Previously Winchcombe Archive Collection
Events
A Natural Warmth
The Early Years at Winchcombe Pottery
A special exhibition to mark Winchcombe Pottery's Centenary
Wed 17th June - Sat 12th September 2026
Open Wed - Saturday 11am-4pm
There will be an additional special final day on Sunday 13th September to coincide with celebration events at WP
When Michael Cardew set up Winchcombe Pottery in 1926 he wanted the pots he made to be "warm and direct and above all natural". He certainly met these aims, making organic pots with the warmth and honesty of the maker's hand; a radical contrast to the mass-produced china of the preceding era.
Join us in celebrating 100 years of Winchcombe Pottery with our special exhibition featuring a multitude of pots from the first two decades of production.
We will also have for sale a great selection of present day Winchcombe Pottery wares as well as slipware by former WP potter John Forster.
Previous Events
To bring alive the subject matter represented in our Trust collections, since 2014 the Long Room Gallery has been the venue for a variety of events and functions, and on one occasion the organizer of a related concert of English music held in the Methodist church next door. Our approach to objects owned by or associated with the Trust has always been very much hands on, providing visitors with the opportunity to handle historic and vintage materials more normally shown behind glass in conventional public Museums. We have also on occasions provided mini craft workshops, most notably a demonstration of textile dyeing held in our garden by the textile worker Jan Macmillan and a delightful slip trailing session led by Henry Sandon.
As to the handling sessions, these included Barley Roscoe (Barron & Larcher block printed fabric); Alan Powers (20th century design); John Randle (letterpress books) and Miriam Macgregor (wood engravings and their design process); and the odd Winchcombe antiques roadshow hosted by Henry Sandon, a leading BBC antiques expert and presenter of his day. Shows were also on occasions embellished by the provision of food of the period related to concurrent exhibitions – most notably our Cranks wholefood buffet held in tandem with a Ray Finch pottery show in 2016 which focused on his output of the 1970s and 1980s.
