Denby

The Old Denby Factory

Designer	Albert Colledge
Maker	Denby Pottery
Marks	Almost illegibly stamped “Peasant Ware England” in black to base.
Description	Wide, low sided slipware bowl with large loop handle.  Pink interior with grey exterior.  Semi-gloss glaze over entire body except footring.
Number
Production Date	Early 1950s
Width	125mm
Depth	40mm
Length (with handle)	208mm
Weight	385gm
Volume	250ml
Acquisition	Waverley Antique Market  7 Nov 2011.
Rameking Reference Number	DEN 001 DEN 002 DEN 003

Available in Australia at the upper end of the market, Denby pottery comes from a 200 year old English company in Denby, Lancashire.     They originally made china, porcelain and stoneware tableware, as well as branching out into glassware and cooking utensils.  A body of clay was discovered in 1806 during roadworks and two locals, Jacob and Brohier began making stoneware bottles.  Later, in 1815, local businessman William Bourne and his sons John and Joseph took over.  William came from a family of potters.  They later took over a couple of other potteries and named the company "Joseph Bourne and Company", a name that endured.  Their pottery is usually marked "Bourne Denby England.


Expanding rapidly because of the new railways criss-crossing England, they dug 25 tons of clay daily to be used in their patented kilns.  Denby produced a huge range of pottery during the 19th Century, from ink wells to water filters and everything in between, producing decorative as well as utilitarian wares in clay, slip and terra-cotta

Denby continued to make decorative homewares until the early 1950s when they then began to concentrate on tablewares, such as these ramekins, wartime restrictions being recently lifted.  Designed by Albert Colledge (1891-1972) in 1951, this “Peasantware” pattern is an example.   It is claimed that they can withstand oven temperatures, but I wouldn’t try it, just in case.  Ramekins are intended to be used to cook food in, but, due to their age and rarity, don’t risk it.  These are earlier than their “Oven to Table” ware and are described as being “tough, ovenproof and long lasting”.  An early Denby catalogue shows "egg poachers" but are clearly ramekins.  

Glyn and Albert Colledge 1948

Like many companies in the 1980s, Denby was taken over.  In 1987 they were bought by the Coloroll group, an English home furnishings company from Manchester who themselves went into receivership in 1990.  Unwilling to let the company die, Denby was then subject to a management buyout by the Managing Director and a few other executives, and subsequently publicly floated in 1994; it was a bargain.  Bought for 6 million, it floated for around 40 million, although a lot went to pay off debt.  Today, Denby still produce a wide variety of products including fine china and porcelain, as well as that old staple, stoneware.

 Since the management buyout, Denby has purchased other companies such as Burgess, Dorling & Leigh, Poole and Leeds Pottery.  Since then, they have opened many more retail outlets and increased staff.  As well as pottery, they also make cast-iron products.

Denby now sells into more than thirty countries including Japan, South Korea, North America and China.  In 2011 export sales increased over 30%.  Despite this increase in exports, production remains in the UK.  A new distribution warehouse is planned, as is a new visitor centre, shopping centre and hotel are well progressed.

The handles on this range are a large folded loop.  Not too many other makers used this design, although you can see similar handles on some of the later Diana (U63) ramekins and many of Charles Wilton's ramekins.  Design copyright by the Australians seems to have been viewed as somewhat flexible in those days.