Topic: Ambleside pottery

[Sue C]

Ambleside Pottery George Frederick Cook, the potters wheel studio.

[antiquerose123]

    Nice Sue....

[Tigerchips]

OMG, I was just going to post a piece of Ambleside pottery (before this post was here) this evening but I had to go out before i could finish it. 

(I've just noticed I've already got an Ambleside topic, will have to delete that one)

[Sue C]

Dont do that Tony, i should have looked for it.

[Tigerchips]

Me too, well yours was better anyway. 

I'm not sure if mine is suposed to have a lid on it or not. 

[Sue C]

Maybe Tony, but it is nice too, maybe you could find a plain black one to compliment it         

[Anne]

Is this Ambleside in Cumbria, or am I making the wrong connection? 

[Sue C]

That's right Anne,, Ambleside in Cumbria here is the web site http://fp.armitt.plus.com/ambleside_pottery.htm

[Anne]

Thanks Sue, that's why I didn't know it. It closed in the early 80's which is when I was down in London, and before I really got into pottery. 

The website is the Armitt Trust which is the Ambleside Museum/Gallery and which records all aspects of local history (including oral history - fascinating stuff.)

Incidentally, the photos on that page are by the late Jill Aldersley who was a well-known Lake District artist and who worked as a painter at the Ambleside Pottery in the 1970s. [Source: http://www.jillaldersley.f9.co.uk/intro.html]

[Tigerchips]

Me too, well yours was better anyway. 

I'm not sure if mine is supposed to have a lid on it or not. 

http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=120388941614

It's mean't to have a wooden lid. 

 

[Anne]

Well at least you know now, TC. We'll have to keep our eyes open for a spare lid for you.

[antiquerose123]

Very, very pretty pieces.  Is the design the exactly the same?  ( to make a set?)

[Anne]

Mark Hill is a lover of Ambleside Pottery too - he has a story about a recently acquired Ambleside fish http://markhillpublishing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/AmblesideFish.jpg on his website here: http://markhillpublishing.co.uk/?p=2632

[Saz_12345]

My grandfather bought the pottery from George Cook in 1968, he and my father continued the business along with other staff, we have a large collection at both my grandfathers house and my parents, including a fish like the one in the link above!

[Anne]

Saz, welcome to the board, and thank you for adding more about Ambleside Pottery. I would love to see more of the pieces produced there if you have pics you could share with us please?  Even though I live in Cumbria I never see any Ambleside Pottery amongst all the stuff I see at boot fairs and charity shops, which is disappointing for someone trying to find out what they made.

Were your grandfather and father potters elsewhere before they bought the business? It's always interesting to know the background as often there are similarities or influences from the pottery where a potter learned his or her craft.