Honiton Pottery

Charles Henry Fletcher Collard started as an apprentice to John Phillips, who established and ran the Aller Vale Art Pottery near Newton Abbot until he died in 1897.

Charles Collard left the Aller Vale Pottery in 1902 and worked in a few other potteries before starting his own in Poole, Dorset. He traded under the name Charles Collard & Co. Ltd; this was changed in March 1905 to the Crown Dorset Art Pottery.

The Crown Dorset Art Pottery’s original designs and varying decor meant that it built up a strong domestic market, as well as a successful export business to places such as Australia and Hong Kong. In 1910 the company won a Gold Medal at the International Brussels Exhibition and in 1911 Collard won another Gold at the Turin Exhibition.

Charles sold the Crown Dorset Pottery to George Paine in 1915 and acquired the Honiton Pottery in the early 1920s. The output was initially similar to that of the Crown Dorset Pottery, but Collard’s flair helped them develop their style.

The pottery was forced to reduce production during the Second World War, with limited exports and simple, undecorated wares produced for the domestic market. The pottery reopened in October of 1945, and by 1947 Charles Collard had retired.

The pottery was sold in 1947 to Norman Hull and Harry Barratt who had come from the Staffordshire potteries. By 1951 they had modernised the works, installing electric kilns and using moulded wares.

In 1961, a stake in the pottery was sold to Paul Redvers, who over the years brought in notable designers such as David Harris, Louise Pryor, and Jane Willingale.

The pottery closed in 1997, with the name and equipment being purchased by Dartmouth Pottery.