Things to do · Winchcombe
Winchcombe Pottery
A working pottery at Greet, a mile north of Winchcombe, where Michael Cardew restarted pottery-making in 1926; its shop sells the wood-fired and soda-glazed tableware made on site.
A short stop with a long history: one of the longest-running craft potteries in the country, still making everyday pots. The shop opens Monday to Saturday, with shorter hours on Saturdays, and is closed on Sundays.
- Good: Pottery made on site since 1926
- Good: One-offs and specials in the shop
- Worth knowing: Shop closed on Sundays; Saturdays 10am to 4pm
- Worth knowing: No café listed on its website
About
Winchcombe Pottery stands at Greet, a mile north of Winchcombe, on a site where pots have been made since at least 1800. The old Greet Potteries made garden, sea-kale, rhubarb and chimney pots until 1914. In 1926 the young potter Michael Cardew rented the empty buildings for the local clay and the old bottle kiln, took on Elijah Comfort, who had worked there before, and in 1927 the 13-year-old Sidney Tustin, and began making English slipware for everyday use.
Ray Finch, left in charge when Cardew moved to Cornwall, bought the pottery in 1946 and ran it for decades: the bottle kiln was last fired in 1954, all production moved to stoneware in 1964, and the wood-fired kiln built in 1974 is still in use. In the 1960s it supplied tableware to the Cranks vegetarian restaurants. Ray Finch worked into his nineties and died in 2012. His son Joe Finch oversees the pottery today, run by George Melton, Katrin Maier and Flynn Paget-Wall Collins, with a soda kiln alongside the wood-fired one.
The shop sells the pottery's standard range of domestic ware, wood-fired and soda-glazed, with one-offs and specials. It opens from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and from 10am to 4pm on Saturdays and bank holidays; it is closed on Sundays. The website mentions no café or tours, so allow half an hour and pair it with the town. The website lists no charge to visit.
Opening hours and season
| Monday | 09:00 to 17:00 |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Wednesday | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Thursday | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Friday | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Saturday | 10:00 to 16:00 |
| Sunday | Closed |
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm; Saturday and bank holidays, 10am to 4pm; closed on Sundays.
Facilities
- Pottery shopProduction ware, one-offs and specials made on site
The details
- Time to allow
- Half an hour
- Features
- Shop
- History
- Pottery on the site since about 1800; Winchcombe Pottery since 1926
Photos
Wood-fired bottles and vases 
Pots from the workshop 
Glazed pots by the kiln 
Two mugs by the kiln
Location
Places to stay nearby
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The Lion Inn
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Nearby walks, places and things to do
- Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway 0.5 km away
- Café 21 1.4 km away
- The Lion Inn 1.4 km away
- Winchcombe Museum 1.5 km away
Sights nearby
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Dent's Terrace, Winchcombe
Sight · Historic building · Winchcombe
A row of ten almshouses of 1865 on Abbey Terrace, Winchcombe, by Sir George Gilbert Scott and J Drayton Wyatt for John and Emma Dent of Sudeley Castle: cream, yellow and pink stone under stepped gables. Grade II.
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St Peter's Church, Winchcombe
Sight · Church · Winchcombe
St Peter's is Winchcombe's Grade I parish church, built in one campaign in about 1458 to 1468, with some 40 carved grotesques round its walls, a fan-vaulted tower and two stone coffins tied to the St Kenelm story. Usually open daily.
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River Isbourne
Sight · River · Winchcombe
The River Isbourne rises at a spring on Cleeve Hill above Winchcombe and runs north past Postlip, Winchcombe, Toddington and Sedgeberrow to join the Avon at Evesham. A waymarked path of some 14 miles, the Isbourne Way, follows it.
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Vineyard Bridge, Winchcombe
Sight · Bridge · Winchcombe
Vineyard Bridge is the single stone arch of 1891 that carries Vineyard Street over the River Isbourne in Winchcombe, the last work in the town of the architect J. Drayton Wyatt and the way to Sudeley Castle. Listed Grade II.