The good old tea pot

This tea pot seems to be a bit of bric-a-brac you probably found at the seaside in the 1800/1900s. It has a crude charm exemplified by it's poor moulding and lack of a makers name on it. It obviously is a souvenir from Scarborough and shows the North Bay and the Clarence Gardens.

Scarborough has a long history with it's cycles of 'boom and bust'. Probably founded by the Danes in 10th century the Norwegian king, Harald Hardrada, laid the town to waste when he invaded England in 1066. Scarborough revived and in 1136 a castle was built on a promontory between the north and south bays and round it the town developed. By the 1200s it was quite busy and in medieval times seafaring (fishing and coastal trade) was important but some wool was exported. The late middle ages saw the small town decline again, black death and competition from Hull catalysing this. The 16th century saw Scarborough's fortunes revive mainly due to coal from the north east and the need to ship it by sea. In the 17th century an iron rich spring was found at the base of the south cliffs and Scarborough became known as a spar town and attracted visitors for the 'water'. The 18th century saw sea bathing become fashionable and medically recommended and the town became a seaside resort. The air was supposed to contain ozone, which it never did, for that bracing feeling! More improvements, the arrival of the railway and the towns increased accessibility made it more popular and visitor numbers swelled. Visitors enjoyed local fish which stimulated the industry and also caused Brixham and Lowestoft fishing boats to move to the north east where they could get a higher price for their fish. This lead to the accidental discovery of the Silver Pits in 1835 which were rich in sole. Enter the 'sea side' souvenir business. Because of the cross section of visitors no doubt the souvenirs had to cater for different pockets, deep and not so deep ones!

The tea pot in the photograph is probably from the lower to mid part of the price range for souvenirs and was probably made in Saxony or Bavaria. Known as biscuit pottery it represented a cheap alternative to porcelain and may well have been part of a set.

Looking at the tea pot what is interesting is that the picture has the North Bay pier in it. This pier was begun in 1866 and designed by Eugenius Birch, the foremost seaside architect at the time. Commercially the pier was never successful possibly because this bay is rather open and seems to attract rougher seas compared to the South Bay which incidentally also hosted bigger hotels and of course the spa with its iron laden drinking water! The north bay pier was in fact a rather simple structure but was destroyed in a gale in 1906 so the tea pot is likely to predate this.

I acknowledge the help from Perter Young regarding the manufacture of the tea pot.