Limekiln Lane (also known as Cow Lane), St Augustine’s parish.
Summary of operating dates and proprietors
| 1734-1739 | William Pottery. |
The pottery closed.
In the land tax return for March to September 1734 William Pottery was paying tax on a pottery in Limekiln Lane which, in the return for 1734/35, was referred to as ‘Mr Pottery’s New Pothouse & dwelling ho’. This was the Limekiln Lane Pottery 2. However it only existed for a short period of time, as it was described as ‘void’ in the land tax return for March 1739 to March 1740. The pottery does not seem to have operated subsequently and William Pottery died in June 1742.
Wares produced
Tin-glazed earthenwares.
Finds of waste pottery and kiln material
There have been a number of finds of kiln waste from the area of the Limekiln Lane Potteries, although it has not been possible to determine which of the two potteries they came from:
Pountney, W.J. 1920. Old Bristol Potteries. Bristol. In note 13, p.xxxii.
In 1920 Pountney recorded that when buildings were being erected on the site of the Limekiln Lane potteries the workmen removed much soil containing saggars, drug jars and other vessels, and used this material to fill a quarry on the south side of Brandon Hill.
Maxwell, H.W. 1939. Recent excavations in Bristol. Transactions of the English Ceramic Circle 2.7, 115-119.
In 1939 Maxwell published details of his excavations at a site on Brandon Hill which was described as being south-west of the quarry mentioned by Pountney (see above). He uncovered large quantities of wasters which were found close to the surface. He felt that the wasters had been dumped on the surface of the hill at the back of the potteries and had become covered with a thin layer of soil washed down the hill.
Lipski, L.L. 1969. Dated English delftware. Transactions of the English Ceramic Circle 7.2, 149.
Lipski refers to digging being undertaken on Brandon Hill after 1948 and he was given the finds from that work when he excavated the same site a few years later.
Fowler, P.J. (ed.) 1973. Archaeological review for 1972. Bristol. p.61.
In 1972, during re-seeding of the southern slopes of Brandon Hill, considerable quantities of kiln furniture and wasters were found and recovered. Apparently two sherds of soft paste porcelain dating c.1700-1740 were found at the same time.
(HER no. 2).
Potter, K. 2006. Archaeological watching brief at Brandon Hill, Clifton, Bristol. Bristol and Region Archaeological Services unpublished report no. 1599/2006. Appendix 3: The tin-glazed earthenware kiln waste by Reg Jackson.
An assemblage of tin-glazed earthenware kiln waste was recovered from a cable trench during a watching brief on Brandon Hill. There were 71 fragments of kiln shelves, 14 girder fragments, cylindrical saggars, some with triangular side openings, and sherds of vessels including cauldron-type containers, bowls, plates, an urn-shaped vase, mugs and jugs. The waste was thought to date to after about 1720.
(HER no. 4274; BRSMG accession no. 2006/11).