In 1685 Thomas Miles made a white "stone-ware" of pipe-clay procured at Shelton. A few years after this, it is said that a potter named Astbury made "crouch" and "white stone" ware in the same town, on which he used a salt glaze.[1] It is probable that the "chiney" of the Burlington pottery was in reality a cream-colored ware or a white stone-ware somewhat similar to that made about the same time in England. It is not unlikely that the clay was brought from South Amboy, as Dr. Coxe owned considerable land in that vicinity. This clay has since been extensively employed in the manufacture of fine stone-ware.
Among the immigrants of the seventeenth century were potters who had learned their trade in the mother country, and Gabriel Thomas, who came from England, states in his Description of Philadelphia, published in 1697, that "great encouragements are given to tradesmen and others.… Potters have sixteen pence for an earthen pot which may be bought in England for four pence."
It has heretofore been generally believed that the first bricks used in the erection of houses in this country were imported, but it is more than probable that by far the greater proportion were made here. Daniel Pegg and others manufactured bricks in Philadelphia as early as 1685, and within a few years after that date numerous brick-yards were in operation along the shores of the Delaware. Many residences throughout the country, particularly in certain sections of Pennsylvania, were built of brick early in the eighteenth century. The cost of importing these supplies from England and transporting them to the rural districts, far removed from tide-water, would have been prohibitory. That building-bricks were extensively manufactured here previous to 1753 is indicated by a statement of Lewis Evans, of Philadelphia, who wrote to a friend in England in that year: "The greatest vein of Clay for Bricks and Pottery begins near Trenton Falls, and extends a mile or two in Breadth on the Pennsylvania side of the River to Christine; then it crosses the River and goes by Salem. The whole world cannot afford better bricks than our town is built of. Nor is the Lime which is mostly brought from White Marsh inferior to that wherewith the old castles in Brittain were formerly built."
When burned, as formerly, in "clamps," the bricks formed their own kiln, piled on edge, a finger's breadth apart, to allow the heat to circulate between. Those which came in direct contact with the wood-fire in the kiln were blackened and partially vitrified on the exposed ends; while the opposite extremities,
- ↑ This was made of tobacco-pipe clay mixed with flint, and was superior to anything produced before.
