Rye Pottery

At Rye Castle Museum you can see, on show, the largest collection of pottery made in Rye. Our display does change over time, but we have examples of medieval pottery made in Rye, some of which is displayed in the Tower, and then early Cadborough Ware, made in the 1840's.

From this the exhibition moves on to the famous hopware made at the Bellevue Pottery, in Ferry Road, and now the home of Rye Pottery. You can see examples of early and late hopware and also the famous Sussex Pig, with its detatchable head. These were often inscribed as Rustic Sussexware, or just Sussexware and cover the period from 1869 - 1920, when the pottery was owned by the Mitchell family. There is some Bognor pottery, which kept the hopware tradition alive for a while and was made by after the war by Frederick Masters, who trained at the Rye Pottery. He started work in Bognor in the late 1940's but had finished by 1960. There are pieces made in the 1920's and '30's, when the pottery was owned by Mrs. Ella Mills, and these include some bronze style items and delightful lustre miniatures.

After the last War, the factory was bought by Wally and Jack Cole. Wally Cole was one of the great art potters of the post-war period, and recognised as such world-wide. There are many examples of his work and also of his son, Tarquin, was runs the factory today. Contemporary Rye Pottery is also displayed and their commemorative ware. Wally Cole received an MBE in 1982 for his services to craft pottery.

The Museum also exhibits work by the other Potteries in Rye, David Sharp Pottery, Iden Pottery and Cinque Ports Pottery. David Sharp and Dennis Townsend were apprentices at Rye Pottery with Wally Cole and later formed their own potteries, Cinque Ports Potteries and Iden Pottery: the latter closed in 2002. Cinque Ports Pottery was established in 1956 by George Gray and David Sharp but in 1964 their pertnership was dissolved and David Sharp established his own business.

There are on show some delightful pieces made by David Sharp in the 1950's and Cinque Ports Pottery from the 1950's and 1960's. During 2005 the Museum has a small retrospective exhibition of David Sharp's work from the 1960's onwards, kindly loaned by Dot Sharp and Ben Sharp.