Primitive Potteries in Dorset

This remarkable early colour record of the work of Verwood potters is anything but primitive.

Could this be Cross Roads pottery in Verwood? Verwood was Dorset's main pot-producing area, with kilns that dated from the medieval era. Traditional earthenware flasks called Owls or Costrels were the speciality, for agricultural workers taking cider or tea into the fields. The process is beautifully captured here with an early colour method called tinting and toning.

Produced by Charles Urban, who had previously built a strong reputation in Anglo-Boer War actuality films. This American based in Britain nurtured pioneering travel, science and natural history film talent. Supplying quality filming equipment, his Warwick Trading Company also distributed the results.