• Torquay's Famous Potters
    29/01/2010

    As Torre Abbey re-opens for the 2010 season a new display of Torquay's famous Watcombe Pottery will form the centre-piece of one of the permanent collection's galleries.  

    Sarah Bagnall preparing for the new display
    Watcombe Pottery was founded in 1869 after the discovery of a seam of fine clay in the estate of Watcombe, once owned by I.K. Brunel. The pottery established its reputation with finely moulded pieces of terracotta, winning prizes and international acclaim.  The earlier pieces are noted as superior in quality, and were manufactured from the finest red clay.

     Torre Abbey has a collection of about eighty pieces, which were donated in 1981 by Mr Brian Edmund Reade.  The Abbey’s Keeper of Art, Amelia Marriette, has selected nine pieces from the collection to show.  “These are very fine examples of their kind. Although the pottery is locally made from local clay, the subjects, patterns and decoration fit into national and international interest. So, Shakespeare is an example of a world figure, and The Bather is an example of popular figure in the art world throughout the 18 and 19th Centuries.”

    Watcombe was influenced by many genres and styles, but in the end they are all tied together with the distinctive red terracotta which is so redolent of the English Riviera.

    Torre Abbey is open daily, except Mondays, throughout February and every day from March.

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