The Terracotta Industry: its Distribution,Manufacturing Processes and Products

Abstract

This article considers the industrial aspects of the revival of terracotta and faience as architectural materials during the last two hundred years. It demonstrates how the distribution and development of the industry, and the nature of the terracotta produced, relates closely to clay geology. The transition from using younger clays found in the south-west of England through to exploiting clays from the Coal Measures explains the emergence of new firms able to mass-produce large, brightly coloured blocks on an extensive scale. In examining the technology of manufacture it is apparent that the basic processes changed little during the course of the revival, but that skills in making models and moulds in plaster and in applying glazes were fundamental to the decorative qualities of terracotta and faience architecture.