Benhar Pottery, was one of New Zealand's earliest and most important commercial potteries and is now being excavated by Otago Museum. The village was established in the 1880's to provide workers for the brick and pipe manufacturing company, McSkimming's Industries, Among the houses at Benhar is Lesmahagow, built in 1914 by Peter McSkimming.
His early life was spent in various towns in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. He started work at the age of nine in a tileworks at Mauchline, moved to Chapelton by the time he was 11 or 12, and appears to have continued to move around after marrying Catherine Pelling at Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, on 22 October 1869. McSkimming was working at the tileworks near Stonehouse when he and Catherine decided to emigrate to New Zealand with their family of three daughters and a son. They left Greenock on the clipper Canterbury on 12 September 1878 and arrived at Port Chalmers on 10 December. Two more daughters were born in New Zealand.
McSkimming spent three years at Lawrence, where he and his wife began a grocery business, and a year on the Waitahuna goldfields, before leaving in 1882 for Kaitangata, and then Stirling, in South Otago. He and his son, Peter McNish McSkimming, worked for John Nelson at his recently established pipe-works at Benhar, then produced clay pipes on a contract basis. They subsequently leased the Benhar pipe factory from John Nelson with the £150–£200 they had between them. Assisted by a loan from a friend, they eventually bought out the business completely in 1892 or 1893, and established it as P. McSkimming and Son. The factory included coal-pits, pipe-works and brickworks, and eventually a clay-pit. Peter bought out Nelson in a deal which led to acrimony between the parties (Nelson subsequently refused to attend the same church as the McSkimming family). By 1894 the McSkimming family owned the factory outright.
By 1903 the firm was sufficiently well established to be able to supply, jointly with the firm of J. H. Lambert of Dunedin, stoneware pipes for the Dunedin sewerage scheme. In 1917–18 the McSkimming business formally combined with Lambert's firm and Thomas Todd and Sons at Waikiwi, Invercargill, through a transfer of shareholdings in the companies between 14 members of the three families. One employee of the firm, between 1923 and 1930, was Garfield Todd, later to become prime minister of Southern Rhodesia.
Peter McSkimming senior travelled to Britain in 1905, and again in 1909 with members of his family on business and pleasure trips which lasted several months. The information gathered and the contacts made on these and later trips ensured that the company kept abreast of all overseas developments. Peter McNish McSkimming and Parker McKinlay (who had married the family's eldest daughter, Ellen), were to play a major role in establishing the firm as New Zealand's leading supplier of earthenware pipes, sanitary ware and glazed bricks.
Peter also sent representatives to the United Kingdom to learn better production methods. Among the company ambassadors was his son-in-law Parker McKinlay, who was responsible for the introduction of sanitary ware to Benhar in 1907. In the early 1920s, McKinlay made a second trip to England, studying ceramics at Stoke-on-Trent and employing Thomas Lovatt to work at Benhar. Lovatt introduced international methods and practices that resulted in an era of quality domestic wares including mixing bowls, feet warmers and teapots. Within a few years Benhar had eight muffle kilns, three bottle kilns, used 10,000 tons of coal a year and drew its clay from a 200ha area. By the 1930s Lovatt had moved on and production again focused on bricks, pipes and sanitary ware.
The Great Depression affected the industry but any downturn was offset by the demands of World War 2. McSkimming, registering as an essential industry due to import restrictions, produced ceramic electric jugs, pudding basins and even cups and saucers for the military. Although some of those items are of greater interest to collectors, it was sanitary ware that fuelled the rise of the business from a small pipe factory to one of the largest pottery manufacturers in the South Island, one that had interests in Dunedin and Invercargill.
The McSkimmings established a workers' housing scheme to provide accommodation for their employees in Benhar. The elder McSkimming took a paternal interest in the village and the welfare of its inhabitants. He and his wife lived in Benhar, in a house named after her hometown, Lesmahagow. Catherine McSkimming died on 13 March 1914. On 3 November 1915 McSkimming married Mary Davidson Barty at Balclutha; there were no children of this marriage. Peter died at Benhar on 3 November 1923; Mary died on 1 February 1957.
Benhar has been described as a "feudal village". This is, in part, due to the strict Presbyterian values of the McSkimming family. For example: in 1894, Peter McSkimming built the large Hoffman kiln (for which Benhar is best known). However, he would not allow work on Sundays and the underutilized kiln was eventually converted into a boilerhouse, which it remained until the mid-1980s.
That kiln and its landmark chimney remain to this day, largely thanks to the efforts of residents and protesters, who in 1992 formed a human chain around the chimney to prevent a developer's attempts to demolish it. The Clutha District Council subsequently prosecuted the developer, who was fined $56,500 for breaching consent, a decision celebrated by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, which secured a protection order for the structure.
