The Verwood and District Potteries Trust

The Verwood Potteries

Up a level


The potteries and their products

The 'Pill' or 'Owl' is a spherical, narrow-mouthed flask. Verwood was the main Dorset pottery-making area, with kilns here from medieval times. The last pottery, at Cross Roads, in the middle of Verwood didn't close down until 1952, and continued to make plain traditional earthenware pots right up to the end. Their most famous product was the Dorset Owl or Costrel - a flask with ear-like lugs, used by labourers for taking cider or cold tea into the fields when working.

Until about 1850 there were at least 12 different potteries in the area, but the memory of the industry has come to be dominated by one single firm - Cross Roads, Verwood - because it survived unti 1952, still making the traditional wares.

Read more about: