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- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000221
- How to cite using this DOI
SURREY ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS
The Henry Doulton & Co Terra Cotta Works 1876â1956: excavations at Hampton House, 20â21 Albert Embankment, Lambeth
ANTHONY MACKINDER and IAN M BETTS
This article presents the results of excavations at Hampton House, 20â21 Albert Embankment, Lambeth, which uncovered buildings, kilns and flues associated with Henry Doultonâs Terra Cotta Works, constructed in 1876â7. In the 1870s, Doulton began to expand their range of terracotta architectural mouldings, and by the 1880s had emerged as the leading manufacturer in London (Stratton 1986, 198). This boom in Doultonâs business was demonstrated in three new buildings: a headquarters building on Black Prince Road, a showroom and offices for the Terra Cotta Works, built on the newly created Albert Embankment. To the south of the Terra Cotta Works offices the circular bases of two downdraught kilns were uncovered, each with a substructural exit flue leading towards a chimney located outside the site. Other flues show the works were modified during their lifetime; originally there were four kilns but by 1892, two smaller ones had been replaced with a third large kiln. It is not known when terracotta was last manufactured on the site, although research shows the lease on the works ran out in 1939. It had been assumed the final clearance of the site was linked to Doulton ceasing all production in London by 1956.
The subsequent demolition of Doultonâs works and the kilns to ground level means that there is no reliable chronological relationship between the finds and the kilns at this site. The most reliable indications of the products used and made at the Terra Cotta Works are the kiln furniture, terracotta, faience and tiles found as wasters in the backfill of flues and demolition deposits. Some demolition material appears to contain a variety of Doulton material from across the site and products of the stoneware pothouse, further to the north. Some fragments of faience, tiles and terracotta are likely to be from the facade and interior of the Doulton offices and showrooms on Albert Embankment, which were built as new offices and also as a showcase for Doultonâs architectural ceramics.