Photographs taken late in life show Peter McSkimming as a handsome man with a square face and a white, short-cropped beard. The eyes and smile suggest a sharp, genial and intelligent man, an impression confirmed by the diary he kept on his visit to Britain in 1909. Despite his early start to working life, he was literate, articulate and reflective. He was also a very hard worker, as was his son, and the McSkimmings expected their employees to be of similar mould. His fitness into old age is illustrated by an incident recorded in the travel diary: a bicycle trip of 47 miles, including an 800-foot rise, was completed in eight hours. At the end of the journey McSkimming still felt quite fresh; he was then aged 61.
Peter (Snr) Far Right, Peter (Jnr) Centre
Peter was a noted member of the local community, a staunch Presbyterian and was recognised for his major contribution to clay manufacturing in New Zealand. The kiln is closely associated with the surrounding village, which developed to house McSkimmings' employees and the two provide a rare New Zealand example of an industrial village established by the local employer.
Peter was also a justice of the peace, and was noted as a prominent member of his local community. Described as a 'stout Liberal', he was particularly active in the prohibition movement and was a strong and generous supporter of the Presbyterian church, of which he was an elder. While visiting Britain he habitually noted the churches visited on Sundays, describing also the subject of the sermon of the day and summarizing its contents and his own views on it: his religious feelings were deeply and sincerely held, but he was tactful in disagreement. He was remembered for his 'kindly and genial disposition', and for his practical contribution to a highly specialized branch of manufacturing.
The New Zealand Society of Potters has reported that there are more potters per head of population in NZ than in any other country. In the heady days of the ‘60s and 70s, almost everyone in NZ seemed to be a potter, or if they weren’t, they certainly knew one. Craft shops were everywhere and the pottery produced was earthy in colour and texture, domestic in scale and intended for use.
Clay in New Zealand was first used to produce bricks and pipes, however, as more people with skills in pottery and ceramics traveled from Europe, the ceramics industry grew. The largest period of growth was the 1870s and 1880s as potteries closed in Britain and many potters traveled to New Zealand where the growing ceramics market welcomed them. It was not until some of the early companies decided to produce domestic ceramics that they became successful. Many of their techniques including slip casting and press moulding were used to produce ranges of domestic ceramic pieces.
The White Horse quarry and Bromielow Pit were worked for clay until 1986 by McSkimmings Industries for the manufacture of sanitary ware at Benhar. Bromelow pit is currently operated by Potters Clay (Nelson) Limited for pottery clay. The material contains about 30% white clay, with the remaining material mostly quartz and mica.
The original McSkimmings Hoffman Kiln at Benhar is now unique in New Zealand as the only remaining Hoffman Kiln that retains both its chimney and original appearance. It was built around 1894 by Peter McSkimming (1847-3 March 1923). Born in Lanark, Lanarkshire Scotland, to Peter and Mary (Mc Neish) McSkimming. Peter Snr was a brick, tile and pipe maker. Peter Jnr began work aged nine at the tileworks at Mauchline, most likely with his father.
Peter and wife Catherine (nee Pelling), emigrated to New Zealand on the “Canterbury” departing Glasgow on 12th September 1878. After working as a grocer and goldminer around Otago, McSkimming and his son, Peter McNish Mc Skimming (1872-1941) were employed by John Nelson, who had recently established a pipe-works at Benhar, South Otago. Peter Jnr went on to become an independent Member of Parliament for Clutha from 1931 until 1935. As well as Peter, they had three daughters, Ellen b 1874, Mary b 1876 and Jessie b 1877.
Nelson had originally established the Benhar Coal Company in 1864 to mine the local coal deposits. With suitable clay also available in the area, Nelson began to make clay pipes during the late 1870s and produced bricks, vases and pots from 1888. The completion of the railway between Stirling and Benhar during the mid-1870s, which enabled goods to be easily transported out of the area, assisted Nelson's expansion. By 1888 Nelson employed 50 workers. The McSkimmings, after working on contract as pipemakers for a number of years, then leased and subsequently purchased the business from Nelson in 1894.
It is thought that the Hoffman Kiln at Benhar was one of the first improvements to be erected by the McSkimmings after they purchased the business. The Hoffman continuously fired brick kiln was invented by Friedrick Hoffman (1818-1900) of Germany in the late 1850s. Before then brick making was a small industry, which used single-chamber kilns, which had to be fired, then cooled and emptied before the next load could be processed. Hoffman's new kiln contained a number of firing chambers around which the fire was moved in sequence.
This method allowed for a continuous firing of bricks and thus increased both efficiency and production. Hoffman's kilns also use a downdraught to heat the kiln rather than the earlier and less efficient updraught. In a downdraught kiln the heat is directed against a bagwall which pushes the heat up and over and then downwards through the wares. This provides a more even distribution of heat and avoids the damage done to the lower layers of wares often caused by an updraught kiln. The large outside chimney is a vital part of this process, creating a draught that pulls the fire down through the wares.
