Category: Collecting clays and glaze materials

New project digging clay in Ockeridge, Worcestershire….

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Mick’s clay fresh from the ground.
The clay pit.
My gift to return the favour.

 

My friend Mick has been more than generous in letting me dig some of the clay from his woodland near Ockeridge in west Worcestershire. Mick and his brother Tim manage the woodland for timber and firewood, mostly cutting single / selected trees, one at a time and avoiding clear felling. The clay runs in bands through the woodland, close to the surface, making it easy to extract. It’s a beautiful material, mostly quite fine and free of stones or grit, although the decades of organic material (leaf mould) on the surface seem to give the clay a strong smell once it has been left to sour.

I have made Mick a pancheon from this clay, but I am connecting this new work to my making of beer beakers. More on these in posts to follow.

 

Clee Hill – winter visit….

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Last Friday I revisited Clee Hill, for a quick walk with Dougie, and to drop off a couple of mugs that I had made from Neil and Karen’s clay (over in Oreton). It was good to see them and to discuss what future possibilities there may be for some clay sourcing linked to ditch digging, excavation of foundations etc. It would be great to help someone out with the removal of some extracted material – but the quantities available will be critical, as if I can get over a tonne or 2 – then it may be worth hiring a vehicle for transportation of the clay to a clay manufacturer up in Stoke for processing….. It’ll all need checking out again if the opportunity arrises – but fingers crossed…..

Titterston Clee Hill plateau
Looking south-east over the “dhustone” quarry
Clee Hill clay pulverised with a hammer
After slaking – I blunge the clay – mostly with a wooden paddle – but also, towards the end, by hand….
Dougie – perplexed as to what on earth is going on….

Pancheons

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My connection with pancheons starts with a visit to the Piece Hall in Halifax, in 1985. There was a stall selling these beautiful, functional bowls for a few quid a piece, and I came away with two – one for my parents and one for me. I have treasured this bowl ever since. During my meanderings and exploration of Isaac Button’s old workshop site north of Halifax, I found rim shards from broken pancheons identical to mine, scattered around the area and along the bridleway that led down from the site (which was then being converted into apartments – or so I was told). The classic still photograph taken from John Anderson’s 1966 film, Isaac Button Country Potter, shows Isaac carrying a ware board with five medium pancheons – again identical to the one I bought all those years ago. Given that these forms were not stamped with a makers mark – I can only guess – or hope that, mine is one from this iconic workshop.

My pancheons are made primary from locally sourced, hand-dug clay (earthenware and stoneware), and echo the traditional forms associated with bread making, dairying and general home use (washing etc.) that were made in the centuries before plastics, pressed steel and other cheaper, more durable alternatives became widely available. They come in a variety of sizes, most commonly with a diameter of 35 cm and a height of around 15 cm.

Large Clee Hill pancheon – chun glaze
Large 35cm pancheon with chun speckling.
Pancheon. October 2015. Valentines clay with china clay slip and lead sesquisilicate glaze.

Letter key for Palimpsest – Soil Hill, photograph in MA show:

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A:     Ovendon Moor – Rough Rock Sandstone (Carboniferous era, c. 313 to 314 million years BP) covered by peat deposits (formed since last ice-age) and heather moorland

B:     Original Penine Lower Coal Measures Formation mudstone (Carboniferous era, c. 312-313) and Middle Band Sandstone (Carboniferous era, c.312-313 million years BP) layers much of which was removed by clay extraction, now “landscaped” and covered with surface soil and unimproved grassland

C:     Hebble Brook, stream cut valley (post-glacial) with semi-natural ancient woodland above Ogden Reservoir

D:     Possible route of Roman road through Causeway Foot. This road from Halifax to Denholm, now the A629, passes through Causeway Foot and is recorded on earliest OS map of 1851. The Roman Road M720a running from Ilkley to Manchester crosses this road just north of Ogden (it is not marked on the current OS map but is clearly marked on the 1st Edition OS map from 1847-9).

E:      Penine Lower Coal Measures Formation mudstone (Carboniferous era, c. 312-313 million years BP) covered by surface soil, and the pattern of enclosed fields and improved grassland established in the early 19th Century

F:     Curving linear feature – perhaps demarking the Parish boundary which follows this line on the 1847-9 OS map, or part of the more recent landscaping work. Originally interpreted as a leet carrying water to the pottery

G:     Domestic and industrial developments (19th Century) along Coal Lane adjacent to Soil Hill Pottery works (originally Swilling End Pottery – now in conversion to residential. Soil Hill is referred to as Swilling Hill on the early edition OS maps.

H:     Coniferous plantation at Mount Pleasant (20th Century)

I:       Telegraph poles (Mid 20th Century)

J:      Wind farm (21st Century) above deciduous broadleaf woodland running alongside south bank of Ogden Clough down to Ogden Water. The wind farm in this picture has been removed (2016) and a new wind farm of a smaller number of much larger windmills / turbines is being erected (October 2016)

K:     Landfill site – now closed (21st Century).

Note: BP is Before Present.