Bentham Pottery

17/10/2026

Double page spread in this weeks Guardian!

16/10/2026

https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/26252100.bentham-pottery-secures-british-museum-bayeux-tapestry-deal/

A small ceramics business has landed a major commission linked to one of the most famous artefacts in European history.

15/10/2026

A friend recently sent me a copy of an article from the Giggleswick Grammar School Chronicle of 1918, relating to the tragic death of Harold Bateson during the First World War.

Harold is pictured here among the workers of Waterside Pottery in 1907 on the front row, far right. His father, at the back, far left, was one of the owners of the pottery.

I can only imagine the heartbreak his family must have felt on receiving the news of his death. They must have been immensely proud of Harold, first for winning a scholarship to Giggleswick School and then for securing a job in a bank. He had so much to look forward to, with what should have been a long and promising life ahead of him.

12/10/2026

Great article in the Lancaster Guardian.

Bentham Pottery makes stunning souvenir mug for exhibition featuring historic tapestry 👇

05/10/2026

The Burton-in-Lonsdale bottle throttle.

09/09/2026

https://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/26528696.museum-north-craven-life-heading-ingleton-day/

THE Museum of North Craven Life is upping sticks and going on the road.

07/09/2026

Our Bayeux Tapestry mugs have made it into Ceramic Review!

02/09/2026

A whole double-page spread on our Bayeux Tapestry mugs in this month’s Bentham News!

Bentham Pottery Produces a Souvenir Mug for the British Museum Bayeux Tapestry Exhibition

By Lee Cartledge

Earlier this year, Bentham Pottery was contacted by the British Museum and invited to produce a souvenir mug for its forthcoming Bayeux Tapestry exhibition.

Ordinarily, we would have declined such an order, as pottery and parcel couriers are not always the happiest of companions. We generally concentrate our business in the North West, where we can deliver work ourselves whenever possible. However, this felt like a unique opportunity. Not only was it a prestigious commission, but it would also raise the profile of the pottery. I also felt a personal connection with the Bayeux Tapestry, having visited it on a school trip from Ingleton Middle School many years ago.

Determined to win the commission, I produced a series of prototype mugs and sent photographs to the British Museum. They must have liked what they saw because members of the museum’s purchasing team travelled to Bentham to visit the pottery, inspect our workshop and take sample mugs back to London. Around Easter, we received confirmation that we had secured an initial order for 200 mugs, with delivery scheduled for July.

The mugs will be sold throughout the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, which runs for ten months from September.

Once the mugs were finished, the next challenge was getting them safely to London. After several disastrous experiences with courier companies over the years, I wasn’t prepared to trust them with such an important order. Instead, we decided to deliver the mugs ourselves and turn the trip into a short break.

We stopped off in Congleton to visit my mother-in-law before continuing to a hotel in North London. From there, I had arranged a taxi to collect us and our eight vegetable boxes packed full of mugs and take us directly to the British Museum’s delivery entrance.

The taxi driver looked slightly bemused when he saw the unusual cargo, but he soon embraced the mission. We arrived within our allocated delivery slot, and the museum porters carefully received all 200 mugs without incident.

With the business side successfully completed, we were able to enjoy everything London had to offer. We spent time exploring the British Museum, met up with our son who lives in the capital, enjoyed a tour of Buckingham Palace, ate in Soho and rounded off the evening by seeing Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

The following day we made the journey back to Yorkshire, with another visit to my mother-in-law for good measure.

Looking back, it was a memorable few days and proof that, every now and then, it’s possible to combine business with pleasure.

Given the public interest around the tapestry and the fact it sold out within 24 hours of going online (for the first 3 months), I suspect further orders are imminent!

Caption: Kathy above and Lee below with their 200 mugs

13/08/2026

A stack of Bayeux Tapestry mugs

10/08/2026

I’ve got very few pots left from my degree. The trouble was that, having a family pottery business, anything that looked even vaguely commercial was simply put into the shop and sold. It was a great way of earning a bit of pocket money at the time, but I do wish I’d photographed more of them before they disappeared.

These two pieces escaped that fate because they were on display in my parents’ house, and they were definitely part of my degree show.

They were all about exploring contrasts – texture against smooth surfaces, function against sculpture. My main inspiration came from rock formations, with their weathered surfaces and natural shapes.