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Site of a pottery, which was situated adjacent to the earlier Seaton Brick and Tile Works (NJ90NW0828), on the edge of a clay pit. This industrial Pottery started in 1868 and for 100 years it made glazed wares and utilitarian products which were used in homes throughout the NE of Scotland. It made food-storage barrels, cheese bells and butter tubs colourfully glazed in greens, blues and browns as well as an agate ware made by throwing three coloured clays together. Seaton Pottery produced utilitarian and decorative wares primarily using clay from a seam which runs down the north- east coast of Scotland. During the first half of the Pottery's life, it produced glazed wares including their most famous wares - dabbed and agate food-storage barrels, butter tubs and cheese bells. Very few pieces were stamped with a maker's mark and it is therefore often difficult to definitely assign objects to Seaton. An excavation in 2002 and 2003 at the site (NJ90NW0918) revealed building foundations and a large number of finds which have assisted in the identification of products of this important industrial Pottery. The Pottery was started by Thomas Gavin and James Ritchie and quickly flourished, giving work to eight people: three men, three boys and two girls. Gavin was born in Portland, Lanarkshire in 1826, where he became an experienced potter before he moved to Aberdeen around 1855. During the last decade of the 19th century, Thomas Gavin's sons, John and Hugh, took over the running of the Pottery. After the death of Thomas Gavin in 1899, the Pottery was left in trust to be run by his two sons and two lawyers Robert Leslie and Kenneth Simpson and in 1903 Seaton Pottery closed, bringing to an end the first phase of its life which had lasted 35 years. In 1903, two potters, Clarke and Smith worked at the large Joseph Bourne's Pottery in Denby in Derbyshire. Clarke and Smith did not own Seaton Pottery but ran it for Ben Reid and Co Ltd, local florists. They did, however, convert it into an Art Pottery and installed new plant. Stamped pieces which survive from this period are mainly vases with the impressed mark 'CLARKE AND SMITH/SEATON POTTERY/ABERDEEN' in an oval. After less than 2 years in Aberdeen, they gave up the Pottery and it was again on the brink of closure. When Clarke and Smith left the Pottery in 1905, a potter had not owned it since 1899. Until 1904, Arthur Mills had worked with his two brothers and father at the Pottery of Joseph Bourne and Son, Denby, Derbyshire. During the Clarke and Smith period, Arthur came to Aberdeen with his family to work as a pottery thrower and by October 1905, he took over the running of the Pottery. He is first mentioned in the Aberdeen Trade Directory of 1906-7. Arthur's third son, Ivor joined his father at the Pottery in 1915 and the company became known as A Mills and Son. Ivor took over running the works in 1927 when his father became ill. Until 1946 all the flowerpots were made on one of the three throwing wheels. Mechanisation came in the form of two brand-new moulding machines which revolutionised the Pottery. However, the introduction of plastic flowerpots, as well as the Council's desire to acquire the land for housing and recreational use, eventually brought an end to the Pottery. The Pottery closed in 1964. See NJ90NW0918 for excavation
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Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Aberdeen City
HER -
NJ90NW0129 - SEATON POTTERY