source:Grace’s guide
Like many potteries, Candy and Co Ltd, of Newton Abbot, in Devon, were best known as tile manufacturers.
In their early years, Candy and Co were also famous for their extremely hard ornamental bricks – they won several large contracts for both bricks, which were used by the government in dock construction, and for their tiles, used by the London General Omnibus Co in their new bus stations.
1850 Candy and Co was established by Frank Candy; operated as a tile manufactory[1].
1875 Company founded by Frank Candy.
c.1880 sold to J. Howard Fox (age 16??? elsewhere states ‘around 1887’)
One of Devon’s largest miners and suppliers of ball clay to the pottery industry, Devon and Courtenay Clay Co Ltd was a subsidiary.
During the next few decades, Candy tiles, marketed as ‘Devon Tiles’, were being used in the new houses being built in the suburban building boom and many porches, kitchens and fireplaces were decorated in tiles of green, buff and blue ‘Art’ glazes.
WWI Manufactured porous stoneware pots for the wet batteries used in British submarines[3], which led to making domestic ware.
c.1916 Domestic earthenware and ornamental and art pottery was introduced under the nameWescontree Ware. These were slip-cast domestic wares including the jugs, bowls, vases, lamp bases etc.
1922 Candy launched their Wescontree Ware art pottery range, which included “vases and other articles of household utility and ornament” in a range of glazes – “plain glazed, mottled and metallic finished”. Using expertise gained from the glaze effects achieved in their tile production, the new household pottery was seen to include vases, jugs, bowls, lamp bases, chargers, ashtrays and stick stands. All these were slip-cast in moulds.
1922 British Industries Fair Advert for “Wescontree” Ware. Decorative Pottery of Speciality Glaze Effects. Made solely in Devonshire. Also: the Famed “Devon” Fire, Glazed Wall and Hearth Tiles, Glazed Bricks, and Terra-Cotta Goods. (Stand No. G.16)
1936 The Wescontree name was changed to Candy Ware and a new range of hand thrown shapes with new glazes were introduced.
Over the next 15 years these hand thrown and hand decorated wares evolved from the strong Art Deco shapes and glazes of the 1930s into contemporary 1950s designs, with more simple shapes and plain glazes.
1937 Listed Exhibitor – British Industries Fair. Manufacturers of the “The Devon Fire” Faience and Tile Fireplaces, Wall Tiling and Floor Quarries. Also Candy Ware Hand Thrown Pottery in a variety of coloured glazed effects. (Stand Nos. B.607 and B.506)
WWII Production of art ware ceased but was resumed briefly before closing in the 1950s
1950s Candy and Co closed down the Art Pottery. This had always been a small part of the total production at the factory, and the closure was due mainly to the installation of a new tile kiln, (a Dressler tunnel). The Art Pottery had been useful in the past as a ‘filler’ in the old static kilns, but this new kiln was based on a conveyor system and therefore there was no need to fill voids. The business concentrated on the manufacture of tiles.
From fireplace tiles, the company moved into the new market for bathroom and kitchen tiles and the company continued until the 1990s when, after receivership, the business was sold and sold again.
Source: Pottery Histories
CANDY & CO. LTD
1850–1998
A tile maker and earthenware manufacturer at the Great Western Pottery, Heathfield, Newton Abbot, Devon. Candy & Co. was established by Frank Candy in 1850 and operated as a tile manufactory until sold to J. Howard Fox in about 1880. The Fox family remained in control of the business until at least the 1950s. The Candy & Co. Ltd business entered receivership in 1991 and was subsequently sold to new owners. Further ownership changes followed and production ceased in November 1998 and the pottery was demolished shortly afterward.
Candy & Co. was a large-scale manufacturer of tiles, glazed bricks, and other architectural and industrial ceramics throughout its life, rivaling companies in the Staffordshire Potteries. It was also the parent company of the Devon & Courtenay Clay Co. Ltd, one of Devon’s largest miners and suppliers of ball clay to the pottery industry. Ornamental tiled fireplaces were an important Candy line meeting a demand stimulated by public interest in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ and ‘Art Nouveau’ styles of the late-19th and early 20th century. Tiled fireplaces were still listed as an important product in a 1952 profile published in the Pottery Gazette. Kitchen and bathroom tiles for the post-war housing boom dominate manufacture in the 1960s and beyond.
Domestic earthenware and ornamental and art pottery was introduced from about 1916 under the name ‘Wescontree Ware’. According to an article in the Pottery Gazette (Vol. 77 pages 1755-56) the domestic ware followed the company’s manufacture of porous stoneware pots required for the wet batteries used in British submarines in the First World War. These were slip-cast domestic wares including the usual jugs, bowls, vases, lamp bases etc were described in a contemporary publication as ‘articles of household utility and ornament’ and decorated with ‘plain, mottled and metallic’ decorative glazes developed in course of the tile business.
Production of hand-thrown art ware was started in the mid-1930s and these attractive Art Deco influenced wares were sold under the trade name ‘Candy Ware’, and by 1939 were being sold through the London shops such as Liberty & Co., and for export. Production of art ware ceased during the Second World War but was resumed briefly before closing in the 1950s when the business returned full time to the manufacture of tiles. The art ware of Candy & Co. Ltd is little known and probably under-rated by collectors.
The company used the trade names ‘Wescontree Ware and Candy Ware and these names form the basis of most marks. The initials ‘N A’ for Newton Abbot appear on many wares.
Reference
Turner, I. N. (2000). Candy Art Pottery. Hillian Press, Derbyshire.
Pottery Gazette (1952), Volume 77, pages 1755-56.
One Response
I have some old candy tiles with a farm worker designs on them. How do I find more about them.