Belleek Pottery: The local business with worldwide status celebrating 160th anniversary

First established in 1857 to provide much-needed employment for local people in the wake of the potato famine, Belleek Pottery has since become a world-renowned brand.

The oldest working pottery in Ireland, the Fermanagh-based company has been making fine china and exporting it around the world for more than 16 decades.

And perhaps unusually in this age of globalisation, it still has a Fermanagh man at the helm, in the shape of managing director John Maguire.

Local historian and author, Joe O’Loughlin, said the pottery had been “good for the village and good for the people”.

He said: “Belleek is a word in Webster’s Dictionary, and that refers to the product rather than the village. It has brought a lot of money into the local economy through the years, through the workers and the visitors.”

Praising the “good influence” of the pottery, Mr O’Loughlin added: “Ordinary boys and girls in the village were turned into highly-skilled tradespeople able to turn out really beautiful items. We’re not lacking in good brains!”

The driving force behind the establishment of the pottery was John Caldwell Bloomfield, who inherited the Castlecaldwell estate – which encompassed the village of Belleek – from his father in 1849.

Mindful of the plight of his tenants in the aftermath of the potato famine he sought to provide some form of worthwhile employment.

An amateur mineralogist, he ordered a geological survey of his land. To his delight it revealed the necessary raw materials to make pottery - feldspar, kaolin, flint, clay and shale.

Belleek was a natural choice to locate the business, especially the part of the village known as Rose Isle.

This small isle provided the best opportunity to unleash the as-yet-untamed power of the River Erne - power to drive a mill wheel strong enough to grind components into ‘slip’, the term applied to liquid potters’ clay.

To commemorate 160 years of continuous production at the pottery, items from the archives are being reproduced as a special, limited edition collection.

The 16 pieces, one from each decade of production, have been chosen to illustrate the unique creativity of Belleek craftspeople across its history.

Belleek Pottery Group managing director, Mr Maguire, said: “There are very few businesses that survive to celebrate 160 years in continuous operation. It is perhaps even more remarkable that a small pottery in the remote north west of Ireland that was established to provide much needed employment for local people in the wake of the Irish Potato Famine has gone on to build such a highly-regarded international profile and reputation.

“Belleek continues to be a highly collectible brand and the Archive Collection is being launched to give Belleek collectors the world over the opportunity to own some of the most iconic items ever produced by the company.

“All the items in the collection are handcrafted in Belleek, reproduced using the original drawings and moulds by craftspeople, many of whose parents, grandparents and even great-great grandparents worked in the pottery.”

Among the products included in the collection are the ‘Group of Greyhounds’ figurine, ‘The Henshall Handled Basket’ and ‘The Round Tower Centrepiece’.

The ‘Group of Greyhounds’, representing the decade from 1857 to 1867, was designed by Reverend Halahan Dunbar, a good friend of Robert Armstrong, one of the founders of Belleek Pottery. There are 20 separate moulds used in the production of this figurine.

The ‘Henshall Handled Basket’, representing the decade 1887 to 1897, is named after William Henshall, who came to Belleek in 1867 bringing the skills and art of porcelain basket and flower making.

Over the next 40 years he designed over 20 different baskets. The Henshall Handled Basket features 60 leaves, 40 pips and buds and 29 flowers, all handmade, hand-applied and hand-painted.

One of the most iconic pieces in the collection is the ‘Round Tower Centrepiece’ representing the decade from 1897 to 1907.

This piece was designed in the latter part of the 19th century. It is based on the Belleek trademark and may have been made originally as an exhibition piece as it is not shown in any early catalogues.

It was rediscovered in the early 1980s and head modeller Hugh Gallagher was able to find all the mould parts and reassemble the piece.

From the pottery’s early beginnings, all Belleek Parian China pieces have been back stamped with the distinctive Belleek trademark.

The earliest products, known as First Mark Belleek, were stamped with a black trade mark and each piece in the 2017 Archive Collection will be back stamped with a specially designed 160th Anniversary trade mark, also in black.

As part of the ongoing celebrations, Belleek Pottery’s visitor centre is holding a series of events throughout this year.

Patricia McCauley, the visitor centre’s manager, said: “We wanted to commemorate the 160th anniversary throughout 2017, so we have created a calendar of events linking the 160th theme.

“We have launched the “160th” campaign with a special edition gift for the 160th visitor of 2017 to take our tour.

Then, on the 160th day of the 2017 (June 9) we will have a special celebratory event at the visitor centre and our 1,857th guest will also be presented with a special edition gift during the year.

“In April we will host our Collector Convention and, of course, have events planned for Easter, Hallowe’en and an extra special Christmas event to finish of our year.”

She added: “We would encourage visitors to keep up to date with our activities by visiting our website www. Belleek.ie or visiting our facebook page and look forward to a year of celebration with our local and international visitors.”

Looking to the future, Belleek Pottery has also produced a new collection in collaboration with one of Northern Ireland’s brightest young talents, the emerging ceramics designer Wendy Ward.

Originally from Hillsborough, County Down, but now based in Fermanagh, Wendy has exhibited across the UK and Ireland and her work is represented in the University of Ulster’s Permanent Collection.

She has received a number of awards in recognition for her work.

As part of the pottery’s 160th anniversary, Wendy has designed two vases and a lamp for the Belleek Living ‘Lough’ collection, all inspired by the beautiful Fermanagh countryside.

Each piece in the collection is handcrafted from Belleek porcelain.

While respectful of the rich heritage of the brand, the ‘Lough’ collection aims to bring Belleek Living on trend with contemporary ceramic design as the company looks ahead to the next 160 years.