Lowestoft Porcelain is renowned and prized by collectors across the world. Last made in the Eighteenth Century at the Lowestoft China Factory, the majority of Lowestoft Porcelain consisted of ordinary domestic wares designed to meet the needs of a middle class clientele. The Factory also produced ornamental items and commemorative ware for their local customers, for the London market and for the tourists who visited the town in the summer season.
The clay used at the Lowestoft Factory was found at nearby Gunton in the 1750s. In 1757 four partners, Walker, Browne, Obed Aldred and John Richman, converted premises on the south of Bell Lane, now known as Crown Street, into a pottery. A kiln was built and the factory began its life of more than forty years, longer than any other eighteenth-century English porcelain factory apart from those at Derby and Worcester.
The factory closed down at the end of the century, but the fame of their product lingers on and the remaining examples of Lowestoft Porcelain are very valuable. Currently the most extensive collections available to view are at the Lowestoft Museum, Broad House, Oulton Broad and at the Norwich Museum.
In the year 2000 porcelain was once again being produced in Lowestoft. All the pieces are hand painted. The new pieces are based on the designs of two hundred years ago. There are now new designs and striking patterns.
You can find Lowestoft Porcelain at Redgrave House, 10 Battery Green Road, Lowestoft Tel: 01502 572940 or visit their website at www.lowestoftporcelain.com
