“Denby”

I have put “Denby” in parentheses because early examples might have been made in another of the local potteries owned by the Bourne family.

Belper, 1772 - 1834 ("A potted history of the Belper Pottery during the latter years of ownership by the Bourne family and its subsequent re-opening by Mary Machin" by Jon Baldwin)
Codnor Park, 1832 - 1861
Shipley, 1845 - 1856

“Denby” jugs show more variation than London products which tend to use a fixed set of sprigs for each individual size. Denby seems to use a combination of a windmill (see Denby Windmills section) a tree (click button below to see tree variants) and one, two or three other sprigs (depending on size of jug) chosen possibly at random from a standard set of designs (click button below to see set of designs). Fox hunts appear on all sizes larger than half pint (see Denby look-alikes for stag hunts).

The majority of sprigs used are variants on the toper theme but more unusual ones also appear, the same applies to their tankards and tobacco jars. I intend to show the sprigs themselves rather than complete jugs as done for London jugs. Although most Bourne items are readily identifiable they may also have made some of the pieces currently ascribed to Chesterfield/Brampton.

A number of dated pieces have been recorded which suggest that the sprigging is fairly consistent even though shapes and especially glazing method gradually change (see dated Denby).The earliest pieces (1820s) seem to be uniformly light in colour, then the upper section is dipped in an iron containing solution (from 1830s). A bit later (1860s?) some examples have a light (Doulton like) lower section, and finally the use of “Denby Colours” in the late 1860s marks the move away from salt glazing.