Robert & Rosemary Melville, Prawle and Keswick Potteries

Just got hold of this wonderful charger at around 14" which is impressed 'PRAWLE' and signed RM '72 on the reverse. It is such a fantastic piece and very much of its time, but I can find literally nothing on Prawle pottery. Does anybody know anything about them. Who is RM? and with work such as this, why is there no info or more stuff by them out there?? I would really appreciate any info, and does anybody have anything else by them?

Can we have a picture of the reverse, please.

Yeah, reckon it must be as there is a Prawle down near Salcombe in South Hams area. Very nice area down there it is too!

There are some other Prawle pieces on ebay which have a more classic Devon studio pottery look to them and a plate stamped Prawle and signed Robert Melville . I expect this plate is a one-of-a-kind by the potter

Nice neat piece of tinglaze with Aldermastonish decoration. Can't find anything about it beyond what's in the pleasantly unambiguous mark, and an example of the same pattern on Ebay.

I have a previously unidentified version, with markings indicating a Devon connection:




Working with the "Melville Prawle" and "Devon England" markings I was not able to find anything. Now with the Robert Melville connection it is apparent that Prawle is a place in Devon where he and Rosemary Mellville had a studio (at least in the 70s). If you Google "Prawle" you'll see there are a number of Prawle Pottery items on Ebay etc.

Haven't been able to find any other info about the Melvilles or the Prawle Pottery, though there is a photo of it on the East Prowle Historical Society website (its at the bottom of the page):

http://www.eastprawlehistorysociety.co.uk/Buildings/buildings-thumbnails.html

Edited to add: 2017 post on the eastprawlehistorysociety website, reminiscing about Prawle, that mentions a grocery shop on the Green which became the pottery.

Interesting. I wonder if he was at Keswick before or after Prawle.

First post today, greetings everyone. I'm almost sure this is Robert Melville the art teacher at the secondary modern school in Fleet in Hampshire. He left in 1970 for a life in pottery somewhere in Devon. I was curious about him and his work so thanks for the heads-up. He was/is quite an active talent in all aspects of art including oil painting, as a artist of many skills he was the real deal. He also played clarinet in a trad jazz band. Your pottery photographs look a familiar styling to work I remember in his art class so hopefully he is the same guy.

Nice to hear first hand accounts about the potters behind the pots

I have just joined the forum and can tell you more about Robert William Melville and Prawle Pottery. He was the art teacher at Court Moor School in Fleet Hampshire and left to set up a pottery in Prawle South Devon.
RM and the stamp of a dove is his signature. He trained as a graphic artist at Liverpool and often incorporated strong drawings of birds or women in his chargers using cobalt on tin glaze. The charger shown here is definitely his work. He was a prolific artisr in clay/painting/glass etching and print. He left Prawle and set up in Keswick(he was a Lancashire man and a jazz musician) in the late 70's.

Wonderful info. Many thanks for sharing