Belleek Porcelain Pottery 1857 History & Reception Area
We're back staying in the luxury of the fabulous Manor House Country Hotel. Out and about we drive along lower Lough Erne to Belleek Pottery, have a cuppa, take in the museum, have a guided tour of the factory and dander round the gift shop. This visit was the highlight of our Fermanagh mini break, a real treat. Don't you miss it!
Belleek Pottery Ltd is a porcelain company that began trading in 1884 as the Belleek Pottery Works Company Ltd in Belleek, County Fermanagh. Today the factory employs around 50 skilled workers, many who have been there for three decades and more! The pottery museum contains pieces dating back to when the pottery was started in 1857. Belleck lays claim to be the oldest working pottery on the whole island of Ireland. History Pottery in Belleek began around 1849, after John Caldwell Bloomfield inherited his father's estate. Seeking to provide employment for his tenants, who had been affected by the Irish potato famine and, being an amateur mineralogist, ordered a geological survey of his land. He found that the local area was rich in minerals particularly Feldspar. Fieldspar was a vital ingredient for glassmaking and hard durable ceramics. Bloomfield, realizing the potential, went into partnership with London architect Robert Williams Armstrong and Dublin merchant David McBirney. To help things along Bloomfield managed to get a railway line built to Belleek so that coal could be delivered with which to fire kilns. Building started on the pottery in 1858. Initially starting with domestic products. It wasn't until 1863 that small amounts of the Parian porcelain for which Belleek is famous for was successfully produced. By 1865, the prestige of the company had increased enough that its market included Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, and the United States, and customers included the Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria and the nobility. Eugene Sheerin (Artist & Poet) worked as an artist at Belleek pottery late 19th century. One of his paintings Innocence (1879) of a young mother and child executed on a Belleek plate is on display at the Royal Victoria & Albert museum London.