The Brislington Pottery

In the 17th century Brislington was a Somerset parish, the pottery being at St Annes, near the river Avon.  The pottery was said to be situated on the site of St. Anne's chapel.  The chapel is situated to the west of (and close to) a stream, the Froome.  The Froome (now known as the Bristlington Brook) flows into the river Avon.  On the opposite bank of the Froome was a flour mill (first mentioned in 1321) and a pack-horse route which ran down to a ferry across the Avon.  Frank Britton in his survey of London potteries has noted the association of the delftware potteries with mills, which could be used to grind substances used in glazes and pigments.  The chapel fell into disuse in 1538, following the dissolution on the monasteries.  The site of the chapel is now marked by Chapel Way and the ferry by the modern footbridge. John Bissecke was granted a lease of land, at Brislington,  in January 1652.  As he was not a freeman of Bristol, Bissecke could not have started a business in the city.  The lease was in turn assigned to Robert Bennett in 1656.  These two were the probable owners of the pottery.  Robert Collins was mentoned as a potter, in Brislington, in 1660.  He may have been associated with them.  Robert Bennett's will of 20th December 1658 makes no mention of a pottery, but he is described as a gallypot maker.  The area of the chapel was sold on 3rd May 1657.  This sale makes no mention of a pottery and the chapel was said to be in the tenure of Widow Blanch or her assignees (it is possible that Bennett could have been an assignee).  A map of 1745/6 (reproduced in Jackson/Price) shows the pottery west of the chapel site, much nearer the junction of the current Newbridge Road with St Annes Road.  This location is now the accepted site of the pottery (see 1902 map). The building of St. Annes Board Mills (now demolished) in the early 20th century prompted excavation of the chapel site.  Firstly by the Rev. A Richardson in 1912, and by W J Pountney in 1913-14.  Pountney found beds of two slip kilns, one of them in the cells for the monks.  A slip kiln was used to dry out clay after it had been washed and sieved through hair.  On the south side of the chapel he found a round kiln foundation, 15 feet in diameter.  On the north side of the kiln was a smaller and probably older kiln.  "The floor is of pennant stone, giving evidence that fire was placed below it.  A flue or draught hole ran upwards through the kiln, the fire being fed from the outside, from one opening in the circle only." Many shards were recovered from a well, including one showing Queen Anne and another with a date of 1712.  The graveyard yielded more shards, as did the south side of the pottery, close to the stream.  This latter find included simply decorated lead glazed pottery, composed of teapots, small milk jugs and the like.  Over a quarter ton of shards were recovered.  Included in these was one dated 1652 and another dated 1653.  Some of the shards show the noughts and crosses under-rim markings associated with Brislington and Bristol.  An even earlier fragment, dated 1647 and now in the British Museum, was dug up in the Pithay in Bristol and may have come from Brislington, but could also have been made in London. The site that Pountney found was probably that of an 18th century redware pottery (perhaps the one mentioned in 31st March 1764).  The shards recovered by Pountney were from waste dumps created by this pottery.  Delftware shards are still found in gardens in St Annes.