This type of kiln was invented by Frederick Hoffmann, of Germany, in 1858 and contains a sequence of chambers that a fire was passed through one after the other. Because the fire did not have to be extinguished before removing the fired bricks and moving on to the next chamber, efficiency and production were both increased.
In a classification committee report written for the NZ Historic Places Trust in 1990, Anne McEwan wrote: "The McSkimmings found the kiln's continuous firing process inconvenient, as it required someone to attend it on Sundays when the works were closed. Consequently, they decided to abandon the kiln and convert it to serve as the works boiler house. It remained as a boiler house until 1985, and was then used as a storage facility for about five years.
Prospective buyers of one of South Otago's most historic buildings are being warned any alterations to the Historic Places Trust (HPT)-protected edifice would need resource consent.
For more information, see my “Hoffman” post.
The large chimneys were therefore a distinctive feature of Hoffman kilns. The kiln erected at Benhar is a two-storeyed brick building with its tall rectangular chimney situated at the western end. It is buttressed at both the western and eastern ends and further supported by the typically splayed ground floor walls. Inside two rows of six barrel-vaulted firing chambers run from a central passage. The building is covered by a convex corrugated-iron roof.
While early Hoffman kilns were circular with a central chimney, the Benhar kiln is typical of later designs. Such kilns were once notable features of a number of New Zealand towns, although only one other, a oval-shaped kiln in Palmerston North, still survives, albeit without its chimney. The Palmerston North kiln is also registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust Pouhere Taonga.
McSkimming brought out experienced workers and relatives from Scotland to work at Benhar and gradually established a small village around the factory to house his employees. The majority of his workers rented their houses from him, although some eventually purchased theirs. McSkimming's own large brick house at the top of the hill, 'Lesmahagow', was erected in 1914, and in its heyday was noted for its superb gardens. A church cum community hall was erected in 1908 and the Benhar School opened in 1909.
As well as supplying housing McSkimming was noted for his patriarchal control over the lives of his employees. He insisted that all staff attend church on Sundays and docked a shilling from people's pay if he saw them smoking. He also encouraged his employees to keep a house cow, which could graze on the company farm, and is said to have always left a £5 note in the cradle of new born babies. The village of Benhar was one of only a few New Zealand towns established along the lines of industrial villages in Britain.
The town of Glentunnel grew up around a coal and pottery industry, namely the Homebush Brick, Pipe and Terracotta Works, established about 1872. The factory finished up fairly large and included two kilns. About 1903 a total of 15 men were employed and was so successful that an annual turnover of £3,000 was achieved! In 1924 McSkimming Industries became the new owners from the Dean Family and continued operating until 1983. The success of this factory for over 100 years was due the local coal and suitable clay, the railways, and that the management were always up to date with the latest machinery and techniques.
McSkimming Industries thrived and became New Zealand's leading supplier of earthenware pipes and glazed bricks. By 1903 McSkimming and Son, in conjunction with J.H. Lambert, could supply the stoneware pipes for the Dunedin sewerage scheme. In 1907 McSkimming's son-in-law, Parker McKinlay, was dispatched to England to investigate the possibility of manufacturing of sanitaryware, that is toilet pans, basins and associated bathroom fittings. McKinlay managed to acquire suitable glaze and body recipes and production of sanitaryware began at Benhar in 1908. McSkimming & Son with Todd & Lambert family interests became McSkimming Industries in 1917. Techniques and technicians, such as Thomas Lovatt, were also imported from the U.K in the early 1900s.
McSkimmings became the major producers of sanitaryware in New Zealand and by 1935 it advertised itself as the only manufacturer of white sanitaryware in the country. This specialisation is one of the main reasons, ceramics historian Gail Lambert says, that McSkimming Industries continued to operated successfully until the 1980s.
While the factory at Benhar substantially expanded over the course of the twentieth century it appears that the Hoffman Kiln itself was little used. It is said that the continuous firing of the Hoffman Kiln at Benhar clashed with the McSkimmings' religious beliefs, as it required people to work on a Sunday. It was therefore converted to a boiler room and then a storehouse.
Benhar was sold to Ceramco Ltd in 1980, a company who became noted as the first in the world to obtain a licence to manufacture Villeroy and Boch sanitaryware. In 1989 Ceramco sold the pottery and village to James Hardie Building Products New Zealand Ltd, makers of Fowler Bathroom Products.
