Adam's Irish Vernacular 16th April 2024

2 Tuesday 16 April Carrigaline Potteries, founded in 1928 by Hodder Roberts, originated from his vision of utilizing local clay for pottery. From the mid 19th century the Roberts family of Car- rigaline Co. Cork ran corn and flax mills. The mills closed in 1922. Hodder Roberts felt that as bricks were made locally at near- by Ballinphellic - pottery vessels could also be made. The old flax mill was converted and Carrigaline Potteries was opened in the Spring of 1928. Government levies on imported pottery aided Carrigaline’s rise in the Irish market. At its height it was the major employer in the area, with more than 200 workers. In the 1930s, such was the success of the enterprise that clay had to be imported from England to meet the demand for Carrigaline Pottery. There is a collection of Carrigaline Pottery in the Na- tional Museum at Collins Barracks. Coalisland Pottery specialised in slipware, pottery adorned with slip, a cream-like mixture of clay dissolved in water. Typically glazed inside and on top but economically unglazed beneath, they were made in a va- riety of colours. The trailed slipware crocks had looped decoration trailed using a can or a feather, around the inside and some had yellow dots highlighting the rim, over a rich brown glaze. Half glazed earthenware crocks and ‘setting pans’ with their delib- erately wide tops served a multitude of purposes, from washing hands or clothes, to washing vegetables, making dough and were used to cool and set milk, for a day or so before skimming off the cream which was churned to make butter. The crafts- manship and functionality of Coalisland Pottery made it an integral part of daily life in the rural region, reflecting both practi- cality and aesthetic appeal in its designs.