have been ground to very fine particle size by this movement and consequently are very plastic and workable, they are not however, as white firing as the China clays.

The clays readily mix with water to form a workable material but the other three materials used are either in rock form like the Nepheline Syenite from Ontario, Canada, and Limestone from Derbyshire, or coarse granules like the white Silica Sand from the West Coast of Scotland, and these require crushing and grinding before we can incorporate them with the clays.

Carefully proportioned amounts of these materials are blended with water in a powerful high-speed mixer which takes about 30 minutes to deal with a two-ton batch. The liquid clay slip is passed through very fine sieves (130 holes to the linear inch) and over electromagnets and is then stored in large underground tanks.

A large proportion of the water required in this mixing process must be removed before the clay can be used and to do this the slip is pumped from the storage tanks into a Filter Press where, as the pressure builds up to over 100 pounds per square inch, the excess water is forced out. It takes 1½ to 2 hours to remove the required amount of water from the two tons of clay which the Press holds.

The clay is removed from the Press in large slabs and these are then fed into the Pug Mill - rather like a gigantic mincing machine but incorporating a vacuum chamber - which produces the solid rolls of air-free clay required for the Jolleys.

Casting Slip

Slip for use in the Casting Department is made by putting plastic clay from the Press into a mixing blunger in which a predetermined quantity of water and chemicals has been placed.

The chemicals used are Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Silicate and Barium Carbonate. The first two act as deflocculents, that is, they react with the tiny colloidal particles of clay to give a slip of high fluidity and low water content.

Barium Carbonate is added in order to precipitate unwanted soluble salts.

Glazes

Basically a pottery glaze is a mixture of materials that when heated sufficiently will form a permanent hard and impervious layer of glass over the pottery article. Glaze compositions vary considerably depending upon the effect desired, and this makes it difficult to generalise, although glazes do bear some resemblance to glass in their composition. The bulk of our glaze is supplied by a specialised Glaze manufacturer as a clear, transparent glossy glaze ground to a fine powder. To achieve the various colours and textures distinctive to Hornsea Pottery our own glaze and colour Laboratories blend other materials with this basic clear glaze.

Some of these glazes look very similar in colour in the unfired state and to avoid mistakes occurring they are stained with vegetable dyes that will burn away in the Kiln, so the unfired glaze colour sometimes bears little relation to the fired colour.

Colours

The colouring compounds used are mainly metal oxides which are blended with other ingredients that enable them to fuse with the glaze during the firing process.

Metallic oxides are used for this purpose because of the extremely high temperatures (1120°C.) used in the subsequent firing. They are the only colouring agents that will stand this heat. Because of this the available palette of colours is necessarily rather limited, bright colours - bright reds, oranges, greens, the metals gold and silver - are only possible at much lower temperatures, but are correspondingly less durable.

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