Coalport porcelain

The Coalport porcelain manufactory (or Coalport China), the first porcelain factory in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England, was founded by the practical and enterprising John Rose in 1795, at Coalport, served by the Coalport Canal, which had been completed in 1792. Rose had trained at the Caughley porcelain manufactory in Shropshire and had been making pottery on his own account nearby at Jackfield, a mile upstream across the River Severn from Coalbrookdale, since about 1780. His rapid success enabled him to buy the Caughley manufactory in 1799, the Nantgarw porcelain manufactory in 1819 and the Swansea porcelain manufactory, with their repertory of moulds. He employed William Billingsley, formerly at Nantgarw, as chief painter, and Billingsley's chemist, Walker, who initiated at Coalport a maroon glaze and brought the Nantgarw technical recipes to Rose at Coalport.