The Wheel Stops Turning

Rescued from a cinema in Derbyshire, a can of film labelled "A Primitive Pottery in Dorset" has found its way home. Collaborating with Penny Copland-Griffiths, who presents this video, and her colleagues from the Verwood and District Potteries Trust, Trilith produced this 1917 film of Crossroads Pottery, Verwood, Dorset, together with interviews with Fred Thorne, the last "boy" to be taken on at the pottery, potter John Leach whose grandfather Bernard created the studio pottery movement in Britain, and a section dealing with the archaeological dig in 2000, prior to the last traces of the pottery being buried under a car park. Penny Copland-Griffiths brings the fruits of 30 years of research to this production. Produced, shot and edited by John Holman. This video is now posted on Transition Vision's Heritage Channel.

[@guywolff]

For years I had seen the photos of Verwood and the young man helping the lone potter in the kiln and am so happy to hear some of his story . The film work at the end is very important stuff and I am so glad this is out in the world.. I will put as many links as I can to this clip ! So very thankful to you !! The Verwood pots are very Recognizable and that in itself is a very big compliment .. Yours Guy Wolff .

[@xenophilie]

The pottery stop-motion at 27:30 is great!

[@grahamtaylor6980]

A wonderful resource for pottery historians and researchers.

[@pufferdady]

Great stuff!! I can't get enough of the old footage of the potteries. I think there is so much to learn from them. Thanks for the video! Thanks for the link Guy!

[@fraserdonachie5792]

... really fascinating. Penny mentions “pots for acoustic purposes” [11:30] so I wonder what she meant by that. It also struck me, for the first time, that these East Dorset potteries never seemed to produce ‘mugs’ - or maybe they did but, being so useful, none survived. Mugs are now a staple part of any craft potter’s output, so the lack of a Verwood mug seems baffling. Anyway, many thanks for sharing this ... and the music was great ...

[@fraserdonachie5792]

... answering my own question re. acoustic pots ... see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_jar

[@gillianmcmillan7055]

So happy to have come across this video. There's a nice book on the subject "Dorset Country Pottery: The kilns of the Verwood district" by Jo Draper with Penny Copland-Griffiths. The Crowood Press 2002

[@Neldidellavittoria]

Lovely video, but it's all very sad.

[@kennedy20007]

Strange to think all these guys are dead.