Litchdon Pottery Including Bottle Kilns And All Buildings On The Site

Litchdon Pottery, including bottle kilns and all buildings on the site

This pottery complex on Litchdon Street in Barnstaple comprises showrooms, warehouses, bottle kilns and associated industrial buildings. The showroom frontage dates from 1886–7 and was designed by WC Oliver of Barnstaple, with a former showroom to the right possibly slightly earlier in date.

The frontage is constructed in pale cream brick with horizontal bands and window arches of red brick, complemented by stone and terracotta detailing. The roofs are slated with crested red ridge tiles, except for the right-hand showroom which is covered with corrugated asbestos. Cream brick chimneys stand on each side wall; the left-hand chimney is decorated with ornamental pots.

The showroom frontage is arranged in two parts. The left-hand range, which is the finer of the two, is a 2-storey structure of 4 windows. To the left are two large display windows with upper glass decorated with foliage and gilt lettering reading "BY APPOINTMENT TO H.M. THE QUEEN" and "BY APPOINTMENT TO H.R.H. PRINCESS CHRISTIAN". A doorway with pointed arch stands on the splayed corner to the right. Across the whole front runs an entablature with coved underside and a frieze of terracotta panels decorated with flowers and foliage. The upper storey contains a mullioned-and-transomed window with coloured glass, with the terracotta frieze continuing below it and terracotta panels decorated with birds and squirrels on either side. Above the window, on the roof, is a goblet with imitation timber framing.

The right-hand range is a 2-window structure at second storey level, with the left-hand window set in the splayed corner. The ground storey has been altered, though a blocked doorway with moulded stone 2-centred arch and rectangular carved stone frame remains on the splay. The 2nd-storey windows are of 2 lights to the left and 3 lights to the right, with chamfered mullions and moulded pointed arches of stone, accompanied by relieving arches of red brick. The arch heads contain red and crack-glazed tiles decorated with flowers and foliage. The 3rd storey has three windows, each of 2 lights with plain stone mullions and a cill-band of glazed blue tiles. A heavily moulded top cornice of stone and brick features imitation mechicolations.

The centre of the site has an archway with a building above, leading to warehouses, two bottle kilns and other industrial buildings arranged in two long wings at the rear. The site extends back to Trinity Street.

The interior of the left-hand showroom retains some original decoration. It may be the showroom refurbished in 1903, featuring a ceiling of "Tynecastle" in Louis XV style and an anaglypta frieze designed by Owen Davies of London, who also designed pottery for Brannam's.

The pottery is documented from at least 1830, possibly from the 17th century. It was acquired before 1840 by the Brannam family, who operated it until 1979. It is now owned by Candy & Co Ltd of Newton Abbot.