A section of the cornice of the Royal Albert Hall, London, showing evidence of moss

growth in open joints, and discoloration of blocks following grit blasting. Badly split

cornice blocks have been cut away prior to replacement.

land were used to create the buff or pale red blocks as found on Sutton Place, Surrey, Hampton Court or the church monuments in East Anglia. The revival of terracotta in the late 18th centurywas dominated by Coade stone made in Lambeth, London, from 1769. China clay was used to create a highly durable stoneware, called artificial stone and intended to be mistaken for high quality limestone. Coade stone can be identified by its maker’s stamp, its smooth texture and through checking the gazetteer, covering the whole of Britain and the colonies, researched and published by Alison Kelly.2 There is far greater potential for confusion with architectural dressings and garden ornaments dating to the early 19th century. Some of Coade’s competitors produced artificial stones which were moulded in clay while others were based on cement, mixing ground limestone and casting it to produce vases, statues and rockeries. Just to add to the complexity, a couple of firms, for example James Putham of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, produced both ceramic and cement based artificial stones.

True clay-based terracottas dominated from the mid-l9th century, partially due to outbursts against ‘dishonest’ sham materials from the Ecciesiologists and, later, from members of the Arts and Crafts movement. Buff terracottas were widely used in the cultural centre of South Kensington during the 1860s, for the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Albert Hall, and on the Natural History Museum in the following decade. Widespread appreciation of these buildings resulted in terracotta being adopted for many provincial art schools. Close study of the mouldings and sculptural decoration shows that textures, colours and modelling vary widely, influenced as much by the manufacturer, whether Blanchard of Bishops Waltham, Blashlield of Stamford, or Doulton of Lambeth, as the designers involved. Each firm used different clays, different types of kiln and highly individualist modellers.

By the 1880s the bulk of British terracotta was being made on the coaffields of the Midlands and the North, from clays brought out of mines and fired with the coal with which theywere geologically associated. Curiously, the

rapid growth of the industry and the use of railways for delivery did not result in any nationwide standardisation, but more of a vernacular relationship between manufacturer and local architect. It is always worth being aware of such regional ties, partly so that one can also appreciate the significance of the prestigious exceptions where material was transported by rail from many miles away. The red terracotta used for libraries and schools in Birmingham came from Ruabon in north Wales. The same firms also supplied many contracts in Cheshire, though John Douglas tended to buildup his designs in smaller solid blocks. On the other side of the Pennines, Leeds architects were more likely to collaborate with the major manufacturer in Leeds: Wilcocks (later titled Burmantofts), which specialised in producing an orangey buff material. There are other more localised and hence highly distinctive outbursts of terracotta on other parts of England:

red Tudor style window mouldings and chimney stacks in Norfolk made by Gunton of Costessey, salmon-coloured ware made by Doulton for apartments in London, and grey dressings for villas and terraces around Bournemouth made by Jennings of Poole. Given that the terracotta on a particular building may have been discoloured and abraded by soiling and cleaning it is always worth looking out for comparable work and checking surviving trade catalogues before agreeing to a particular colour, texture and type of modelling for any replacement work.

This regional pattern was shaken up by the introduction of faience for

external facades and the emergence of new producers in the last years of the 19th century. Frost-proof glazes could be applied most readily to buff- burning glazes. Doulton, Burmantofts and Carter of Poole prospered while the Ruabon firms, such asJ C Edwards, drifted into decline. One might think that glazes made for greater uniformity, and hence make for easier decisions concerning cleaning and re-manufacture. In practice, firms offered a multitude of finishes, such as semi-clear vitreous glazes, matt glazes, combed surfaces, and mottled granite effects. It can be extremely difficult to identify whether blocks were initially glazed, or finished with clay slips, once they have been cleaned several times and even given a shiny anti-graffiti coating.3

During the l93Os, faience was used in bright jade green and orange colours for cinemas and chain-stores. Historians have tended to see the Odeon cinema as the swansong of British terracotta, but there was a further revival in the 1950s. Oversized tiles were given abstract low relief patterns in pale blue and lemon colours. In the following decade architects followed the example of Le Corbusier in applying plain white tiles to structural concrete. Shaws of Darwen dominated this market with its Twintiles. The company supplied several prestigious complexes designed byYorke, Rosenberg and Mardall, most notably St Thomas’ Hospital, London, and most notoriously, given the area of tiling that fell away after little more than a year, the new campus for the University of Warwick. Ingress of moisture and differential shrinkage

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