In the small hours of February 18, 1990, a fire began in a brick building that had stood for more than a century. When firefighters arrived they initially couldn't see the blaze for the night's fog. By morning, the future was equally gloomy for the 50-odd people employed in the Fowler Bathroom Products factory. Fowler's general manager, Stephen Antunovich, told workers the company had three options: to rebuild at Benhar, to rebuild on a different site or to close. At the time, it was evident that the importing of cheap Asian bathroom products would work against rebuilding the factory on the site.
The fire gutted most of the works, leaving only the company office, part of a warehouse and the Hoffman Kiln still standing. Thus on April 26, 1990, the company announced the factory would not be rebuilt at Benhar but would be relocated to Auckland (and eventually Australia), ending the town's long association with the ceramic industry. The company closed the works at Benhar and sold the land on which the kiln stood to Mrs S.M. Moore in 1991. In May 1992 demolition of the kiln's chimney began. This was halted by concerned locals and a heritage order was placed over the entire structure.
The Hoffman Kiln at Benhar is a distinctive landmark, which is highly significant as the only remaining example of a Hoffman kiln in New Zealand that retains its chimney. The kiln reminds us of the relatively quick adoption in New Zealand of new industrial techniques developed in Europe. It was constructed by McSkimming Industries, which became an integral part of the New Zealand clay industry, a major supplier of earthenware pipes, and glazed bricks. The company was particularly noted for its production of sanitaryware.
In 2005, Wanganui potter Ross Mitchell-Anyon bought the historic 4430sq m property, including the kiln, office building and storage sheds, for an undisclosed sum. His intention was to revamp the Hoffman kiln, creating a residence for ceramic artists and other craftspeople. However, in an interview Mr Mitchell-Anyon conceded, "the plans are somewhat slow". Discouraged by a recent spate of burglaries and damage and "the tyranny of distance", he hopes to gift the kiln structure to a local trust. "As long as that trust is formed, I can be confident that the kiln will be preserved, protected and utilised in some way. "I own buildings in Wanganui, a town that has suffered its share of economic hardship. "I bought some buildings, did them up. "That's where I made enough money to buy Benhar," Mr Mitchell-Anyon explains. "I'm not a rich person. "I did it out of a passion for it. "My love for it is all very well, but I'm too far away. "It's really a two-day journey in a van. "I had hoped that would work. "I love the place dearly. "I really believe, passionately, that the kiln, the context it is in - the feudal village - is a unique site of national importance.
Wanganui-based owner Ross Mitchell-Anyon has put up the Hoffmann kiln and two associated buildings at the McSkimmings pottery factory for sale. Mr. Mitchell-Anyon is a potter and purchased the buildings in 2006 with vision of turning the kiln in to a museum and working art studio, with an artist residence in the old McSkimmings offices. He had since realized living in Wanaque was just too far away to bring his vision to life and decided to sell.
"I love it dearly, and I hope someone who shares my vision takes it on," he said. "It is a seriously undervalued piece of South Otago heritage." Clutha District Council planning and environment manager Murray Brass said the factory's most recognizable building, the Hoffmann kiln, had a category one heritage listing. While the other buildings were not covered by the HPT or the CDC district plan, anyone wishing to convert the kiln would need resource consent. "Certainly, it is of tremendous importance to the Clutha district," Mr Mitchell-Anyon says. "I think people take it for granted, that people think it will always be there. "It was at risk and still is." Mr Posthumus agrees: "It's still a great structure but nothing is happening with it. It'd be nice if someone put Benhar back on the map. "I've always said to people that, being a Dutchman, when I pop my clogs it is going to be in Benhar. "It's home."
Teal Ceramics in Balclutha was managed by Barry Teal, a former employee until 1987 of McSkimmings Pottery in Benhar. The architectural information listed in the classification report states the kiln is a two-storeyed rectangular building, vented by a rectangular chimney at the western end. It is sheltered by a convex roof form, contains two rows of six barrel-vaulted firing chambers on either side of a central passage. The bricks were laid in English garden wall bond, with a corrugated iron roof carried on timber trusses.
Lots of photos of the works can be seen at
A substantial archive is held by he Hocken Collections of the files of McSkimming Industries Ltd. Most of the records, however, relate to: annual general meetings from 1918 to 1961, Directors’ minutes 1951–58, annual reports 1953–75, balance sheets 1917–42, ledgers, journals & cash books for 1894–1966, and correspondence (in general and subject files) between 1917 and the 1970s. The records also cover such associated or subsidiary companies as Abbotsford Tileries, Benhar Coal, Black Lion Coal, Fairfield Brick & Sand, Glen Afton Potteries, Glenmore Bricks, Glenmore Quarries, Homebush Brick & Coal, Lambert Bros, Todd & Sons, and Mangapehi Coal Mining. McSkimming Industries was sold to the Wellington investment company Strontian Holdings in 1976, and in 1980 the McSkimming interests were purchased from Strontian by Ceramco Ltd.
