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Belleek Pottery

Belleek Pottery Ltd is a china company that began trading in August of 1884 as the Belleek Pottery Works Company Ltd in Belleek, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

Pottery in the region began around 1849, after John Caldwell Bloomfield inherited his father's estate. Seeking to provide employment for his tenants, who had been affected by the Irish potato famine and, being an amateur minerologist, he ordered a geological survey of his land. On finding that the area was rich in minerals, Bloomfield went into partnership with London architect Robert Williams Armstrong and Dublin merchant David McBirney. In setting up a pottery business, Bloomfield managed to get a railway line built to Belleek so that coal could be delivered with which to fire kilns.

Building started on the pottery in 1858. Initially starting with domestic products, it wasn't until 1863 that small amounts of the Parian porcelain for which Belleek is famous for to this day, was successfully produced. By 1865, the prestige of the company had increased to a worldwide market.

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  • 1859: A pottery company known as D. McBirney & Co. is founded at Belleek, Northern Ireland.
  • 1863: The first successful production of parian china occurs.
  • 1872: The company wins a gold medal for china and becomes fashionable when Queen Victoria orders a tea set.
  • 1884: The company is acquired by new directors, becomes Belleek Pottery Works Company, and refocuses on earthenware.
  • 1946: The company installs two modern coal-fired kilns and ceases production of earthenware to become a parian china specialist.
  • 1952: The first electric kiln is installed.
  • 1990: George Moore, based in the United States, buys the company and installs a new management team.
  • 1993: The company launches construction of new production facilities, quadrupling production space, and then launches an acquisition program, including the purchase of Galway Irish Crystal.
  • 1996: The company acquires Donegal Parian China.
  • 1997: The company acquires Aynsley China, based in Stoke-on-Trent.
  • 2003: The Belleek Living line is launched.
    • First Period Black Mark 1863-1890

    The colour of the mark during this period was predominantly black but other colours were used, amongst them red, blue, orange, green, brown, and pink. Some pieces of Belleek also carry the British Patent Office registation mark which gives the date of regsistration, not the date the piece was manufactured. During this period Belleek also used impressed mark, with the words "BELLEEK,CO. FERMANAGH" or "BELLEEK", or a small impressed mark of a harp or harp and crown. The latter are more usually found on Earthenware pieces.

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    Belleek Pottery
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