Dennis Townsend, Iden Pottery Rye Sussex

 I purchased this small jug today, it is 3in tall, I wondered if it was possible to date Rye Pottery from the type of trademark ?

I have a similar mark in my book ,but just says IDEN at the top and Sussex athe bottom , then Iden Pottery, 1961- Townsend, D & Wood, J.H. studio potters( moved from iden to rye in 1963)

Iden Pottery



Post 1978 mark



Pre 1974 mark

Details of Iden to save me typing it  
http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=133

Two hand decorated pin dishes with Iden Rye stamp on the base.

Anyone know if these dishes were decorated (or designed) by Dennis Townsend?

Seems Dennis Townsend set up Iden Rye after being apprenticed at Rye Pottery with David Sharp.

http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=134

For those of you old enough to remember the BBC TV 'Interlude' footage of a potter's wheel, Dennis's hands were the ones throwing the pot.

Naomi he usualy marked his pieces but not always , i feel the Iden factory work is extremely undervalued as they done some quality work , over shadowed by the other Rye pottery a real shame i think.

Yes, definitely undervalued. I always assumed it was the commercial part of Rye Pottery with David Sharp doing the best pieces. How wrong I was!
One of the dishes has a red dot which seems to be Townsend's personal mark.

https://servimg.com/view/17051368/34


The pot is about 5 inches high and is clearly marked as shown on base.

Very pretty. Just getting to know Iden Rye after picking up a couple of pin dishes this month. I believe the mark above the backstamp indicates this is a piece decorated by Dennis Townsend himself.

There's more info here.

http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=134

I'm afraid I can't give an exact date, but my feeling is it's from the 70s.

I don't think there's a name for the design. Wouldn't surprise me if it's a one off piece.
Edited to add, I have a pin dish with this pattern

Hi Dunc,

It is the regular backstamp that was used by the Iden Pottery from 1965 until the late 1970s. The Iden Pottery was started by Dennis Townsend in his home in the village of Iden when he left the Rye Pottery in 1959. This mark was used when they moved to larger premises in Rye and does contain a DT at the centre but that does not mean that it was decorated by Dennis Townsend, as that is on the bottom of every piece.

Occasionally, decorators did initial pieces they had done but these tended to be larger one-off items.

I am not aware of pattern names, as there has not been any detailed research, but the patterns tended to be more colourful, so taking longer to do, earlier rather than later.Therefore I think that your vase is more likely to be from the 1960s rather than 1970s.

Iden Rye lamp base

Colourful small vase:

Couple of recently acquired 60s/70s Iden dishes.

They get more like Poole 49s each time!

NaomiM wrote:One of the dishes has a red dot which seems to be Townsend's personal mark.

Looks like these are Townsend ones, then:

 

 

Two Lovely little vases...i dont think they are Dennis Townsend ?? Any idea of age,pattern

I have also just bought an Iden dish, but mine was from the Hospice charity shop near my mum. I loved the depth of the green glaze but the base and marking looks so clean and fresh I'm struggling to work out how old it is. Would be grateful for any input.

I've seen similar. Most are from the 1960s-70s

Iden Rye decanter

Hand painted cow on large 4pint jug by Steve Duffy, 1992, Iden Rye

Steve Duffy, Iden Rye

Steve Duffy