It is not only the specialist potters who made ramekins. They can come from anywhere. These are an example. Kryal Castle is near Ballarat in Victoria. It’s a replica medieval castle, supposedly the southern hemisphere’s third largest castle. The castle itself is a vast complex of gothic towers, turrets, parapets and battlements, complete with moat and drawbridge and a host of activities including medieval re-enactments.
For the former owner and creator Keith Ryall, the castle represented a kingdom he always wanted to live in from his childhood. Keith built stage one between 1972 and 1974 for the opening with the help of local and overseas craftspeople and stonemasons. King Keith Ryall and his wife Queen Joyce were often spotted in the crowd. Various crafts have been practiced at the castle over the years. These souvenir earthenware ramekins are from the 1970s and the design looking suspiciously like medieval pottery. They have a small stamp "Kryal Castle" on the side of the base. Check out where the wire has left a pattern on the base as it was run through to remove the clay after throwing.
There was a story that Keith himself may have made these as he was handy at a lot of things. I favour the idea that they were made by a local Ballarat potter who traded under the name "Old Ballarat Pottery".
The property has been for sale for the past few years, with one sale falling through. Several buyers were reported to be interested, some more outrageous than others. A new buyer, (January 2012) "Castle Tourism and Entertainment have now completed a multi million dollar redevelopment that has turned it into a world-class medieval adventure park. This consortium consists of several local Ballarat business people and a British / Singaporean company. The castle re-opened on the 2nd of March 2013 and will be one of Victoria's top tourist attractions. Go up there and spend a full day, or stay overnight as I did recently.
There was a story that Keith himself may have made these as he was handy at a lot of things. I favour the idea that they were made by a local Ballarat potter who traded under the name "Old Ballarat Pottery".
The property has been for sale for the past few years, with one sale falling through. Several buyers were reported to be interested, some more outrageous than others. A new buyer, (January 2012) "Castle Tourism and Entertainment have now completed a multi million dollar redevelopment that has turned it into a world-class medieval adventure park. This consortium consists of several local Ballarat business people and a British / Singaporean company. The castle re-opened on the 2nd of March 2013 and will be one of Victoria's top tourist attractions. Go up there and spend a full day, or stay overnight as I did recently.
Hello Rameking,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your wonderful Blog. I use it to look up many Australian Pottery names and you add that extra information that makes me like the potters even more. I was pleased to find your Kryal Castle Ramekins as I have just found three of them to match yours (would you be interested in three more?). I also have a bottle/vase to match them ...which had previously been unidentified. In addition I have some ramekins by Beryl Armstrong and also by Vande (NSW) which you maybe interested in getting photos of?? Other than through the blog how should I contact you? I don't wish to post my personal details on here to be published.
Thank you for your kind words. If you want to leave your details, these comments are not posted automatically, but I vet them before publication. It does not mean that I will respond. Many comments don't make it because they contain links to other sites, others, like yours , that may contain personal information.
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