
Photos by Tom Cotter
Sometimes from tragedy is born beauty. Following the great Potato Famine in the 1840s, John Caldwell Bloomfield decided to help the populace on the Castle Caldwell Estate along River Erne at the village of Belleek, Northern Ireland. He had found pottery and china quality materials and identified peat, water power, and available labor on the Caldwall Estate around 1850. Bloomfield sought capital and expertise to provide jobs and income on the estate. Through a chance meeting with Robert Williams Armstrong, a London architect, inventor, and ceramics aficionado, he found a willing co-conspirator. Armstrong partnered with Dublin investor and Caldwell friend David McBirney, brought English potters to supervise and train personnel, and designed and built the famous Belleek factory. Armstrong also arranged a train line to bring coal for kilns and remove finished products. While initial products starting about 1857 were primarily porous, lower temperature-fired earthenware, such as telegraph insulators, shaving mugs, kitchenware, and so on, in 1863 Belleek began producing its famous Parian porcelain/china, as well as high-fired stoneware. The kaolin-based porcelain became the hallmark
of the factory. A series of marks accompanied products from then until the present. (photo 1) Despite periodic financial difficulties beginning with the death of the founding partners in the 1880s after which locals bought the factory, Belleek has been a grand and gorgeous Irish tradition, weathering wars and downturns. Unique pieces have been designed and produced for royalty in Great Britain and other nobility particularly following a gold medal at the 1856 Dublin Exposition. Exports to the United States, Canada, and Australia ensued. The process has changed little in 150 years. Starting with mixed Parian raw materials (“China clay, feldspar, ground flint glass, frit, and water…”)1 the “slip” is poured into plaster of paris molds. Set up for a given time, each piece is removed from its mold, “fettled” which clarifies the pattern, trims excess, and adds extra parts (handles, spouts, lids, etc.), then dried and sent to a biscuit kiln. Initially biscuit firing at ~1,200o C for about 6 hours precedes scouring (inspecting and cleaning), dipping in a nacreous glaze, gloss kiln firing at ~1,000o C for a mother-of-pearl finish, painting and decorating, enamel kiln firing at 650-750o C, inspecting, trademarking, wrapping, and warehousing. This is a minimum six days in process; additional time is necessary for baskets and flowered pieces. Though labor-intensive and time-consuming, Belleek craftsmen create some of the most delicate, stunning porcelain in the world.



Holy Water fonts, crosses, and other religious items are available, along with a series of Christmas plates. Vases appear in an amazing variety of forms and sizes. (picture 5) Candlesticks, jugs, flower pots, and center pieces can be sought out. Of course, as noted earlier, there is an active Belleek website for current production and information. Periods from 1926 through 1980 contain in the trademark the words “DEANTA IN EIREANN” (made in Ireland). May it continue so.
(Bibliography available upon request at rmdgs.com) Footnotes: 1 Richard K. Degenhart, Belleek, The Complete Collector’s Guide and Illustrated Reference, Second Edition, p. 48, 1993 2 ibid, p 57.
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