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Delft plaque takes scenic route to Liverpool Museum

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After years on display at Merchant Taylors', one day in a skip, and 12 years in a loft: Liverpool's oldest piece of indigenous pottery has finally taken pride of place at the new Liverpool Museum.

The priceless Delft Plaque, which dates back to 1722, shares a significant part of its 200 year history with Merchant Taylors' Schools. The piece can now be found hanging in the ‘People's Republic' exhibition in the Liverpool Museum which opened last week.

The historic piece was discovered in a skip at school 12 years ago by Senior Boys' School Maintenance Man Jimmy Horrocks, who is interested in antique restoration. He then set about repairing the square tile. He took a book out of the School Library and, using ingredients from the Science department, made an invisible repair. It was stored away in his loft until a conversation in 2009 with the School's Archivist, Trevor Hildrey, revealed its true significance.

Jimmy, who has worked at the school for 19 years, said: "I can just about remember seeing a bit of blue and white pottery poking out of the skip and thought it was worth saving. Over the next few days, another two pieces appeared, so I took them home."

Jimmy with the Plaque

Jimmy with the Plaque

 

Former Physics Teacher Trevor Hildrey said: "The Delft Plaque commemorates the purchase of a pew in 1722 in St Michael's Church by John and Henry Harrison, who were related to the school's original founder, John Harrison, who died in 1618.

"I believe it hung in the church until it was demolished in the 19th century which is when we think it was acquired by the school.

"It eventually found its way into the present building and was framed and hung on the wall in the school hall. There is a photograph of it hanging next to the First World War memorial. The hall was converted into a library in the mid-1960s. It is thought the plaque probably fell from the wall sometime in the 1970s and disappeared behind the bookshelves.

David Brazendale, who teaches history at Liverpool University and was a pupil at the school between 1948-1955, said the discovery was "remarkable".

He added: "I vaguely remember the plaque from school assemblies but, of course, I didn't take much notice then. But now I have an interest in Liverpool pottery of the 18th Century and I discovered from a catalogue of an exhibition of the National Museums and Galleries that this plaque had disappeared.

"It is particularly important because an earlier plaque, the Crosby Plaque, which dated from 1716 and showed a scene of Crosby from the early 18th Century, has since been destroyed and this is the oldest piece of Liverpool pottery in existence.

"It is a typical piece of 18th Century red earthenware in the style of the Delft Potteries of Holland which imitated Chinese porcelain with a thick white glaze and the pattern in blue."

Jimmy said: "I am just pleased it has found its home. I enjoyed doing the repairs and preserving something I liked the look of, but I had no idea what it was."

 

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