# Torquay pottery

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**Torquay pottery** or **Torquay ware** is pottery made in [Torquay](/source/Torquay), Devon, England, using local clay, at one of fifteen or so local potteries chiefly serving the [tourist trade](/source/Tourist_trade),[1][2][3][4] but also supplying high-end retailers such as [Liberty of London](/source/Liberty_of_London).[3]

The most common form was mottoware - pottery such as plates or jugs decorated with inspirational or humorous text,[4] often written in a Devon dialect,[2] and thus known as **Devon mottoware**.[5] Some items were produced in Cornish dialect, for "export" to, and sale in, Cornwall.[5] Novelty items with no functional use were also produced, but are rarer.[4]

The first pottery, the "Watcombe Terra Cotta Clay Company"[3] (later [Watcombe Pottery](/source/Watcombe_Pottery); acquired in 1901 by the nearby [Aller Vale Pottery](/source/Aller_Vale_Pottery)), was established in 1875 by G. J. Allen, after he discovered a particularly fine [clay](/source/Clay) in the grounds of [Watcombe House](/source/Watcombe_House).[3][4][6]

Other potteries included the [Longpark Pottery](/source/Longpark_Pottery) (1883; originally the "Longpark China and Terracotta Works"[6]), in the Long Park district, which closed in 1957;[7] Lemon & Crute; Torquay Terra-Cotta Company; and the St. Marychurch Pottery.[3]

Notable potters included [Blanche Georgiana Vulliamy](/source/Blanche_Georgiana_Vulliamy).

A Torquay Pottery Collectors' Society, established in 1976, encourages the study and collection of such wares.[1] The society organised an exhibition, "Torquay Pottery: A Local Story" at [Newton Abbot Town Museum](/source/Newton_Abbot_Town_Museum) in 2001.[8] a North American Torquay Society was formed in 1990, for the same purpose.[9]

## References

1. ["Website for collectors of Torquay Pottery"](https://torquaypottery.info/). Retrieved 24 March 2020.

1. ["Torquay Potteries"](http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=91). *Studio Pottery*. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

1. ["Torquay Pottery"](https://antiqueshoppefl.com/archives/gkline/torquay.htm). *The Antique Shoppe*. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

1. ["Westpoint 32"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b3psyr). No. 8. Bargain Hunt. Episode 8. [BBC Television](/source/BBC_Television). 24 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

1. ["Torquay Devon Mottoware"](http://studiovaluations.co.uk/torquay-devon-mottoware/). *Studio Valuations*. 11 September 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

1. ["Potteries in Torquay area"](https://torquaypottery.info/about/potteries-in-torquay-area). Torquay Pottery Collectors' Society. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

1. ["Longpark Torquay Ware"](http://www.gunnsgallery.co.uk/artists/357/longpark-torquay-ware). *Gunns Gallery*. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

1. *Torquay Pottery: A Local Story: An Exhibition At The Newton Abbot Town Museum Opened Jointly By Mr Ian Green*. Torquay Pottery Collectors' Society. 2001.

1. ["Torquay Pottery"](https://torquaypottery.org/). The North American Torquay Society. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

### Further reading

- Lloyd Thomas, David & Lloyd Thomas, E. (1978). *The Old Torquay Potteries, from Castle to Cottage*. Stockwell. ASIN B004WYQW9I.
- Violet, Andy (2004). *Artisans of the Torquay Potteries*. revised, 2nd ed. Torquay Pottery Collectors' Society. ISBN 978-0951508978.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Torquay pottery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torquay_pottery) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torquay_pottery?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.